August 2026

A scientist on board captured the moment the glacier crashed into the ocean. Credit: Alice Fremand Scientists aboard Britain’s flagship polar research vessel, RRS Sir David Attenborough, watched an estimated 18 million metric tonnes of ice crash into the ocean when a massive section of Greenland’s Sorgenfri glacier broke away in a single evening event.The…

In Brazil, the blue butterfly Godartiana byses has expanded from the states of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia to Sao Paulo. Butterflies are relocating across the world as climate change and extreme weather continue to alter their habitats. According to a new global study, many species are expanding into new areas, while others are disappearing…

Representative Image (AI-generated) A wildfire that swept through the high-altitude alpine zone of Africa’s Rwenzori Mountains in 2012 has been identified as the first large-scale fire to strike the region in at least 12,000 years, according to a study published in Nature. By analysing ancient lake sediment cores (cylindrical samples of layered mud from the…

Eighteen-year-old Arya Satheesh, a high school student from Letterkenny in County Donegal, Ireland, has earned international recognition for inventing Eco Purge, a plant-based biodegradable plastic. The material is designed to help tackle the growing problem of microplastic pollution. As it naturally breaks down, Eco Purge releases specialised enzymes that are designed to help degrade nearby…

Representative Image (AI-generated) Animal bones resting on the floors of South Australia’s underwater caves are revealing far more than the identity of the creatures they once belonged to. According to a new study published in PLOS One, the cave environment itself leaves distinct “fingerprints” on bones, helping scientists reconstruct how they were deposited, the environmental…

Representative Image of astronauts investigating potential water ice reserves on the Moon (AI-generated image) Beneath the permanently shadowed craters near the Moon’s south pole, scientists believe significant deposits of water ice may be buried out of reach of the instruments currently used to search for it from orbit. A new study led by researchers at…

In March 2016, researchers identified the globe skimmer dragonfly, Pantala flavescens, as the world’s longest-distance flying insect. Led by researchers at Rutgers University-Newark, the study used genetic analysis rather than direct observation to reach its conclusion, comparing DNA samples collected from dragonfly populations scattered across multiple continents. Rutgers University-Newark findings suggested these insects were travelling…

Ant Supercolony. Image Credit: Anagoria/Wikipedia The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) has created one of the most remarkable biological phenomena ever recorded: a super-colony stretching around 6,000 kilometres along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), these…

Representative Image of a mouse and a human side by side, both engaged in sniffing (AI-generated image) A mouse hunting for food might sniff several times a second. A person checking whether a cantaloupe is ripe usually leans in for a single, unhurried breath. On the surface, these look like completely different behaviours. Two complementary…

PC: Study: A programmable fungal platform for engineered living textiles Researchers in China have created a textile made from living fungal mycelium that can heal its own cuts, grow new surface layers on command, and biodegrade completely within weeks. The material, built from Cordyceps militaris fungus, keeps its cells alive throughout the manufacturing process, unlike…