Seeds can grow in Moon dust, but not very well
Thale cress plants have been grown in regolith (the fine dust that covers the moon’s surface) using samples from Apollo missions – but they turn out small and stunted
Blog
Forget angry birds, try hangry worms
Have you ever skipped a meal and found yourself snapping at people for no good reason? Welcome to the world of hangry – but why does it happen?
Irritable worms may hold the key to new materials engineering
Cranky worms that live in the mud can combine copper into its fangs so simply and effectively they are pointing to new material manufacturing processes.
The average human body temperature is dropping and it’s not clear why
After being confirmed as 37°C in the mid 1800s, the average human body temperature is falling. But why?
Nematodes come back to life after 42,000 years under the permafrost
Nematodes from ancient Siberian permafrost have been brought back to life after 42,000 years.
Do animals have accents?
Do animals have regional accents and dialects? From ducks to currawongs, cows to wolves, they certainly do.
The 2021 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap has been released!
I’m super happy to see the 2021 NRI Roadmap released. Six months of my life was devoted to the Taskforce and I’m proud to have been part of it.
Wild dolphin ‘talks’ to porpoises
A wild dolphin in Scotland has been observed ‘talking’ to porpoises in what is being called cross-species communication.
Microplastics discovered in human blood
Researchers in the Netherlands have discovered microplastics in the blood of humans for the first time.
What happens if you leave a dental abscess?
I’ve had a horrible tooth abscess recently and I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if I didn’t treat it. In short, it can kill you.
Bull ants evolve a new way to target pain
Australian bull ants have evolved a venom molecule perfectly tuned to target the echidna that also could have implications for people with long-term pain.
UK plants are flowering a month earlier due to climate change
Climate change is causing plants in the UK to flower a month earlier on average, which could have profound consequences for wildlife, agriculture and gardeners.
Broken dinosaur killer ate baby dinosaurs
Around 95 million years ago near Winton, a massive crocodile relative clamped down on a baby dinosaur and swallowed it nearly whole. The crocodilian died soon after, and as it fossilised so did the partly-digested dinosaur in its belly.
Update: SpaceX rocket booster will NOT crash into the Moon
It turns out that SpaceX is not responsible for the giant piece of space junk that is going to crash into the far side of the Moon – it’s Chinese instead,
Which was the worst year to be alive?
Things are a bit rough right now, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the worst year ever: 536.