Category: Science

Red moved from earth, to organism, to laboratory — from ritual substance to industrial commodity | Photo Credit: Getty Images In 1799, during the storming of the fortress of Seringapatam, British troops broke through the defences of Srirangapatna and killed Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. The palace inventories compiled in the aftermath record jewels, weapons,…

Read More “How red moved through empires, trade networks, and industrial factories” »

Former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev sports a birthmark on his head. | Photo Credit: Zvi Tiberiu Keller (CC BY-SA) A: A birthmark is a coloured mark on the skin that is either present at birth or develops shortly afterwards. Most are completely harmless and painless. While some of them may fade over…

Read More “What is a birthmark? How does it form?” »

Quark-gluon plasma are extraordinarily hot, reaching trillions of degrees centigrade. Representative image. | Photo Credit: Image created by AI Physicists have spent more than two decades studying one of the strangest forms of matter ever created in a laboratory: the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Quarks and gluons are the smallest pieces of matter. A QGP existed…

Read More “How small can a liquid be?” »

As we grow older, our cognitive abilities begin to wane. We forget names and places, lose trains of thought, and become creatures of habit. A key to overcoming these ageing-induced cognitive deficits may be exercise. “Exercise improves cardiovascular fitness, glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, lipid profiles, sleep, mood, and immune function,” Atefe Tari, a…

Read More “A liver protein triggered by exercise reversed memory loss in mice” »

For the first time in about four billion years of life on the earth, one species is learning not just to read the book of life but to write new versions. Our quest to understand and explain the natural world has always carried a double consequence: every success also enhances our ability to change the…

Read More “The genie of synthetic biology is out, and with it comes power and peril” »

A reconstruction of the marine reptile Tylosaurus rex in the Cretaceous-era Western Interior Seaway of North America. | Photo Credit: REUTERS Tyrannosaurus rex was a huge land predator during the twilight of the age of dinosaurs. But it was not the only T. rex that terrorised the Cretaceous Period. ​There also was a marine reptile…

Read More “Fearsome dinosaur-era marine reptile was T. rex of the sea” »

A long-term study in East Africa has reported that dung beetles depend heavily on elephant dung | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Elephants’ decline portends dung beetle co-extinction Elephants are keystone species that sustain savannah ecosystems. A long-term study in East Africa has reported that dung beetles depend heavily on elephant dung. Following a 15-year field…

Read More “Science Snapshots: May 31, 2026” »