The baffling statistics of Secret Santa
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Christmas, we’re told, is the most wonderful time of the year. For many of us, however, it is preceded by one of the least wonderful times: …
Science
Light measurement enables estimation of the chemical attributes of spice extracts
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Spices and other plant-derived products contain many active components, such as polyphenols and flavonoids. However, even the slightest variations in conditions can considerably affect the extraction …
Using smart materials to deploy a Dark Age explorer
Depiction of the different signals and the telescopes that would detect them. Credit: Palmar et al One of the most significant constraints on the size of objects placed into orbit …
California seal pups were turning up headless. Experts finally confirmed the culprit
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Finding dead seals along California’s coast is not novel in and of itself. The marine mammals get sick, are stillborn or even wash ashore after being …
Switching off from work has never been harder, or more necessary. Here’s how to do it
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In the hit dystopian TV series “Severance,” employees at biotech corporation Lumon Industries find it easy to separate work and home life. A computer chip is …
New species of Arum family reported from Myanmar
Amorphophallus mirabilis. Credit: Saw Chit Soe Paing The Arum family (Araceae) consists of terrestrial or aquatic shrubs, vines, or herbs. Amorphophallus is a large genus of about 200 tropical and …
Social media platforms generate billions in annual ad revenue from US youth: Study
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube collectively derived nearly $11 billion in advertising revenue from U.S.-based users younger than 18 …
Unusual ancient elephant tracks had our team of fossil experts stumped—how we solved the mystery
Credit: Jean van der Meulen from Pexels Over the past 15 years, through our scientific study of tracks and traces, we have identified more than 350 fossil vertebrate tracksites from …
Which zoo animals are most active in winter and what times are best to see them?
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The temperature has dropped, the nights have drawn in. The winter holidays have started, families are gathered—so where can you go to fuel the imagination and …
Examining how fiber content affects mechanical properties in flax and pineapple leaf fiber-reinforced plastic composites
Flax. Credit: Newcastle University in Singapore A new study has compared the reinforcing efficiency of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) and cultivated flax fiber in poly(butylene succinate) composites. PALF, a less …