National / Science & Health Dec 3, 2020
'The diversity of nature': Rare 9-tentacled octopus found in northeastern Japan
The unusual creature has been put on display at the local nature center in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture.
Travel Jul 14, 2020
With festival canceled by coronavirus, fireflies dance alone
While the insects are flourishing, festival organizers pray for a return of festivities next year.
World / Science & Health Mar 20, 2020
Inside the stout fins of a fish that, about 380 million years ago, prowled the shallow waters of an estuary in what is now eastern Canada, scientists have found what they call the evolutionary origins of the human hand. The researchers were examining a remarkably ...
World / Science & Health Feb 8, 2020
The world's last woolly mammoths, sequestered on an Arctic Ocean island outpost, suffered from serious genetic defects caused by generations of inbreeding that may have hampered traits such as sense of smell and male fertility in the doomed population. Scientists said on Friday that the ...
World / Science & Health Feb 8, 2020
Climate change has contributed to a sharp drop in bumblebee populations across North America and Europe in recent decades, scientists said Friday. Compared to the period 1900-1974, bumblebee numbers across dozens of distinct species dropped, on average, 46 percent during the first 15 years of ...
Asia Pacific / Science & Health Jan 16, 2020
Secret mission saves Australia's 'dinosaur trees' from bush fires
A secret operation by specialist firefighters has saved the world's last stand of Wollemi pines, a prehistoric species known as "dinosaur trees," from Australia's unprecedented bush fires, officials said. Fewer than 200 of the trees exist in the wild, hidden in a gorge in the ...
National / Science & Health Jan 16, 2020
Deep-sea microbe found off Japan sheds light on primordial evolutionary milestone
A microorganism scooped up in deep-sea mud off Japan's coast has helped scientists unlock the mystery of one of the watershed evolutionary events for life on Earth: the transition from the simple cells that first colonized the planet to complex cellular life — fungi, ...
Asia Pacific Jan 13, 2020
Koalas could be classified 'endangered' after fires decimate population
Australia's koala population has taken such an "extraordinary hit" from the wildfires sweeping the country that the marsupial could be classified as endangered in some areas, according to Environment Minister Sussan Ley. Ley announced a 50 million Australian dollar ($35 million) funding package on Monday ...
World / Science & Health Dec 5, 2019
North America's bird shrinkage documented, with a crash and a splat
Since 1978, researchers have scooped up and measured tens of thousands of birds that died after crashing into buildings in Chicago during spring and fall migrations. Their work has documented what might be called the incredible shrinking bird. A study published on Wednesday involving 70,716 ...
National Nov 27, 2019
Alpine ecosystems at risk in 10 prefectures from climate change, researchers warn
Alpine animals and plants in 10 of Japan's 47 prefectures, such as Hokkaido, are likely to lose habitats within the country by the end of the 21st century as global warming worsens, a Japanese research team reported Wednesday. As temperatures in their living environments gradually ...
World / Social Issues Nov 22, 2019
From love songs to dance tunes to lullabies, music made in disparate cultures worldwide displays certain universal patterns, according to a study by researchers who suggest a commonality in the way human minds create music. The study, published on Thursday, focused on musical recordings and ...
Business Nov 6, 2019
Trump administration to auction off Arctic Alaskan oil and gas sites next month
The Trump administration said on Tuesday it will be auctioning off nearly 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) of land in Arctic Alaska for oil development next month, and it is promising much more territory will be open to development in the future. The Bureau ...