The EU on Tuesday unveils its climate targets for 2040 and a roadmap for the next stage of its energy transition, four months before European elections and with the bloc reeling from a farmer revolt against green reforms. ⌘ Read more
The EU on Tuesday unveils its climate targets for 2040 and a roadmap for the next stage of its energy transition, four months before European elections and with the bloc reeling from a farmer revolt against green reforms. ⌘ Read more
In a warming climate, meltwater from Antarctica is expected to contribute significantly to rising seas. For the most part, though, research has been focused on West Antarctica, in places like the Thwaites Glacier, which has seen significant melt in recent decades. ⌘ Read more
On a chilly day in December, a crowd gathered in the shadow of City Hall in lower Manhattan to chant, listen to speeches and wave signs crafted for the occasion. "No cuts to compost!" read one held by a man with shoulder-length gray hair. "Compost Adams" read another, with a picture of the New York City mayor. One sign featured a rat-faced Statue of Liberty. ⌘ Read more
Using a simple solvent sieve method, researchers from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have taken the lead in developing highly efficient and stable perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with record performance. ⌘ Read more
There was an increase in the number of unprovoked shark attacks worldwide and an uptick in fatalities in 2023 compared to the previous year. The University of Florida's International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a scientific database of global shark attacks, confirmed 69 unprovoked bites in 2023. Although this is higher than the most recent five-year average of 63 attacks, the data remain consisten ... ⌘ Read more
The death toll from central Chile's blazing wildfires climbed to at least 112 people on Sunday, after President Gabriel Boric warned the number would rise "significantly" as teams search gutted neighborhoods. ⌘ Read more
Scorching summer heat is hard to imagine now in mid-winter Paris, but in six months when the world's athletes arrive for the Olympics, another pounding heat wave would spell trouble for organizers. ⌘ Read more
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has broken the world record for the most cumulative time spent in space, Russia's space agency Roscosmos reported Sunday. ⌘ Read more
Wildfires blazing across Chile have killed at least 51 people, leaving bodies in the street and homes gutted, with flames continuing to spread on Sunday and the toll expected to rise. ⌘ Read more
Polling stations opened in Paris on Sunday for a referendum on tripling parking costs for hefty SUV-style cars, a campaign that has drivers' groups up in arms against city hall. ⌘ Read more
Semiconductor moiré superlattices are fascinating material structures that have been found to be promising for studying correlated electron states and quantum physics phenomena. These structures, made up of artificial atom arrays arranged in a so-called moiré configuration, are highly tunable and characterized by strong electron interactions. ⌘ Read more
Women are far more likely than men to get autoimmune diseases, when an out-of-whack immune system attacks their own bodies—and new research may finally explain why. ⌘ Read more
Coming in hot on February 3 with a photo of a cute French bully who did an amazing trick with his jawbone. Good boy! (Click!) Happy Saturday. Here's a roundup that includes news about additive printing of neurons, evidence that microbes like stuff, and the shifting temperature differential between day and night. ⌘ Read more
People talk to their pets every day: offering praise when they're good, reassurance when they're confused and affection when they're cuddling. We also speak to animals when they misbehave. "Why did you do that?" someone might ask their dog. Or we might scold the cat—"Don't touch that!"—as we move a family heirloom across the room. ⌘ Read more
In multicellular organisms, cell migration and mechanosensing are essential for cellular development and maintenance. These processes rely on talin, the key focal adhesion—or FA—protein, central in connecting adjacent cellular matrices and enabling force transmission between them. ⌘ Read more
A team of molecular engineers have developed a type of plastic that can be shape-shifted using tempering. In their paper published in the journal Science the team, from the University of Chicago, with a colleagues from the US DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and the NASA Glenn Research Center, describe how they made their plastic and how well it was able to shape shift whe ... ⌘ Read more
University of Sydney researchers have shown it is possible to shield plants from the hungry maws of herbivorous mammals by fooling them with the smell of a variety they typically avoid. ⌘ Read more
Do climate change deniers bend the facts to avoid having to modify their environmentally harmful behavior? Researchers from the University of Bonn and the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) ran an online experiment involving 4,000 US adults, and found no evidence to support this idea. The authors of the study were themselves surprised by the results. Whether they are good or bad news for the fight against global heating ... ⌘ Read more
The 1 million-square-mile Tibetan Plateau—often called the "roof of the world"—is the highest landmass in the world, averaging 14,000 feet in altitude. Despite the extreme environment, humans have been permanent inhabitants there since prehistoric times. ⌘ Read more
