Most Read

In 2016, A refugee engineer filled discarded bottles with sand to build his grandmother a safer desert home; the experiment expanded into 25 houses

by

The Sahrawi refugee camps around Tindouf face a difficult combination of heat, sandstorms and periodic heavy rain | instagram/@trtworld Sahrawi engineer Tateh Lehbib Breica used discarded plastic bottles packed with sand instead of conventional bricks, along with other materials, to construct a house for his grandmother. He had grown up in the Awserd refugee camp … Read more

A couple built a four-bedroom home in Wiltshire for their disabled daughter in 2022, now face council demolition order after planning row over basement and Green Belt rules

by

A Wiltshire couple face losing the home they built for their disabled daughter after a planning dispute over a basement and Green Belt rules. (Photo: Wiltshire council) A Wiltshire couple have been ordered to demolish the four-bedroom home they have lived in with their disabled daughter for more than four years after a planning dispute … Read more

In 1867, New Zealand introduced brown trout for sport fishing; more than 60 million were released by 1921, and the invader later caused local extinctions and fragmented native fish populations

by

New Zealand introduced brown trout for sport fishing When British settlers packed thousands of brown trout ova onto ships bound for the Antipodes in 1867, they hoped to recreate the sport fishing they knew from Europe. Over the next five decades, acclimatisation societies bred and released more than 60 million brown trout into waterways across … Read more

In 1920, Arizona introduced bullfrogs as a game species and food source; a century later, the invasive frogs are threatening the Northern Mexican gartersnake |

by

A pond in southern Arizona can look quiet from a distance. Beneath the surface, though, the balance between species can be very different from what it was a century ago. Among the animals affected is the northern Mexican gartersnake, a wetland-dependent reptile that hunts along streams, ponds and cienegas across parts of the Southwest.Its decline … Read more

In 1984, NASA sent 3,301 bees into Space to test how they built honeycomb without gravity; from hitting on walls to building 200cm honeycomb; highlights of 7-day mission

by

AI-generated image for representation purpose Thousands of honeybees travelled into space aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery in 1984 for an experiment that sounds unusual even today. The space agency sent 3,301 bees into microgravity to see whether they could survive and, more importantly, build their famous honeycomb without the pull of gravity. The 7-day mission … Read more

A Detroit couple bought a vacant 1925 bank and neighboring bar for $66,000; 13 years later, one old bank vault is a den and another is a wine cellar

by

Michael and Lynne carried out much of the renovation themselves. (Pictures: Homes.com) A former bank building in Detroit, Michigan that sat vacant for about a decade has been turned into a two-bedroom home after a couple spent years restoring it by hand. The unusual property, built in 1925, is now on the market for $1.3 … Read more

In 2016, Mark Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan founded a school that was designed to be different; 10 years later and after $125 million funding, Board voted to close it

by

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, co-founded The Primary School in East Palo Alto, California in 2016. The school was designed to serve the low-income families. The tuition-free private school aimed to support the “whole child” through wraparound services such as dental checkups, wellness coaching, and early-intervention screenings. For more than ten years … Read more

In 2022, Johns Hopkins researchers discovered that bonobos and chimpanzees can remember old companions; 26 years after separation, Louise still favored her sister’s face |

by

Composite image of chimpanzee (left) and bonobo (right). Credits – Wikimedia Commons A bonobo named Louise at a sanctuary in Japan helped document the longest-lasting social memory recorded outside our species. When shown a photograph of her sister Loretta, whom she had not seen in more than 26 years, Louise stared intently at the familiar … Read more

In 1981, scientists poured fluorescent dye into Kentucky sinkholes to map Mammoth Cave’s hidden plumbing; they found about 60% of its aquifer extended beyond park boundaries |

by

Representation of fluorescent dye tracing the hidden underground water pathways of Mammoth Cave’s aquifer. Image Credits ChatGPT. Rain that falls miles beyond the national park can sink into the ground through sinkholes, travel through hidden underground passages and eventually emerge within the Mammoth Cave system. A major groundwater-tracing programme helped scientists uncover this hidden connection, … Read more

In 1994, Steve and Terri Irwin bought 3,500 acres to restore dwindling Koala habitat, then planted 44,000 Eucalyptus trees and added 1,630 more acres | World News

by

In 1994, Steve and Terri Irwin bought 3,500 acres to restore dwindling Koala habitat. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons. In 1994, Steve and Terri Irwin made a conservation investment that began with a simple idea: if koalas were losing habitat, protecting the animals alone would not be enough. That year, Australia Zoo bought 3,500 acres at … Read more