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"'Now our lives have changed': Drop in coal burning is helping African Sahel turn green after decade of drought."
Views expressed in this science and technology update are those of the reporters and correspondents. Accessed on 09 August 2026, 1700 HST (10 August 2026, 0300 UTC).
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Today
5hThis article was originally published by Yale Environment 360 . Near-extinct oryx are returning. Farms are prospering as irrigation water reaches fields for the first time in decades. Farmers are even nurturing new trees on their land. Once a byword for drought and famine, the African Sahel region on the southern flank of the Sahara Desert now has more water than it has for decades. Wells are fil by hannah.osborne@futurenet.com (Hannah Osborne) / 9hLong before chemistry was a formal science, humans were experimenting with substances to solve problems, cure illnesses and make money. In his book " The Age of Alchemy: How Early Innovators Shaped Modern Chemistry " (Profile Books, 2026), author Kit Chapman , a science journalist and honorary researcher at Falmouth University in the U.K., traces how this ancient, protoscientific tradition shaped 11hquick facts What it is: Saguaro, a lower-redshift spiral galaxy Where it is: About 10 billion light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major When it was shared: July 29, 2026. Ever since NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began science operations in 2022, something has been bothering astronomers. Scattered across JWST's deepest images of the early cosmos are tiny, crimson-colored smudges
5h
This article was originally published by Yale Environment 360 . Near-extinct oryx are returning. Farms are prospering as irrigation water reaches fields for the first time in decades. Farmers are even nurturing new trees on their land. Once a byword for drought and famine, the African Sahel region on the southern flank of the Sahara Desert now has more water than it has for decades. Wells are fil
by hannah.osborne@futurenet.com (Hannah Osborne) / 9h
Long before chemistry was a formal science, humans were experimenting with substances to solve problems, cure illnesses and make money. In his book " The Age of Alchemy: How Early Innovators Shaped Modern Chemistry " (Profile Books, 2026), author Kit Chapman , a science journalist and honorary researcher at Falmouth University in the U.K., traces how this ancient, protoscientific tradition shaped
11h
quick facts What it is: Saguaro, a lower-redshift spiral galaxy Where it is: About 10 billion light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major When it was shared: July 29, 2026. Ever since NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began science operations in 2022, something has been bothering astronomers. Scattered across JWST's deepest images of the early cosmos are tiny, crimson-colored smudges
Yesterday
13hAlthough it might be difficult to believe in our hyper-connected lives, there are thousands of people across the planet who remain almost completely disconnected from the rest of the world. It's estimated that there are at least 196 "uncontacted" Indigenous groups worldwide , living mainly in 10 countries in South America, Asia and the Pacific, including Brazil, Indonesia and India. They live in 1dInside the world’s newest data centers, energy-guzzling computations proceed round the clock as AI chatbots and other generative AI tools tackle tasks from the frivolous to the weighty: assembling imagery for social media, proffering relationship advice, analyzing medical images to diagnose cancer, creating code for developers or detecting financial scams for banks. Just as the popularity of AI t 1dAbout 2,500 years ago, people in what is now India and Sri Lanka were manufacturing an exceptionally high-quality type of steel. Wootz steel was extraordinarily strong and sharp, and they exported it globally — in the Middle East, it was used to forge the legendary Damascus blades. But around A.D. 1100, it vanished, and the knowledge of how these ancient people forged such high-carbon steel was l 1dMillions of people across Europe and North America will witness a solar eclipse on Wednesday, Aug. 12, but the event will vary greatly depending on the location. A narrow corridor stretching from Greenland to northeastern Spain will experience a total solar eclipse , much of Europe will enjoy a deep partial eclipse, and parts of North America will see a smaller partial eclipse. Want to know what
13h
Although it might be difficult to believe in our hyper-connected lives, there are thousands of people across the planet who remain almost completely disconnected from the rest of the world. It's estimated that there are at least 196 "uncontacted" Indigenous groups worldwide , living mainly in 10 countries in South America, Asia and the Pacific, including Brazil, Indonesia and India. They live in
1d
Inside the world’s newest data centers, energy-guzzling computations proceed round the clock as AI chatbots and other generative AI tools tackle tasks from the frivolous to the weighty: assembling imagery for social media, proffering relationship advice, analyzing medical images to diagnose cancer, creating code for developers or detecting financial scams for banks. Just as the popularity of AI t
1d
About 2,500 years ago, people in what is now India and Sri Lanka were manufacturing an exceptionally high-quality type of steel. Wootz steel was extraordinarily strong and sharp, and they exported it globally — in the Middle East, it was used to forge the legendary Damascus blades. But around A.D. 1100, it vanished, and the knowledge of how these ancient people forged such high-carbon steel was l
