The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. A key determinant of the ability of a landslide to cause loss is its mobility. A more mobile landslide has greater potential capacity to impact humans and their assets, and faster movement…
Read More “The mobility of landslides triggered by earthquakes” »
The minke whale is a smaller species of baleen whale Kerstin Meyer/Getty Images Brainwave testing of two young baleen whales has revealed they can hear higher frequency sounds than previously thought, forcing researchers to rethink how the ocean’s largest animals respond to predators and human noises. “This is truly groundbreaking work,” says Susan Parks at…
Read More “Brainwave experiment shows minke whales have ultrasonic hearing” »
Some chimpanzees use sticks to fish for termites Manoj Shah/Getty Images Wild chimpanzees appear to learn skills from each other and then – much as humans do – improve on those techniques from one generation to the next. In particular, young females that migrate between groups bring their cultural knowledge with them, and groups can…
Read More “Chimpanzees seem to get more technologically advanced through culture” »
3D laser scan of the specimen, Uncus dzaugisi Mary L. Droser A worm-like creature preserved in ancient rock has just been identified as the oldest known relative of insects, spiders and crustaceans. The ecdysozoans are a group of invertebrate animals with a tough outer coating, or cuticle, that they moult as they grow. It’s clearly…
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Millions of US residents may be drinking water containing the potentially harmful compound Yiu Yu Hoi/Getty Images A common disinfectant in drinking water breaks down into a chemical compound that we know almost nothing about, including whether it has any potential toxic health effects to those who drink it. Chlorine has been used to sanitise…
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Chris Edwards President-elect Trump should add “and Elimination” to his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The federal government has grown far too large to be managed efficiently. Even if federal workers were highly industrious, and even if politicians were laser-focused on the public interest, the government’s vast size would still create failure after failure. To achieve…
The Federal Reserve is currently reviewing its monetary policy framework. The Fed last revised it in 2020. Inflation then hit a 40-year high, in sharp contrast to the below-target trend before the pandemic. What have we learned? How can the Fed do better? Join AIER as we bring together leading monetary scholars to examine the…
Table of Contents Introduction Some three decades ago, Federalism! resonated in demands for congressional term limits, restrictions on Congress’s commerce powers, and support for the Supreme Court’s state-protective jurisprudence. Those days are long gone. The conservative agenda has shifted; its more libertarian contingents have devoted themselves to the project of re-limiting a centralized, sprawling “administrative…
By its very nature, science fiction encompasses a vast and sprawling world of stories, from the galaxy-spanning novels of Iain M. Banks and Ursula K. Le Guin to the dystopias of Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro. Asking our team of dedicated staff here at New Scientist to pick their personal favourite, then, has created an…
Read More “The 21 best science fiction books of all time – according to New Scientist writers” »
Plant stem cells growing in culture New Dawn Bio What may be the world’s first piece of lab-grown wood isn’t quite big enough to qualify as a woodchip – it’s more like a splinter. But the tiny fragment could be a big step towards reducing the number of trees chopped down to meet our lumber…
Read More “A sliver of lab-grown wood has been made from stem cells” »
