You wake up at 7:00 and reflexively reach for your phone. Between the stream of emails, WhatsApps and breaking news alerts, you see a worrying reminder: you averaged 11 hours of daily screen time last week. You swipe the notification away and open TikTok, where a woman in a matching athleisure set and glossy, slicked-back ponytail urges you to "get ready with me for my 5-9 before my 9-5." ⌘ Read more
You wake up at 7:00 and reflexively reach for your phone. Between the stream of emails, WhatsApps and breaking news alerts, you see a worrying reminder: you averaged 11 hours of daily screen time last week. You swipe the notification away and open TikTok, where a woman in a matching athleisure set and glossy, slicked-back ponytail urges you to "get ready with me for my 5-9 before my 9-5." ⌘ Read more
Hungarian researchers at ELTE Eötvös Loránd University and the HUN-REN Center for Energy Research have shown that the leaves of the ornamental never never plant can store water efficiently for up to 45 days thanks to their water-storing cell layers, and thus maintain their photosynthetic activity and chloroplast structure unchanged. ⌘ Read more
A unique propagation phenomenon of acoustic waves has been discovered, paving the way for developing advanced communication technologies using acoustic devices. ⌘ Read more
Human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires, a scientific study found. ⌘ Read more
Many factors are needed to achieve our goals. Now researchers have looked at passion, drive and people's ability to find flow. ⌘ Read more
A Curtin University-led report has revealed that Western Australia (WA) consumes more than three times the global average of raw materials and must change its economy to reduce waste and pollution, conserve resources and lessen reliance on new materials. ⌘ Read more
Mass deportation of undocumented immigrants has been touted by the incoming Trump administration as a way to increase jobs for U.S. citizens and reduce housing costs. ⌘ Read more
DNA profiling technologies are rapidly advancing, creating the potential to identify individuals involved in making, packing and transporting illegal capsules by analyzing the exterior of the illicit drugs and the plastic bag in which they are carried. ⌘ Read more
Researchers from the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE)—in collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Minnesota and University of California-Davis—have unveiled the most comprehensive genetic study of North American Thoroughbred horses to date. ⌘ Read more
A trio of biologists from the University of Connecticut; the Organization for Tropical Studies, in Costa Rica; and the University of Bristol, has found that hummingbird flower mites use hummingbirds to carry them from flower to flower. ⌘ Read more
An environmentally-friendly preparation of plant material from pine could serve as a substitute for petroleum-based chemicals in polyurethane foams. ⌘ Read more
The rate of ocean warming has more than quadrupled over the past four decades, a new study has shown. Ocean temperatures were rising at about 0.06 degrees Celsius per decade in the late 1980s, but are now increasing at 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade. ⌘ Read more
The first trial of an Australian-developed technology has detected mysterious objects by sifting through signals from space like sand on a beach. ⌘ Read more
Mycotourism, or mushroom tourism, is becoming increasingly popular as travelers seek out more nature-focused experiences. This unique tourism niche combines guided mushroom foraging with culinary traditions and rural culture to offer travelers an experience distinct from more traditional forms of tourism. ⌘ Read more
Media coverage of the recent fires in Los Angeles showed the heartbreaking damage in Pacific Palisades and elsewhere across Los Angeles County. People lost not only their houses but also the thriving communities of which they had been part. ⌘ Read more
The distribution of plants has been shaped by geological and climatic changes over time through repeated migration, extinction, and adaptation to new environments. The genus Camellia, comprising over 100 species mainly in East Asia, is a representative warm-temperate tree of the Sino-Japanese Floristic Region. ⌘ Read more
Brown bears roam across much of the northern hemisphere from the mountains of Spain to the prairies of the US. These bears are formidable carnivores that can weigh up to 751 kg (1,656 lb) and have claws 15 cm (6 in) long. With long canine teeth and a bite force of 6,800,000 pascals (1,000 psi), these bruins can easily crush bones. ⌘ Read more
Murray crayfish once thrived in the southern Murray-Darling Basin. The species was found everywhere from the headwaters of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers in the Australian Alps all the way down to Wellington in South Australia. ⌘ Read more
Astronomer Calvin Leung was excited last summer to crunch data from a newly commissioned radio telescope to precisely pinpoint the origin of repeated bursts of intense radio waves—so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs)—emanating from somewhere in the northern constellation Ursa Minor. ⌘ Read more
A German aerospace engineer celebrated setting a world record Friday for the longest time living underwater without depressurization—120 days in a submerged capsule off the coast of Panama. ⌘ Read more
