Genetic diversity maps to help forests survive climate change

Image credit - Mehdi Pringarbe/INRA Avignon, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Forests have a special magic for many of us. Steeped in folklore and fantasy, they are places for enchantments, mythical creatures and outlaws. But if they are to survive into the future, they may also need a helping hand from science. Globally, forests are having a tough time. Industrial logging, wildfires and deforestation for agriculture … Read more

Sloths: how did two different animals wind up looking so similar?

Image Credit - Flickr/Harry and Rowena Kennedy CC BY-NC-ND 4.0/ CC BY 3.0

Sloths and guppies appear to have little in common – one is an arboreal mammal living in the slow lane, while the other is a tiny tropical fish with a frantic existence. Yet both could hold the key to better understanding a fundamental process of evolution. Hanging lazily from tree branches where they barely move … Read more

Road upgrades to help humans drive alongside automated cars

Image credit - Pixabay/0532-2008, licensed under pixabay license

As new self-driving vehicles appear on the streets, the traffic clogging our cities and highways could get a lot worse unless the roads themselves become smarter. Automated vehicles are often lauded as the solution to Europe’s congested road networks due to their ability to drive closer together and at higher speeds than humans can do … Read more

Sixth mass extinction could destroy life as we know it– biodiversity expert

Image credit - Paul VanDerWerf, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Alarming declines in the number of insects, vertebrates and plant species around the world have raised fears that we are in the midst of a sixth major extinction that could cause a collapse of the natural ecosystems we rely upon to survive. Urgent international action is needed to halt this potentially catastrophic decline in biodiversity, … Read more

Pushing the bounds of vision could reveal hidden worlds

Image Credit - Amplify project

Nature is complex – often too complex for humans to see. But squint-controlled glasses that let people see 3D thermal images and a camera that can capture the inner workings of high-speed chemical reactions are helping to push the limits of human perception. Human senses have already been highly tuned by millions of years of … Read more