Couples who spend more time savoring the pleasurable moments they share are happier together, argue less, and are more confident their relationship will last, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers say in a new study. "Savoring involves slowing down to become aware
Do you know what it means to be smart? It's a more complicated question than it may seem. There are several ways to think about intelligence—as the well-known "book-vs.-street smart" binary illustrates. By most people's definition, a truly smart person would be someone who not
Every smell tells a unique story The post This Is What an Egyptian Mummy Smells Like appeared first on Nautilus .
New plankton arrived just a few millennia — maybe even decades — after the Chicxulub asteroid, forcing a rethink of evolution's catastrophe response speed.
Glacier tourism tends to do more harm than good, and when the glaciers are gone, local economies will have to adapt The post The Tourist Draw of Melting Glaciers appeared first on Nautilus .
Off-putting smells can make even the healthiest of foods unpalatable. In a new study, researchers have developed a way to remove unpleasant aromas from plant-based proteins to make them smell more appealing. They did so by designing a two-step fermentation process to counter
Keeping high-power particle accelerators at peak performance requires advanced and precise control systems. For example, the primary research machine at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility features hundreds of fine-tuned components
Fish oil’s cancer-fighting reputation may hinge on a little-known gene. Researchers discovered that omega-3s like EPA and DHA help curb colorectal cancer only when the enzyme ALOX15 is present. Without it, fish oil sometimes increased tumor growth in mice—especially DHA. The
Purrs of contentment. Soulful eyes locked on yours over dinner. Valentine's Day? Not for pet owners. For those of us who share our lives with animals, this is a daily—if not exactly romantic—experience. So are the various barks, meows, whines, and other, sometimes adorable,
From the biathlon to the slopestyle to the giant slalom, raising a ski above your head after crossing the finish line is the triumphant Olympic skier's standard celebration. But why do the skis of the competitors in each event look so different?
In Cape Verde, conservation has boosted the sea turtle population 100-fold — but the male-female balance is way off.
NASA's Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project has completed an important step toward using local resources to support human exploration on the moon. The CaRD team performed integrated prototype testing that used concentrated solar energy to extract oxygen from
Valentine's Day is upon us again. But what does it really take for couples to stay together for a long time?
National science organizations may have more women members today than a decade ago, but representation at the highest level has failed to keep pace, according to analysis published on International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Scientists at Cedars-Sinai have uncovered a surprising repair system in the spinal cord that could open new doors for treating paralysis, stroke, and diseases like multiple sclerosis. They found that special support cells called astrocytes—located far from the actual
A study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine found that overweight and obese dogs have significantly higher eye pressure than lean dogs, with pressure increasing by 1.9 mmHg for every one-unit rise in body condition score. The research suggests that excess
An international team of astronomers has conducted photometric and spectroscopic observations of a recently discovered supernova designated SN 2024abfl. Results of the observational campaign, presented February 4 on the preprint server arXiv, yield important insights into the
12 leading researchers tell us about the book that opened a new world for them The post The Books That Blew These Scientists’ Minds appeared first on Nautilus .
After a year of RFK, Jr., heading the Department of Health and Human Services, the “Make America Healthy Again” movement has upended science and medicine
Solve the crossword from our March 2026 issue, in which we work on our code-switching.
A dazzling new Hubble image peels back the layers of the mysterious Egg Nebula, a rare and fleeting phase in a Sun-like star’s death just 1,000 light-years away. Hidden inside a dense cocoon of dust, the dying star blasts twin beams of light through a polar opening, carving
As data keeps exploding worldwide, scientists are racing to pack more information into smaller and smaller spaces — and a team at the University of Stuttgart may have just unlocked a powerful new trick. By slightly twisting ultra-thin layers of a magnetic material called
Immune cells in the brain that go rogue contribute to the death of neurons, so getting rid of them may slow the progression of neurodegenerative conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
The collision of supermassive black holes shakes the entire cosmos, hard
Researchers used a browser extension to reorder people’s X feeds, reducing their polarizing effect
Four astronauts are on their way to the orbital space station, with docking expected on Saturday
The Bronx Zoo is celebrating 15 years of its extremely popular Valentine’s Day “Name a Roach” program
The Space Coast's first human spaceflight of the year is on tap for early Friday morning as NASA and SpaceX aim to send up a mission to the International Space Station, and also bring back the rocket's booster that could bring with it a sonic boom across Central Florida.
