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France saw more than 7,300 excess deaths during heat waves so far this year, health authorities said Wednesday, as the country has also endured a record number of hot days since mid-June, according to an AFP analysis.

New research from Purdue University demonstrates how organic aerosol molecules can influence one another

In British zoos and aquariums, fewer than 10% of vertebrate species are native to the UK, and just 2% are high conservation priorities, according to a study by Justin Lennon at the University of Brighton and colleagues, published Aug. 19, 2026, in the journal PLOS One.

Did brands exist before modern society, in noncapitalist economies? An international team led by Marta Luciani of the University of Vienna has made unexpected discoveries about Bronze Age trade: Yes, brands did indeed exist 3,200 years ago. Findings from the oasis of Qurayyah in northwestern Arabia offer unprecedented insights into the production of two-color painted pottery.

When temperatures rise, public advice is familiar: drink water, avoid strenuous activity during the hottest hours, keep homes cool and check on older or isolated people. These recommendations are reflected in the latest heat-health guidance from the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Official flood maps shape disaster preparedness, insurance decisions and urban planning, but large parts of the United States remain unmapped or under-mapped. This means some communities may be left unaware of the risks they face, limiting their ability to prepare for future floods.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed a new framework for early wildfire detection using real-time modeling that combines multiple datasets with complex remote-sensing capabilities. Understanding real-time wildfire growth patterns and fire dynamics while accounting for environmental and atmospheric variables can help emergency officials make life-saving decisions about when to inform an at-risk community or where to stage resources.

In the world of fusion energy, scientists and engineers study the fourth state of matter known as plasma in an effort to design and build a new type of power plant. Relying on the heat produced by two small atoms smashing together, a network of such facilities would help create a novel source of stable electricity and help ensure America

On a warm evening in May, swifts scream over rooftops, chasing insects above the traffic. A fox slips along a garden wall while gulls squabble on a supermarket roof. We tend to treat these animals as visitors. But they

We reach for brighter, better lighting for sharper pictures, whether we

Companies with strong political connections are more likely to escape scrutiny over greenwashing, according to new research from Durham University Business School. Greenwashing occurs when organizations overstate or misrepresent their environmental performance to appear more sustainable than they really are.

Hearing children of deaf adults can experience stigma, discrimination and social exclusion because of their association with their deaf parents, while also demonstrating significant resilience and agency in responding to prejudice, a new study has found.

Scientists had previously observed that some species of shrews undergo a form of biological plasticity in which their bodies, skulls, brains and some organs shrink in the winter, then regrow in the spring. Now, a new study in Japan, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, has taken a closer look at this phenomenon and found that shrews

Unlike Wi-Fi or cellular signals, millimeter-wave wireless communication channels are unable to pass through walls, furniture or other objects. This reality is part of what is holding back the implementation of millimeter-wave wireless, which is of great interest for 6G wireless systems and beyond because of its extremely large data-carrying capacity.

Before booking a vacation, it pays to check the weather.

Although increased cell proliferation is a hallmark of cancerous tissues, in some cases it may actually protect against tumor growth, according to a new study by Caltech researchers. Using mathematical models, the work suggests a new paradigm for the earliest stages of cancer development.

Many animals obtain information about others from scent marks left in the environment, including urine. Because these marks remain after the sender has left, they allow animals to communicate across space and time. But odor molecules evaporate, degrade and change after release. How, then, can a scent mark continue to convey reliable information about who left it?

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan in collaboration with FUJIFILM have developed a novel way of delivering circular RNA (cirRNA) into cells, paving the way for longer-lasting mRNA-based therapeutics including cancer vaccines and GLP-1 obesity treatments. The research is published in Cell Biomaterials.

With AI use growing across the youth services sector, new research by Swinburne University of Technology and Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) has, for the first time, identified key risks to young people and how to address them.

Astronomers have discovered the fastest known star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, orbiting the black hole at its center. The star, named S301, was detected with the European Southern Observatory

As humanity gets closer to the possibility of long-term interplanetary travel, psychologists have started raising concerns about astronauts

Robots sorting parcels and serving fried chicken enthralled visitors at a robotics expo in Beijing on Wednesday, where hundreds of companies set out their pitches for a future labor market transformed by artificial intelligence.