In this image from Jan. 30, 2024, an uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft launches atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, starting its journey to the International Space Station. ⌘ Read more
Reproducible in-vitro canine skin has been grown in a laboratory setting for the first time by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB. ⌘ Read more
In a significant advancement for next-generation semiconductors, a collaborative research team has made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. ⌘ Read more
Theoretical predictions have been confirmed with the discovery of an outflow of molecular gas from a quasar when the universe was less than a billion years old. ⌘ Read more
Endosulfan, a broad-spectrum organochlorine pesticide, was widely used in agricultural sectors, including cotton farming, due to its effectiveness against pests. However, due to its environmental persistence and potential health risks, its production and use have been banned in China since March 2019. ⌘ Read more
Despite remarkable progress in science and technology, rapid advancements have exposed limitations in many technological domains. A pressing challenge in semiconductor devices, which underpin ultrahigh-speed communications and artificial intelligence (AI), is the development of high-performance devices with a basic structure of 2 nanometers (nm). ⌘ Read more
In a study published in PNAS, researchers analyzed 151 ecosystems across six continents, delved into the intricate coexistence network among diverse species including bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates, and for the first time, linked biotic coexistence relationships with global biodiversity maintenance, which offers insights into the understanding of soil biodiversity and its ecolo ... ⌘ Read more
New Zealand is set to become one of the first countries to ban harmful "forever chemicals" from cosmetic products, environment watchdogs said Wednesday. ⌘ Read more
Black holes are powerful gravitational engines. So you might imagine that there must be a way to extract energy from them given the chance, and you'd be right. Certainly, we could tap into all the heat and kinetic energy of a black hole's accretion disk and jets, but even if all you had was a black hole in empty space, you could still extract energy from a trick known as the Penrose process. ⌘ Read more
Exoplanet K2-18b is garnering a lot of attention. James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopy shows it has carbon and methane in its atmosphere. Those results, along with other observations, suggest the planet could be a long-hypothesized "Hycean World." But new research counters that. ⌘ Read more
Do exoplanets have exomoons? It would be extraordinary if they didn't, but as with all things, we don't know until we know. Astronomers thought they may have found exomoons several years ago around two exoplanets: Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b. Did they? ⌘ Read more
When someone comes up with the word "magnify," it is referring either to making distant objects closer or making small objects bigger on a tangible scale. There is no doubt that the power of magnifying instruments, regardless of the scale and direction, can lead to the advancement of the scientific field. Since its launch in 2021, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has embarked on a mission to collect unprece ... ⌘ Read more
Goats can tell the difference between a happy-sounding human voice and an angry-sounding one, according to research co-led by Professor Alan McElligott, an expert in animal behavior and welfare at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). ⌘ Read more
A team of experts has created the first database of field studies on the impacts of invasive plants on native species, communities and ecosystems in Europe. ⌘ Read more
Collisions of high energy particles produce "jets" of quarks, anti-quarks, or gluons. Due to the phenomenon called confinement, scientists cannot directly detect quarks. Instead, the quarks from these collisions fragment into many secondary particles that can be detected. ⌘ Read more
Japan's moon lander has come back to life, the space agency said Monday, enabling the craft to proceed with its mission of investigating the lunar surface despite its rocky start. ⌘ Read more
A fire that destroyed around 600 hectares of a national park in Argentina was the result of arson, an official said Sunday. ⌘ Read more
A video showing renovation work at Egypt's Menkaure pyramid at Giza has triggered social media criticism, with one expert decrying its "absurdity". ⌘ Read more
Climate change was the chief driver of the devastating drought that gripped the Amazon last year, say researchers, as warming threatens one of the world's most important ecosystems for stabilizing the global climate. ⌘ Read more
NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter, which made history by achieving the first powered flight on another world, has officially ended its nearly three-year mission after sustaining rotor damage during its last outing, the space agency said Thursday. ⌘ Read more
If you stand at practically any point on Earth, there is water moving through the ground beneath your feet. Groundwater provides about half of the world's population with drinking water and nearly half of all water used to irrigate crops. It sustains rivers, lakes and wetlands during droughts. ⌘ Read more
A new study from the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management has found that the loss to tourism-related businesses due to the 2018 Florida red tide bloom is estimated at approximately $2.7 billion. ⌘ Read more
