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The Sahara will be fertile in 10,000 years
Fossils in the bone-dry Sahara Desert reveal that the sand dunes are located in what was previously a moist, fertile region. Scientists used to believe that the Sahara switched between dry and moist…
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2050: THE YEAR OF INSTANT OIL
Another holiday in the near future. Your family is on a road trip, and after several hours, it’s time to fill up. Oil and coal are in short supply, and foreign superpowers are…
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Big Bang: The Accidental Proof
Something like 50 years ago, two astronomers made a discovery by accident, which became central to the current leading theory of the creation of the universe – and the theory which the most…
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Vintage Science – Big Dig In Panama
At was nearly two o’clock in the afternoon, the people gathered on the shore of the Gatun Lake became more and more excited. Everybody was looking at the dam, that seperated the…
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The Mahogany Ship
Was Australia discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th Century?
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Ancient Wonders
Have you wondered who would win in a fight between a crocodile and a shark? Don’t kid yourself: this thought has crossed your mind before, right? My money is on the croc. Crocodiles,…
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History in the Blood
Molecular detectives find soft, biological material in hard, fossilised bones of animals and humans. The material bears witness to everything from hominin skin colour and dinosaurs’ kinship with birds to the Incan…
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A 3D-PRINTED SECOND CHANCE
Baby Kaiba seemed healthy, but when he was six weeks old, his parents were shocked to the core. The family was dining at a restaurant, when the little boy suddenly stopped breathing, and…
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2014: a space odyssey
Brad Pitt is, Michael Schumacher is, and Stephen Hawking is too. They are waiting. They are excited. Some 580 well-known and unknown people have lined up for the adventure of their lives. They…
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The Perfect Killer
Lions and white sharks are top-level predators, but compared to the superior hunter of the world of insects, they’re rank amateurs. Nature has made the dragonfly an efficient killing machine, whose sophisticated vision,…
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Scientists are reviving extinct species:
Return of the beasts One single cell. That could be all we need to revive a mammoth. Over the last decade, scientists have been part of a veritable revolution of DNA decoding and…
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Top 10 Science Myths
“The Great Wall of China is visible from space” The 2,200-year-old Chinese structure is impressive. But it cannot be observed from space – and certainly not from the Moon. Unless you have super-vision….
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Molecular Murder
Nature’s most potent poisons attack the tiniest building blocks of our bodies: the cells. Poisons can effect as little as one molecule – but this has fatal consequences. Even the slightest molecular change…
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Super Telescopes
SOLVING THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE In the most desolate regions of the globe, astronomers and engineers are building a new generation of super telescopes. The high-tech structures will be spread across several…
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See-through soil will improve crops
The mysterious world of the rhizosphere revealed.
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Protein could give IVF couples hope
One protein is critical for the beginning of life.
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Armour-covered floating beauty
‘Ehux’ is a micro-organism vital to marine food chains — it is also visually mesmerising.
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Bioengineers developed an artificial jellyfish
Medusoid is the brainchild of professor Kevin Kit Parker and a team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Using silicone and muscle cells taken from a rat’s heart,…
Etruscan tomb with female aristocrat
Archaeoloy In a tomb in Tarquinia northwest of the Italian capital of Rome, archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery: Behind a stone shield, they found a vaulted tomb full of artefacts of the…
Why do whales and humans have such long menopause?
Long menopause allows killer whales to care for sons.
Timelapse of swarming monster worms and sea stars
Three-foot nemertean worms and carnivorous sea stars prowl the Antarctic in search of flesh.
Meerkat Magic
Some of the magic moment of filming meerkats for the BBC’s Planet Earth Live.
Meet a flavour creator
Willy Wonka novelty lab or just a little disturbing?
Technology meets fashion
This is what happens when fashion and technology come together — a look at the DVF Spring 2013 show through the eyes of the models, the designers and Diane von Furstenberg herself. All…
Air traffic worldwide
When you look up to the sky remember that at any given time there are between 9,000 and 13,000 aircraft in the air (according to the US Federal Aviation Agency, there are at…
Birth of a planet
Researchers use 3D models to better our understanding of how planets are formed.
Dancing chromatophores
Music has the ability to get these pigmented cephalopod cells moving to the beat.
Colour-changing robot inspired by octopus
The cephalopod’s impressive camouflage led scientists to create a rubbery new robot.
Snake disease decoded
Three snakes have helped researchers decode a mysterious disease.
What makes Paris look like Paris?
