Astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a distant white dwarf star, which is incredibly still intact. The planet, christened ‘WD 1856 b’ is located about 80 light years away in the northern constellation Draco. White dwarfs are the incredibly dense remains of sun-sized stars after they exhaust their nuclear fuel, shrunk down to roughly … Read more
A council has been labelled a ‘bully’ after telling furious residents that repainting their houses the colour of ‘baby poo’ will help save the planet, and threatening a widow who tried to paint over the colour with a £1,600 fine. Hounslow Council claims that by painting the houses the colour reminiscent of a baby’s nappy, … Read more
Even by the astonishing standards of the natural world, Anguilla anguilla, the European eel, is an almost unbelievable creature. It can live for a hundred years. It can wriggle across fields. Eels that appear dead and dried out can come back to threshing life. During its existence, the eel changes into four different versions of … Read more
Alien life could hop from planet to planet, scientists claim after proving bacteria can survive for three YEARS on the outside of the International Space Station Researchers studied bacteria on the outside of the International Space Station They found that colonies of microbes can resist the cold and radiation in space Bacteria is able to … Read more
Ceres, the nearest dwarf planet to the Earth is a water world and could have a vast reservoir of salty water hidden under its surface, according to new research. The reservoir on the minor planet, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, lies beneath a 20 million year old crater known as Occator – … Read more
NASA’s Curiosity rover has been on Mars since August 2012 and in that time it has shared some stunning images of the Red Planet during its 14 mile journey. It has seen a lot in that time as part of its mission to find out whether Mars has any water or the chemical building blocks … Read more
How important is the presence of liquid water? It is now widely believed that Mars holds a reasonably large volume of water. However, the surface of the planet is so cold, this water exists only as ice. In order for life to exist on a planet, many scientists believe it is essential for the world … Read more
Sustainable investing is still seen by many as a route to virtue rather than returns. But clinging to this outmoded notion could prove financially damaging. The pandemic has hardened attitudes towards corporate bad behaviour, with errant businesses, such as fast fashion retailer Boohoo, taking a hit to their share price. Many sustainable funds, whether they … Read more
‘Planet Nine’, a celestial object up to 10 times larger than the Earth, may actually be a grapefruit sized black hole – and a new telescope could help detect it. Objects ‘clumping together’ in a strange way beyond the orbit of Neptune have led astronomers to suggest ‘something big’ is interfering with their orbit. This … Read more
A Neptune sized gas giant orbiting a star 180 times younger than the Sun has been discovered by astronomers and it could shed light on the evolution of the Earth. The exoplanet was found in a system 32 light-years away and its host star is only 20 to 30 million years old – compared to … Read more