Nature

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new project led by McGill University researchers seeks to understand one of humanity's oldest practices and most powerful tools—storytelling. From ancient oral traditions to modern-day literature and digital narratives, storytelling is an essential part of the lived experience that is not yet fully understood. "The Lives of…

Ever wondered what a masked maniac in the vein of Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees does in his downtime—or what it might be like if Terrence Malick made a slasher movie? In a Violent Nature, which just debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and will stream on Shudder, sets out to answer both questions.As you can tell from that description, writer-director Chris Nash’s film has an intriguing premise. It’s full of familiar elements: it takes place in the woods and around a lake; its primary victims are a group of young…

The complex molecular structure of spider silk has been successfully copied as scientists spin silk from an artificial gland that mimics nature’s process of producing one of the world’s toughest fibers. Scientists believe this breakthrough is a huge step towards finally being able to produce the highly adaptable and sought-after material that has widespread real-world uses.Researchers from Japan’s RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science andf RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research achieved the feat by taking a new…

Your Pals may look a little too close to Pokemon in some instances in Palworld, but they do have some important mechanical differences. Yes, they all have elemental types that give them advantages over other Pals, just like a pocket monster, but your Pals can’t and won’t evolve just by battling and earning XP. Instead, the only way to get new and improved Pals outside of catching higher-level ones in the wild is through breeding. However, Pals aren’t all that keen on producing offspring without you setting up the…

By Washington University in St. Louis January 19, 2024Left: Composite image of a long-exposure and short-exposure image of the nucleus of comet Wild 2, showing surface features and jet activity. Right: Close-up view from a different image showing pinnacles, depressions, and ridges on Wild 2. Credit: GeochemistryEighteen years following the return of NASA’s Stardust mission to Earth, which brought back the first samples from a known comet, the true nature of that icy object is coming into focus.Stardust collected material…

Researchers in Finland have found that willow bark extract has potent antiviral properties against various viruses, including COVID-19 and enteroviruses, offering a promising basis for developing new antiviral treatments.Willow bark, already the origin of aspirin, could now be the key to a vital new antiviral medication.From seasonal colds to stomach bugs, it’s clear that viral infections are unwelcome and epidemics can have catastrophic impacts. To address future outbreaks, the development of safe and sustainable…

Illustration of a sow and her piglets on trial for the murder of a child. The trial is believed to have taken place in 1457. Credit: Wikimedia On 30 March 2011, a truly unprecedented event took place at a provincial court in Loja, Equator, located some 270 miles from the capital of Quito. The Vilcabamba River, a plaintiff in a trial there, convinced the tribunal that its own rights were being undermined by a road development…

You might think, with the completion of the Human Genome Project 20 years ago now, and the discovery of the double helix enjoying its 70th birthday this year, that we actually know how life works. In physics, the quest for a so-called Grand Unifying Theory has preoccupied the most ambitious minds for generations, alas to no avail. But in the life sciences, we managed to find four grand unifying theories in the space of 100 years or so. Three are well known: cell theory – all life is made of cells, which only come from…

Photo: David JosephSometimes, a moment is so fleeting or a scene is so small that not even the fiercest squint can capture it.Thankfully, that’s where cameras—and the photographers that wield them—come in. Today, the winners and finalists of the fifth Close-up Photographer of the Year competition are revealed. Showcasing nature at its smaller scales, the awarded images—selected from nearly 12,000 entries—offer an intimate look at the animal kingdom, fungi, and the remarkable planet that we call home.Here are the winning…

Though Godzilla looms very large in Apple TV Plus’ Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, it isn’t the only gargantuan kaiju whose presence keeps the series’ human characters living in a constant state of fear. Along with the big man itself, and many other classic Toho creatures, Legacy of Monsters also introduces a number of original titans to Legendary’s quickly expanding MonsterVerse franchise. With Monarch both digging into the MonsterVerse’s unexplored history and building to what’s coming next on the big screen, the show’s…