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A new international study led by Lund University examines what happened to population levels after the Kikai-Akahoya volcanic eruption in prehistoric Japan. The results paint a more complex picture than what had previously been believed. The paper is published in the journal Science Advances.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are developing three-dimensional simulations to examine how a nuclear device could be used to deflect or potentially disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth.
Qubits, the quantum equivalent of digital bits, are fragile and prone to errors. That makes building reliable quantum computers extremely difficult. One fix has been to use traditional magic state distillation, which filters out flaws, but it is extremely resource-intensive.
When a massive environmental disaster strikes, do societies simply collapse and disappear? Or do people find a way to adapt, rebuild and recover?
When someone is badly injured, doctors urgently need two facts: the patient
When scientists talk about scavengers, you might imagine an animal sniffing out or stumbling across a carcass, eating as much as possible and slinking away.
As human activity has increased temperatures globally, determining the costs directly incurred by climate change is challenging. The effects of climate change on extreme weather events
With about 30 visual pigments, compared to just three in humans, mantis shrimp possess a visual system that remains a mystery. Researchers from ULi
Imagine sitting in your home, listening to what you think is a run-of-the-mill advertisement or perhaps a piece of music you enjoy. But while you hum along, that audio file is sending a secret, malicious audio message
In a discovery that could offer a new way to control quantum properties in two-dimensional materials, researchers at Cornell have found that electrically sliding the layers of ultrathin graphene can switch the material between distinct magnetic states that persist even after the voltage is removed.
Poor access to health care, limited local influence over research priorities and an unequal distribution of scientific benefits are undermining public confidence in science, experts warn, following the release of a global trust survey.
New research from Michigan State University finds that popular music has gradually become less explicit about emotion and relationships
A research team at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed an Embodied Sensorimotor Robotic Arm (EmArm) capable of whole-arm tactile sensing and adaptive manipulation. By embedding a soft optical tactile skin directly into a robotic skeleton and integrating it with a real-time decision-making algorithm, EmArm can perceive and analyze contact information across its upper and lower arms, enabling human-like tactile perception and adaptive object manipulation. The s
Naming a chicken and describing its favorite habits is enough to make preschoolers choose poultry less often. This effect translates into verbal declarations and actual meal choices, but food preferences still most often win over empathy, according to a new paper by researchers from SWPS University.
Scientists have discovered a gene that determines whether Japanese snails develop shells that are left- or right-coiling
The European rabbit is a common sight in the British countryside today. Yet it was not always so. They are not native to the British Isles and are one of the most devastating invasive species.
A University of Missouri astronomer is leading a team of 130 researchers from 62 institutions
Plants begin responding to spaceflight almost immediately after leaving Earth, according to a new University of Florida study that captured the earliest stages of biological adaptation during a commercial suborbital mission. Published in the journal npj Microgravity, the study reports the results of an experiment conducted by a UF astronaut during Blue Origin
How do young stars reshape the clouds from which they are born? A new high-resolution 3D model developed by an international team led by Dr Brandt Gaches from the University of Duisburg-Essen shows how the uneven structure of stellar nurseries creates shadows that alter their chemistry and influence the infrared emission observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. The model has now been published in Astronomy
Every time a tissue grows or renews itself, cells must divide inside an already crowded environment. That creates a fundamental problem that scientists have not fully understood: How does a tightly packed sheet of cells make room for two daughter cells when there was once only one?
Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist and an online influencer with millions of followers, faces charges in several countries of allegedly causing physical harm, including rape and sex trafficking of women and girls.
Quantum computers represent a next step in the fast-paced evolution of technology. Using quantum bits (qubits), they have the potential to run certain calculations exponentially faster than conventional computers. However, developing and fine-tuning quantum computers requires an enormous number of repetitive tests. To accelerate quantum technology development, we need a method that can read quantum states at ultrafast speeds.
Australian researchers and international collaborators have demonstrated a solar-driven approach to convert glycerol, a low-value byproduct of biodiesel production, into hydrogen and higher-value chemicals. Using advanced techniques at the Australian Synchrotron, they revealed how the catalyst changed while it was working.
