Last autumn, a UK government report warned that climate-driven ecosystem collapse could lead to food shortages, mass migration, political extremism and even nuclear conflict. The report was never officially launched.
Restitution debates—the questions of whether a cultural object should be returned from a museum or other collection to a person or community—often begin with a deceptively simple question: Who owns an object?
To unleash your imagination, step out of the light The post Let There Be Dark appeared first on Nautilus .
A swarm of small earthquakes within the Karoo Basin in South Africa has revealed a critically stressed fault that could be perturbed by potential shale gas exploration in the area, according to a new report. The analysis by Benjamin Whitehead of the University of Cape Town and
“It’s like we have recreated a little bit of the universe in a bottle in our lab” The post Grad Student Homebrews Cosmic Dust in the Lab appeared first on Nautilus .
Where starlight doesn't reach, new things are born: For the first time, an international research team has directly measured the effect of cosmic radiation in a cold molecular cloud. The observation shows how charged high-energy particles influence the gas in these lightless
Before the opening bell ever rings on a company's initial public offerings, some of the executives may already be sitting on a quiet windfall.
An international research team led by the University of Bremen has detected chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in Earth's atmosphere for the first time in historical measurements from 1951—20 years earlier than previously known. This surprising glimpse into the past was made possible
UCLA researchers have developed a mineral sunscreen formulation that significantly reduces the white, chalky cast that keeps many people from wearing sun protection daily. For decades, dermatologists have urged people to apply sunscreen daily to protect against ultraviolet
For the first time, physicists in China have virtually eliminated the friction felt between two surfaces at scales visible to the naked eye. In demonstrating "structural superlubricity," the team, led by Quanshui Zheng at Tsinghua University, have resolved a long-standing
California's most devastating wildfire—the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 and destroyed nearly 19,000 structures—forced nearly half of all residents living within designated fire perimeters to relocate within a year.
While pilots are flying in a VR simulation, their brainwave patterns can be fed into an AI model that assesses how challenging they are finding a task and adjusts the difficulty accordingly
Can a single particle have a temperature? It may seem impossible with our standard understanding of temperature, but columnist Jacklin Kwan finds that it’s not exactly ruled out in the quantum realm
These parasitic beetle larvae lure in bees with complex floral aromas before hitching a ride back to their nests and eating their eggs.
Experts have sounded the alarm over NASA’s decision to use a heat shield design for Artemis II that may be riskier than the space agency claims
Some mammals hibernate to survive in winter, but the Eurasian common shrew (Sorex araneus) employs Dehnel's phenomenon to get through it. This is a metabolic process that enables shrews to conserve energy by shrinking their brain and other energy-consuming organs. In the
For generations, farmers have spent backbreaking hours tearing down and rebuilding fences just to move livestock to fresh grazing fields. Now, thanks to a groundbreaking project at the University of Missouri's Center for Regenerative Agriculture, that chore is becoming a thing
Plants fix 258 billion tons of CO2 in their chloroplasts through photosynthesis every year. For these cell organelles to work properly, they require certain minerals—particularly ions of the metals iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn). Disruptions of ion
New research sheds light on the mysterious underwater structure The post How the “Atlantic Grand Canyon” Came to Exist appeared first on Nautilus .
Mantle plumes beneath volcanic hotspots, like Hawaii, Iceland, and the Galapagos, seem to be anchored into a large structure within the core-mantle boundary (CMB). A new study, published in Science Advances, takes a deeper dive into the structure under Hawaii using P- and
Physicists have long categorized every elementary particle in our three-dimensional universe as being either a boson or a fermion—the former category mostly capturing force carriers like photons, the latter including the building blocks of everyday matter like electrons,
In 2023, a subatomic particle called a neutrino crashed into Earth with such a high amount of energy that it should have been impossible. In fact, there are no known sources anywhere in the universe capable of producing such energy—100,000 times more than the highest-energy
Four astronauts preparing for an extended stay in space have started quarantine as they get ready for their next big mission.
Watching the Winter Olympics is an adrenaline rush as athletes fly down snow-covered ski slopes, luge tracks and over the ice at breakneck speeds and with grace.
