Science
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Warmer winters mean world’s highest places may store less carbon
The Tibetan plateau Nicolas Marino/mauritius images GmbH/Alamy Climate change is raising winter temperatures faster than those of summer, especially in high-altitude areas. This “asymmetric” warming could spell trouble for the vast amount of carbon stored in soils there by altering microbial activity more than expected. The planet’s soils store more carbon than any ecosystem other than the oceans, and could…
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The US is ramping up bird flu surveillance – but will it be enough?
Dairy cows in California Marmaduke St. John / Alamy Stock Photo The US has ramped up influenza surveillance amid an ongoing outbreak of the bird flu virus H5N1 in dairy cattle. Public health officials hope more robust monitoring will help catch and contain any potential human outbreaks. But experts warn that without more surveillance, cases will slip through the cracks…
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Useful quantum computers are edging closer with recent milestones
An exhibition model of IBM’s Q System One quantum computer Misha Friedman/Getty Images Despite all the hype around quantum computers, they are still far too error-prone to be of real use. But recent experiments show that this may not always be the case, boosting the credibility of claims from companies like Google and IBM that we might get useful quantum…
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AI discovers hundreds of ancient Nazca drawings in Peruvian desert
A 22-metre-long drawing depicting a killer whale holding a knife Masato Sakai Hundreds of ancient drawings depicting decapitated human heads and domesticated llamas have been discovered in the Peruvian desert with the help of artificial intelligence. Archaeologists have previously linked these creations to the people of the Nazca culture, who started etching such images, called geoglyphs, into the ground around…
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Evidence grows for dramatic brain remodelling during pregnancy
Pregnancy may permanently change parts of the brain bernardbodo/iStockphoto/Getty Images The human brain goes through significant changes during pregnancy with few regions untouched, according to the first ever map of this over the course of gestation and beyond. Some regions of the brain shrink during this time, while others grow and become better connected. These changes are thought to enable…
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I took control of NASA’s Valkyrie robot and it blew my mind
NASA’s Valkyrie robot, ready to be inhabited through virtual reality James Woodford I am standing before one of the most advanced robots in the world and am awestruck and disoriented by its humanoid form. Part Transformer, part Star Wars stormtrooper and with hands that look like they can crush beer cans, at 1.8 metres tall and weighing 120 kilograms, NASA’s…
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Earthquakes may explain how huge gold nuggets form in quartz rock
A replica of the Welcome Stranger, a gold nugget weighing almost 100 kilograms found in Australia in 1869 Ian Dagnall/Alamy Earthquakes may cause gold nuggets to form in quartz by generating an electric field that attracts gold dissolved in fluid forced up from deep underground. Enormous gold nuggets are often associated with quartz, a ubiquitous but chemically inert mineral. The…
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This is how your brain knows when the beat is about to drop
We can enjoy music because of our ability to recognise musical boundaries NDAB Creativity/Shutterstock We may finally know how the brain processes a beat drop: people use two distinct brain networks to anticipate and identify transitions between segments in a piece of music. Musical boundaries, the moments when one section of a composition ends and another begins, are important to…
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Why the underground home of the world’s weirdest wildlife is in danger
A lava cave in Iceland is a tiny part of a vast, underground habitat found around the planet TOMMY AU PHOTO/Getty Images One moment Stefano Mammola is standing in a mossy forest overlooking northern Italy’s Po plain. The next, he has vanished through a hole little wider than his body, into the forest floor. With less grace, I clamber after him,…
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The climate impact of feeding ourselves is getting worse and worse
Cattle farming produces large amounts of greenhouse gases Alan Hopps/Getty Images With the world’s population growing, the only way to reduce the enormous greenhouse gas emissions from farming is to make food production ever more efficient. Unfortunately, efficiency gains have stalled since 2010, meaning farming emissions – and deforestation – could rise sharply as demand for food continues to grow.…
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