Visual data mining of Google identifies cities’ distinctive details.
Bioengineers developed an artificial jellyfish
Medusoid is the brainchild of professor Kevin Kit Parker and a team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Using silicone and muscle cells taken from a rat’s heart,…
Van Gogh could have painted this
Why is the corona hotter than the surface beneath it? Vincent van Gogh’s painting techniques may hold the answer.
Snow leopards found in den
Mother snow leopards and their cubs have been filmed in their den in Mongolia’s Tost Mountains for the first time.
The science behind Spiderman
The blockbuster The Amazing Spiderman has plenty of physics and quantitative biology references. To get things right, the filmmakers consulted with James Kakalios, a physics lecturer at the University of Minnesota who wrote the book…
Higgs boson: the quest continues
After years and years, the quest seems to be over”¦ or at least that is what we expect to hear next week, when CERN’s scientists unveil their results at the at the 36th International…
Machine playing instruments
Who would have thought that machines could ‘play’ instruments. PureTune used an Atari 800XL (organ), HP Scanjet 3P (vocals), Texas Instrument Ti-99/4A (guitar) and a hard-drive powered by a microcontroller (bass drum and cymbal)…
Magnificent Vesta
A new video from NASA shows Vesta’s true colours. Vesta, according to data gathered by the Dawn mission, used to be an ancient planet; had it formed nearer to the Sun, it might…
Moths: hot or not?
Male moths may be throwing themselves into a relationship before they’re ready.
Remembering Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury, the absolute master of science fiction, shares some of his memories in this video produced by Expanded Books.
3D videoconferences
A team of researchers from Queen University, Canada, have developed a 3D cylindrical display called telehuman. The technology, which includes Microsoft kinetic sensors, a 3D projector, a convex mirror and 1.8-metre tall translucent…
Victoria’s orange army
Thousands of Giant Spider Crabs (Leptomithrax gaimardii) congregate in Port Phillip Bay every year before their winter moult.
Ocean pollution detected by robots
Robotic fish have been released in the waters of the port of Gijon, Spain, to detect marine pollution. The intelligent robotic fish developed by SHOAL, a European research project, is capable of detecting…
The moonwalking bird
A male manakin courting a female is an impressive sight.
The after life of a whale
A whale has in interesting after life, as it feeds some deep ocean species. Check out this video directed by Sharon Shattuck and Flora Lichtman.
Untamed nature
Natural history filmmaker Karen Bass shares footage from her latest projects.
Black hole caught committing murder
Most homicide cases involve finding the murderer, but this is the first time NASA have been able to identify a stellar homicide victim.
Sticky feet
Researchers at Cambridge University explain how ants can climb up walls and stick to the ceiling without falling down.
The empire of the micro
Directed by Austrian artist Clemens Wirth, this two-minute film takes you into the realm of the micro.
No more hiding
Scientists at MIT Media Lab have develop a new imaging system that gathers information from opaque objects. This has helped in the development of a new camera that can peer around corners.
Mysteries of the human mind
Since the 1920s, researchers have been trying to understand why we can’t walk straight without a visible guide point. Are we doomed to walk in circles? NPR finds the answer in this video.
Travelling to the past
Scientists gain VIP access to the stars.
Baboons can recognise words
Baboons have no linguistic skills, but they can spot printed words. Over a period of 45 days, a team of scientists from the US and France studied a group of baboons living in…
‘Robosquirrel’ helps scientists understand rattlesnakes
When adult squirrels come face-to-face with a rattlesnake, they approach it head-first in an elongated posture, making flagging movements with their tails, but when squirrels want to fend of rattlesnakes, they heat their…
Aurora borealis uncovered
The northern lights are messages from the Sun — and Dr Jim Wild, from the University of Lancaster, teaches us how to read them.
From flying pigeons and cats
This video from the Aerospace Medical Division Hq 657Oth Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories includes scenes from an F-104 seat ejection trial and the effects of weightlessness on cats and pigeons in a C-131.
The robots are coming!
A team of scientists led by Vijay Kumar has created agile aerial robots that swarm and sense each other.
Bye Bye Birdie
Match made in science heaven: NASA + Angry Birds.
Giant and colossal squids have super-powerful eyes
Giant and colossal squids have soccer-ball-sized eyes that detect large moving objects at 120 metres.
The wondrous world of dinosaurs
Iridescent feathers were the ultimate social tool for non-avian dinosaurs such as Microraptor.
