AP Photos: Dragon boats thunder through Hong Kong waters to mark ancient Chinese festival
31 May 2025 - Throngs of people flocked to southern Hong Kong on Saturday to watch the iconic dragon boat races, a highlight of a Chinese festival with over 2,000 years of history. Following their drummers' rhythm, crews powered their dragon boats through the water in unison, racing to become the first to reach the finish line. Residents and tourists cheered for them. (more)

More than a long face: horses use 'rich repertoire' of expressions to interact
28 May 2025 - Horses pull a variety of expressions when interacting with each other, researchers have found. ...In horses, ear movements have long been viewed as important indicators of their internal state. However, the new work suggests there are many more signals to look out for. (more)

Bringing back the birds: the 'ghost woodlands' transforming England's barren sheep fells
27 May 2025 - A groundbreaking tree-planting program is uniting farmers and rewilders, as portions of common ground in the Yorkshire Dales national park are being restored to their ancient glory. (more)

Plants produce more nectar when they 'hear' bees buzzing, scientists find
26 May 2025 - Plants can 'hear' bees buzzing and serve up more nectar when they are nearby, scientists have found. The research suggests that plants are a more active partner than previously thought in their symbiotic relationship with pollinators. (more)

Meet Hercules and Ned, the border collies fending off wildlife at West Virginia's busiest airport
25 May 2025 - Hercules and Ned have quite the spacious office at West Virginia's busiest airport. Collisions between wildlife and planes are common at airports nationwide. The border collies and their handler make daily patrols along the milelong airfield to ensure birds and other wildlife stay away from planes and keep passengers and crew safe. (more)

CERN and the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest
23 May 2025 - In case you missed it, CERN featured in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. With Basel hosting the 2025 song contest, CERN was approached earlier this year to be one of the iconic Swiss locations featured in a 'postcard' - a short film shown before a performance. (more)

Volcanoes send secret signals through trees before erupting and NASA satellites can see them
22 May 2025 - Trees near volcanoes might be the early warning signs scientists have been looking for -- and now, they can be watched from space. A NASA-Smithsonian collaboration has revealed that carbon dioxide released from rising magma makes surrounding vegetation greener, a subtle but trackable signal. Using satellite imagery and ground validation, researchers are crafting a powerful new way to detect volcanic unrest before it erupts into disaster, potentially saving thousands of lives. (more)

UK: Beehives installed at 17th Century walled garden
21 May 2025 - A new collection of beehives has been installed at a 17th Century walled garden to celebrate World Bee Day. The installation at County Durham's Auckland Palace features three hives and forms part of a wider network buzzing across Bishop Auckland, including several at nearby Binchester Roman Fort. By the end of summer, the total number of hives will house an estimated 540,000 bees. (more)

UK: Beekeeper helping kids get a buzz from nature
21 May 2025 - A beekeeper from Leeds is inspiring a generation of schoolchildren from urban parts of the city to love the winged insects. Kate Turner took up beekeeping during lockdown and began cultivating her own 30,000-strong hive after taking an online course. Ms Turner set up Bee Inspired Eco Education, a community interest company which aims to educate young people about the natural world, last year. (more)

World Bee Day 20 May
20 May 2025 - To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day. (more)

Cotton candy clouds: Hubble captures a dwarf galaxy in stunning detail
19 May 2025 - NASA and ESA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a breathtaking new image of a nearby dwarf galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This glowing scene shows a dazzling swirl of gas and dust clouds, sparkling like cosmic cotton candy. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the Milky Way's largest satellite galaxy and sits about 160,000 light-years away in the southern constellations Dorado and Mensa. (more)

How the world fell in love with nature live stream
19 May 2025 - More and more people are hooked on watching animals in real time. Now researchers say it could even improve your mood, help you relax, and give you better sleep. Nature-focused live streams, set up near nests, water holes, dens, or landscapes to provide a live, constant feed of the natural world, have proliferated over the past two decades, helped by cheap cameras and remote internet connections. The drama of nature -- or sometimes the lack of it -- is what draws people in. (more)

