A. V.

ice-stupa

Super Stupa

The desert-like climate 3,500m up in Ladakh, India, is extreme: the winters are long and bitterly cold, and in summer, water is scarce. Farmers rely on glacial meltwater during the April and May planting season. But, with the retreat of the glaciers due to climate change, there’s less of that when they need it. Teacher …

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tesla

Electricity: The Spark of Life

The Wellcome Collection’s latest exhibition, Electricity: The Spark of Life, features both an early electric eel specimen and an engraving depicting Humboldt’s legendary brush with live versions. The exhibition examines our relationship with one of the most potent symbols of the modern world, from early understanding through to generation, supply and consumption – and traces …

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protists

No Need to Protist

How do you find your dinner if you live underground and can’t see anything? You sniff it out. Like the mole that uses scent to find its prey, tiny single-celled organisms called protists have been found to target their desired meal – soil bacteria – using scent. Ecologists have long known that soil bacteria emit …

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yosemite-firefall

In Full Glow

You’d be forgiven for mistaking this cascade of red for volcanic lava. But it is actually the wet stuff – a waterfall transformed into a ‘firefall’, one of nature’s rarest phenomena. It’s a spectacle you might get the chance to see at the 300m Horsetail Fall in Yosemite National Park, California, on just a few …

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gnu-babies

Gnu-born Babies

The plains of the southern Serengeti become a giant maternity ward in February, as wildebeest calves are born in their thousands. Around 8,000 calves come into the world each day – making a total of about 300,000 over the calving season. Wildebeest – also called gnu or wildebai – band together in herds tens of …

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salar-de-uyuni

Mirror, Mirror …

The mirror-like Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, is almost indistinguishable from the horizon above it at this time of year. You could probably see your face in it. The 12,000sq km salt-encrusted prehistoric lakebed is located in Potosi, southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3,660m above sea level. It is …

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shrinking

Have I Shrunk?

Feel like you were taller last time you checked? You’re not imagining it: we do actually shrink during the day as the cartilage in our spine compresses, making us 1½-2cm shorter. Thankfully, as we sleep, the pressure on our spine eases and we regain the lost height in the morning. However, over time the effects …

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why-do-we-dream

Why Do We Dream?

The rear part of our brain gets really active during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the stage when we are close to waking and when we dream the most. But dreams can also occur during so-called ‘slow-wave sleep’. And, although scientists have been studying the dream cycle for decades, no one really knows for sure …

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