World

Image: Left/Golden lancehead (Bothrops insularis)/Right/Dipsas albifrons (Sauvage’s snail-eating snake)/AI Generated About 33 kilometres off the coast of São Paulo lies Ilha da Queimada Grande, better known as Snake Island. Shrouded in myths of deadly encounters and pirate treasure, the island has earned a fearsome reputation as one of the most snake-infested places on Earth. While…

Grade 9 student, Akshat Anand, wins gold for wearable that detects IV leaks earlyPhoto credit: Surrey Schools At just 13 or 14 years old, most Grade 9 students are still getting comfortable with science fair pressure. Akshath Anand of Surrey Academy of Innovative Learning did something far bigger: he walked into the Canada-Wide Science Fair…

In a historic feat, Bartłomiej Kubkowski, an ultra-swimmer from Poland, became the first person to successfully swim across the Baltic Sea from Sweden to Poland without any physical help. Making it to the other side in 55 hours and 10 minutes, Kubkowski completed the 160-kilometre trek under very difficult conditions. Swimming through the cold water…

Representative Image of marine life thriving around resilient chicken kidney sponges in polluted waters (AI-generated image) Researchers in Spain spent 455 days tracking how sponges from five species of Mediterranean sea life coped with being moved from clean, natural habitats toward a heavily polluted recreational marina near Girona. The experiment was designed to test a…

When a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed struck Japan’s north-eastern coast in March 2011, entire towns were swept away, nearly 20,000 people were killed or went missing, and vast stretches of coastline were left in ruins. In the years since, Japan has invested billions of yen in massive concrete seawalls, but…

Image: Phillip Carter/ Youtube A Chicago YouTuber known for reviewing luxury fragrances has been charged after authorities accused him of carrying out an elaborate return fraud scheme involving expensive designer perfumes. According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, investigators say Philip Carter, 30, purchased high-end fragrances online, removed the original bottles, replaced them with modeling…

Representative Image of Lithops werneri camouflaged among grey stones in Namibia’s Erongo Mountains (AI-generated image) In a small patch of Namibia’s Erongo Mountains, a tiny succulent grows so convincingly disguised as a pebble that most people would walk straight past it without a second glance. This plant, Lithops werneri, survives by mimicking the grey, weathered…

This winter’s survey of the western monarch butterfly revealed over 12,000 individuals, a small rise from last year. Despite this slight increase, conservationists remain alarmed as numbers are still critically low. Ongoing challenges such as habitat loss and environmental stressors severely impact the butterfly population. Conservation initiatives are actively working on restoring habitats and engaging…

Pygmy Sperm Whale’s Deep Dive (AI-generated image) Pygmy sperm whales are among the least studied large mammals in the ocean, spending nearly their entire lives far offshore, diving deep to hunt squid and fish, and rarely surfacing long enough to be observed alive. Most of what scientists know about the species comes instead from whales…

A breakthrough in plant science has validated Charles Darwin’s historic conjecture surrounding carnivorous Saxifraga species. Researchers discovered that these plants ensnare small gnats with sticky hairs, emitting fragrances that lure their prey. Chemical tests confirmed that insects provide essential nutrients upon capture, as showcased by isotope labeling. This pivotal finding sheds light on the complex…