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Social technologies, digital tools that allow people to communicate and share content with each other online, have become a central way of communicating for many people worldwide. Yet the possible effects of these technologies on the well-being and life satisfaction of regular users are still widely debated.
About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep across the continental United States, according to a major scientific report.
Across Appalachia and the Rust Belt region, including throughout the city of Pittsburgh, former industrial sites are being transformed into new neighborhoods, research centers and technology hubs.
The malaria parasite is able to detect changes in its host
Across South Africa, natural springs are more than sources of freshwater. Some are places of healing, spiritual cleansing and rituals, where communities collect water and maintain longstanding cultural connections with the environment. For example, during cleansing rituals, people bathe in or collect spring water as a way of seeking spiritual renewal, healing and protection. These are known as sacred springs.
The electronic properties of materials are typically determined by their structure under normal, undisturbed conditions, when they are in a state known as equilibrium. Intense light beams, however, can temporarily reshape a material
Cells rely on complex signaling networks in which different molecular pathways communicate with one another. Small GTPases act as molecular switches in these networks, controlling diverse cellular processes such as intracellular transport and cell morphogenesis. Although crosstalk between different families of small GTPases is established in animal cells, whether and how such crosstalk occurs in plants has remained largely unknown.
Ice sheets are fundamental components of the Earth system. Antarctica and Greenland, the two ice sheets currently on Earth, don
A previously unknown cat species has been identified in plain sight: at a wildlife sanctuary in Bolivia, where the small, spotted feline had been living for years.
Nearly two-thirds of the American public say climate change is increasing the risk of respiratory diseases and heat- and insect-related illnesses, according to a new survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.
On June 18, 2026, on the sidelines of the European Council in Brussels, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union signed a joint declaration making culture a strategic priority for the first time.
Drones have many uses in surveillance and surveying, industrial inspection, aerial photography and filmmaking, package delivery and even dynamic light shows. Their fundamental ability to carry cameras, sensors and other equipment has opened up these diverse applications. Now, research published in the International Journal of Intelligent Machines and Robotics has explored another: the safe removal of moss and lichen from sloping roofs, an otherwise hazardous job for a worker.
KAIST
Scientists have taken a step toward a better understanding of how fungi sense and respond to nutrients in the environment, which is critical for engineering fungi for green technologies and combating fungal pathogens and their resistance to treatments.
Understanding how wind changes in response to global warming is necessary for accurately modeling climate and weather, identifying risks to infrastructure, and assessing global wind power capacity.
Nanodiamonds are tiny diamond particles that usually measure mere millionths of a millimeter. They are extremely hard, stable and heat-resistant and highly adaptable for various purposes in medicine, new materials, catalysis and energy technology. By compressing plastic with lasers, researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Rostock are now able to systematically produce high-purity, ultra-small diamonds with a narrow size distribution. This is impossibl
Beauty and mystery
Researchers at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) have developed microfluidic technology that can grow cells in three dimensions (3D). The goal is to conduct toxicity tests on new products by more accurately simulating living organisms.
A team of researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy
Cornell physicists have discovered that minimizing disorder, not varying electron count, is the key factor for controlling superconductivity in the unique material iron selenide (FeSe), a new insight for understanding high-temperature superconductors.
Physicists at The City College of New York have demonstrated a new way to transfer microwave signals onto light using magnetic waves inside a layered semiconductor. The work establishes a materials platform for building interfaces that could one day link quantum computers through optical networks. The research, titled
Virginia Tech researchers are developing virtual tools to help teens protect themselves against cybergrooming. Using survey data from parents and teens and leveraging artificial intelligence, the research team created a chatbot that gradually advances interactions from innocent to predatory, giving teens firsthand experience of cybergrooming tactics without the risk of actual harm.
Chinese technology giant Huawei launched new chip technologies in a challenge to global leaders such as Nvidia that highlights the narrowing gap between China and the U.S. in artificial intelligence.
The EU laid out plans Thursday for strict age limits for children to access social media, games and AI assistants
A robot meant to inspect a coastline, a flooded street or a wetland can
Robots no longer exist only in popular culture or science fiction. While we might be familiar with the likes of WALL-E, Baymax, the Terminator and Ultron from the big screen, versions of them are increasingly entering everyday life.
The European Union is set to propose curbing access to social media, video-sharing platforms, chatbots and online games for children younger than 15, according to a draft legal document seen by AFP.
As artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots become more popular and more humanlike in the way they communicate, users are increasingly turning to them as trusted sources of information on topics ranging from personal finance to health. That may be problematic, according to Penn State researchers, who found in a recent study that the more conversational an AI chatbot is, the more likely users are to trust it
For more than a decade, it was thought that the world
AI-generated texts are increasingly perceived as human, but people can still recognize human writing as such. However, this distinction becomes much more difficult once AI is explicitly instructed to come across as human. This is shown by research involving, among others, Tilburg University, published in the journal Nature Communications. Several experiments involving more than 3,000 participants examined how human and empathetic people perceive relationship advice generated by AI and humans.
An international team of researchers, including professor David Oswald from our Department of Computer Science, has discovered a security vulnerability that could put sensitive data stored in cloud computing systems at risk.
Microplastics are a modern environmental menace and a potential threat to human health. These tiny pieces of plastic, measuring from 1 to 5,000 micrometers, come mainly from larger plastics as well as sources such as paints and cosmetics. They are found in almost every corner of the planet, and a new study published in Science suggests rivers may be carrying far more of them into the ocean than previously thought.
Before there was Earth, there was chemistry. In the unimaginable cold, dark clouds where stars and planets are born, carbon molecules assemble into more complex forms
A University of Newcastle-led global study has produced the most complete genetic picture yet of a salt-loving plant with the potential to help grow food in some of the world
The pressure to be perfect may intensify for kids once they get into high school
A new deep-learning architecture could deflect cyberattacks by combining several methods for analyzing network traffic, according to research published in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining. The approach addresses a weakness in standard intrusion-detection systems, which struggle with the volume and complexity of modern network traffic.
In a study recently published in the Chemical Engineering Journal, a research team from National Taiwan University and international collaborators have developed a straightforward solvent-mixing strategy to significantly boost the performance of next-generation all-polymer organic solar cells. By adding a small fraction of a cosolvent during fabrication, the team successfully resolved a long-standing challenge in controlling film quality, opening new possibilities for commercializing flexible, e
Kindergarten is an important time in a child
If you live in Los Angeles and own a Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima or one of 18 other models from these vehicle lines, UCLA anthropologist Jeffrey Brantingham has some advice: Get a steering wheel locking device, take advantage of manufacturer recalls or trade your car in for one with an engine immobilizer.
Australians are becoming increasingly lonely and socially isolated, according to new University of Sydney research that found rates of social isolation nearly doubled over the past 23 years. Loneliness rates also increased over time, though more gradually than social isolation, with the sharpest impacts observed among vulnerable populations.
Extremely short, intense light flashes are in high demand to investigate atoms, molecules and new materials. Free-electron lasers (FELs) produce these flashes. But around the world, beam time available at large-scale user facilities is in short supply, and waiting times are long.
Although public schools in Baltimore City are predominantly Black, the district is doing a better job of reducing segregation among its student body than suburban systems that are able to draw from more diverse populations, according to a new report from Johns Hopkins University.
Artificial intelligence systems, particularly those powered by large language models and designed to communicate with users on a one-to-one basis, are increasingly used worldwide. Some of these systems, such as Replika, are also marketed as