Habitat destruction and urbanization certainly played a role, but malaria might have dealt the final blow.
Latest headlines
Extreme heat to become the new normal in the US
A lot of hot days loom over the US.
Menstrual cups are cheap, effective, and just as reliable as tampons, large-scale study shows
Have you considered trying menstrual cups?
Analysis of 19 million cats shows how our pets’ weight evolves throughout their lifetimes
“As humans, we know we need to strive to maintain a healthy weight, but for cats, there has not been a clear definition of what that is. We simply didn’t have the data,” the authors say.
Vikings cut down all of Iceland’s forests — the country is planting them anew
Since 2015, Iceland has planted around 1,000 hectares of forest (between three and four million trees).
HIV sequencing from archived tissue suggests the virus crossed to humans in early 1900s
Scientists are getting closer to revealing the timeline of HIV evolution.
New studies explain why many more women than men are affected by Alzheimer’s
There are sex differences that may make women more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s.
Women are just as aroused by pornography as men, largest study of its kind shows
Myth: busted.
How fast is the universe expanding? We may need to recalculate
It’s one of the fundamental universal features — and we’re still struggling to understand it.
Stonehenge might have a secret ingredient: lard
The 5,000-year-old structures have baffled historians for centuries. However, it looks like one piece of the puzzle might have come together.
Are dinosaur fossils minerals? The legal answer to that is surprisingly important
Every once in a while, a scientific matter will spill into the courtroom — this is the case with the “dueling dinosaurs” fossil.
Scientists discover new eagle-nosed, shovel-chinned dinosaur
A weird-looking new duck-billed dinosaur was found in Texas.
Air pollution challenges solar power expansion in China
China’s pollution is ironically hurting its renewable energy technology.
China’s emissions soar despite remarkable climate action
The need for more ambition on climate action was once more highlighted following a new report on China’s greenhouse gas emissions. The country’s emissions reached 12.3 billion tons in 2014 – a 53.5% increase in just a decade. The figures were part of a report filed to the United Nations by China, as part of its obligation to regularly
World’s largest container shipping company pledges carbon neutrality by 2050
Still a long way to go, but it’s an important step in the right direction.
Human outposts on Mars could be sheltered by a thin layer of ‘frozen smoke’
Scientists envision using a very thin material to build a huge greenhouse on Mars.
This is what quantum entanglement looks like
The first images of spooky action at a distance.
By 2050, many cities will have hot weather like they’ve never seen
How hot will your area be in 2050?
Study reveals true scale of one of the world’s deadliest plagues
“We now have a pathogen whose molecular history we can follow for thousands of years,” says paper co-author McCormick. “The jury’s out, evidence is accumulating, and we’re all going to learn as we go forward.”
Grasshoppers, silkworms, giant cicadas are a good source of antioxidants — if you eat them
“In the future, we might also adapt dietary regimens for insect rearing in order to increase their antioxidant content for animal or human consumption,” say the authors.
