Cage fungus Alison Pouliot “I’ve been hanging around fungi for more than 30 years now, working more at the scientific end. But this time I wanted to really explore the aesthetics of fungi,” says photographer, writer and ecologist Alison Pouliot. “Many of them are aesthetically beautiful. But they are also bizarre, unusual and crazy. I…
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Background stars appear as streaks because the telescope was tracking the comet NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA)/Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Telescopes trained on the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS have revealed that it looks much like comets found in the outer reaches of our own solar system. However,…
When I was a kid, I sometimes played basketball on a schoolyard court next to a brick wall. Bouncing the ball, I’d notice its sound repeated a split second later from the wall’s direction. It sounded a little different, but it was clearly the same noise the ball made when it hit the blacktop, just…
Honeybees routinely battle infectious fungi, bacteria, mites and viruses Anthony Brown/Alamy Two seemingly innocuous viral infections in adult honeybees may be secretly insidious, meddling with the insects’ airborne athletics. One virus makes them fly faster, while the other pumps the brakes. Honeybees routinely battle infectious fungi, bacteria, mites and viruses – some of which can…
This Mushroom’s Incredibly Bitter Taste Is New to Science The first analysis of mushroom bitterness reveals ultrapotent compounds By K. R. Callaway edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Alexander Kurlovich/Alamy Stock Photo Ever bite into something so bitter that you had to spit it out? An ages-old genetic mutation helps you and other animals perceive bitterness…
Artistic concept of what the gas giant orbiting Alpha Centauri A could look like ESA/Webb Copyright: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC) A giant planet the size of Saturn orbiting a sun-like star has potentially been identified in our nearest neighbouring stellar system, Alpha Centauri. At just four light years from Earth, Alpha Centauri…
Quantum mechanics is one of the most successful theories in science — and makes much of modern life possible. Technologies ranging from computer chips to medical-imaging machines rely on the application of equations, first sketched out a century ago, that describe the behaviour of objects at the microscopic scale. But researchers still disagree widely on…
Is that gravitational wave signal coming from a black hole, or something even stranger? titoOnz / Alamy Exotic viscous stars could reflect ripples of space-time, mimicking the signals we observe from black holes. Since 2015, researchers have been learning how to see the contents of the universe by tracking not just light waves but also…
A beautiful menace is on the move in the United States. Polka-dotted, red-and-gray-winged insects are gliding along sidewalks, climbing on plants and crawling up buildings. Spotted youngsters are leaping away to avoid a sticky end at the bottom of a shoe. Welcome to spotted lanternfly season. An invasive plant hopper native to parts of China,…
Nature-Inspired Gel Explains Why This Duck Is Stuck Today this material can seal pipes and brave the ocean. But someday it could be used in surgery or underwater repairs By Andrea Tamayo edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier A rubber duck glued to a rock by the sea using one of the researchers’ hydrogels. Hailong Fan…