Some dogs are seemingly more talented than others. So-called gifted word learners (GWL) are rare canines that can rapidly learn the names of toys, a skill that most dogs don't possess. To understand why this is so, researchers studied how these dogs played and discovered that
Studies from the Department of Communication and Learning in Science show that AI tools such as ChatGPT are not merely being used as support in students' studies. In fact, they may be reshaping how students perceive knowledge and learning—a perspective that is not always shared
Imagine a world where fresh vegetables and herbs sprout in the heart of our cities without the need for sprawling farms. Hydroponics—a method of growing plants without soil—uses a nutrient-rich water solution instead of earth and is useful in areas where soil quality is poor,
The fastest land animal in North America is the American pronghorn, and previously, researchers thought it evolved its speed because of pressure from the now-extinct American cheetah. But recently, that theory has come under fire. Now, a University of Michigan study examining
Millions of tires, old washing machines, barges, warships, covering the ocean floor with thousands of square kilometers of concrete—even giant, concrete spheres full of holes: these are all things used to build artificial reefs. Advocates of artificial reefs say they are needed
City council public comment periods may focus on local issues, such as housing and public services. But new research from the University of Michigan shows they also serve as powerful forums for expressing broader societal concerns, including democracy, equity and social
Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have discovered that climate change is causing nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance, to break down in the atmosphere more quickly than previously thought, introducing significant uncertainty into
The brutally frigid weather that has gripped most of America for the past 11 days is not unprecedented. It just feels that way.
NASA said Tuesday it is pushing back to March the launch of its first crewed flyby mission to the moon in more than half a century after encountering a fuel leak during a key test.
John Martinis has already revolutionised quantum computing twice. Now, he is working on another radical rethink of the technology that could deliver machines with unrivalled capabilities
The mushrooms spread out on the chopping board seemed normal enough. They were rich and dense, and had a strong earthy aroma. In the saucepan, they melted—along with the cheese—to form a creamy pasta sauce.
Kemp's ridley sea turtles are among the most endangered species of sea turtles in the world. They reside along the east and Gulf coasts of North America, alongside some of the world's most active shipping lanes. While the threats from fishing, pollution, and vessel collisions
Arctic sea ice has large effects on the global climate. By cooling the planet, Arctic ice impacts ocean circulation, atmospheric patterns, and extreme weather conditions, even outside the Arctic region. However, climate change has led to its rapid decline, and being able to
A new study finds that humans and AI spot different kinds of deepfakes — hinting at the need to team up to fight them.
As Valentine's Day approaches, finding the perfect words to express your feelings for that special someone can seem like a daunting task—so much so that you may feel tempted to ask ChatGPT for an assist.
More than 2,500 plant species have the potential to invade the Arctic at the expense of the species that belong there. Norway is one of the areas that is particularly at risk.
As concerns rise about the effects of tiny plastic particles on human health, Flinders University researchers have led new research on whether nanoplastics can accumulate or cause damage in kidneys—our body's major blood filtering system. Their study, just published in the
If you've ever been for a walk in the forest or poked around your local park, you're probably familiar with seeing mushrooms popping up as the weather turns cooler. But you're not the only one.
Acquiring xAI could boost SpaceX’s plans to launch a one-million-strong satellite constellation to act as an orbital data center network
Early Pleistocene cave fossils reveal unique avifauna that were ultimately wiped out by natural disasters The post The Birds That Roamed New Zealand a Million Years Ago appeared first on Nautilus .
A research team led by Prof. Zhu Yongguan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) at the CAS Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, has identified the mechanisms by which sponge city construction significantly enhances urban plant diversity, according to a
In Sturt National Park, near Tibooburra in central Australia where temperatures can range from freezing to nearly 50°C, there lives a small bird with a white back, forked tail and—as we've just discovered—a very clever strategy to survive its extreme environment.
Research papers in peer-reviewed academic journals are at the heart of academic integrity. New ideas and discoveries are vetted and checked by experts in the field as the boundaries of scientific knowledge are pushed forward. However, in recent years, there has been a rise in
Keck Medicine of USC radiologists use computed tomography (CT) scanners to diagnose and treat patients' diseases and injuries. Recently, however, this advanced technology was put to a far more novel use: examining the bodies of two ancient Egyptian mummies. Radiologists
The world is in the middle of a peptide drug revolution. These short chains of amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—sit at the heart of some of the most successful medicines ever created, from weight-loss injections to advanced cancer therapies. Peptides are also used as
Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL), one of the state's most ecologically productive estuaries, is facing a growing but invisible threat that could reshape its marine ecosystems. Over the past decade, the lagoon has suffered severe degradation caused by nutrient pollution,
