Early Bronze Age Alphabet Discovered
Archaeologists unearthed possible alphabetic writings significantly older than any others ever found. Archaeologists discovered this in 2004 at the ancient city of Umm el-Marra, in the northwest of present-day Syria.
Humans Shouldn’t Migrate to Mars Yet
With new technology and scientific breakthroughs left, right, and centre, Mars could be the second home of humanity. The possibility of living on the red planet sounds exciting, but stop and think: is it a good idea?
Gophers and Fungi Revive Mt St Helens After Explosion
40 years ago, scientists plopped two gophers into fenced areas at Mt St Helens to see if they could help the environment recover after a devastating volcanic explosion. The effects of the experiment decades later were far beyond the scientists’ expectations.
Scientists Discover Spiderman-Like Fluid
Have you ever wondered if you could swing from building to building like Spiderman? Well, perhaps someday you will be able to do this! Around October 2024, scientists at the University of the United States found a way to create a Spiderman-based web-like fluid. The building blocks of this were the cocoons of the Bombyx mori silkworm, which is then boiled down which into a special solution to break down and extract the main component – a fibrous protein called silk fibroin. The acetone caused the silk fibroin to form a semi-solid hydrogel over hours. But if this web-like material is going to be useful, it must form much quicker.
Chemicals Are Threatening Our Wildlife
Imagine a world without animals—no butterflies fluttering through the air, no cicadas singing in the summer, no birds soaring overhead. While this is far from our reality today, we are at risk of losing some of our beloved species, such as freshwater sea turtles. A recent joint study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) has revealed alarming signs of population decline and the toxic impact of PFAS chemicals on Queensland’s freshwater turtles, potentially pushing their populations toward collapse.
Solar Advancing Technology
One of the biggest problems with using solar panels as a complete energy source is that you can’t rely on the sun to shine every day. But a breakthrough in May 2022 discovered a way of using them in the night, and during the rain.
New Ways to Save the Great Barrier Reef
Climate change is the biggest threat for the Great Barrier Reef, and reefs worldwide. Other key threats include poor water quality, fishing impacts on protected and threatened species, marine debris and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, says the Australian Government. Another threat is ocean litter, which hurts and even kills marine wildlife. But there are ways we can prevent these problems, like recycling, and using renewable energy. Renewable energy includes wind power, solar power, bioenergy (organic matter burned as a fuel) and hydroelectric, including tidal energy.
Oldest Alphabet has Been Found in Syria
Recently in Syria, archaeologists found a new source of writing from around 2400 BCE. They think that they discovered some of the oldest hints of writing in history, which was shocking to scientists, as they thought the oldest form of text was the cuneiform text.
Meteorites from the Same Families
For a while, scientists have been unclear where the 70% of unknown meteoroids originated. Recently, scientists have discovered that most of Earth’s meteorites come from a few asteroid break ups. These collisions occurred from 5.8 to 40 million years ago, and have travelled through space for ages to join us on Earth.
Thinning Ice Sheet in Greenland
In Greenland, there is a huge ice sheet that is thinning largely over a short span of time, inducing higher sea levels. This could be a step up for climate change and global warming because it could create floods and severe weather conditions like hotter and wetter summers in Australia and colder and wet and snowier winters in Europe.