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Dr. Karl Deisseroth spent hours fielding congratulatory calls after learning early Monday that he had won a Nobel Prize for medicine for helping to open a new field of brain science called optogenetics.
In optogenetics, scientists control neurons by stimulating them with light
Much of the field of sociology treats systemic racism as its default explanation for racial disparities rather than as an open question that requires further investigation and evidence, according to a recent position paper. The assumptions and moralization surrounding the origins of race-based disparities have undermined the discipline and made it difficult
Galactic black holes are cosmic mitochondria, powerhouses of the universe. Most of the energy these supermassive black holes produce comes from the material surrounding them: superheated plasma in their accretion disks interacting with tremendous magnetic fields. But there is a more direct way to extract energy from a black hole. It
The Surinam toad is one of the strangest frogs on Earth. Flat-bodied, tiny-eyed and adapted to the murky waters of the Amazon basin, it hunts well despite having very poor vision. When a fish swims close, the frog suddenly opens its mouth and sucks the prey inside in a fraction of a second.
When you walk into a bakery and smell fresh cookies, the enticing smell draws you in. After you eat a handful of cookies, though, the same smell likely doesn
Moving large animals around is a seductive idea in conservation. If there are plenty of animals in one place and too few in another, moving some between the two seems an obvious solution. Sometimes it is. But with animals as large, mobile and socially complicated as elephants and rhinos, the move itself can turn out to be the straightforward part.
The universe may be trapped in its own comfort zone, and a researcher in the College of Engineering and Computer Science has helped explain why it cannot seem to leave. A new study suggests the universe could be locked into its current state by the same kinds of quantum effects that scientists study when trying to preserve fragile information inside a quantum computer.
Some 99 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs, a tiny insect belonging to a species previously unknown to science became trapped in tree resin. The resin hardened and turned into amber, and the fossil preserved within it has now enabled a team of researchers from the School of Zoology and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History to identify and describe a new species: Cretodorus noonoo, or
Popular culture often depicts people with psychopathy as cold, emotionless and hollow, but a recent University of Mississippi study found that the language associated with psychopathic traits is more complicated than often described.
Forest soils store an estimated 40% of the world
Studying microorganisms requires instruments with extremely high precision. Such instruments are expensive and take a long time to manufacture using traditional methods, which has slowed progress in the field. It has also been difficult for the biologists who use these instruments to participate directly in their development.
Like Earth, most planetary bodies circle their star in stable, detached orbits. These companionable systems can suddenly change when a planet comes too close to its star. In such a close encounter, a star can pull the planet in and swallow it whole.
The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), a photoelectric effect that generates photocurrent without a p
Even the most chaotic quantum systems keep a permanent mark of their own past
Municipalities are increasingly mowing dikes and verges in stages, so that insects can make longer use of the plants growing there. Mowing is essential to keep a dike strong, explains ecologist Constant Swinkels of Radboud University.
For more than 70 years, fusion energy researchers have used a particular equation to judge whether a plasma would stay hot and dense enough
Disease and heat pose a deadly combination for coral reefs, according to a new University of Georgia study published in the journal Coral Reefs.
Building with nature is an important concept in our coastal defense. After all, by harnessing natural processes, we are more resilient to sea level rise. A good understanding of these processes is therefore indispensable. Ecologist Paul Berghuis, affiliated with Utrecht University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), delved into the world of dune formation and discovered that within young dune landscapes, dunes and grasses do not arrange themselves randomly but follow a f
In 2014, members of a local museum found fragments of an ancient fossil dating to the end of the Pliocene or early Pleistocene epoch in a seaside cliff on the Argentine pampas. They belonged to a large predator, but the only group they fit, saber-toothed marsupial relatives, had supposedly gone extinct earlier, leaving the identity of the fossil a mystery. That was until Eric del Campo, a paleontologist at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires and lead author of the study, and
Almost every ceremonial object or ornament of the medieval papal monarchy has disappeared or lost its original purpose. Yet one survives: the golden rose. On Sept. 26, 2026, during Pope Leo XIV
The 2026 U.S. midterm campaigns are the first in which AI-generated political ads are regularly appearing on people
When a prairie river carries more water in one year than another, the obvious place to look for an explanation is the sky. A year with more snow and rain should have more water in rivers. That was also how I initially thought about year-to-year changes in river flow. But while studying the Prairie Pothole Region, I learned that this is only part of the story. What happens after water reaches the ground can be just as important as how much falls from the sky.
