Shrews’ noses grow in winter as their brains shrink

This nose grows. During harsh Japanese winters, long-clawed shrews’ snouts temporarily expand. The seasonal swelling is the opposite of the previously known winter pattern in shrews, in which the brain…

Every country needs a model to help optimise its energy transition

Claver Gatete is Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Jason Veysey is Energy Modeling Program Director and Senior Scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute. Lisa Sachs is…

Hubble, James Webb team up to capture the ‘Black Eye Galaxy’ photo of the day for Aug. 18, 2026

Sometimes, incredibly powerful space telescopes work together to accomplish amazing things. Recently, observations made by both the James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble were combined in a composite image that…

Severe flooding raises deadly overdose risk in rural Appalachia, study finds – and the harm lasts for years

When she went to sleep on July 27, 2022, McKayla wasn’t worried about the storm that was raging outside her trailer in southeastern Kentucky. Intense storms came frequently in summer.…

What happens when your hospital is also your insurance company? We’re starting to see the effects

Historically, hospitals have provided care for people, while separate insurers have paid for that care. During the past two decades, however, this arrangement has changed. Today, nearly 1 in 3…

Roman-Era treasure? Coin, bracelet and spearhead discovered near Miejsce

A weekend search of farmland near the village of Miejsce in Poland has produced an extraordinary collection of archaeological finds, including a Roman silver coin, a bronze bracelet, a spearhead,…

Snail slime does many jobs thanks to calcium

Not all slime is created equal. A species of land snails tweaks its slime’s chemical recipe to create five different varieties of mucus, using each for a particular job. Depending…

“Dangerous consequences” – how AI’s climate framing lets Big Tech off the hook

As tech giants race to build out AI and the sprawling infrastructure it depends on, climate concerns have tended to focus on one thing: power-hungry data centres. Their electricity use…

On this day in space! Aug. 17, 1877: Asaph Hall Discovers the Martian moon Phobos

On Aug. 17, 1877, American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Mars’s moon Phobos. Moons of Mars: Amazing Photos of Phobos and Deimos Hall was working at the U.S. Naval Observatory in…

US government is pushing to gain unprecedented access to your medical records – as data protections are weakening

You might assume that what you tell a doctor stays between you, your physician and perhaps your insurer. But the reality is more complicated. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability…