Category Archives: SCIENCE

Chinese medicine plant secrets probed

Scientists have unravelled one of the secrets of a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese skullcap – known as Huang-Qin – is traditionally used for fever, liver and…

‘Mystery voyage’ of Scottish islands’ red deer

When red deer arrived on Scotland’s outer islands some 5,000 years ago, they were probably brought across the ocean by humans from as far away as central Europe, a study…

EU exit ‘risks British science

Prof Sir Paul Nurse has said that UK research would suffer if the country were to leave the EU. A British exit would make it harder to get funding for…

Earth’s rarest minerals catalogued

Image copyrightzxImage captionFingerite from El Salvador is “a perfect storm of rarity” Scientists have categorised the Earth’s rarest minerals. None of 2,500 species described is known from more than five…

21st Century US ‘dustbowl’ risk assessed

US scientists have modelled how a 1930s-like “dustbowl” drought might impact American agriculture today, and found it to be just as damaging. But the research shows the effects to be…

Obama climate initiative: Supreme Court calls halt

President Barack Obama’s plans to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide from US power plants have been stalled by the US Supreme Court. The court ruled that the president’s Clean Power…

Hawking: Humans at risk of lethal ‘own goal’

Humanity is at risk from a series of dangers of our own making, according to Prof Stephen Hawking. Nuclear war, global warming and genetically-engineered viruses are among the scenarios which…

Warm-blooded fish traps its own heat in the deep

The large and colourful opah has become the first known “warm-blooded” fish, as scientists discovered it can regulate the temperature of its whole body. The opah traps warmth from its…

Nepal earthquake: Death toll rises above 3,000

At least 3,218 people are now known to have died in a massive earthquake which hit Nepal on Saturday, say officials. Rameshwor Dangal, head of Nepal’s disaster management agency, said…

Alien star system buzzed the Sun

An alien star passed through our Solar System just 70,000 years ago, astronomers have announced. No other star is known to have approached this close to us. An international team…

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