Exciting stars over Stonehenge and more - the best scientific stories of August!

Shooting stars. Stargazers in Salisbury, Great Britain, saw a magical spectacle: the Perseid meteor shower, observed every year when the Earth passes through the wreckage left by the Swift-Tuttle comet, rained from the shooting stars on the prehistoric monoliths of Stonehenge. Astrophotographer Josh Dury spent 3.5 hours photographing this spectacle and combined 43 images of meteors, Stonehenge and the Milky Way to create this image. The otherworldly image was NASA's astronomical image for August 12.

We fix the irreparable. Cartilage, a strong connective tissue that protects bones and joints, usually cannot recover when damaged, which leads to a long recovery process in many injuries. But a new biological material containing components necessary for cartilage growth can stimulate tissue regeneration, which can potentially accelerate healing. The researchers injected biomaterial (shown here under a microscope) into the damaged cartilage inside the knee joints of a sheep, which is a good indicator of human injuries. During treatment, the damaged areas were gradually filled as a new cartilage was formed. With further development, this material can one day be used to treat injuries, reduce the need for joint replacement operations and treat diseases such as osteoarthritis.

Dinner time. Underwater photographer Wayne Lai captured the moment when the Cape olusha (Morus capensis) dived right into a round sard of sardines off the coast of South Africa, using a strobe to illuminate the muddy water. The fish was pulled to the surface by dolphins circling under it, which gave the seabird a great opportunity to have a snack. This picture won the audience award at the Big Picture: Natural World Photography 2024 contest.

Microscopic coral. These bizarre, tooth-like structures are actually digestive tissues inside a tiny polyp of brain coral, filmed by biologist Patrick Keeling in his laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, with a special lens. Coral reefs consist of thousands of polyps, but parasites threaten their health, reducing their ability to survive bleaching - the loss of useful algae from coral tissues due to stressful conditions. Together with other researchers, Keeling studies the parasite to better understand how to protect reefs.

Origin of asteroids. This video shows the formation of Dimorphos, a natural satellite (or moon) orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didimos. Astronomers used data from the NASA DART 2022 mission, during which the spacecraft collided with Dimorphos and changed its orbit to simulate the development of the system. They believe that the sun's heat made Didim rotate faster and faster until its large pieces gradually split off, which eventually stuck together to form Dimorphos. Although neither the asteroid nor its satellite poses a threat to our planet, studying their physical properties can help astronauts distract other, more dangerous asteroids from Earth.

Greek tragedy. In mid-August, violent forest fires reached the outskirts of Athens after spreading from the neighboring city of Varnavas, where the fire is believed to have been caused by a faulty electric pole. Houses, hospitals and monasteries throughout the region were forced to evacuate as the flames engulfed the buildings and damaged 10,000 hectares of land. Although forest fires in Greece occur every year, scientists say they are becoming more intense and frequent due to climate change. This year, the country had the hottest June and July in the history of observations: unprecedented heat dried up the earth and created ideal conditions for the spread of fire.