1d
Millions of people across Europe and North America will witness a solar eclipse on Wednesday, Aug. 12, but the event will vary greatly depending on the location. A narrow corridor stretching from Greenland to northeastern Spain will experience a total solar eclipse , much of Europe will enjoy a deep partial eclipse, and parts of North America will see a smaller partial eclipse. Want to know what
Aug 7, 2026
1dYams and sweet potatoes are often confused, and the names are sometimes used interchangeably in the U.S. However, they're two different crops. So what sets them apart? The differences lie mainly in these vegetables' classifications, plant growth, and nutritional profiles, experts told Live Science. Despite both growing underground and appearing somewhat similar, "Botanically, sweet potatoes and y 2dBolstering a type of bacteria that lives in the uterus may help counter age-related changes that can make it harder to get pregnant, a new study suggests. While fertility decline is often linked to changes in egg number or quality , the uterus also becomes less receptive to an implanting embryo with age. The new research suggests that changes in the bacteria living there may be part of the reason 2dEven though August 12's solar eclipse won't be much to look at for observers in the U.S., it'll be even less impressive if you can't look at it at all. In order to see the partial phases, you MUST wear a pair of certified solar glasses or solar binoculars to view the sun safely. The American Astronomical Society states, "ISO 12312-2 specifies the properties that a solar viewer should have in orde Uberaba Geopark: A time capsule from the Late Cretaceous period nestled in Brazil's tropical savanna
by sascha.pare@futurenet.com (Sascha Pare) / 2dQUICK FACTS Name: Uberaba Geopark (also known as "Terra dos Gigantes," or "Land of the Giants") Location: Minas Gerais, Brazil Coordinates: -19.71, -47.96 Why it's incredible: The park hosts prehistoric-fossil-bearing rock formations and overlies one of the world's biggest aquifers. Nestled within Brazil's Cerrado tropical savanna — the second-largest biome in South America, after the Amazon rainby olivia.maule@futurenet.com (Olivia Maule) / 2dYour favorite stretchy workout clothes may be much easier to recycle one day, thanks to a new type of elastic yarn that is as strong and stretchy as today's spandex-containing fabrics. The yarn, described in a July 25 study in the journal ACS Materials Letters , is built entirely from polyethylene , the plastic used in milk jugs and single-use grocery bags. By contrast, most of today's stretchy f Scientists are preparing for an interstellar rescue of humanity's most distant spacecraft, Voyager 1, after fixing up its twin from billions of miles away. According to a NASA statement released Aug. 4, a clever power-saving maneuver known as the "Big Bang" helped the agency avoid having to shut off another one of the Voyager 2 probe's three remaining science instruments later this year. The Big
1d
Yams and sweet potatoes are often confused, and the names are sometimes used interchangeably in the U.S. However, they're two different crops. So what sets them apart? The differences lie mainly in these vegetables' classifications, plant growth, and nutritional profiles, experts told Live Science. Despite both growing underground and appearing somewhat similar, "Botanically, sweet potatoes and y
2d
Bolstering a type of bacteria that lives in the uterus may help counter age-related changes that can make it harder to get pregnant, a new study suggests. While fertility decline is often linked to changes in egg number or quality , the uterus also becomes less receptive to an implanting embryo with age. The new research suggests that changes in the bacteria living there may be part of the reason
2d
Even though August 12's solar eclipse won't be much to look at for observers in the U.S., it'll be even less impressive if you can't look at it at all. In order to see the partial phases, you MUST wear a pair of certified solar glasses or solar binoculars to view the sun safely. The American Astronomical Society states, "ISO 12312-2 specifies the properties that a solar viewer should have in orde
Uberaba Geopark: A time capsule from the Late Cretaceous period nestled in Brazil's tropical savanna
by sascha.pare@futurenet.com (Sascha Pare) / 2d
QUICK FACTS Name: Uberaba Geopark (also known as "Terra dos Gigantes," or "Land of the Giants") Location: Minas Gerais, Brazil Coordinates: -19.71, -47.96 Why it's incredible: The park hosts prehistoric-fossil-bearing rock formations and overlies one of the world's biggest aquifers. Nestled within Brazil's Cerrado tropical savanna — the second-largest biome in South America, after the Amazon rain
by olivia.maule@futurenet.com (Olivia Maule) / 2d
Your favorite stretchy workout clothes may be much easier to recycle one day, thanks to a new type of elastic yarn that is as strong and stretchy as today's spandex-containing fabrics. The yarn, described in a July 25 study in the journal ACS Materials Letters , is built entirely from polyethylene , the plastic used in milk jugs and single-use grocery bags. By contrast, most of today's stretchy f
Scientists are preparing for an interstellar rescue of humanity's most distant spacecraft, Voyager 1, after fixing up its twin from billions of miles away. According to a NASA statement released Aug. 4, a clever power-saving maneuver known as the "Big Bang" helped the agency avoid having to shut off another one of the Voyager 2 probe's three remaining science instruments later this year. The Big
