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A new study reveals that microbial life deep within Earth has persisted and repeatedly flourished through hundreds of millions of years of mountain-building and erosion. By analyzing minerals, fluids and gases from a 2.3-kilometer-deep (1.4-mile-deep) borehole in central Sweden, researchers have uncovered episodic bursts of methane-producing life linked to major geological events that shaped Scandinavia. The paper is published in the journal Communications Earth
The key to finding more critical minerals may lie in understanding how fluids and chemicals move through rock. As these fluids travel underground, they can dissolve, transport and concentrate valuable minerals in specific places.
Hiking a picturesque valley or climbing a craggy gorge are among the most exhilarating experiences in nature. As a geologist, I have hiked and climbed some of the most intense terrain in the world, including in the Andes, Middle Eastern deserts, the Balkans and the Appalachians.
Global biodiversity loss is occurring at a rapid pace, driven by multiple human-caused factors, including overexploitation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Despite increasing research on the impact of climate change on wildlife, few studies have formally attributed observed biodiversity declines to climate change or quantified its contribution relative to other factors.
A private spacecraft that was supposed to supply a lifeline to NASA
Some of the most intriguing scientific breakthroughs happen when researchers aren
Proteins are vital to living systems. They build and repair tissues, act as enzymes to speed chemical reactions, regulate hormones and transport nutrients
While studying the properties of hackmanite, researchers created a new material called davyne that changes color in the near-infrared region. The color change cannot be detected with the human eye, but only with a spectrometer or an infrared-sensitive camera. The researchers studied what caused the color change and tested the material
In the realm of materials science, there is a plethora of datasets and tools at our disposal
Jeffrey Rosenthal was a young professor at the University of Toronto when he discovered he was born on a Friday
Graphene is flat. But that doesn
Around 700 years ago, people living on hilltop settlements on the edge of the Kalahari wore beads, bangles and clips made from metal traded across the southern half of the African continent.
Researchers at the University of Southampton have come up with a way to help people spot AI-generated faces. They
Smartwatches can provide useful health information, but many of those numbers are algorithmic estimates rather than direct measurements of the body, and some outputs are more accurate than others, a new University of Michigan study found.
Businesses and local councils around Australia are increasingly imposing their own restrictions on
The hidden world of quantum mechanics exists at scales many orders of magnitude smaller than living organisms, yet scientists have long theorized that quantum effects play an important role in biology. Birds
Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime created when pairs of black holes spiral into each other and eventually merge. But if this ripple has been warped by another massive object on its way to Earth, a new analysis suggests that these black holes might appear far larger than they really are.
A rare trio of hurricanes were churning through the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, which scientists attributed to waters warmed by a historically strong El Ni
Nvidia chief Jensen Huang urged G20 ministers on Wednesday to build more data centers to support the artificial intelligence revolution and warned that leaders who talk up the technology
While artificial intelligence (AI) is receiving increased attention for its potential to improve productivity and performance, results can vary widely across different tasks, industries and individuals. Developers can now shape AI personalities to customize AI agents for individual users, but most previous research into the benefits of AI has used experiments providing all participants with identical AI tools. A key question remained: Could variations in performance be related to tailoring AI ag
Consumer sentiment in Florida continued its downward trend in August, declining for the sixth consecutive month to 67.4, down 1.9 points from a revised July reading of 69.3. National consumer sentiment also decreased.
For three years before the Black Summer megafires of 2019
Mount Sinabung on Indonesia erupted Monday, spewing a column of black ash and smoke 3,500 meters (11,482 feet) from the top of the mountain into the sky over Sumatra island.
Drones often hover in the air, noisy and whining. They can already be used for many tasks, but not when you need some quiet. Their batteries would also last longer if they could take a
Swapping out one letter in a word can entirely change its meaning. Similarly, swapping one atom in a molecule can completely change its identity. A group of chemists at the University of Chicago has demonstrated a new way to make a single-atom edit to a molecule without changing any of its other components. The innovative method can be used to make a family of molecules known as pyrroles, including many widely used medicines, and is significantly simpler, faster and more cost-effective than prev
How protective is air conditioning in preventing deaths amid soaring temperatures and record heat levels? Yale researchers found that AC use cut the number of annual heat-related deaths by half in the U.S., saving more than 5,000 lives a year. However, while AC is a highly effective heat adaptation tool, its protective effects level off once use passes a certain point. On days of extreme heat, risk levels tick up even with use.
If you wanted to take down a power grid or a network of drones, which part of the system should you attack? Researchers at The University of New Mexico School of Engineering posed the question in hopes of developing better network security mechanisms.
A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study of data from the European Space Agency
The kind of technology that can deliver sound to a single listener
You might naturally expect a wide, open path to be faster and easier to navigate than a narrow one, just as birds fly freely through the open sky, cars move quickly on empty roads, and a wide hallway seems easier when trying to exit a building.
The next generation of microelectronics relies on radical improvements in transistor switching performance to advance computing power. However, conventional semiconductor technology has hit a physical limit known as the
Giving robot companions animal-like or anime-style faces and voices could maximize their emotional appeal to users, according to new research that could help guide the growing field of social robotics.
3D printers that once could only produce rigid objects can now create products as soft and stretchable as rubber. A team of Korean researchers used AI to identify the optimal
For 30 years, the World Wide Web has run on a surprisingly profound social contract: Most sites are free for search engines to access, but if you use their content, you give credit by linking to the source.
The lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza is rapidly spreading along the coast of southern Australia, where it has killed thousands of wild birds and infected at least two long-nosed fur seals.
History educators around the world have expressed concerns about declining history enrollments in schools and universities over the past few decades.
While it may sound like science fiction, earbuds that read brain activity are already on sale. Wearable technology company Neurable claims that its headphones, equipped with electroencephalography (EEG) sensors, can track your fatigue and reduce burnout. At night, NextSense
For robots to be successfully deployed in real-world environments, humans should trust them enough to cooperate with them. Some roboticists have been trying to determine whether users perceive robots that exhibit socially expressive behaviors, such as gestures, eye contact and nodding, as more trustworthy.
When the temperature heats up, so do emergency rooms, according to a massive study of Chicago hospital and urgent care records, which found increased accidental gunshot wounds, kidney complaints, skin problems, varicose veins and even mental health issues related to marijuana use.
Mathieu Comijn inspected rows of potatoes in a field of cracked earth and browned leaves, pulling from the ground tubers barely the size of pingpong balls.
Consumer detectors sold to help people find hidden surveillance devices are often too difficult for typical users to interpret, potentially giving a false sense of security to those most at risk such as domestic abuse survivors, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
For people who are blind or have low vision, moving around independently is a daily challenge. Harvard researchers have developed a new tool that could help people navigate more quickly and safely with nothing more than a device they likely already have

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