The premise of this piece is extraordinary – the discovery of “a precise geological transcript of the most important sixty minutes of Earth’s history” – that is to say the wave of destruction caused by the asteroid that hit sixty-six million years ago, an event that wiped out 99.9999% of all living organisms on the planet.
A new state-of-the-art simulation from the California Institute of Technology suggests that clouds are critical to the future of climate change. At a certain tipping point the study suggests they will disappear, with disastrous consequences.
An interactive visualisation telling the story of how the periodic table came to be.
A pair of jovial scientists seeking to prove the existence of a ninth planet make for a great double act as they scale a mountain in Hawaii to access one of the world’s most powerful telescopes and search the night sky. The author does well to draw out the nobility in their potentially unachievable quest, which could seem quixotic were it not built on such extraordinarily advanced mathematical and astronomical theory.
New research suggests that baobabs are dying in unprecedented number. This is the story of the ancient trees (the oldest amongst them shared the planet with Julius Caesar) and their multi-purpose usage by the people and animals who live by them (sparring partner, burial ground, gallows, super-food and more).
Complete with extraordinary photography, a look at the evolutionary factors leading animals to have “conspicuous, metabolically costly and physically burdensome sexual ornaments”, such as the beautiful plumage of exotic birds.
It turns out termites are absolutely fascinating creatures, and this article explains why.
A fascinating study of the age old battle between humans and rats, one of the few species to challenge our supremacy on this planet.