Scientists used machine learning and super-resolution microscopy to overcome a challenge that has stymied research into the natural history of grasses for decades. Their method allowed them to detect subtle differences among grass pollen grains and trace changes in grass diversity and the proportions of the two main photosynthetic types of grasses at one site over a period of 25,000 years.
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are fluorescent carbon nanomaterials with potential applications in sensing, optoelectronics, displays, anticounterfeiting and environmental technologies. Their optical properties can be adjusted by modifying the carbon structure and surface chemistry, particularly through defect states and the incorporation of heteroatoms. However, achieving predictable and continuous tuning of photoluminescence from a single carbon precursor remains difficult.
Researchers have demonstrated a technique that uses a laser to produce a plasma beam antenna capable of transmitting radio waves. The article,
Epithelial cells form the body
When mothers do not have the necessary resources to raise their children, this adversity causes substantial stress that can hinder caregiving and lead to postpartum depression. In a new study in JNeurosci, Millie Rinc
Deep space travel comes with a huge potential downside
Heat shields are one of the most important parts of any spacecraft that intends to enter an atmosphere. And the material they are made of is critical. Improving them has been a challenge, though, as researchers typically only get
Ofsted reports are an influential factor parents consider when choosing an elementary school, with families abandoning schools after poor reports, according to new research.
Rutgers scientists have identified natural repellents against an invasive blueberry pest, a discovery made accidentally when fruit flies invaded their laboratory.
Astronomers have discovered the first example of a second-generation planet orbiting a white dwarf, a world that appears to have formed from the remains of the dead star it now orbits.
A new study led by an academic staff member from the University of Otago
For decades, scientists have regarded phosphorus as the main nutrient limiting biological production in the Gulf of Bothnia. Now, a new study led by researchers at Ume
Japan has the lowest measured rate of homelessness of any wealthy nation. Finland is the only country in Europe that has driven homelessness down over decades rather than watched it climb.
Scientists have developed a new way to make ceramic materials that can better withstand extreme heat and continue performing reliably in sensors and actuators. The approach creates tiny structures throughout the material that give it new electrical and mechanical properties.
A new study from EMBL Rome shows how embryos precisely coordinate gene activity during early development. The research is published in the journal Science Advances.
Contrast agents are compounds routinely used in clinical analysis to enhance differentiation between tissues or to increase the visibility of structures or fluids within the body, thus facilitating medical diagnosis. A study led by researcher Lucia Cardo and Ikerbasque research professor and AXA chair Maurizio Prato (both at CIC biomaGUNE) confirms that manganese-doped carbon nanodots could be the next generation of contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging.
On the shores of Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania, a small number of people still hunt and gather their food. Today, a Hadza hunter has taken down an animal
Most people find some sounds unpleasant, such as a baby crying or a siren, because of features such as their pitch, frequency or loudness. However, for some people, very ordinary sounds, such as chewing, sniffing, breathing, swallowing, finger tapping or clicking a pen, can cause an immediate, intense reaction that is difficult to control, a condition known as misophonia.
If computer chips could be built from semiconductors just one atom thick, they could pack far more transistors into a smaller space while using less power. So far, however, the technology has been held back by the weakness of
The way cloud computing systems are designed and built is just as important in defending against cyberattacks as the security measures and safeguards companies put in place, researchers said in a new study.
Old age is often associated with reliance on others, loss of independence and inactivity. But these simplistic notions mask the diversity of people
A Monash University study analyzed data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Many complex quantum systems rapidly lose the recognizable patterns of their initial states as their components interact. To describe patterns of regular and chaotic motion in specific systems, physicists can construct a mathematical map called an effective phase space.