Aberfan Landslide: Coal Tip Failure Killed 144 in 1966
A reposted guide revisits the mechanics and official blame behind Britain's deadliest landslide disaster.
Science
Space, physics, materials, and general research.
Alaska Landslide Triggered Second-Highest Tsunami Ever Recorded
A 2025 landslide in Alaska sent water 1,580 feet up a fjord wall, and researchers say clear warning signs appeared hours before the collapse.
Quantum Error-Correction Record Boosts Logical Qubit Reliability
A new record in quantum error correction shows that logical qubits can be made reliable enough to move practical quantum computing closer to reality.
El Niño Raises Eastern Pacific Sea Levels by 40 Centimeters
A strengthening El Niño has already lifted sea levels in the eastern Pacific by 40 centimetres, raising the risk of coastal flooding from Alaska to Chile.
Drake equation at 65: Why scientific guessing still matters
The famous formula for estimating detectable alien civilizations remains a valuable lesson in how scientists make educated guesses.
Microbial Biosignatures Found Throughout Top Kilometer of Sedimentary Basins
Compiled data show that microbial biosignatures can persist through the top kilometer of sedimentary basins, extending the known depth range for such signals.
Climate assessment timing row could weaken emissions accountability
A dispute over when key climate change assessments are published could make it easier for countries to dodge scrutiny of their emissions cuts.
Sick Bottlenose Whales Stick Together, Report Suggests
Northern bottlenose whales appear to stay close to unwell or emaciated group members, a behaviour that may indicate caregiving.
New dinosaur with mixed tyrannosaur traits complicates evolution story
A newly described tyrannosaur with features of both known subfamilies suggests the group's evolutionary history is more tangled than previously thought.
Study Links Oil and Gas Construction to Higher Valley Fever Risk
New individual-level data show that living within three miles of oil and gas well construction raises valley fever risk by 12.5% in the 90 days after work begins.
Bouncing Electrons May Explain Fine Aurora Structures
Ground-based optical observations suggest that fine auroral features arise when electrons bounce off Alfvén waves above the ionosphere.
Hidden Magma Sources Found Beneath Nicaragua's Masaya Volcano
Satellite radar reveals two previously unknown magma reservoirs beneath a Nicaraguan volcano that threatens about two million people.
First green white dwarf found among rainbow of dead stars
Astronomers have discovered a white dwarf that would appear genuinely green to human eyes, revealing that dead stars can glow in unexpected colors due to unusual chemistry.
Touching Bleached Corals With Healthy Ones Revives Them in 7 Weeks
Laboratory experiments show that brief contact with genetically identical healthy corals can fully restore severely bleached corals within seven weeks.
Neutrino mass mystery may soon be solved by China experiment
A gigantic experiment in China is poised to measure the absolute mass of neutrinos, a result that could reshape particle physics.
Equatorial Pacific Warming Pattern Shows Two-Phase Shift Under CO2
New simulations reveal an initial strengthening of the Pacific temperature gradient followed by a long-term weakening, helping reconcile model-observation differences.
7,300-Year-Old Japanese Eruption Had Mixed Impact on Ancient Populations
New research shows the Kikai-Akahoya eruption devastated some Jomon communities while others grew, challenging simple apocalyptic or survival narratives.
Fractional Fermi Sea: Ultracold Atoms Form Exotic Quantum State
Physicists report a new out-of-equilibrium quantum phase in ultracold cesium atoms, with hidden order and possible 'super-Fermion' quasiparticles.