Mystery of beetles depending on moon, sun light for orientation
Scientists know that bees, ants and many other insects can orient themselves using polarised sunlight, but dung beetles are the first known to orient themselves using the million-times-dimmer polarised light that emanates from the moon. Neurobiologist Marie Dacke of Lund University in Sweden, entomologist Marcus Byrne at the University of...
Ancient Egyptians believed dung beetles controlled the movement of the sun
Placed over the heart in the wrappings of Egyptian mummies, archaeologists have often found carved amulets of scarab beetles, a species of dung beetle. The amulets, many with spells inscribed on them, were intended to help the dead in a final judgment by the jackal-headed god of death, Anubis, who...
In bizarre American drama, fiction preserves systemic structures of imbalance
Fiction is a useful currency in the stories we tell ourselves. In the arts especially, fiction is fundamental to awakening universal, human truths – be it your favourite prestige TV thriller, the dystopias of Ray Bradbury’s imagination or one of the countless parodies posted on TikTok every day. In real...
Anti-secrecy activists publish a trove of ransomware victims’ data
For years, radical transparency-focused activists like WikiLeaks have blurred the line between whistle-blowing and hacking. Often, they’ve published any data they consider to be of public interest, no matter how questionable the source. But now one leak-focused group is mining a controversial new vein of secrets: the massive caches of...
Zuckerberg to Trump: Go away quietly, don’t undermine law and order
As of Thursday morning, following a day in which a mob of the president’s supporters violently invaded the US Capitol, the president’s Twitter account was temporarily frozen. YouTube had taken down his latest video and most remarkably, Mark Zuckerberg had announced that Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended indefinitely....
Now Trump pledges ‘orderly’ transition after riot and Biden win certification
President Donald Trump on Thursday finally pledged to an orderly transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden while repeating false claims about the 2020 election that led a mob of his supporters to storm the US Capitol and delay Congress’ affirmation of Biden’s Electoral College win. “Even though I totally...
Big relief for scientists as UK, EU sign Brexit trade deal
Researchers reacted with relief to the news that the United Kingdom and the European Union had reached a last-minute trade deal on December 24 – ending more than four years of uncertainty over what their relationship after Brexit would look like. The deal has wide-ranging impacts for scientists — most...
Africa’s oil and gas should power creation of good jobs on the continent
For decades, many of Africa’s oil- and gas-producing countries have followed a predictable pattern. They treated their oil and gas primarily as raw materials that is sold abroad for quick profit rather than as a means of supporting changes in the economy of the nation as a whole. This pattern...
President Donald Trump plans to go into exile to skip Joe Biden’s swearing-in
Having failed to arm-twist election officials to generate data that would place him ahead of his rival in the November 3 presidential poll, outgoing US President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to go into exile in Scotland to skip Joe Biden’s inauguration. According to Scottish Sunday Post newspaper, “US President...
US bans Communist students with military link, says they steal billions of dollars
The US government has finally issued an official policy on the inadmissibility of foreigners affiliated with Communist or totalitarian parties. The critical new rule appears to be the Trump administration’s response to an epidemic of Communists, mainly from China, that have stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded scientific research while...