Researchers at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering have used machine learning to design nano-architected materials that have the strength of carbon steel but the lightness of Styrofoam. ⌘ Read more
A team of scientists has developed a groundbreaking approach using specially designed peptides to improve drug formulations. This innovative method significantly enhances anti-tumor efficacy, as demonstrated in leukemia models. The study, published in the journal Chem, was led by researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center ... ⌘ Read more
NH3 is one of the most important chemicals in today's world, as it is used in the production of fertilizers to boost agricultural yields and sustain the ever-growing global population. For over 100 years, NH3 production has relied on the Haber–Bosch (HB) process, which combines nitrogen (N2) and hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. ⌘ Read more
Flying through Bangkok's cloudless blue skies, a small aircraft sprays a white mist over a thick haze of pea soup smog below. ⌘ Read more
Perovskite solar cells are attracting attention as next-generation solar cells. These cells have high efficiency, are flexible, and can be printed, among other features. However, lead was initially used in their manufacture, and its toxicity has become an environmental issue. ⌘ Read more
A single gene that regulates testosterone levels in a "crazy" species of shore bird controls the development of three wildly different types of males, an international study involving researchers at Simon Fraser University has found. ⌘ Read more
As the Australian Open continues in full swing, a new study can reveal female tennis coaches experience significantly more barriers in their profession—including discrimination and marginalization—than their male counterparts, with fewer than half seeing themselves continuing as coaches long term. ⌘ Read more
When you slurp an exotic Pacific oyster or throw fresh seafood on the BBQ this weekend, spare a thought for our local shellfish reefs—most of which have been destroyed or forgotten. ⌘ Read more
Earth's climate changed dramatically during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene 130,000 to 7,000 years ago, when cold glacial cycles transitioned into the current warmer interglacial. Such a climatic evolution had considerable effects on the ecosystem and the organisms inhabiting it, with many large mammals going extinct and others experiencing reductions in body size. ⌘ Read more
It's now official. Last year was the warmest year on record globally and the first to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This doesn't mean it's too late to rein in further warming, but the ambition required rises with each delay in action. ⌘ Read more
The Black Friday bushfires which swept across southeastern Australia in January 1939 have been remembered as a deadly and traumatic event. ⌘ Read more
New research in Contemporary Economic Policy indicates that rising minimum wages in a state are associated with reduced summer employment for college students, the time when students tend to work the most. ⌘ Read more
As their traditional dining options dwindle and natural areas give way to restaurants, homes and sidewalks, the coyotes of San Francisco are shifting what they eat. ⌘ Read more
Using the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, an international team of astronomers has detected 26 new Galactic radio transients. Most of them turned out to be rotating radio transients (RRATs). The finding is detailed in a research paper published Jan. 14 on the arXiv preprint server. ⌘ Read more
Trees need a certain number of warm days in their growing seasons to grow properly; otherwise, the cell walls of new growth don't lignify properly, creating blue rings that appear when wood samples are dyed. ⌘ Read more
Engineers from The University of Warwick's Integrative Synthetic Biology Center and Imperial College London's Department of Bioengineering have unveiled how to engineer microbial "cell-factories" to boost the manufacture of high-value chemicals that are used in everyday products like domestic goods, clothes and food. ⌘ Read more
University of Missouri scientists are unlocking the secrets of halide perovskites—a material that's poised to reshape our future by bringing us closer to a new age of energy-efficient optoelectronics. ⌘ Read more
In 2020, the City of Lausanne found that large areas of its soil had been contaminated with dioxins, which are chlorinated organic compounds. This pollution was due mainly to combustion-reliant manufacturing processes. ⌘ Read more
Slime build-up is a costly drag on fuel efficiency for ocean-going cargo ships, leading to more emissions and, eventually, higher consumer prices. A study published in the journal, npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, suggests a new approach to managing this common problem. ⌘ Read more
Many air passengers are open to paying extra for flights with reduced emissions, according to a new study of consumer preferences by Macquarie University researchers. ⌘ Read more
The Dutch TROPOMI space instrument creates daily global maps of carbon monoxide (CO) in the atmosphere. Researchers from SRON and TNO have now measured CO emissions over a full year from the 21 largest European steel plants. The preprint is available on EGUsphere. ⌘ Read more