Imagine your team has been tasked with delivering a high-stakes policy paper under intense time pressure. Everyone turns to generative artificial intelligence (AI), and within minutes, it delivers a full draft complete with structured arguments and authoritative-looking citations.

It

Despite science

Adoptions are on hold for thousands of dogs and cats in Texas, potentially putting the animals at risk of being euthanized, because of efforts to stop the spread of the New World screwworm, an insect that has crossed the border from Mexico into the United States for the first time in 60 years.

Standing on the sandy, windswept shores of Provincetown, Massachusetts, people may find themselves squinting at the horizon, waiting for a whale to make its grand entrance with a spectacular breach.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a method to turn waste from the tough, lightweight composites used in aircraft and other high-performance structures into aerogels that could be used for thermal insulation, sound absorption and oil spill cleanup.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are omega-3 fatty acids known to have beneficial effects and are popular as functional foods and dietary supplements. They are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs); the primary source of these PUFAs for humans is fish oil.

As they build their nests, many birds are known to interweave dried grasses and other materials with green plants, such as fresh leaves, grass stems, herbs and aromatic leaves. While this behavior is well documented, why many bird species choose to add fresh plants has remained unclear.

A new study published in the Biophysical Journal reports on the development of a stable, biologically active version of the human fibroblast growth factor. Human fibroblast growth factor, or FGF, has potent wound-healing and antidiabetic properties that could prove useful in the development of new therapeutics.

Niobium-94, an isotope of niobium with 41 protons and 53 neutrons, is a critical crossroads in the complex nuclear processes that forge heavy elements under the intense pressures and temperatures of dying stars. In an article published in Physical Review Letters, the n_TOF Collaboration reports the first-ever measurement of the probability of niobium-94 taking one of the paths at this crossroads

The reproductive life of sea cucumbers has come under the microscope as University of the Sunshine Coast researchers battle overfishing of the marine creatures. Sea cucumbers

Volcanoes emit smoke. Beneath a volcano lies a huge chamber filled with liquid magma. A series of earthquakes means an eruption is imminent. And if a

Today, most of us interact with AI assistants

Decommissioning pipelines used by the oil and gas industry could result in substantial quantities of microplastics being released into the UK

The booming smartphone industry has spawned an enormous market in health-related mobile phone applications, with apps related to dieting making up about 12% of the market. The apps use persuasive systems design, including direct and indirect routes that persuade users to change their behavior.

Because of the recent rise of platform gig work, more U.S. workers are being compensated through self-employment. Their earnings are not subject to tax withholding but are generally covered by information reporting on Forms 1099. In a new study, researchers explored what happened when the reporting threshold for many gig workers suddenly rose from $600 to $20,000.

Throughout the first week of August, 12 organizations came together in an unprecedented collaborative effort to protect the future of Florida

Astronomers have detected an enormous cloud of gas tens of millions of degrees hot surrounding one of the most extreme structures known in the early universe. The study offers one of the clearest views yet of a galaxy cluster in the making. Using more than 600,000 seconds of observations with NASA

New research from the University of Kansas has found that the more media-literate people are, the more they trust institutions such as government and nonprofits. In addition, their social media habits can predict civic engagement.

Workers who juggle volatile work hours that change from week to week may experience adverse health effects that affect their ability to work, although the limitations vary by gender, say researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who conducted a recent study.

A horde of schoolchildren watched excitedly as a diminutive humanoid tour guide named Wuji welcomed them to a robot school in eastern China, gesticulating theatrically as it described the institute

Members of Parliament from the UK

Shares of Unitree, one of China

Researchers at the University of Oldenburg

Many people recognize that gender

Large earthquakes can dramatically reshape mountain landscapes by triggering thousands of landslides and rapidly accelerating erosion. However, the reasons why some mountain regions experience intense, long-lasting erosion after large earthquakes while others show only limited responses have been poorly understood.

All living cells need energy, and most generate it through respiration, a series of chemical reactions normally confined to the cell membrane. Because this machinery takes up space, a cell

According to a study by Brazilian scientists published in the journal npj Biodiversity, most new mammal species described over the past 35 years are housed in institutions in countries of the so-called Global North, even though the vast majority were discovered in poor or developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere.