by Gareth Willmer Tiny, low-cost satellites that can work together to boost their output and a technology that reduces the loss of satellite data are two of the latest innovations to hit the Earth observation market – and the results promise to reveal a more detailed image of our planet. Space is not just a … Read more
by Frieda Klotz In March 2018, French scientists reported a steep decline in the country’s bird populations, primarily as a result of agricultural activity. Causes include the increase in monoculture, detrimental land-use policies and, perhaps most importantly, the growth in the use of powerful pesticides such as neonicotinoids, which, by killing off insects, reduces the bird … Read more
Studying environments that are similar to Mars, and their microbial ecosystems, could help prepare biologists to identify traces of life in outer space. In some of the most remote areas of our planet, scientists are examining how life can persist in the form of tiny microbes that inhabit a niche that would be fatal to … Read more
Few would be surprised to learn that the sun is very, very hot. At its surface, the temperature is several thousand degrees Celsius. But you might think that, like a fire, the temperature drops as you move away from the surface. In fact, way out in the sun’s corona (the outermost part of its atmosphere) … Read more
by Zoé de York From rubber dandelions and toxic crustaceans to anti-vaxxers and the world’s hottest geothermal well, Horizon covered a wide variety of stories in 2017. Here are our 10 favourite science facts that we learned along the way. 1. One sugar-cube-sized chunk of a neutron star would weigh a billion tonnes, or as much … Read more