A highly infectious strain of bird flu has been circulating worldwide since 2020 ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images The H5N1 bird flu virus that has spread worldwide is already better at infecting people than earlier strains. What’s more, a single mutation could allow it to infect the cells lining our noses and throats, making it…
There was a sharp fall in the number of low-lying clouds in 2023 Busà Photography/Getty Images Changes in cloud cover may account for why global temperatures for the past two years have exceeded the predictions of climate models. 2023 and 2024 saw temperature records repeatedly smashed, with both years now showing average temperatures around 1.5°C…
A bee pollinating a squash flower Roman Kýbus/Alamy Plants treated with diverse species of fungi that live on roots grew larger flowers, prompting bees to visit them more often and spend more time there. “[These fungi] might not only have benefits for the plant itself, or for the soil, but also for the pollinators,” says…
Tencent is one of China’s largest technology companies Cynthia Lee/Alamy Chinese tech giant Tencent doesn’t seem to be affected by US export bans of computer chips that are crucial to the development of artificial intelligence systems – but even if such bans were more stringent, they may not be able to slow the country’s AI…
Live rats played and tussled with the robot rodent Shutterstock / Bilanol A robotic rat on wheels has learned how to interact with real rats while mimicking the rodents’ play and fight behaviours. “[The] robotic rats have similar appearances and movements to animals, and even the same odour,” says Qing Shi at the Beijing Institute…
“The zip line played a pivotal role in democratising space” Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library/Alamy Even as the price of space flight came down dramatically in the 2030s, the environmental and financial cost of using chemical rockets to escape Earth’s gravity held back human expansion to the moon and beyond. There was also widespread anger…
Josie Ford A biblical approach Praise be, there is a new book from psychologist-turned-YouTuber Jordan Peterson. We Who Wrestle With God is about how ancient myths and legends, while perhaps not literally true, contain valuable and even universal lessons about life and humanity. Feedback was nodding along to this. Anthropologists will tell you there’s a…
The rough green snake (Opheodrys aestivus) Bodleian Library Publishing, University of Oxford, 2024 These remarkable and intricate illustrations are the work of Mark Catesby, an English naturalist and artist who made numerous visits to North America in the early 18th century, recording the flora and fauna he saw on his travels. His work is collected…
Nadine Mills plays a nurse, Sabrina, in superhero series Supacell. Courtesy of Netflix Despite it feeling like there is more to watch on TV than ever before, it hasn’t been a banner year for sci-fi on the small screen. Too many shows have been simply OK, with their moments of flare outweighed by exposition dumps…
A robot inspired by Cheerios releasing alcohol fuel with a fluorescent dye Jackson K. Wilt et al. 2024 The same phenomena that let beetles float across ponds and cause Cheerios to cluster together in your cereal bowl can be harnessed to make tiny floating robots. One of these, the Marangoni effect, arises when a fluid with…