Recording the activity of large populations of single neurons in the brain over long periods of time is crucial to further our understanding of neural circuits, to enable novel medical device-based therapies and, in the future, for brain–computer interfaces requiring high-resolution electrophysiological information. ⌘ Read more
A recently discovered solar system with six confirmed exoplanets and a possible seventh is boosting astronomers' knowledge of planet formation and evolution. Relying on a globe-spanning arsenal of observatories and instruments, a team led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine has compiled the most precise measurements yet of the exoplanets' masses, orbital properties and atmosph ... ⌘ Read more
Since it was detected in August 2023, the JN.1 variant of COVID has spread widely. It has become dominant in Australia and around the world, driving the biggest COVID wave seen in many jurisdictions for at least the past year. ⌘ Read more
Flying foxes. Megabats. Fruit bats. Whatever name you choose, these fox-faced creatures are remarkable. Our four species help pollinate eucalyptus trees in eastern Australia, spread the seeds of rainforest trees, and make our summer skies spectacular. They're some of the largest bats in the world. ⌘ Read more
In Australia, more than a dozen independent, community-controlled First Nations schools were set up in the 1970s and '80s. These schools, some still in operation, offered culturally and linguistically relevant education to First Nations students reflecting Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. ⌘ Read more
Colorful flowers, and the insects and birds that fly among their dazzling displays, are a joy of nature. But how did early relationships between flower color and animal pollinators emerge? ⌘ Read more
A valuable molecule sourced from the soapbark tree and used as a key ingredient in vaccines, has been replicated in an alternative plant host for the first time, opening unprecedented opportunities for the vaccine industry. ⌘ Read more
As part of the Ice Memory initiative, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) researchers, with colleagues from the University of Fribourg and Ca' Foscari University of Venice as well as the Institute of Polar Sciences of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), analyzed ice cores drilled in 2018 and 2020 from the Corbassière glacier at Grand Combin in the canton of Valais. ⌘ Read more
There are millions of entrepreneurs in developing countries. In fact, in emerging markets, more than half of all workers—both men and women—are small-firm owners. ⌘ Read more
On the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University presents its third "For a Righteous Cause" Annual Report. ⌘ Read more
The branch of mathematics known as topology has become a cornerstone of modern physics thanks to the remarkable—and above all reliable—properties it can impart to a material or system. Unfortunately, identifying topological systems, or even designing new ones, is generally a tedious process that requires exactly matching the physical system to a mathematical model. ⌘ Read more
Colombia has declared a state of emergency in two regions as dozens of forest fires burned wide swathes of the country and left the capital choking on smoke during record temperatures linked with the El Niño weather phenomenon. ⌘ Read more
European forests with a greater diversity of tree species are more resilient to storms, according to new research published in the journal Functional Ecology. ⌘ Read more
Plants produce a range of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds that influence their interactions with the world around them. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have investigated how the type and amount of these VOCs change based on different features of tomato plants. ⌘ Read more
Tissue engineering, which involves the use of grafts or scaffolds to aid cell regeneration, is emerging as a key medical practice for treating volumetric muscle loss (VML), a condition where a significant amount of muscle tissue is lost beyond the body's natural regenerative capacity. To improve surgical outcomes, traditional muscle grafts are giving way to artificial scaffold materials, wi ... ⌘ Read more
A collaborative research team co-led by Professor Shuang Zhang, the Interim Head of the Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), along with Professor Qing DAI from National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China, has introduced a solution to a prevalent issue in the realm of nanophotonics, which is the study of light at an extremely small scale. ⌘ Read more
In a study published in Economic Inquiry, investigators have compared wages of Black and white interracially married individuals with those of intraracially married individuals in the United States. ⌘ Read more
Harmful algal blooms (HABs), characterized by the proliferation of detrimental algae and cyanobacteria, occur worldwide. HABs include any event causing adverse effects on human health, socioeconomic interests, or aquatic systems. The consequences of HABs are far-reaching, ranging from the production of potentially harmful or lethal toxins to the creation of hypoxic or anoxic ... ⌘ Read more
A trio of chemists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, working with a colleague from the University of Western Ontario, has tied the smallest knot ever, using just 54 atoms. In their study, published in the journal Nature Communications, Zhiwen Li, Jingjing Zhang, Gao Li and Richard Puddephatt accidentally tied the knot while trying to create metal acetylides in their lab. ⌘ Read more