Aug 6, 2026
Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped uncover new weaknesses in two cryptographic systems, including a simplified version of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) that underpins much of today's internet. While these headline-grabbing findings don't put anyone's passwords or bank accounts at immediate risk, experts say the research could mark the beginning of a new era in which AI becomes a pow New images captured by the world's most powerful solar telescope have revealed something that was hiding in plain sight on the sun for 150 years: thousands of tiny whirlpools twisting across our star's surface. The ultra-detailed observations could help to explain some of the sun's most violent behavior as well as hint at the answer to a long-standing solar mystery. The new time-lapse footage off by sascha.pare@futurenet.com (Sascha Pare) / 3dThe Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water, is in major trouble. Since the mid-1990s, this saline lake, located between Europe and Asia, has lost an area nearly the size of Sicily. But until now, it wasn't clear why. Researchers finally provided answers in a study published June 5 in the journal Earth's Future . Using ground- and satellite-based observations, they connected falling 3dThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new seasonal flu vaccine that uses mRNA as its base. Moderna, the vaccine's maker, announced Wednesday (Aug. 5) that a vaccine advisory committee to the FDA unanimously agreed that the shot is safe and effective for preventing illness from seasonal influenza. The shot, called mFlusiva or mRNA-1010, has been approved for people ages 50 and In the dead of night on Wednesday (Aug. 5), part of a defunct SpaceX rocket slammed into the moon at more than 5,000 mph (8,000 km/h) — and a Korean lunar satellite has just shared the first images of the aftermath. A series of photos snapped by South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter on Wednesday reveal a small, blackened crater at the alleged site where a used Falcon 9 upper stage crashed into the l 3dPhysicists have built a crystal out of an "einstein" tile — an elusive shape mathematicians spent years searching for — and found that it bends light in a way no ordinary crystal can. In the new study, published July 29 in the journal Nature Communications , researchers arranged this never-repeating tile shape into a pattern of nanoscale holes. This structure, known as a photonic crystal, is desi
Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped uncover new weaknesses in two cryptographic systems, including a simplified version of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) that underpins much of today's internet. While these headline-grabbing findings don't put anyone's passwords or bank accounts at immediate risk, experts say the research could mark the beginning of a new era in which AI becomes a pow
New images captured by the world's most powerful solar telescope have revealed something that was hiding in plain sight on the sun for 150 years: thousands of tiny whirlpools twisting across our star's surface. The ultra-detailed observations could help to explain some of the sun's most violent behavior as well as hint at the answer to a long-standing solar mystery. The new time-lapse footage off
by sascha.pare@futurenet.com (Sascha Pare) / 3d
The Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water, is in major trouble. Since the mid-1990s, this saline lake, located between Europe and Asia, has lost an area nearly the size of Sicily. But until now, it wasn't clear why. Researchers finally provided answers in a study published June 5 in the journal Earth's Future . Using ground- and satellite-based observations, they connected falling
3d
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new seasonal flu vaccine that uses mRNA as its base. Moderna, the vaccine's maker, announced Wednesday (Aug. 5) that a vaccine advisory committee to the FDA unanimously agreed that the shot is safe and effective for preventing illness from seasonal influenza. The shot, called mFlusiva or mRNA-1010, has been approved for people ages 50 and
In the dead of night on Wednesday (Aug. 5), part of a defunct SpaceX rocket slammed into the moon at more than 5,000 mph (8,000 km/h) — and a Korean lunar satellite has just shared the first images of the aftermath. A series of photos snapped by South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter on Wednesday reveal a small, blackened crater at the alleged site where a used Falcon 9 upper stage crashed into the l
3d
Physicists have built a crystal out of an "einstein" tile — an elusive shape mathematicians spent years searching for — and found that it bends light in a way no ordinary crystal can. In the new study, published July 29 in the journal Nature Communications , researchers arranged this never-repeating tile shape into a pattern of nanoscale holes. This structure, known as a photonic crystal, is desi
Aug 5, 2026