A study published in the International Journal of Digital Earth presents a novel application of the Sustainable Development Science Satellite-1 (SDGSAT-1) for observing offshore oil and gas platforms. Researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences leveraged the advanced capabilities of SDGSAT-1's Glimmer Imager (GLI) and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIS) to monitor gas flaring acti ... ⌘ Read more
The processes that form continental crust from the denser basaltic rocks of the upper mantle may make the lower lithosphere denser than the underlying mantle. One theory holds that the lower lithosphere splits away and sinks into the mantle in a process called foundering. Conclusive evidence of foundering, however, has been hard to come by. ⌘ Read more
A new international study on public trust in science, conducted across 68 countries, has found that most people trust scientists and believe they should be more involved in society and policymaking. Further, a majority of survey participants believe that scientists should be more involved in society and policymaking. ⌘ Read more
Scientists are unraveling the mystery of what triggers Huntington's disease, a devastating and fatal hereditary disorder that strikes in the prime of life, causing nerve cells in parts of the brain to break down and die. ⌘ Read more
Cultural traits—the information, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and practices that shape the character of a population—are influenced by conformity, the tendency to align with others, or anti-conformity, the choice to deliberately diverge. A new way to model this dynamic interplay could ultimately help explain societal phenomena like political polarization, cultural trends, and the spread of misinfor ... ⌘ Read more
In flooded agricultural fields near the Tennessee River, tens of thousands of sandhill cranes stand tall among broken corn stalks and shallow water searching for corn, berries, seeds and insects. ⌘ Read more
The path to Lost Lake was steep and unpaved, lined with sharp rocks and holes. ⌘ Read more
A volcano in eastern Indonesia has erupted at least a thousand times this month, according to an official report Sunday as efforts were underway to evacuate thousands of villagers living near the rumbling mountain. ⌘ Read more
Why do social injustices and ecological harms persist despite the powerful social movements that have arisen throughout history to counter them? ⌘ Read more
The size of the Antarctic ice sheet can be hard to comprehend. Two kilometers thick on average and covering nearly twice the area of Australia, the ice sheet holds enough freshwater to raise global sea levels by 58 meters. ⌘ Read more
The UK weather service said Friday that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere in 2024 grew at the fastest annual rate on record, exceeding their own projections by some margin. ⌘ Read more
The Premier League is currently vulnerable to new investors and team owners who could have sourced their wealth from illicit activities. ⌘ Read more
With 2024 being the hottest year on record to date, researchers across the globe are addressing the temperature rise by rethinking our food systems and encouraging the switch to a plant-based diet. ⌘ Read more
Astrophysicists led by a team from Trinity College Dublin have—for the first time—imaged a large number of exocomet belts around nearby stars, and the tiny pebbles within them. The crystal-clear images show light being emitted from these millimeter-sized pebbles within the belts that orbit 74 nearby stars of a wide variety of ages—from those that are just emerging from birth to those in more mature systems like ... ⌘ Read more
Just past 2 a.m. Eastern time on Jan. 16, 2025, a new rocket blasted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. By reaching orbit, Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket launch has marked a milestone for a commercial space company that has big ambitions. ⌘ Read more
In a study published in the Astrophysical Journal, a team of researchers led by Kristen McQuinn, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute and an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences, has reported finding that Leo P, a small galaxy and a distant neighbor of the Milky Way, "reignited," reactivating during a significant ... ⌘ Read more
Researchers have pioneered the use of parallel computing on graphics cards to simulate acoustic turbulence. This type of simulation, which previously required a supercomputer, can now be performed on a standard personal computer. The discovery will make weather forecasting models more accurate while enabling the use of turbulence theory in various fields of physics, such as astrophysics, to c ... ⌘ Read more
While fishing off the coast of Honduras in 2023, a group of anglers stumbled upon a rare sight: a pod of orcas hunting down a sperm whale. ⌘ Read more
A stricter speed limit isn't coming to the waters of the North Atlantic right whale calving grounds off the Georgia coast after all. ⌘ Read more
Using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), an international team of astronomers have performed deep optical observations of a dwarf galaxy known as NGC 300. As a result, they detected a stellar stream, shells and a globular cluster in the halo of this galaxy. Their findings were reported Jan. 7 on the pre-print server arXiv. ⌘ Read more
