Researchers at Tohoku University have developed a new technique to identify the initiation sites of a destructive process called pitting corrosion, which occurs when aluminum (Al) alloys are exposed to sodium chloride solutions. This advancement is expected to accelerate the
Research in the lab of UC Santa Barbara materials professor Stephen Wilson is focused on understanding the fundamental physics behind unusual states of matter and developing materials that can host the kinds of properties needed for quantum functionalities.
As part of its ongoing efforts to combat brucellosis, a serious and often neglected disease endemic to many low- and middle-income countries around the world, a team of researchers from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has identified
Existing algorithms can partially reconstruct the shape of a single tree from a clean point-cloud dataset acquired by laser-scanning technologies. Doing the same with forest data has proven far more difficult. But now a team from Purdue University's Department of Computer
For many years, cesium atomic clocks have been reliably keeping time around the world. But the future belongs to even more accurate clocks: optical atomic clocks. In a few years' time, they could change the definition of the base unit second in the International System of Units
Researchers from CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, have unlocked the most detailed genetic blueprint yet of a major soil-borne crop pathogen—an advance that paves the way for better crop disease management in Australian agriculture.
Here's a novel pathway to a more sustainable planet: carbo-loading for the public good. In a new study published in Nature Synthesis, chemists at Yale and the University of California-Berkeley have developed a two-step process that removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and
A winter storm bringing very cold temperatures is expected to slam a massive stretch of the United States this week with more than 175 million people facing the prospect of power outages and travel disruptions.
Imagine computer hardware that is blazing fast and stores more data in less space. That's the promise of antiferromagnets, magnetic materials that do not interfere with each other and can switch states at high speed, opening the door to advanced computing and quantum
Light and matter can remain at separate temperatures even while interacting with each other for long periods, according to new research that could help scale up an emerging quantum computing approach in which photons and atoms play a central role.
A new CIIMAR study demonstrates that natural peptides produced by cyanobacteria are capable of replacing toxic biocides that dominate the market for anti-fouling paints used in the maritime industry. The use of these peptides as an active component brings direct benefits to the
A six-year analysis of marine microbes in coastal California waters has overturned long-held assumptions about how the ocean's smallest organisms interact.
Nearly three decades ago, scientists found that a pair of molecules in rye pollen exhibited an unusual ability to slow tumor growth in animal models of cancer. But progress stalled for one seemingly simple reason: No one knew exactly what the molecules looked like.
In a recent paper, SFI Professor David Wolpert, SFI Fractal Faculty member Carlo Rovelli, and physicist Jordan Scharnhorst examine a longstanding, paradoxical thought experiment in statistical physics and cosmology known as the "Boltzmann brain" hypothesis—the possibility that
A new type of catalyst that uses five times less platinum than usual could help make hydrogen production more affordable in the future.
The interaction of silver materials with light is well-known as the basis of film photography. But, there are much more sophisticated interactions when we consider very, very small particles of silver that could have applications in a wide range of technologies.
Alicja Ostrowska's doctoral thesis "Life and AI at NASA" examines how artificial intelligence is transforming the way science is conducted within some of the world's most ambitious space projects. The study investigates how AI is used in NASA's missions exploring the conditions
Astronomers have long sought evidence to explain why comets at the outskirts of our own solar system contain crystalline silicates, since crystals require intense heat to form and these "dirty snowballs" spend most of their time in the ultracold Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Now,
Psychological safety—the belief that it is safe to speak up with concerns, questions or mistakes—is widely recognized as essential for organizational learning, innovation and workplace safety.
A remarkable prehistoric hammer made from elephant bone, dating back nearly half a million years ago, has been uncovered in southern England and analyzed by archaeologists from UCL and the Natural History Museum, London.
In the Kenyan savanna, lions and livestock essentially live in shifts: Cattle graze during the day and are enclosed at night when lions are active.
So-called forever chemicals or PFAS compounds are a growing environmental problem. An innovative approach to treating PFAS‐contaminated water and soil now comes from accelerator physics: high‐energy electrons can break down PFAS molecules into harmless components through a
A nanostructure made of silver and an atomically thin semiconductor layer can be turned into an ultrafast switching mirror device that may function as an optical transistor—with a switching speed around 10,000 times faster than an electronic transistor.
Ammonia is an essential chemical used across many industries worldwide. Beyond its traditional role as a fertilizer, it is also a promising liquid hydrogen carrier and low-carbon fuel that could help reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Paternal warmth before the age of 1 can set the tone for the family and influence physical health years later The post How Being a Good Dad Makes for Healthier Children appeared first on Nautilus .