3dA German startup has debuted the world's first diamond-based quantum computing system to exceed 10 qubits. The machine, built by engineers at Saxon Q, is a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) quantum computer, meaning it uses defects in synthetic diamonds as quantum bits (qubits) to perform quantum operations. Qubits can be manipulated to represent the 0s and 1s of data, as well as quantum states that are supe A fleet of telescopes around the world just captured the first shocking moments of a supernova explosion in the most detailed-ever observations of their kind. The explosive event was first spotted by China's Einstein Probe space telescope as a flash of X-rays in March. Ground-based telescopes jumped in within the hour and quickly identified the flash as a supernova, a powerful explosion of a mass 4dEvery total solar eclipse travels from west to east, because the moon and Earth move in the same direction — counterclockwise, or from west to east. Earth rotates eastward once every 24 hours, and the moon also travels eastward as it orbits our planet. Because the moon's shadow moves across Earth faster than the planet rotates beneath it, the path of totality (the route of the moon's umbra, the d An ichthyosaur fossil found in Australia's outback may preserve a rare snapshot of a prehistoric food chain. Around 100 million years ago, the enormous marine reptile swallowed a flying pterosaur before being attacked by a giant ocean predator, new research suggests. The fossil set, nicknamed "BOB" or "Bag of Bones," belonged to a 20- to 23-foot-long (6 to 7 meters) ichthyosaur , an animal that b A camera drone operator captured footage of a humpback whale giving birth off the north coast of New South Wales in what is thought to be a world first. Alexander Forrest, a commercial drone pilot for the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA), was conducting aerial observations of migrating humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) on July 28. ORRCA is a nonp In the past 20 years, an increasing number of bacterial infections caught by children have been resistant to antibiotics, a new study finds. The research, published in July in the journal JAMA Pediatrics , looked back at the past two decades, as well as looked forward, to predict how resistance rates might change in the decade to come. By 2035, some critical antibiotics will be met with "steep in 4dThe patient: A 60-year-old man in Seattle The symptoms: The man experienced paranoia, as well as auditory and visual hallucinations. He was also very thirsty but was fearful of drinking water that others offered to him. What happened next: The man went to an emergency department because he was worried that his neighbor poisoned him. Doctors checked his vital signs and conducted a neurological exa
3d
A German startup has debuted the world's first diamond-based quantum computing system to exceed 10 qubits. The machine, built by engineers at Saxon Q, is a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) quantum computer, meaning it uses defects in synthetic diamonds as quantum bits (qubits) to perform quantum operations. Qubits can be manipulated to represent the 0s and 1s of data, as well as quantum states that are supe
A fleet of telescopes around the world just captured the first shocking moments of a supernova explosion in the most detailed-ever observations of their kind. The explosive event was first spotted by China's Einstein Probe space telescope as a flash of X-rays in March. Ground-based telescopes jumped in within the hour and quickly identified the flash as a supernova, a powerful explosion of a mass
4d
Every total solar eclipse travels from west to east, because the moon and Earth move in the same direction — counterclockwise, or from west to east. Earth rotates eastward once every 24 hours, and the moon also travels eastward as it orbits our planet. Because the moon's shadow moves across Earth faster than the planet rotates beneath it, the path of totality (the route of the moon's umbra, the d
An ichthyosaur fossil found in Australia's outback may preserve a rare snapshot of a prehistoric food chain. Around 100 million years ago, the enormous marine reptile swallowed a flying pterosaur before being attacked by a giant ocean predator, new research suggests. The fossil set, nicknamed "BOB" or "Bag of Bones," belonged to a 20- to 23-foot-long (6 to 7 meters) ichthyosaur , an animal that b
A camera drone operator captured footage of a humpback whale giving birth off the north coast of New South Wales in what is thought to be a world first. Alexander Forrest, a commercial drone pilot for the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA), was conducting aerial observations of migrating humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) on July 28. ORRCA is a nonp
In the past 20 years, an increasing number of bacterial infections caught by children have been resistant to antibiotics, a new study finds. The research, published in July in the journal JAMA Pediatrics , looked back at the past two decades, as well as looked forward, to predict how resistance rates might change in the decade to come. By 2035, some critical antibiotics will be met with "steep in
4d
The patient: A 60-year-old man in Seattle The symptoms: The man experienced paranoia, as well as auditory and visual hallucinations. He was also very thirsty but was fearful of drinking water that others offered to him. What happened next: The man went to an emergency department because he was worried that his neighbor poisoned him. Doctors checked his vital signs and conducted a neurological exa
Aug 4, 2026