An international team of environmentalists, zoologists and land use specialists has developed an extinction probability metric for land that is converted to agriculture. Their paper is published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. ⌘ Read more
Ecological warning lights have blinked on across the Arctic over the last 40 years, according to new research, and many of the fastest-changing areas are clustered in Siberia, the Canadian Northwest Territories, and Alaska. ⌘ Read more
An international team led by astronomers at Leiden University has shown in laboratory experiments that sulfur can bind with ammonium under icy cosmic conditions and form a salt that sticks to dust and pebbles. The resulting sulfur salt not only helps to explain the mystery of the missing sulfur gas, but also a puzzling peak in data from the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI instrument and other telescopes. ⌘ Read more
The term "omics" refers to the study of the entirety of molecular mechanisms that happen inside an organism. With the advent of omics technologies like transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics, our understanding of molecular pathways of toxic environmental pollutants has deepened. ⌘ Read more
Researchers from the University of Connecticut have created the first 3D maps of star-forming gas clouds in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy, and have studied previous flaring events from our galaxy's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A\* (Sgr A\*). ⌘ Read more
Oxygen can destroy hydrogen-producing enzymes. Researchers from Bochum and Osaka have discovered how an extraordinary protein survives in the presence of oxygen. ⌘ Read more
To develop scalable and reliable quantum computers, engineers and physicists will need to devise effective strategies to mitigate errors in their quantum systems without adding complex additional components. A promising strategy to reduce errors entails the use of so-called dual-type qubits. ⌘ Read more
Nearly a third of people in the U.S. have been exposed to unregulated contaminants in their drinking water that could impact their health, according to a new analysis by scientists at Silent Spring Institute. What's more, Hispanic and Black residents are more likely than other groups to have unsafe levels of contaminants in their drinking water and are more likely to live near ... ⌘ Read more
New discoveries by a UCF researcher and her team at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Kurd Qaburstan, including clay tablets with ancient cuneiform writing, a game board and large structural remains, may provide a wealth of knowledge about this Middle Bronze Age city and shed light on the more hidden history of Mesopotamia. ⌘ Read more
As fires continue to burn across Los Angeles, several utilities have declared their drinking water unsafe until extensive testing can prove otherwise. ⌘ Read more
Physicists have spent more than a century measuring and making sense of the strange ways that photons, electrons, and other subatomic particles interact at extremely small scales. Engineers have spent decades figuring out how to take advantage of these phenomena to create new technologies. ⌘ Read more
Diamond, often celebrated for its unmatched hardness and transparency, has emerged as an exceptional material for high-power electronics and next-generation quantum optics. Diamond can be engineered to be as electrically conductive as a metal, by introducing impurities such as the element boron. ⌘ Read more
Firefighters battling the deadly wildfires that raced through the Los Angeles area in January 2025 have been hampered by a limited supply of freshwater. So, when the winds are calm enough, skilled pilots flying planes aptly named Super Scoopers are skimming off 1,500 gallons of seawater at a time and dumping it with high precision on the fires. ⌘ Read more
A biomedical engineer at the University of Michigan has found that just a fraction of all known bacteria species has ever been the main focus of a scientific research effort and subsequent paper. In his research posted on the bioRxiv preprint server, Paul Jensen describes how he searched for information on bacteria species in the PubMed database and found most bacterial research explores only a few species. ⌘ Read more
Black hole quantum effects are usually thought to be too small to have any observable signatures. This is indeed the case for heavy black holes, such as the ones detected via gravitational waves by LIGO in 2015. These black holes have mass of a few tens of solar mass and, consequently, their Hawking radiation is negligible. ⌘ Read more
Mother orca Tahlequah is continuing to carry her burden of grief: a dead calf that she now has been refusing to let go of for at least 11 days. ⌘ Read more
An international team of astronomers has conducted multiwavelength observations of a variable star designated Gaia22ayj. Results of the observation campaign indicate that this star is a magnetic accreting white dwarf. The findings are detailed in a paper published Jan. 2 on the pre-print server arXiv. ⌘ Read more
Wildlife experts are in the process of capturing gray wolves from Canada in order to release them in Colorado, effectively doubling the state's small, recently reintroduced population. ⌘ Read more
Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin will have to wait a little longer for the long-anticipated maiden orbital flight of its brand-new rocket after a launch attempt dragged on for hours before being canceled due to unspecified technical issues. ⌘ Read more