I grew up on the beaches of Pembrokeshire in south-west Wales. Visits to Tenby were my family's summer ritual: sand between our toes, paddling in rockpools, strawberry syrup on ice cream.
The Trump administration took a major step in its efforts to unravel America's climate policies on Feb. 12, 2026, when it moved to rescind the 2009 endangerment finding—a formal determination that six greenhouse gases that drive climate change, including carbon dioxide and
Why the simple act of kissing—which can be traced back 21.5 million years—continues to confound evolutionary biologists
Avian enthusiasts around the world will identify and count birds from February 13 through February 16 as part of a massive citizen science project
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, with average temperatures increasing by about 4°C in the last four decades. A new study, led by the University of Exeter, shows peatlands have expanded since 1950, with some peatland edges moving by more than a meter a
A landmark report from Adelaide University is providing the most comprehensive picture to date of psychosocial safety across Australia's higher education sector. The study identifies widespread well-being and psychosocial safety issues across higher education.
Microplastics and nanoplastics are now found everywhere on Earth, from ocean depths to agricultural soils and even inside the human body. Yet scientists still struggle to understand what these particles actually do once they enter living organisms. A new study proposes an
NASA is set to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station on Friday, replacing a crew that was evacuated early due to a medical issue.
A new collaborative study, led by University of Utah Professor of atmospheric sciences Kevin Perry, provides policymakers, agency leaders, and the public with the most comprehensive assessment to date of potential dust control options for the Great Salt Lake, as declining water
The most powerful version of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket Thursday carried 32 satellites into space for the Amazon Leo network, which aims to rival Elon Musk's Starlink.
Thailand has begun using a birth control vaccine on elephants in the wild to try and curb a growing problem where human and animal populations encroach on each other—an issue in areas where farms spread into forests and elephants are squeezed out of their natural habitat.
Bacteriophages are viruses that can kill bacteria through highly specific interactions. While this property can be beneficial in selected applications, bacteriophages represent a serious threat to laboratories and industries that rely on bacterial cultures for production. Their
A remarkable Roman mosaic found in Rutland turns out to tell a forgotten version of the Trojan War. Rather than Homer’s famous epic, it reflects a lost Greek tragedy by Aeschylus, featuring vivid scenes of Achilles and Hector. Its artistic patterns echo designs from across the
A growing body of psychological research shows that the best relationships – romantic or otherwise – come with a feeling of personal growth. Columnist David Robson explores the evidence-backed ways to broaden our horizons and connect more deeply with our loves, our friends and
A low-fat vegan diet—without cutting calories or carbs—may help people with type 1 diabetes significantly reduce how much insulin they need, and how much they spend on it. In a new analysis published in BMC Nutrition, participants following the plant-based plan lowered their
Scientists at HKUST have unveiled a major leap forward in calcium-ion battery technology, potentially opening the door to safer, more sustainable energy storage for everything from renewable power grids to electric vehicles. By designing a novel quasi-solid-state electrolyte
A robotic arm that moves too quickly can feel creepy. One that moves too slowly feels awkward and unhelpful. In a VR study, researchers found that AI-powered prosthetic arms were best accepted when they moved at a natural, human-like speed—about one second per reach. That sweet
Researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, have developed a high-resolution daily atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) dataset covering China from 2016
A protein called HIF1 may be the missing link behind painful tendon injuries like jumper’s knee and tennis elbow. Researchers showed that high levels of HIF1 actually cause harmful changes that make tendons brittle and prone to pain. In experiments, turning the protein off
Sixty thousand years ago, humans in southern Africa were already mastering nature’s chemistry. Scientists have discovered chemical traces of poison from the deadly gifbol plant on ancient quartz arrowheads found in South Africa — the oldest direct evidence of arrow poison ever
From Gaza to Ukraine and from Sudan to Myanmar, war rages across the globe, exacting its gravest toll on those least implicated in the violence: children. Today, an estimated 520 million children worldwide—or one in six—live in conflict zones. Yet even when fighting subsides
Dust from asteroid Bennu is revealing a surprising origin story for life’s building blocks. New research suggests some amino acids formed in frozen ice exposed to radiation, not warm liquid water as scientists long believed. Isotopic clues show Bennu’s chemistry differs sharply