Category: 7. SciTech

Scientists think they have figured out why Mount Everest, known as Chomolungma in Tibet and Sagarmatha in Nepal, stands out so starkly from the rest of the peaks in the Himalayas. According to new models, there is an overlooked force of ‘piracy’ at play that could account for as much as 50… Continue Reading

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week – from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Scientists may finally have an explanation for why Mount Everest is so much… Continue Reading

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week – from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Mount Everest is around 15 to 50 metres taller than it would otherwise be… Continue Reading

Earth is constantly bombarded by ‘micrometeorites’; tiny bits of asteroids and comets. Scientists have measured the typical accretion rate of these particles at between 20 and 60 million kilograms per year.  So, on average, more than 100,000kg fall to Earth each day.  The mass… Continue Reading

On the morning of 22 September 2017, the small Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico lay battered and broken. During the preceding 48 hours, the island had been besieged by Hurricane Maria, its 250km/h (155mph) winds tearing through everything in its path, leaving behind a trail of devastation and… Continue Reading

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week – from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter A city besieged by the Romans over 2,000 years ago after its inhabitants… Continue Reading

Table of Contents (click to expand) The Three Sisters refers to a farming technique of intercropping corn, beans and squash on the same farm. Indigenous communities practiced this, as they held that the three crops aided the other’s growth. The practice died out due to European influence on… Continue Reading

The electrical effects of a thunderstorm are not confined just to high up in the atmosphere. Close to the ground, Earth’s atmosphere hums with intense electric fields that accelerate particles, flinging electrons in ways that force atoms to glow with gamma rays. From atop a mountain in Armenia,… Continue Reading

We’ve never seen the inside of a volcano quite like this before. Researchers have developed a smart new imaging technique that lets us peer inside these gigantic natural tinderboxes to unprecedented levels of detail and depth. The research team, from the French National Centre for Scientific… Continue Reading

Most spiders pose very little danger to humans, including the notorious noble false widow (Steatoda nobilis). But the half-inch predator does punch surprisingly far above its weight. According to a 2023 study, for example, the noble false widow spider may habitually prey upon vertebrates, with… Continue Reading