California's burning – and half the US is now in drought
A map released this month shows that 50 per cent of the US is in drought, sending convicts on the run from early wildfires in California
How wildlife crime links us all to conflicts in Africa
The funding of Boko Haram's atrocities by the illegal ivory trade show that poaching is not just a problem for conservationists, but for all of us
Kindergarten bots teach language to tots
Social storytelling robots that offer personalised teaching are giving preschool children a boost with their language skills
Wake up – we need to know more about insomnia
Insomnia damages both health and work – yet we still don't really understand it. The good news is that we're learning new tricks for studying it
There's a lightning strike hike in strong solar wind
Waves of charged particles from the sun may boost the rate of lightning strikes on Earth, which could give us a way to predict dangerous storms
A squeeze on the arm could save lives in heart surgery
It sounds too simple to work, but a few squeezes with a blood-pressure cuff seems to prime the heart to survive surgery
Awake asleep: Insomniac brains that can't switch off
They say they haven't slept a wink, but tests show they were asleep all night. Figuring out this bizarre insomnia could tell us more about waking brains too
When to watch out for spectacular new meteor shower
A major new meteor shower is set to streak across the skies next week as Earth passes through dust released by a comet 200 years ago
Ivory poaching funds most war and terrorism in Africa
Money from illegal ivory has helped to bankroll virtually every African conflict in recent decades, from groups like Boko Haram to civil wars
Humanity's crushing footprint on nature writ large
Mishka Henner's large-scale prints of satellite images taken by Google Earth create beauty from our seemingly insatiable demand to consume
UN discusses whether robots should shoot to kill
Autonomous killer robots might not be that far off. So the UN is discussing the ethics of allowing machines choose when to attack
Quantum twist could kill off the multiverse
A radical new view of quantum mechanics does away with an eternal "bubble" multiverse, and suggests how the "many worlds" multiverse will draw to a close
Milky Way's fringe stars show our galaxy's flare
A rare glimpse of stars in the mysterious zone beyond the galactic centre supports the idea that the galaxy flares at its edges due to dark matter's pull
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