Using various ground-based telescopes, astronomers have performed photometric and spectroscopic observations of a nearby Type Ia supernova known as SN 2020nlb. Results of the observations campaign, presented January 16 on the pre-print server arXiv, deliver important insights regarding the evolution of this stellar explosion. ⌘ Read more
Despite being a renewable energy source, the use of biofuel is controversial, as growing few, highly productive crops for fuel can lead to biodiversity loss in the cropping systems where biomass is produced. A cropping system refers to the crops, their sequence, and the management practices on a given field. ⌘ Read more
Scientists and engineers have been pushing for the past decade to leverage an elusive ferroelectric material called hafnium oxide, or hafnia, to usher in the next generation of computing memory. A team of researchers including the University of Rochester's Sobhit Singh published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences outlining progress toward making bulk ferroelectric and antiferroelectric hafnia availab ... ⌘ Read more
Joint research led by Ayaka Matsumoto and Yuichi Iino of the University of Tokyo demonstrates that temporal decrease in salt concentration leads to the activation of the neck motor neuron of roundworms, but only in a specific phase of its activity. ⌘ Read more
Global warming continues to pose a threat to human society and ecological systems, and carbon dioxide accounts for the largest proportion of the greenhouse gases that dominate climate warming. ⌘ Read more
Japan switched off its moon lander almost three hours after a historic touchdown to allow for a possible recovery of the craft when the sun hits its solar panels, the space agency said Monday. ⌘ Read more
A new study shows the Megalodon, a gigantic shark that went extinct 3.6 million years ago, was more slender than earlier studies suggested. This finding changes scientists' understanding of Megalodon behavior, ancient ocean life, and why the sharks went extinct. ⌘ Read more
Amsterdammers are proud of their city. But it turns out that people who have moved there from other parts of the world are just as concerned about keeping the place green and pleasant. We surveyed Amsterdam residents and found, among other things, that recent migrants were just as likely to recycle as those born and raised in the city. ⌘ Read more
NASA has re-established contact with its tiny helicopter on Mars, the US space agency said Saturday, after an unexpected outage prompted fears that the hard-working craft had finally met its end. ⌘ Read more
An all-European crew including Turkey's first astronaut arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday on a voyage chartered by Axiom Space. ⌘ Read more
The head of the American space company whose lunar lander failed this week in its mission to reach the Moon expressed optimism Friday that the next attempt would achieve its goal. ⌘ Read more
Deglaciation during the Holocene (last ~17,000 years) has had significant impacts on the surrounding mountainous environments as glaciers retreated and left distinct landforms in their wake, such as debris ridges (moraines) deposited at the snout during retreat. ⌘ Read more~
Unrelenting storms have pummeled the United States over the past week, leading to at least 50 weather-related deaths, officials and US media reported Friday, as large swathes of the country brace for new winter wallops. ⌘ Read more
Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere this year will exceed key trajectories for limiting warming to 1.5°C, Britain's Met Office predicted Friday, with researchers reaffirming that that only "drastic" emissions cuts can keep the target in sight. ⌘ Read more
Crew members on the International Space Station have a lot of company—millions of bacteria and other microbes. The human body contains 10 times more microbes than human cells, and bacteria and fungi grow in and on just about everything around us on Earth. ⌘ Read more
As Japan's space agency prepares for its first moon landing early Saturday, it's aiming to hit a very small target. ⌘ Read more
An international team of researchers has uncovered a remarkable genetic phenomenon in lycophytes, which are similar to ferns and among the oldest land plants. Their study, recently published in the journal PNAS, reveals that these plants have maintained a consistent genetic structure for over 350 million years, a significant deviation from the norm in plant genetics. ⌘ Read more
Globally, non-point source pollution is an important source of water quality deterioration in rivers and lakes. A ditch-pond system, consisting of ditches and ponds, is considered to be similar to free-surface wetlands, linking pollution sources to the receiving water bodies. ⌘ Read more
According to scientists, waste heat, which enters the environment and remains unused, accounts for more than 70% of global energy consumption losses. With the help of thermoelectric materials—special semiconductors—the dissipated heat can be converted into electricity. Thermoelectric materials can also be used to design cooling devices, which reduce energy consumption in domestic and in ... ⌘ Read more
A comprehensive new survey reveals the changing face of UK families amid recent economic, social, and political turmoil. ⌘ Read more
EPFL scientists have unveiled a method using biological nanopores and deep learning to detect protein modifications, offering new avenues in disease diagnostics. ⌘ Read more
The source and amounts of different types of mineral dust reaching the Earth's atmosphere needs to be re-evaluated so its effects on human health and climate change can be more accurately understood, scientists claim. ⌘ Read more