One of the more unexpected plot twists on the latest series of the BBC's "The Traitors" was contestant Charlotte revealing that despite being from London, she was putting on a Welsh accent to seem more trustworthy to her fellow contestants. ⌘ Read more
The extinction of the megafauna—giant marsupials that lived in Australia until 60,000 to 45,000 years ago—is a topic of fierce debate. Some researchers have suggested a reliance on certain plants left some species susceptible to changes in climate. ⌘ Read more
The last two years saw average global temperatures exceed a critical warming limit for the first time, Europe's climate monitor said Friday, as the UN demanded "trail-blazing" climate action. ⌘ Read more
A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted on Saturday, spewing hot lava and releasing a column of smoke and ash four kilometers (3.1 miles) into the air, an official said. ⌘ Read more
Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and Pacific island nations are the only countries that remain free of highly pathogenic avian influenza. ⌘ Read more
Blue Origin, the US space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000, is poised for a historic first: its maiden voyage into orbital space with a brand new rocket, New Glenn. ⌘ Read more
This week, researchers at the Desert Research Institute reported that lead pollution likely caused widespread IQ declines in ancient Rome. An archaeological study in northern Israel challenged popular wisdom about prehistoric diets, finding that hunter-gatherers relied heavily on starchy plants for nutrition. And geophysicists at ETH Zurich modeled the Earth's lower mantl ... ⌘ Read more
From the persistent droughts of southern Africa and Central America in the early part of the year to the more recent devastating extreme rainfall in Spain and the deadly Hurricane Helene along America's east coast, 2024 has been a year of climate events that affected the lives of billions of people. ⌘ Read more
Identifying alloy properties can be expensive and time-consuming. Experiments involving alloys often require a number of resources. Calculating alloys can also become extremely complicated, with a seemingly endless number of configurations of properties. ⌘ Read more
The Space Coast could welcome a big player to the launch landscape early Sunday with the debut of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, a two-day delay from original plans to launch early Friday. ⌘ Read more
A study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences has found that ocean warming in 2024 has led to new record high temperatures. The ocean is the hottest it has ever been recorded by humans, not only at the surface temperature but also for the upper 2000 meters. ⌘ Read more
Researchers led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a breakthrough technique that could lay the foundations for detecting the universe's "dark matter" and bring scientists closer than before to uncovering the secrets of the cosmos. ⌘ Read more
It has been thought that plate tectonics were a significant factor in the shaping of our planet and the evolution of life. Mars and Venus don't experience such movements of crustal plates, but then the differences between the worlds is evident. ⌘ Read more
Scientists have created a catalyst for hydrogen generation from ammonia that becomes more active with time, and by counting atoms, revealed changes that boost the catalyst's performance. ⌘ Read more
Prison reform advocates often point to the Nordic countries as examples of "how to do prison right." The low rates of imprisonment and more humane approach to incarceration in these countries have long been considered exceptional by researchers. ⌘ Read more
Using NASA's Fermi space telescope, Italian astronomers have observed a radio source known as 3C 216. As a result, they detected increased gamma-ray activity from this source, including a strong outburst. The finding is reported in a research paper published on the arXiv preprint server. ⌘ Read more
The practice of growing different but complementary plants within a given area, also known as intercropping, has numerous positive effects, such as reduced soil erosion, weed suppression, nitrogen fixation (the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to nitrogen compounds that can be used by plants and other organisms), and pollinator benefits. ⌘ Read more
Researchers have developed a novel method to assess depression in CEOs by using machine learning models (a type of artificial intelligence) to analyze vocal acoustic features from conference call recordings. This innovative approach, detailed in an article published in the Journal of Accounting Research, provides insights into a mental health issue that often remains hidden in high-pressure executive roles. ⌘ Read more
Grapefruit and pummelo contain compounds called furanocoumarins that may affect the blood levels of more than 100 prescription drugs, so people taking these medications are advised to remove these fruits from their diets. ⌘ Read more
Working out the kinks of mating in the animal kingdom helps to gain insights into the survival of species. Among animals that have multiple partners who deposit eggs outside their body, such as most fish, the males release sperm several times a day, but producing these gametes requires energy and time. ⌘ Read more