Jack Welch, the legendary General Electric CEO, was infamous for firing the bottom 10% of his workforce every year, without exception. The company's market cap rose substantially during Welch's tenure, but his "rank and yank" ritual was divisive. If you knew your job was always
There is a limit on how many times a mammal can be cloned before suffering "mutational meltdown," Japanese scientists have discovered, after making 1,200 clones over two decades that started off with a single mouse.
NASA's chief on Tuesday said the US space agency will invest $20 billion to develop a base on the moon, while suspending its plans to create the lunar orbital space station known as Gateway.
You may not be able to hear it, but all solid materials make a sound. In fact, atoms—bound in lattices of chemical bonds—are never silent nor still: Under the placid surface of each and every object in our surroundings, a low hum hovers or a high-energy squeak titters.
Cycles in the growth and decay of Antarctica's ice sheets once shaped marine biological productivity thousands of miles away in the subtropical ocean, according to new research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study, published in the Proceedings of
An active dream life is key to good sleep The post Why Vivid Dreams Make for Better Sleep appeared first on Nautilus .
Emotional Intelligence (EI) training can improve employee well-being and prevent burn-out in high-stress environments, University of Queensland research has found. Dr. Jemma King from UQ's School of Psychology said EI training has proven beneficial for high performance
Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), which include GPS, are traditionally used for positioning, timing, and mapping information. In an open-access study published Feb. 27 in Geophysical Research Letters, MIT Haystack Observatory scientists report using existing GNSS
Flooding, drought, and the loss of soil and nutrients are well-known challenges in agricultural catchments. Climate change is making these problems more pronounced. More intense rainfall leads to more runoff and erosion in fields, while longer dry periods increase the need to
When holidays or pandemics shut down schools, gender differences in children's reading habits widen; boys stop reading, while girls continue, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. The researchers say their findings suggest that boys are more dependent on
A Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) research team, led by Dr. Dahee Park at the Hydrogen Energy Materials Research Center, has successfully developed a high-performance catalyst that significantly enhances the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a key process in alkaline
Astronomers have an answer for a long-running mystery in astrophysics: why is the growth of supermassive black holes so much lower today than in the past? A study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other X-ray telescopes found that supermassive black holes are unable to
A fascination with fish gills has led researchers at Cornell to develop a bio-inspired approach to mixing heat and molecules in fluids—findings that could inform future biomedical devices, heat exchangers and soft robotics.
An analysis of ancient grape seed DNA reveals the earliest known instance of humans purposefully cloning plants in France—including pinot noir
An interview with Kevin Ashton, MIT technology pioneer and author of The Story of Stories The post The Internet Has Not Killed Reading—or Attention Spans appeared first on Nautilus .
Cells are squishy and soft. Tiny nanometer-sized particles such as quantum sensors cannot move freely inside them due to viscous drag, which makes sensing challenging. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have now developed a technique to precisely maneuver
AI avatars are helping UK businesses save time and money, but without clear rules, workers are at risk and growth opportunities are being missed. A report published in the journal Synthetic Media Research Network, Replique warns that without clear legal rules, businesses risk
Faced with the imminent retirement of the International Space Station, NASA is pushing to speed up work on its potential replacements
In 1989, the Soviet nuclear-powered attack submarine Komsomolets sank to the bottom of the Norwegian Sea, along with its nuclear reactor and two nuclear warheads onboard. Komsomolets was constructed with a titanium alloy exterior that allowed it to reach far greater depths than
A new study finds overconfident CEOs are less likely to delegate responsibilities to underlings, particularly in settings that involve complex transactions—such as hammering out the details of high-stakes deals. The paper, "Leave it to Me: Overconfident CEOs' Lower Propensity
Have you ever been in the woods and wondered what bug you're hearing or which bird is singing? These days, new technologies are helping both scientists and the public identify what's trilling, scuttling, tweeting, rustling, or slithering around a given area.
In 2016, Antarctic sea ice, which had previously shown record expansion, shifted rapidly toward unusually low levels. This abrupt shift left scientists scratching their heads, wondering why it had vanished so quickly despite years of growth. A new study published in the journal
Following the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, lateral flow assays (LFAs)—the category of test strips in which the presence or lack of a pink line indicates whether a specific molecule, like a drug or a virus, has been detected—became household items. Yet despite their
In a new study, Northwestern University scientists explored how snow flies—small, wingless insects that crawl across snow to find mates and lay eggs—survive in freezing cold temperatures. They discovered this snow-dwelling fly uses a surprising combination of strategies: it
Phantom crane flies change the angle of their splayed legs to increase or reduce drag, helping them navigate varying winds.
