Why can we smell rain?
Find out why precipitation creates a distinctive aroma that’s the same all over the world It’s possible to smell rain before it has even fallen. Lightning has the power to split atmospheric nitrogen and...
Category: Environment
Diving Bell Spider
Check out the ingenious adaptations of these sub-surface arachnids Just when you thought that the depths of ponds and lakes might be safe from these eight-legged critters, the diving bell spider is here to...
A new species of whale has been discovered in Japan
Image credit: Tadasu K. Yamada et al., Scientific Reports. August 30, 2019 At the northernmost point of Japan’s mainland, Hokkaido, a new species of whale has been confirmed. Locally known as Kurotsuchikujira, meaning ‘black...
Coral reefs: Exploring the rainforest of the seas
Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, and thousands of sea creatures call it home, from microscopic organisms to enormous predators. In fact, the coral is an entire colony...
What’s beneath Antarctica’s ice?
Antarctica, Earth’s fifth-largest continent, has scenery as dramatic as America’s Great Lakes or the European Alps, yet its mountains and lakes are as unexplored as Mars. Ice sheets around 1.6 kilometres (one mile) thick...
What makes volcanoes erupt?
Imagine the Earth as a giant ripe orange. Beneath the thin, dimpled peel is a thick layer of pulp and juice, 90 percent of it liquid. The Earth’s peel is called the lithosphere, a...
The Amazing Amazon
Discover Earth’s mightiest river and the rainforest wilderness that surrounds its banks The Amazon is one of Earth’s two longest rivers. It stretches an incredible 6,800 kilometres (4,225 miles) west to east across South...
What would the world look like if humans didn’t exist?
Imagine a world without humans… Humanity’s domination of the planet is driving Earth’s sixth mass extinction and is the main contributor in the current climate emergency. So, how would other animals fare without any...
Amazing Facts: 6 facts about extreme oceans
Counting down the deepest, deadliest and downright most hostile environments on Earth Most shark-infested When it comes to shark attacks, there are three species that sit firmly at the top of the food chain:...
Amazing Facts: 12 facts about apes
Get to know your closest animal relative 1. Apes are not monkeys Although they are both primates, the last common ancestor of apes and monkeys lived around 25 million years ago. Apes are generally...