For many years, most astrophysical models assumed that planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets, are heated at similar depths by their host stars (i.e., stars like the sun around which planetary systems are formed). Analyses of recent observations by several collaborations using different telescopes, however, suggest that some exoplanets could absorb heat much ... ⌘ Read more
Bottom trawling is a previously unaccounted for source of atmospheric carbon emissions, scientists reveal in a study published today. As the world scrambles to slash emissions caused by fossil fuels, deforestation and other sources, the study finds bottom trawling—the act of dragging a heavy fishing net across the ocean floor and resuspending some of the carbon in the seafloor sediment—to be a significant source of atmospheric carb ... ⌘ Read more
Scientists have known about a particular organelle in plant cells for over a century. However, UC Riverside scientists have only now discovered that organelle's key role in aging. ⌘ Read more
Heightened global interconnectivity and human pressures on planetary boundaries generate increasingly harmful and extensive crisis interactions that make it impossible to solve any one problem alone, findings published in Global Sustainability reveal. ⌘ Read more
When voters cast their ballots in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, many were driven by their concern for climate change, according to new research out of CU Boulder's Center for Environmental Futures (C-SEF). The new report determined that views on climate change played a significant role in whom people voted for, concluding that the climate issue very likely cost Republicans the 2020 election, all else equal. ⌘ Read more
Democratic backsliding is occurring in an unprecedented number of wealthy countries once thought immune to such forces—the United States among them, finds a new analysis led by Cornell political scientists and published in World Politics. ⌘ Read more
These days, if you want to visit remarkable archaeological sites such as Great Zimbabwe or Petra in Jordan you don't even need to leave your house. ⌘ Read more
Breakdancing in the break room might not seem like the best way to get ahead at work, but research shows recreational dance can actually improve productivity performance in the workplace. ⌘ Read more
With the new year underway employers are beginning to resume normal business activities and restart their hiring process. Similarly, many school and university graduates are beginning their job search after a well-earned break. ⌘ Read more
Feeding astronauts on a long mission to Mars goes well beyond ensuring they have enough nutrients and calories to survive their multi-year journey. ⌘ Read more
A new study led by scientists from Spain and Germany has found a fundamental asymmetry showing that heating is consistently faster than cooling, challenging conventional expectations and introducing the concept of "thermal kinematics" to explain this phenomenon. The findings are published in Nature Physics. ⌘ Read more
Catalysis is one of the key technologies in the chemical industry and has a wide-reaching impact on various aspects of our daily lives, including plastics manufacturing, drug synthesis, and production of both fertilizers and fuels. It is estimated that over 90% of chemical products are nowadays manufactured with the involvement of catalysis in at least one stage. Catalysis is a complex process that ... ⌘ Read more
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are laboratory-designed proteins that mimic the immune system's antibodies. To date, many therapeutic mAbs belonging to the immunoglobulin G (IgG) class of antibodies, have been approved for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Cell lines such as the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are generally used to produce mAbs. Notably, the production and manufact ... ⌘ Read more
Not every wound can be closed with needle and thread. Empa researchers have now developed a soldering process with nanoparticles that gently fuses tissue. The soldering technique is expected to prevent wound healing disorders and life-threatening complications from leaking sutures. ⌘ Read more
The ocean is the world's largest habitat, yet much of its biodiversity is still unknown. A study published in Frontiers in Science marks a significant breakthrough, reporting the largest and most comprehensive database of marine microbes to date—matched with biological function, location, and habitat type. ⌘ Read more
Scientists from TU Delft have found how confined microalgal cells grow optimally in photosynthetic engineered living materials. With the use of light energy, the microalgae convert CO2 from the air into sugars, energy and oxygen for their survival. Such algae-based living materials could be used in a range of applications, from functional objects for CO2 capture, to oxygen sources for biological tissues. ⌘ Read more
Within atomic and laser physics communities, scientist John "Jan" Hall has become a key figure in the history of laser frequency stabilization and precision measurement using lasers. Hall's work revolved around understanding and manipulating stable lasers in ways that were revolutionary for their time. His work laid a technical foundation for measuring a tiny fractional distance change brought by a passing gravitational wav ... ⌘ Read more
Many physicists and engineers have been trying to develop highly efficient quantum technologies that can perform similar functions to conventional electronics leveraging quantum mechanical effects. This includes high-dimensional quantum memories, storage devices with a greater information capacity and noise resilience than two-dimensional quantum memories. ⌘ Read more