Ecology

Sardinia was not attached to Italy: the geological origin, the volcanoes and the 90° rotation

Sardinia was not attached to Italy: the geological origin, the volcanoes and the 90° rotation

Detached from Europe with an anti-clockwise rotation, Sardinia combines a past of volcanism with half a billion years of geological evolution. This complex history has concentrated exceptional mineral deposits and coalfields, profoundly shaping the landscape and history of the island. There Sardinia she hasn’t always been in her current position. Paleomagnetic data and geological reconstructions show that the island and ...

The weather until October 21st, rains, winds and Atlantic disturbances arriving in Italy: affected areas

The weather until October 21st, rains, winds and Atlantic disturbances arriving in Italy: affected areas

Depression area between Spain and France – Source: windy.com A vast and deep depression structure of Atlantic origin is moving decisively towards Italy. This disturbed system, which in the last few hours has already affected a large part of Western Europe, bringing widespread rain, flooding and various hydrogeological criticalities between Spain and France, with the dramatic news of a victim, ...

World's first nuclear clocks with thorium-229 in Vienna and Beijing: what they are and how they measure time

World’s first nuclear clocks with thorium-229 in Vienna and Beijing: what they are and how they measure time

Vacuum chamber containing thorium crystal in the laboratories of the Vienna research group. Credits: TU Wien Two research groups, one from TU Wien University in Austria and the other from Tsinghua University in Beijing, have independently demonstrated the functioning of the first prototypes of nuclear clock, based on thorium-229. The results, published in Nature in two separate studies and curiously ...

5 foods that were once poor and are now luxury, and vice versa: from truffles to cocoa

5 foods that were once poor and are now luxury, and vice versa: from truffles to cocoa

Foods that are considered to be on our table today great luxurylike the truffle, the oystersthe lobstersthe steaks of large denomination and the caviaruntil the last century they were instead poor and “second class” foods, sometimes considered suitable only for the working classes and prisoners. This happened because availability was much higher than now and also because cooking, before the ...

South Georgia albatrosses declining by up to 66% in 40 years: the role of fisheries and climate

South Georgia albatrosses declining by up to 66% in 40 years: the role of fisheries and climate

A specimen of light-manted albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata) in flight over the waters of the Drake Passage, between South America and Antarctica. Credit: Timo Heinz for HX Expeditions. In just forty yearssome South Georgia albatross populations have declined by more than half. According to a large census published in 2025, among the monitored species the decline has reached 39% for the ...

The most distant radio burst ever observed has been discovered: it traveled for 10.8 billion years

The most distant radio burst ever observed has been discovered: it traveled for 10.8 billion years

Artistic illustration of a neutron star magnetar. Credits: ESO/L. Calçada, CC BY–SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. THE fast radio burst (FRB) or fast radio bursts are very short pulses of radio waves coming from deep space which generally last a few milliseconds. For a long time, theirs physical origin it remained a mystery and, according to the main hypotheses, they ...

Lake Abraham in Canada, where columns of methane bubbles trapped in the ice form

Lake Abraham in Canada, where columns of methane bubbles trapped in the ice form

Every winter in Canada, the country with the most lakes in the world, a very suggestive natural phenomenon occurs: in Abraham Lake, artificial body of water formed by the North Sasktchewan River, located in the province of Alberta, in the Rocky Mountains, in fact particular columns of frozen bubbles.⁣ In fact, as temperatures drop, the lake freezes on the surface. ...