MITCAT Trends : Everything You Need to Know

A shattered asteroid may have bombarded Earth 800 million years ago

A catastrophic asteroid breakup may have triggered a huge wave of impacts across the inner solar system about 800 million years ago. The debris was launched from near a gravitational gateway controlled by Jupiter, sending fragments toward Earth, the Moon, and Mars. The bombardment may explain ancient lunar craters and could have contributed to major climate and biological changes on Earth.

One Flag For Global Agriculture

One Flag For Global Agriculture🌍 Why there is no official agriculture flag yetAgriculture is a sector, not a nation or political entity. Sectors rarely have official flags unless intentionally created by an organisation e.g. the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has a logo, not a flag. Farming is a culturally diverse trade— wheat in Kansas, rice in Kerala, barley in Scotland — meaning no single symbol has become standardized as yet.The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) uses a very di

Koalas nearly went extinct before humans arrived, DNA study reveals

A major DNA study has rewritten the koala's evolutionary story, revealing that the species suffered a dramatic population collapse about 100,000 years ago, long before humans arrived in Australia. By calculating the koala's mutation rate for the first time and analyzing hundreds of genomes, researchers discovered that every living koala traces back to a small group that survived extreme climate shifts and later repopulated eastern Australia.

Aboriginal people harvested this native grass for millennia. Scientists have now found an odd trait in its DNA

Channel millet (_Echinochloa turneriana_). Chris HaikingsSeen from the air, Channel Country resembles a vibrant and vast tapestry, with a network of waterways crisscrossing the land. Spread across more than 280,000 square kilometres in outback Australia, it is one of the world’s last free-flowing desert river systems. In the heart of Channel Country, in southwest Queensland, live the Mithaka people whose ancestors over at least the past 3,000 years played a key role in the development of a trans

Why Are Berries Everywhere, in Every Season? Driscoll’s.

You almost certainly know Driscoll’s, the berry company whose leaf-green logo tops loads of clamshells in your local grocery store. But what does it take to hold such a dominant position in the berry world? Driscoll’s is now “the second-highest-earning brand in American supermarkets, behind only Coca-Cola,” writes Julia Moskin. The company is riding a growing wave of demand, developing hundreds of varieties (of which only a fraction will ever see market shelves), and resh

The Debate Over Pictures in Science

In 1843, English botanist Joseph Hooker returned from Antarctica with samples and illustrations of plants from his expedition. But when he found a publisher, he was distressed that they did not have the right priorities. He wrote that the publisher “cares nought for my descriptions at all, & would not care a straw whether all the plants were European or Antarctic.”People bought these books primarily for the pictures. Advances in printing technologies had enabled a new type of popular science

This ancient sea worm has “bio-metal” jaws unlike anything scientists have seen

An ancient sea worm may hold the secret to a whole new category of natural materials. Its jaws combine proteins and metal ions in a way that gives them metal-like strength and unusual mechanical behavior, yet they still differ from traditional metals. Researchers believe these "bio-metals" could open new directions in materials science while revealing just how sophisticated nature's designs can be.

Canadian farms must keep growing to survive — and farmers and the environment are paying for it

Farmers are facing a cost squeeze as seeds, fertilizers, machinery and land become more expensive. In Canada, the value of machinery per farm rose from $213 in 1901 (roughly $8,000 in today’s dollars) to more than $278,000 in 2016 — a 35-fold increase even after inflation. To stay competitive and to cover rising costs, farmers are being forced to produce more and reinvest in land and technologies simply to stay afloat. In my recently published research, I argue that many farms have to keep getti

This pet gecko could help scientists unlock the secrets of cancer

An unusual leopard gecko that naturally develops aggressive tumors may become an important new model for cancer research. Scientists found its tumors share key genetic changes with human cancers, offering a rare opportunity to study the disease as it develops naturally.

Are humans really the ultimate super-predator?

Humans are often described as the planet's ultimate "super-predator," but wild animals do not fear every human the same way. After analyzing three decades of research, scientists found that animals become much more alert and spend less time feeding when people pose a real threat, such as hunters or fishers. In contrast, tourists, researchers, and other non-lethal humans trigger far weaker and less predictable reactions.

Scientists finally solved why some frogs survive a deadly fungus

A deadly fungus has wiped out amphibian populations around the globe, yet some mysteriously recover. Researchers discovered that survivors develop powerful immune defenses while they are still tadpoles, giving them a head start before the fungus can attack after metamorphosis. The study also uncovered a vast collection of previously unknown antimicrobial peptides that could someday inspire new drugs to fight infections.

Why have humans collected crystals for 780,000 years? Chimpanzees may hold the answer

Chimpanzees showed a remarkable attraction to crystals, choosing them over ordinary stones and studying them with intense curiosity. The results suggest that the same unusual features may have fascinated early humans long before crystals had any practical use.