[ad_1] An ice-breaking liquefied-natural-gas-carrying tanker at anchor in Murmansk, Russia Koptyaev Igor/Shutterstock For the first time, Russia has allowed oil tankers that lack reinforced hulls for dealing with ice to navigate its Arctic waters – a move that experts warn could raise the risk of environmentally-damaging oil spills in the sensitive Arctic ecosystem. The news […]
[ad_1] Army ants leave piles of prey scraps that feed other insects Daniel Kronauer Army ants infamously visit destruction upon thousands of unlucky insects, but new findings highlight one of the ways the insects bolster biodiversity as well. The hodgepodge collections of food waste left behind by raiding army ants serve as nurseries for numerous […]
[ad_1] I AM fascinated by how culture can colour our understanding of scientific reality, even when it comes to botany. Perhaps nowhere is this more the case than with the “native plants” debate in horticulture. The prevailing idea is as follows: because some introduced, non-native species have caused major damage to ecosystems around the world, […]
[ad_1] An illustration of a quantum computer Pete Hansen/Shutterstock Quantum computers could run more quickly if they contained tiny quantum refrigerators. Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, which must be reset to a special state between running programs. Teruaki Yoshioka at the Tokyo University of Science says slow reset times can become […]
[ad_1] Antonia Thomas as Lisa, who falls for her friend and fellow insomniac APPLE TV Still UpSteve Burge and Natalie WalterApple TV+ TO GET the most out of Still Up, a new romantic comedy airing on Apple TV+, I watched it in the dead of night. It felt wrong to do otherwise, given its subject matter: […]
[ad_1] Life and Language Beyond EarthRaymond Hickey (Cambridge University Press) WHAT language might an alien use? As a speculative answer, Denis Villeneuve’s epic sci-fi movie Arrival couldn’t be more intriguing. Louise the linguist is asked to board a spaceship to interpret circles of ink spattered onto glass by ghostly, seven-limbed heptapods. Their circularity expresses the […]
[ad_1] The minute details of the roots of Arabidopsis thaliana Jan Martinek Photographer Jan Martinek THESE are plants like you have never seen them before. Vibrant, diverse and possessing an almost microbe-like quality, these images of plant cells were taken by Jan Martinek at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. As a plant cell biologist, […]
[ad_1] Ordinary computer memory chips are vulnerable to temperatures above 300°C PopTika/Shutterstock A computer memory device that can withstand temperatures of more than 500°C could be used in spacecraft sent to explore Venus or the sun. Computers use a technology called non-volatile memory to store data even after their power supply has been switched off […]
[ad_1] A Homo floresiensis skull, centre, found at Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images As a novelist, you write about what puzzles, inspires and keeps you awake at night. It feels like a one-off adventure and it’s only in retrospect, years later, that you can see a […]
[ad_1] “I want you to make a substitution in the course of our new IVF research partnership” … An extract from Sebastian Faulks’s new novel The Seventh Son Science Photo Library/ZEPHYR/Getty Images “I have a proposition.” Parn leant forward and put his hand on Malik Wood’s knee. “Oh yes?” Parn sat back again. ‘Did you […]