Researchers from Leiden University, University of York, University of Barcelona/IQTCUB/ICREA and The Francis Crick Institute report a new class of experimental compounds that powerfully block influenza viruses. The findings offer a potential new strategy for treating flu
NASA's chief on Tuesday said the US space agency "intends to pause" its Gateway project that would have created a space station in orbit around the moon, instead shifting focus toward "building a lunar base."
Scientists in Geneva took some antiprotons out for a spin—a very delicate one—in a truck, in a never-tried-before test drive that has been deemed a success.
What if AI could predict the next financial meltdown? Sounds like a promising idea, yet as new research finds, the devil is in the details.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is second only to carbon dioxide in driving up global temperatures. But it doesn't linger in the atmosphere for long thanks to molecules called hydroxyl radicals, which are known as the "atmosphere's detergent" for their ability to
RIKEN chemists have demonstrated a method to synthesize organic compounds that contain the element boron. Organoboron compounds are used in a wide range of drugs, including those for treating cancer, fungal infections and eczema. They are also employed as intermediates in
The U.S. space agency will aim to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars—a first—in a bid to show that nuclear propulsion can be used to send missions into deep space
CERN is working on building an antimatter delivery service. The project passed a big test by successfully transporting 92 antiprotons around a 4-kilometre loop of road
A study incorporating new DNA data and archaeological evidence has shown that the last Neanderthals in Europe experienced a major population turnover, resulting in little diversity in their gene pool prior to their disappearance some 40,000 years ago.
Physicists are grappling with how the increasing presence of AI will change the nature of their profession
Astronomers have observed two planets forming in the disk around a young star named WISPIT 2. Having previously detected one planet, the team has now employed European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescopes to confirm the presence of another. These observations, and the unique
A team of scientists re-created the way Neandertals made birch tar and found its antibacterial properties could fight off skin infections.
The decades since scientists confirmed the first planet around another star have been rich in discovery, but it’s rare to see a new solar system as it forms
Almost all living things have an internal 24-hour clock that remains accurate regardless of temperature or other environmental changes. This clock is a highly sophisticated yet simple timekeeping mechanism that is critically important to many functions, including metabolism and
Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with an electrical resistance of zero. Superconductivity is generally observed when materials are cooled down to extremely low temperatures. In some cases, however, like in so-called high-temperature superconductors, this
Penn Engineers have redesigned a key component of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), the delivery vehicles behind mRNA vaccines, to steer the particles toward lymph nodes while reducing off-target delivery to the liver. The advance could make mRNA vaccines more efficient, potentially
Some of the longest, most important migrations of species on Earth are happening beneath the surface of the world's rivers and many are rapidly collapsing, according to a major new assessment by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an
This subset of exoplanets are the most likely to be habitable The post The Search for Alien Life Just Identified 45 New Targets appeared first on Nautilus .
Astronomers have finally cracked a decades-old mystery about red giant stars—how material from their deep interiors makes its way to the surface. Using cutting-edge supercomputer simulations, researchers discovered that stellar rotation plays a powerful role in mixing elements
Scientists have uncovered a new species of rhinoceros in the Canadian High Arctic, revealing that rhinos once lived far farther north than expected. The fossil, dating back 23 million years, is unusually complete and has helped reshape ideas about how these animals migrated
As the science fiction author publishes the latest novel in his Children of Time series, Children of Strife, he talks to Alison Flood about mantis shrimp, the pleasures of sci-fi and why empathy is so important in his writing
A global team of leading scientists is zeroing in on a tiny but powerful molecule that could reshape how we age. Known as NAD⁺, it plays a crucial role in keeping our cells energized, repairing DNA, and maintaining overall health—but its levels steadily decline over time,
When we learn something new, that information does not exist in isolation. It integrates into the complex landscape of our knowledge, forging connections with existing ideas and opening up possibilities for new learning. In a study in Nature Communications, Dartmouth
Every plant cell is the product of a biological merger billions of years ago. Chloroplasts are key structures in plants and algae that capture sunlight, but originally they were free-living bacteria that took up residence inside another cell. Over time, these partners became
The research into whether social media is addictive is nuanced and complex, with many unanswered questions