Science

The Ojibway Prairie Complex and surrounding area has been designated as an Important Amphibian and Reptile Area (IMPARA) by the Canadian Herpetological Society and Wildlife Preservation Canada. The designation recognizes the key role of specific natural areas in providing habitats for some of Canada’s most endangered wildlife: reptiles and amphibians.

The eruption of Mount Curry in Antarctica may be putting one of the world’s largest penguin colonies at risk. Zavodovski Island is a small island in the South Sandwich archipelago and its volcano Mt Curry has been erupting since March 2016. The island is home to over one million chinstrap penguins – the largest colony for this species in the …

Say hello to 2015 RR245, a 700km-wide dwarf planet located approximately 12 billion kilometres from the sun. It takes 700 years to make a complete orbit, making it one of the most remote known objects in the entire solar system of significant size. The body has been designated 2015 RR245 and joins other known “dwarf planets” Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake …

Coconuts are renowned for their hard shells and now, according to the latest study, the specialised structure of their walls could help to design buildings that can withstand earthquakes and other natural disasters. Coconut palms can grow 30 m high, meaning that when the ripe fruits fall to the ground their walls have to withstand the impact to stop them …

Scientists have detected the first ever exoplanet to traverse a wide orbit in a chaotic triple star system. The seemingly stable orbit of the exoplanet known as HD 131399Ab came as a surprise, as it was previously assumed that such a body would have its orbit significantly disturbed by the tumultuous gravitational influence resulting from the interaction between the three …

Researchers are exploring an unknown world in the deepest waters of U.S. territory. A vessel owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is plumbing the depths of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, north of Guam in the western Pacific, looking to learn more about the biology, geology, topography and potential minerals there, until July 10. In late June, …

Some 500 million years ago, miniscule sea worms built and lived in ventilated tubes that stuck up from the ocean floor like tiny trees. And now researchers have discovered a fossil treasure trove of these curious homes. The findings emerge from a study undertaken by academics from Canada and the UK, in which they reassess fossils originally believed to have …

Saturn’s biggest moon, Titan, is one of the most interesting bodies in the Solar System. It’s the only other place we know of, besides Earth, that very likely holds liquid water, in the form of a vast underground ocean, and its surface is somewhat Earth-like, splotched with lakes, rivers and seas, albeit of liquid methane and ethane. Researchers at Cornell …

A new research showing the infamous and massive hole in the Antarctic ozone layer has shrunk by some 4 million square kilometers illustrate what the world can do to solve a dangerous crisis if they heed warnings made by scientists. The surprising findings, published in journal Science, come after experts reported that the hole was the biggest it had ever …

Researchers have discovered the first-ever record of a fossil tumourous facial swelling in the jaw of a 69 million-year-old dwarf duck-billed dinosaur. “This discovery is the first ever described in the fossil record and the first to be thoroughly documented in a dwarf dinosaur,” Kate Acheson, a PhD student at the University of Southampton, said in a news release. “Telmatosaurus …

The state of emergency in Martin County will stay in place for another week due to the algae problem. Martin County said it is extending a local state of emergency for another week due to blue-green algae. It allows the government to streamline efforts to finance projects that could remedy the algae situation that is creating headaches for thousands this …