Climate change, deforestation, and habitat loss are promoting increasingly uniform forests, where fast-growing tree species displace native trees. This reduces biodiversity, makes trees less resilient to disease, and weakens forests’ ability to store CO₂. This is shown by a comprehensive international study.

The “Wakuwaku Aira Dinosaur Museum Exhibition,” organized by Aira City in cooperation with Okayama University of Science, concluded successfully on December 27, 2025, attracting a total of 11,580 visitors over eight days. Held at Aira Square in the city’s newly completed municipal office building, the exhibition showcased approximately 20 dinosaur-related specimens, including a full-body tyrannosaurid skeletal reconstruction, a Triceratops skull, and Tarbosaurus fossils.

The exhibition emphasized hands-on learning and research outreach, featuring a recreated excavation site from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, along with panels and videos introducing paleontological fieldwork. Daily workshops allowed children to experience fossil replica making and fossil cleaning activities. Students from the Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science served as guides, providing accessible explanations of dinosaur research to visitors.

On the final day, an educational lecture titled “Digging for Dinosaurs in Mongolia!” was delivered by Masato Fujita, professor of dinosaur paleontology and director of the Museum of Dinosaur Research at Okayama University of Science, attracting approximately 150 attendees.

Originally expected to draw around 5,000 visitors, the exhibition’s turnout more than doubled projections, highlighting strong public interest in dinosaurs and science education. Organizers noted that the combination of authentic research content, interactive experiences, and student-led explanations contributed significantly to the exhibition’s success.

Muons are particles used to study fundamental physics and to image large structures such as volcanoes, bridges and ancient buildings. But despite their apparent benefits to science – and even society more broadly – muons only have a half-life of around one microsecond. Now researchers at the University of Plymouth have suggested a means of overcoming that, using intense laser pulses to reduce the rate of decay and at least double the muon’s lifetime.