4dEach year, tons of soil, silt and rocks flow into reservoirs in the U.S. and get stuck there, creating a "ticking time bomb" that threatens lives and livelihoods. According to a new study, around a fifth of the world's reservoirs are currently at high risk of filling with sediment, and by 2060, half could be inoperable as a result. The sediment takes up space meant for water , putting additional by olivia.maule@futurenet.com (Olivia Maule) / 5dResearchers have designed a material that can "program" the way it releases heat, paving the way for more efficient energy systems and, potentially, devices that store information using heat instead of electricity. The design, described in a June 25 study in the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews , sidesteps a nearly 160-year-old rule of physics linking how materials absorb and emit heat. Under or 5dThe brain preservation paradox — the discovery of well-preserved human brains among otherwise skeletal remains — has puzzled archaeologists and pathologists alike for decades. Now, new research finally provides a scientific explanation for this longstanding mystery. "We found that brain preservation isn't a rare anomaly, it's a novel chemical pathway," first study author Alexandra Seviour , a doc Scientists have confirmed that a flowering plant native to the mountains in southwest China is carnivorous, supporting a prediction made by Charles Darwin more than 150 years ago. The species, Saxifraga candelabrum , grows at elevations above 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) in the Hengduan Mountains, which connect the southeast portions of the Tibetan Plateau to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The plant ha An abandoned part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is projected to crash into the moon at 2:35 a.m. EDT on Aug. 5 — and two new studies suggest the event may be visible in telescopes from parts of North and South America, providing both amateur and professional astronomers with a rare, real-time viewing opportunity. Both studies are available as preprints on the arXiv server. The impending Aug. 5 impa 5dForecasters are warning that the ongoing El Niño is likely to become supercharged in the coming months and inject potentially unprecedented heat into our already warming world. El Niño is the warm phase of a multiyear natural climate pattern, but models suggest this year's cycle will be exceptionally intense . Super El Niño conditions could contribute to temperature extremes until next year, but 5dQUICK FACTS Where is it? Pangong Lake, Tibetan Plateau [ 33.75582309, 78.69202953 ] What's in the photo? Lake ice fracturing along a disputed border between China and India Who took the photo? An unnamed astronaut on board the International Space Station When was it taken? Jan. 25, 2024 This eye-catching astronaut photo shows the fractured surface of the world's highest frozen lake lurking in the
4d
Each year, tons of soil, silt and rocks flow into reservoirs in the U.S. and get stuck there, creating a "ticking time bomb" that threatens lives and livelihoods. According to a new study, around a fifth of the world's reservoirs are currently at high risk of filling with sediment, and by 2060, half could be inoperable as a result. The sediment takes up space meant for water , putting additional
by olivia.maule@futurenet.com (Olivia Maule) / 5d
Researchers have designed a material that can "program" the way it releases heat, paving the way for more efficient energy systems and, potentially, devices that store information using heat instead of electricity. The design, described in a June 25 study in the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews , sidesteps a nearly 160-year-old rule of physics linking how materials absorb and emit heat. Under or
5d
The brain preservation paradox — the discovery of well-preserved human brains among otherwise skeletal remains — has puzzled archaeologists and pathologists alike for decades. Now, new research finally provides a scientific explanation for this longstanding mystery. "We found that brain preservation isn't a rare anomaly, it's a novel chemical pathway," first study author Alexandra Seviour , a doc
Scientists have confirmed that a flowering plant native to the mountains in southwest China is carnivorous, supporting a prediction made by Charles Darwin more than 150 years ago. The species, Saxifraga candelabrum , grows at elevations above 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) in the Hengduan Mountains, which connect the southeast portions of the Tibetan Plateau to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The plant ha
An abandoned part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is projected to crash into the moon at 2:35 a.m. EDT on Aug. 5 — and two new studies suggest the event may be visible in telescopes from parts of North and South America, providing both amateur and professional astronomers with a rare, real-time viewing opportunity. Both studies are available as preprints on the arXiv server. The impending Aug. 5 impa
5d
Forecasters are warning that the ongoing El Niño is likely to become supercharged in the coming months and inject potentially unprecedented heat into our already warming world. El Niño is the warm phase of a multiyear natural climate pattern, but models suggest this year's cycle will be exceptionally intense . Super El Niño conditions could contribute to temperature extremes until next year, but
5d
QUICK FACTS Where is it? Pangong Lake, Tibetan Plateau [ 33.75582309, 78.69202953 ] What's in the photo? Lake ice fracturing along a disputed border between China and India Who took the photo? An unnamed astronaut on board the International Space Station When was it taken? Jan. 25, 2024 This eye-catching astronaut photo shows the fractured surface of the world's highest frozen lake lurking in the
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