For the first time, scientists have achieved strong coupling between light and long-lived acoustic vibrations in an optical fiber. Optical fibers are used in both classical telecommunications and quantum communication and could serve not only as connections between computing nodes but also as quantum processors themselves in the future. The results, published in Nature Physics, pave the way for new technologies in quantum signal processing.
Researchers have developed and tested a new locking method for gravitational wave detectors that will advance the discovery of distant black holes and neutron stars colliding.
A Ph.D. student at the University of Sydney has produced the first comprehensive classification system and map of Martian soils, creating a new framework that could help scientists compare landscapes across the Red Planet and identify promising locations for future exploration, habitation and food production.
A German cockroach races across a kitchen floor. Someone grabs a bottle of essential oil spray, soaks the insect and watches it die. The product worked, but a new University of Kentucky study suggests the larger infestation probably did not notice.
A new University of Melbourne-led study has identified insights and evidence that could help mitigate the fast-rising climate impact of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).
With the 2026 midterm elections around the corner, voters may be feeling everything from excitement to fear. But how might anger motivate political activism and, ultimately, influence who turns out to vote?
Most natural gas leakage in Indianapolis likely originates from homes and other buildings, not exterior pipelines and large-scale distribution infrastructure that deliver the fossil fuel, according to Penn State researchers who assessed nearly a decade of data.
Structural metals used in engineering projects are expected to have both high strength and high ductility: the ability to withstand heavy loads and deform before failure. Achieving both of these properties at the same time, however, is challenging.
Sustainable packaging is only the beginning. What a medicine is made from
Researchers used the European XFEL to create X-ray flashes that were not only extremely short but also reached record intensity for this type of pulse. The researchers focused the X-rays to an area roughly 100,000 times smaller than the cross section of a typical human hair. This concentrated the X-ray light into a tiny but extremely powerful spot. The method could enable detailed studies of how electrons behave in atoms and molecules and, in the long term, could even allow researchers to contro
An artificial intelligence (AI) model can score English essays with improved accuracy across different writing topics, according to work published in the International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning. The tool could help schools assess student work more efficiently while reducing inconsistencies in grading.
Cortisol is a hormone that helps humans and many other animals regulate their energy use and respond to changing conditions. For a long time, sharks and rays were believed to rely on a different steroid hormone for these functions, without producing cortisol themselves. Now, a new study of North Pacific spiny dogfish, a species of small shark, challenges this view.
With up to 75% of the world
From the hairs on our arms to the microscopic sensory structures of the inner ear, many tissues in the body are built with a clear sense of direction. To build these structures throughout development, individual cells must establish which way they are facing
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University have developed room-temperature liquids containing chemical elements that produce distinctive patterns of light. They say the materials could provide a flexible new approach to optical tagging and anti-counterfeiting, while being compatible with existing processing and printing technologies.
Why do some cities embrace new technologies and business models while others are slower to take them up? Economic conditions, infrastructure and access to technology clearly matter. But a new study from the University of Amsterdam and the University of St Gallen suggests there is another factor that has received much less attention: the psychological openness of the local population. Regions where people are more open to new experiences and unfamiliar ideas are more likely to be early adopters o
Most studies of how clouds are responding to climate change focus on clouds over the oceans, rather than over mountains. Those that do focus on mountain clouds tend to explore cloud microphysics rather than long-term trends in cloud phase. But understanding cloud behavior over regions such as the Tibetan Plateau, which supplies water to hundreds of millions of people, is critical
Seven billion light-years from Earth, there is an unexpected cluster of galaxies. It has two regions in the process of colliding with each other with a combined mass of more than two quadrillion solar masses. Given its mass, the distant cluster has been nicknamed El Gordo, the Fat One. What makes it unusual is that it
A protein complex known as DREAM that normally puts the brakes on genes may also be crucial for reproduction in plants, according to new research published in Science Advances.
Changes in our genes affect health risks from heart disease to cancer, but how those genes are turned on and off is just as crucial to health. What