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(Credit: structuresxx/Shutterstock) In Australia, a question lingers: Do we shoot the kangaroos? The proposition sounds a bit inhumane at first blush, after all, the kangaroo stands proudly on the Australian coat of arms. The bouncing beasts are a fixture of the outback. But in recent years, the roos have been doing quite well—in fact, too well. Their numbers have been bolstered by the extinction of natural predators and generous rainfall; there are now so many kangaroos, that one ecolog ...read more

(Credit: RSGS) After more than a century, a mysterious shorthand message exhumed from the archives is confounding scientists and historical societies alike. In the winter of 1903, upon returning from his very first Antarctic expedition, Sir Ernest Shackleton found himself in need of a job. He applied for a secretary position within the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS), an organization responsible for introducing the latest and most innovative technologies. Among them at the time: the ...read more

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(Credit: Marco Dorigo and Nithin Mathews) In the future, we may have drones that can autonomously change size, shape and function. Basically, Transformers is starting to get real. Currently, most autonomous robots are stuck with the function and form they were designed for, but scientists are working hard to change that. In a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, a team led by Nithin Mathews of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium showcased its fleet of “mergeable ner ...read more

Image: Flickr/Per-Olof Forsberg There’s a lot more in Trump’s Twitter feed than just a load of covfefe. In fact, the POTUS tweets often enough to be a source of information about his daily habits. This paper describes what Professor Till Roenneberg gleaned from a careful analysis of Trump’s Twitter activities over several years. Because Trump shares his Twitter accounts with others on his team, Professor Roenneberg first had to separate Tweets originating from diffe ...read more

Instead of making scientists compete for grants based on project proposals, research funding could simply be divided equally among all ‘qualified’ researchers, according to a new paper. Authors Krist Vaesen and Joel Katzav argue that such an ‘egalitarian’ distribution of funds would still leave each grant holder with enough money to support their work and pay for students and junior researchers. But I’m not sure I agree with their logic. Vaesen and Katzav start by ...read more

Brian Emfinger is a lifelong storm chaser, and as a photojournalist and drone pilot for KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas, his work takes him places other people would flee. He was in Rockport, Texas, when Harvey came onshore. He flew his drone after the eye passed overhead, gathering gripping shots of the aftermath across the region. But as Emfinger geared up to chase Hurricane Irma into Florida, he knew he wanted to capture a drone perspective like no other. He wanted to fly his DJI Mavic Pro dron ...read more

Microplastic beads. (Credit: 5Gyres/Oregon State University) You’re made of water, bone, blood, muscle and fat; you’re also a few parts plastic. That is, if you prefer sea salt on your meal. Or honey, shellfish, beer or tap water. Recent studies have found microplastics, tiny shards of degraded plastic, in them all. Even the air is filled with the minuscule plastic bits. Plastic Not-So-Fantastic Hold off on the panic though; it’s still too early for researchers to say wh ...read more

Forecast for storm surge Sunday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. through Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 7 a.m. (Source: National Weather Service) Hurricane Irma is a true monster, exceeding the size of Florida itself, and threatening to flatten structures throughout the state with extreme winds. But perhaps the biggest risk is now posed by storm surge – water pushed up onto land. The animation above shows an experimental forecast for storm surge from the National Weather Service. It shows the height of wat ...read more