Colin Barras

Michigan

Writer at Freelance

Environment and Biomedicine News Editor at New Scientist

Science writer based in Michigan

Featured in: Favicon

bbc.co.uk

nature.com Favicon

newscientist.com Favicon

scientificamerican.com Favicon

sbs.com.au Favicon

science.org Favicon

sciencefocus.com Favicon

geneticliteracyproject.org Favicon

realclearscience.com Favicon

newscientist.nl + 5 more

Articles

Robots en satellieten geven een uniek inkijkje in het leven van keizerspinguïns

4 days ago | newscientist.nl | Colin Barras

Keizerspinguïns kunnen zich verrassend goed aan veranderende omstandigheden aanpassen. Weten ze ook de huidige klimaatverandering het hoofd te bieden? Dankzij robots en satellieten krijgen we een gedetailleerder inkijkje in hun leven dan ooit. Een robotkarretje verkent het vijandige, ijzige landschap. Ineens komt het zoemend tot leven: het heeft een keizerspinguïn ontdekt.
Excavation in Sudan shows Roman Empire wasn’t as mighty as it claimed

1 week ago | newscientist.com | Colin Barras

An excavation in northern Sudan suggests there were limits to the military might of the Roman Empire – even if the Romans weren’t prepared to admit them. The imperial forces claimed they destroyed an ancient city controlled by their enemies, but it turns out they didn’t. Following the downfall and death of Cleopatra in 30 BC, Egypt became a province of the emerging Roman Empire. But Roman Egypt was relatively weak to…
Largest ever US honeybee die-off has destroyed 1.6 million colonies

3 weeks ago | newscientist.com | Colin Barras

Life Beekeepers often experience some seasonal losses, but this past winter, more than half of all US honeybee colonies died off, potentially the largest loss in US history Honeybees in the US may have just experienced their most severe die-off on record, and we don’t know exactly why.
The animals revealing why human culture isn't as special as we thought

3 weeks ago | newscientist.com | Colin Barras

We all know the story: give every chimpanzee on the planet a typewriter and wait until something monumental occurs, either the recreation of the complete works of William Shakespeare or the heat death of the universe. Last year, mathematicians concluded the chimps would never achieve the former β the likelihood of one typing even the more modest “bananas” in its lifetime is a meagre 5 per cent.
Unusually tiny hominin deepens mystery of our Paranthropus cousin

3 weeks ago | newscientist.com | Colin Barras

A fossilised left leg unearthed in South Africa belongs to one of the smallest adult hominins ever discovered β smaller even than the so-called βhobbitβ, Homo floresiensis. The diminutive hominin was a member of the species Paranthropus robustus. This was one of several species of Paranthropus, a group of ape-like hominins that shared the African landscape with the earliest representatives of our human genus, Homo, between about 2.7 and 1.2 million years ago.
Relics in Tutankhamun’s tomb hint he invented elaborate burial rites

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Colin Barras

A collection of roughly made clay trays and wooden staffs found among the golden treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb may offer the earliest evidence of an important ancient Egyptian royal funerary ritual. The idea is the latest indication that the boy king had a burial unlike that of any other pharaoh. Tutankhamun’s nine-year-long reign in the 14th century BC came shortly after a period of religious turmoil in ancient…
Surprising skeletons prompt a radical rethink of Egyptian pyramids

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Colin Barras

Archaeologists have long assumed that ancient Egyptian pyramids were reserved for the richest members of society – but an analysis of burials at a site called Tombos suggests low-status workers could merit a place in pyramid tombs too. Tombos, an archaeological site in northern Sudan, came under ancient Egyptian control about 3500 years ago when the famous civilisation was at its most powerful. By this time, Egyptian royalty no longer favoured pyramid burials.
Frühe Zivilisationen am Amazonas: Das Rätsel der Regenwaldstädte

1 month ago | spektrum.de | Colin Barras

Hintergrund Lesedauer ca. 15 Minuten DruckenTeilen Frühes Amerika: Ein Dschungel voller StädteMillionen Menschen bevölkerten einst den Regenwald am Amazonas. Lange vor der Ankunft der Europäer legten sie Städte, Straßen und Äcker an. Allmählich kommen Fachleute den rätselhaften Zivilisationen auf die Spur und stellen fest: Sie entstanden anders, als man lange dachte. Kaum ein Fleckchen Erde ist vom Menschen noch unberührt. Ausgenommen wenige Regionen wie der Amazonasregenwald.
Frühzeit Amerikas: Dschungel am Amazonas voller Städte

1 month ago | spektrum.de | Colin Barras

Hintergrund Lesedauer ca. 15 Minuten DruckenTeilen Frühes Amerika: Ein Dschungel voller StädteMillionen Menschen bevölkerten einst den Regenwald am Amazonas. Lange vor der Ankunft der Europäer legten sie Städte, Straßen und Äcker an. Allmählich kommen Fachleute den rätselhaften Zivilisationen auf die Spur und stellen fest: Sie entstanden anders, als man lange dachte. Kaum ein Fleckchen Erde ist vom Menschen noch unberührt. Ausgenommen wenige Regionen wie der Amazonasregenwald.
Stone tools help monkeys thrive in hostile habitats

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Colin Barras

Critically endangered golden-bellied capuchins (Sapajus xanthosternos) are more widespread than researchers previously thought, and stone tools might be the secret to their success. Although golden-bellied capuchins are usually found in the humid Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil, Waldney Martins at the State University of Montes Claros in Brazil found a population of the monkeys outside the forest several years ago. âThis stayed in my mind,â he says.