Cotton candy clouds shine in one of Hubble's most beautiful images ever
18 May 2025 - The Large Magellanic Cloud, which is visible only from the Southern Hemisphere, has been caught in the crosshairs of the Hubble Space Telescope. (more)

How gardening can help you live better for longer
16 May 2025 - Research shows gardening preserves cognitive function, helping you live well for longer. (more)

Dark matter formed when fast particles slowed down and got heavy, new theory says
15 May 2025 - A study by Dartmouth researchers proposes a new theory about the origin of dark matter, the mysterious and invisible substance thought to give the universe its shape and structure. The researchers report in Physical Review Letters that dark matter could have formed in the early life of the universe from the collision of high-energy massless particles that lost their zip and took on an incredible amount of mass immediately after pairing up, according to their mathematical models. (more)

Oxygen detected in the most distant galaxy ever found
15 May 2025 - Astronomers have made the surprising discovery of oxygen and elements like heavy metals in the most distant known galaxy. The galaxy is 13.4 billion light-years away, meaning it formed in the early days of the universe. (more)

Chimps found treating each other's wounds
14 May 2025 - Chimpanzees in Uganda were found treating the injuries of other, unrelated chimps, including those caught in hunting snares. While chimpanzees have previously been found applying medical care, the practice has rarely been recorded in the wild. (more)

UK: Bronte country to become protected national nature reserve
13 May 2025 - The sweeping landscapes of the Pennines inspired the Bronte sisters, and now those lands are being protected as one of England's biggest nature reserves. (more)

Ancient DNA confirms New Mexico tribe's link to famed Chaco Canyon site
12 May 2025 - For the first time, a federally recognized Indigenous tribe in the U.S. has led research using DNA to show their ancestral history. The Picuris Pueblo, a sovereign nation in New Mexico, has oral histories and cultural traditions that link the tribe to the region of Chaco Canyon, one of the ancient centers of Pueblo culture and society. (more)

14-year-old whiz-kid develops AI-powered app capable of detecting heart disease in seconds
11 May 2025 - At an age when most teens are figuring out high school, Siddharth Nandyala is already shaping the future of medical tech. The 14-year-old from Dallas has created an AI-powered app, Circadian AI, capable of detecting heart disease in just seven seconds using only a smartphone's microphone. (more)

Australia: Helmeted honeyeaters return to Cardinia in Victoria for first time since 1983's Ash Wednesday bushfires
10 May 2025 - For the first time in 42 years, critically endangered helmeted honeyeaters have returned to Cardinia in south-east Victoria, where they were found until the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983. Helmeted honeyeaters are charismatic, energetic, and curious, according to Dr Kim Miller, the manager of threatened species at Healesville sanctuary. (more)

'A future on our terms': How community energy is lighting up Latin America
10 May 2025 - When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Roxana Borda Mamani had to leave Mexico, where she was studying for her degree in rural development and food security, and return to her remote village in the Peruvian Amazon. At the time, the Indigenous community in Alto Mishagua had neither an internet connection nor a reliable energy source. (more)

A swimming coach in Nigeria provides inspiration and life lessons to disabled people
9 May 2025 - A swimming coach in Lagos, Nigeria is teaching disabled children how to swim through his nonprofit aimed at empowering them in life. (more)

Chimpanzees drum with regular rhythm when they beat on tree trunks, a form of ancient communication
9 May 2025 - Chimpanzees drum with regular rhythm when they beat on tree trunks, a new study shows. ...Previous research has shown that chimps have their own signature drumming style. A new analysis of 371 bouts of chimpanzee drumming demonstrates that the chimps 'clearly play their instruments -- the tree trunks -- with regular rhythms,' said University of Amsterdam music cognition researcher Henkjan Honing, who was not involved in the study. (more)