Science

In the autumn of 1898, visitors at Madison Square Garden witnessed something that looked impossible. A small metal boat moved across a pool without a visible person guiding it. It changed direction, responded to commands, and appeared to act with a mind of its own. The demonstration came from Nikola Tesla, an inventor already known…

In 1823, British explorers Hugh Clapperton, Dixon Denham and Walter Oudney were some of the first Europeans to document the lake and the surrounding kingdoms. He was struck at the sight of one of Africa’s largest inland lakes. But two centuries later, about 905 of the lake’s surface area has shrunk, leaving only a sliver…

A wind farm is usually thought of as a place where moving air is turned into electricity. Yet the flow does not simply continue on its way once it has passed through the turbines. It changes, rises and mixes with layers of the atmosphere above, leaving behind an invisible trail that can stretch far beyond…

For years, the disappearance of the last woolly mammoths seemed to have a straightforward explanation. A tiny population became isolated, interbred for thousands of years and eventually reached a point where its own genetics made survival impossible. That idea found its way into documentaries, textbooks and scientific discussions alike. A study published in Cell, titled…

Peter Beck never earned a university degree or landed the aerospace job he hoped would launch his career. Instead, the New Zealand engineer turned rejection into an opportunity that reshaped his future. After an unsuccessful trip to the United States in 2006, where attempts to gain experience with organisations including NASA and Boeing fell short,…

Every year, as the seasons change, millions of birds undertake one of nature’s greatest journeys. Some travel only a few hundred kilometres, while others fly thousands without recognising political borders or national boundaries. Instead, they follow ancient migration routes known as flyways, natural aerial corridors shaped by geography, climate and the availability of food and…

Image Credit: Fireballs Aotearoa A spectacular fireball passed over the night sky of New Zealand’s North Island with extreme speed, at approximately 10.26 pm on Tuesday, 28 July 2026. It was accompanied by thunderous rumbles and sharp sonic booms that shook windows and alarmed the livestock in the region. From Auckland down to the Wairarapa,…

The first place people consider when thinking about the source of the oxygen that humans breathe is usually the big rainforest areas like the Amazon. Although forests play a very important role in storing carbon and conserving biodiversity and climate, the oceans provide a greater share of the oxygen in the atmosphere than forests. Almost…

A nesting olive ridley sea turtle on Playa Pejeperro in Costa Rica with a common remora attached to its shell (Credit: Megan Bullock) A mother sea turtle crawled onto a Costa Rican beach to lay her eggs, carrying an unexpected passenger that refused to let go even after leaving the ocean.Gripping tightly to the turtle’s…

For many people, Lewis Howard Latimer is remembered for his later work on electric lighting and his association with Thomas Edison. Yet years before he became involved in the electrical industry, he helped solve a far more ordinary problem that affected railway passengers every day. Travelling by train in the nineteenth century was becoming increasingly…