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When city leaders talk about making a town “smart,” they’re usually talking about urban digital twins. These are essentially high-tech, 3D computer models of cities. They are filled with data about buildings, roads and utilities. Built using precision tools like cameras and LiDAR – light detection and ranging – scanners,…

There are few forms of the botanical world as readily identifiable as fern leaves. These often large, lacy fronds lend themselves nicely to watercolor paintings and tricep tattoos alike. Thoreau said it best: “Nature made ferns for pure leaves, to show what she could do in that line.”

Scientists working with the James Webb Space Telescope discovered three unusual astronomical objects in early 2025, which may be examples of dark stars. The concept of dark stars has existed for some time and could alter scientists’ understanding of how ordinary stars form. However, their name is somewhat misleading.

When polar ice sheets melt, the effects ripple across the world. The melting ice raises average global sea level, alters ocean currents and affects temperatures in places far from the poles.

Early childhood educators and staff nurture and teach children under the age of 5. At its best, this type of early care sets kids up for long-term success.

It’s popular advice for new graduates: “Find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Love for one’s work, Americans are often told, is the surest route to success.

Seeing a person huddled under a makeshift roof of tarps or curled up on a warm grate can evoke powerful emotions and questions.

Across state legislatures and in Congress, debates are intensifying about the value of funding certain college degree programs – and higher education, more broadly.

Globalisation, migration, climate change and war – nation states are currently under huge pressure on many fronts. Understanding the forces that initially drove the emergence of states across the world may help explain why.

When Cop30 convened in Belém, deep inside the Amazon, the world’s attention turned once again to negotiations, emissions pledges and political manoeuvring. The global stage was set against one of Earth’s most biodiverse landscapes and some of its most vulnerable communities, yet the conversation still leaned heavily toward geopolitics rather…

H5N1 bird flu has infected growing numbers of people worldwide in recent years, but this week saw something new: the first recorded human case of an H5N5 avian influenza virus. What is this virus and how concerned about it should we be?