Researchers led by Hang Sun studied Saxifraga candelabrum growing in China's Qinghai–Tibet Plateau–Hengduan Mountains and found insects trapped on sticky glandular hairs in 43 of 45 specimens, averaging 71 insects per mature plant. Tests revealed phosphatase enzyme activity indicating digestion, and feeding experiments with nitrogen-labeled fruit flies showed the plant absorbed nutrients from its prey, confirming it meets the criteria for carnivory. The findings, published in Nature Communications, support a hypothesis Charles Darwin proposed in 1875 about the genus Saxifraga.
phys.org
· 2026-10-12
A roundup covers four newly published books: an updated single-volume biography of Charles Darwin by Janet Browne, a meteorology-focused study of clouds by Vincenzo Levizzani, a history of space exploration by Peter Bond, and a work by Joseph Turow on personalization. The summaries describe each author's background and the central themes of their books, including unresolved scientific questions about clouds and the risks of spaceflight.
nature.com
· 2026-10-09
Cultural historian Jacques Barzun, who taught for 48 years at Columbia University after emigrating from France following World War I, discussed his views on education and the role of the university in an interview with the Home Forum's David Owens. The conversation took place at Scribner publishing house, where Barzun works as a literary consultant, and covered his concerns about preserving the university's original purpose amid changing conceptions of higher learning.
csmonitor.com
· 2026-09-30
A new Entrepreneur opinion piece recounts how Charles Darwin privately developed his theory of natural selection for two decades before publishing, only forced into print in 1858 after Alfred Russel Wallace independently reached the same conclusion. The author uses this history to argue that founders often delay sharing fully-formed ideas out of fear for their reputation, calling this pattern 'Darwin's Delay.'
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-09-14
Paul Kammerer, once hailed as a successor to Darwin, killed himself in 1926 weeks after herpetologist Gladwyn Noble revealed evidence that his celebrated experiment on inherited traits had been faked. The scandal, combined with his flair for public self-promotion and unconventional theories like universal coincidence patterns, led many scientists to dismiss his entire body of work. A century later, new scientific findings suggest some of his underlying questions about heredity may deserve renewed attention.
nature.com
· 2026-09-14
A small group of theoretical physicists is reviving the decades-old idea that universes might evolve much like living organisms, selecting for traits that allow them to reproduce through black holes. The concept gained fresh attention after a 2022 James Webb Space Telescope discovery and a widely shared Substack essay reignited debate over whether Darwinian logic can apply beyond biology. Supporters argue that just as natural selection explains complexity in life, a similar process could explain the physical constants and structure of our cosmos.
smithsonianmag.com
· 2026-09-02
Darling is an open-source translation layer, comparable to Wine for Windows, that allows macOS software to run on Linux systems. Built on Apple's freely released Darwin source code along with components from The Cocotron and GNUstep, it now offers basic experimental support for graphical applications and can also run under Windows via WSL 2.
darlinghq.org
· 2026-08-31
Developers are building ravynOS, a pre-alpha open-source operating system combining FreeBSD, Darwin, and Apple's open-source components. The project aims to replicate the look, feel, and app compatibility of macOS while running on general-purpose hardware without Apple's restrictions.
ravynos.com
· 2026-08-31
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