When is a basin of attraction like an octopus?

In dynamical systems research, a ‘basin of attraction’ is the set of all the starting points — usually close to one another — that arrive at the same final state as the system evolves through time. The researchers describe a simple argument showing w…

Making aircraft fuel from sunlight and air

Scientists have built a plant that can produce carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight and air. The next goal will be to take this technology to industrial scale and achieve competitiveness. Researchers now describe how this novel solar reactor funct…

Pangolin trafficking: Nigeria’s illegal trade

With Asian species dangerously depleted, global black markets have turned to Africa, and Nigeria has become the continent’s pangolin trafficking ‘hub’. Just Nigeria-linked pangolin seizures in the last decade alone amount to at least 800,000 — but pos…