For decades, a concrete barrier on Virginia’s Appomattox River stood between migratory fish and more than 120 miles of upstream habitat. In 2014, its removal changed that. The Harvell Dam in Petersburg was taken out as part of a collaborative restoration effort, reconnecting roughly 127 miles of river for migratory and resident fish, according to…
Photo credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Two miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, in a world of near total darkness and crushing pressure, a remotely operated vehicle glided silently through the water. Its cameras were scanning the deep for the strange and the seldom-seen when something extraordinary…
Representative image of DNA All life on Earth, from bacteria to blue whales, writes its genetic instructions using the same four-letter alphabet. These four DNA bases, usually referred to as A, T, C and G, pair up in predictable ways to store and pass on the information needed for life. Now, researchers at UC San…
Red-billed choughs are re-establishing themselves in Kent, with the county’s population now standing at 35 birds following a summer in which eight wild-born chicks successfully fledged. Kent Wildlife Trust confirmed the figure this week, noting that the latest additions take the total number of wild-born choughs to nine since the species returned to the county….
A new study reveals that wolves brought back to Isle Royale National Park are building a self-sustaining population. Researchers observed the wolves from September 2018 to September 2023 after the National Park Service released 19 animals captured in Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario. The population grew steadily during this period, reaching a minimum of 27 wolves…
Representative Image (AI-generated) More than 14,000 Bogong moths were tagged in an unusual attempt to uncover the secrets of one of Australia’s most remarkable insect migrations. Researchers marked the endangered moths in the Snowy Mountains and hoped to track where they travelled after leaving their summer shelters. Some were marked with non-toxic paint, while others…
Mathematician and programmer Mary Tsingou Menzel When mathematician and programmer Mary Tsingou Menzel sat down in 1952 at Los Alamos National Laboratory to code a complex physics problem on one of the world’s earliest digital computers, she was breaking new ground. Her work helped make possible a landmark experiment that went on to influence chaos…
A few sheets of old newspaper can have a surprisingly practical use in the car, especially during the rainy season. Placed beneath the floor mats, newspaper can help deal with one of the most common problems that drivers face during wet weather that is moisture. Water, mud, and dampness often enter the car through the…
On the edge of the Mojave Desert, rows of solar panels now cover ground that once looked much like the surrounding landscape: pale sand, scattered vegetation and long stretches of exposed soil. The Gemini solar project, northeast of Las Vegas, was built across about 20 square kilometres and contains roughly 1.8 million panels. Before construction,…
A sheep wool-covered snow protection test site is pictured during a press conference presenting the results of the “Keep It Wool” glacier protection experiment in Les Diablerets, Switzerland A natural wool covering placed over 200 square metres of high-altitude Alpine ice has proved as effective at slowing summer melting as conventional synthetic tarpaulins, offering a…