Organoids are three-dimensional miniature models of organs, grown in a dish. They have become a valuable tool for studying human development, organ regeneration, function, and disease progression. Organoids derived from patient tissues or created through cell and genetic
Starchy residue preserved in ancient stone tools may rewrite the story of crop domestication in the American Southwest, according to research led by the University of Utah.
Researchers have deciphered the diet of an important nomadic people in Eastern European history. By analyzing dental calculus, they have provided the first direct evidence that the diet of the Scythians included milk from various ruminants and horses.
Towering prototaxites ruled Earth before trees—and they may have been a form of life entirely new to science
Thousands of kilometers of Balkan rivers have been damaged in recent years, a study published Wednesday found, as hydropower development, dams and sediment extraction drive a "steady erosion" of some of Europe's last pristine waterways.
Warm Arctic waters and cold continental land are combining to stretch the dreaded polar vortex in a way that will send much of the United States a devastating dose of winter weather later this week with swaths of painful subzero temperatures, heavy snow and powerline-toppling
We now have direct images of two supermassive black holes: M87* and Sag A*. The fact that we can capture such images is remarkable, but they might be the only black holes we can observe. That is, unless we take radio astronomy to a whole new level.
A team of researchers led by the University of Warwick has developed the first unified framework for detecting "spacetime fluctuations"—tiny, random distortions in the fabric of spacetime that appear in many attempts to unite quantum physics and gravity.
Can a small lump of metal be in a quantum state that extends over distant locations? A research team at the University of Vienna answers this question with a resounding yes. In the journal Nature, physicists from the University of Vienna and the University of Duisburg-Essen
It's one of astronomy's great mysteries: how did black holes get so big, so massive, so quickly. An answer to this cosmic conundrum has now been provided by researchers at Ireland's Maynooth University (MU) and reported today in Nature Astronomy.
Baby pictures are some of a family's most cherished artifacts. The same thing can be said of the Hubble Space Telescope and the infant stars it immortalizes in its scientific portraits. But while we know how babies are conceived and how they form in great detail, the same can't
A fresh look at the Helix Nebula captures new details of the cycle of stellar life and death
At 3.3 billion light-years across, the ring may challenge the “cosmological principle” that the universe looks uniform at sufficiently large scales.
When an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026, what happened next looked familiar, at least on the surface. Within hours, cellphone footage spread online and eyewitness accounts contradicted official
In a week filled with news about President Donald Trump's aggressive moves to take control of Greenland, the world got a window into his thinking about the concept of "peace."
The UK government has launched a consultation on introducing an Australian-style ban on social media for under-16s. The proposal is framed as a bold response to rising concerns about young people's mental health, online abuse and exposure to harmful content.
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence has sharply increased electricity and water consumption, raising concerns about the technology's environmental footprint and carbon emissions. But the story is more complicated than that.
Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered that atomic-scale substitutional dopants in ultra-thin two-dimensional (2D) materials can act as stable quantum systems operating at terahertz (THz) frequencies.
Every medication in your cabinet, every material in your phone's battery, and virtually every compound that makes modern life work started as a molecular guess, with scientists hypothesizing that a particular arrangement of atoms might do something useful—kill a bacterial
U.S. forests have stored more carbon in the past two decades than at any time in the last century, an increase attributable to a mix of natural factors and human activity, finds a new study.
The Northwest Forest Plan, adopted in 1994, helped quell mounting tensions between timber companies and environmentalists. It protected large swaths of old-growth forest in Washington, Oregon and California to preserve habitat for endangered species, including the Northern
Human activity continues to expand ever further into wild areas, throwing ecology out of balance. But what begins as an environmental issue often evolves into a human problem.
A major global study suggests that a hidden mismatch between two common blood tests could quietly signal serious trouble ahead. When results from creatinine and cystatin C—two markers used to assess kidney health—don’t line up, the risk of kidney failure, heart disease, and
In a new study, an international group of researchers has found that chiral phonons can create orbital current without needing magnetic elements—in part because chiral phonons have their own magnetic moments. Additionally, this effect can be achieved in common crystal
Ask people how Stonehenge was built and you'll hear stories of sledges, ropes, boats and sheer human determination to haul stones from across Britain to Salisbury Plain, in south-west England. Others might mention giants, wizards, or alien assistance to explain the transport of
