Researchers at the University of Bath and The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) suggest that the celebrated Dunning-Kruger effect, often taken to mean the least competent people are the most overconfident, may actually be the wrong way around.
A team of astronomers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has observed an extremely rare "wandering" black hole located tens of thousands of light-years from the center of its galaxy. This finding could reshape scientists' understanding of how massive black holes
The African armyworm is a highly destructive migratory pest that damages maize, sorghum, millet and sugarcane. These caterpillars also cause indirect damage to livestock by destroying grazing lands and pastures.
Integrated photonic devices—tiny circuits that use light instead of electrons—are becoming increasingly important for scalable photonics technologies and high-bandwidth communications. They are particularly valuable for managing low-power, light-based data transfer inside data
Genetics suggest they may be linked to certain forms of intelligence The post Why Do Psychiatric Disorders Persist in Humans? appeared first on Nautilus .
Biomolecular condensates are ubiquitous in living cells, including bacteria, viruses, plants and mammalian systems. These membraneless bodies, or molecular communities made up of DNA, RNA and proteins, are where molecules large and small within the cell come together to
As melting glaciers and shifting climates push mountain ecosystems to the brink, an international team of researchers has outlined a radical new approach aimed at strengthening the resilience, inclusivity and sustainability of mountains and the societies that depend on them.
Gene editing is a highly precise and powerful technology that allows scientists to insert, delete, modify or replace DNA bases in living organisms. It has a variety of uses, including correcting disease-causing mutations and improving crops. Tools like CRISPR act as molecular
In searches for past and present Martian life, some scientists say we’ve been too cautious to see what’s right in front of us
To improve carbon recycling and reduce emissions, researchers at Science Tokyo developed iron-substituted calcium titanate (Fe-doped CaTiO3) as an environmentally friendly support material for chemical looping, a process that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbon monoxide
Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and collaborators have uncovered one of the earliest steps in DNA replication: the moment a cell first opens its DNA to begin making a copy of its genome. The findings, published in Nature Communications, reveal where
Sand has a way of getting everywhere on a beach day—and for some, it can make or break the whole trip. There's the way it whips through the air just as sandwiches are being unwrapped, the way it turns blisteringly hot underfoot by midday, and the way it stubbornly clings to
Low-level clouds over Earth's oceans play a prominent role in keeping our planet cool by reflecting sunlight away from the surface. But their response to climate change has been hard to model. Now, researchers at Caltech and Google have uncovered important insights into how
Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 offers a promising approach to storing energy from intermittent sunlight in carbon-containing fuels and chemicals, thereby enabling carbon recycling. Single-atom Cu catalysts have attracted attention because they enhance CO2 photoreduction.
Invasive alien species are among the world's leading drivers of species extinction. However, previous global assessments of the geographic distribution of this damage suffered from a systematic "research bias": Because significantly more research is conducted and documented in
Positrons—the antimatter counterpart of electrons—are created in high-energy cosmic processes. When normal matter meets its antimatter counterpart, they annihilate, or vanish, and produce a distinctive 511 keV gamma-ray signal. Scientists use this signal to detect where these
California is once again confronting a rapidly escalating wildfire season fueled by extreme heat, drying vegetation, drought and strong winds.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have found that today's leading artificial intelligence tools for predicting protein structures routinely generate results that are physically and chemically impossible, exposing critical blind spots in how AI is being
In his 2023 bestseller, Determined, neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky argued that the interaction of biology and environment leaves no room for free choice. Philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris puts the case more bluntly: "free will is an illusion."
For the first time, researchers can witness nanometer-scale thickness changes across a melting snowflake with a compact, lensless chip that captures gigapixel video at 30 frames per second across centimeter-scale fields.
Experts can now get a better look under the surface of vast glaciers The post Why an Icy Hummingbird Has Emerged in Antarctica appeared first on Nautilus .
Some people love to swear. In the workplace, some of those people might be in charge.
"Shark Week," which kicks off this week, has captivated audiences for decades with stories of these powerful ocean predators. But the secret behind their extraordinary swimming abilities lies far deeper than their impressive teeth or iconic tails—it's hidden inside their spines.
Young people are navigating their romantic and sexual lives in an increasingly complex world. Social media content, including content from misogynistic influencers, has contributed to rapidly changing norms around gender, sex and relationships.
The descriptions of the two new additions to the European snail fauna, named Cochlostoma komarnica and Cochlostoma dobrido, have been published in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal.
Five young Pallas's cats—dubbed the world's grumpiest felines for their sullen facial expressions—went on display at a zoo in Japan on Thursday.
When a devastating heat wave, hurricane, flood or wildfire strikes, people often want to know: How much did human-caused climate change influence this event, if at all?
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a method for systematically developing novel, complex combinations of probiotics and prebiotics to more effectively maintain gut health and treat various gastrointestinal diseases.
Neural networks have transformed how machines find patterns in data, from recognizing faces in photos to predicting the shapes of proteins. So far, all of this progress has been made on ordinary classical computers, but with quantum computers now edging into practical use,
An organelle discovered inside a microbe inside a cow’s gut helps explain how livestock burps contribute to warming our planet. The post A New Way That a Cow’s Inner World Shapes Earth’s Atmosphere first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Pennsylvania's roughly 100,000 oil and gas wells produce wastewater that's many times saltier than seawater and contains radium, a known carcinogen. For decades, that saltwater, called brine, was spread on dirt and gravel roads across the state to control dust and on paved
Researchers have uncovered a surprising mechanism that allows plants to carefully coordinate the formation and growth of new leaf parts. The study shows that the hormone auxin regulates different phases in organ formation by oppositely affecting the activity of another hormone,
Teaching science and religious education (RE) in a more connected way improves students' engagement with science and boosts interest in STEM careers, according to a UCL study. The findings suggest that helping young people see that science and religion can be compatible may
The idea of having living fungi cover your body might not be the most appealing thing in the world. But what if it was part of a clothing fabric that could change color, protect you from UV rays and even repair its own tears? Those are just some of the possibilities of a new
SpaceX's Starship super-rocket deployed operational next-generation Starlink satellites for the first time during its 13th flight test, which addressed snags that arose in the previous test.
Insect wings are bristling with senses, feeling the wind blowing and even tasting potential mates, but little was known about whether moth wings are equipped with a sense of smell. Sonja Bisch-Knaden and Bill Hansson from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany,
Lithium in drinking water is a widespread and persistent source of human exposure across Tribal communities in the Western United States, according to a new study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The findings document substantial regional variation in
Lake fly larvae plunge more than 200 meters into Lake Malawi each day to hide from predators, using tiny air sacs to control their depth. A rubber-like material called resilin lets them expand or shrink the sacs by changing their pH. Their toughness challenges a popular
When you pick up a gallon (3.8 liters) of milk at the store, the nutrients it contains may depend on both what's on the label and the time of year. A new study reports that omega-3 fatty acids are highest in milk labeled as organic grass-fed and lowest in conventionally
The actions of big business shape public health, so local authorities need to carefully consider how to govern their relationships with them.
Dreams are not random mental noise. A large study of more than 3,700 dream and waking reports found that what we experience during sleep is shaped by both our personalities and the world around us. Rather than simply replaying daily events, the dreaming brain mixes memories,
The way to make a plant grow more may be to take something away. Trimming a section off a plant gene raised rice harvests by up to 25% in new tests by University of Chicago scientists. The plants also showed a better tolerance for drought and heat.
In the increasingly polarized political realm, moderates may be viewed as disloyal by both conservatives and liberals when the opposing side seems threatening, according to research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Researchers scanned the ears of hundreds of marine mammals to deduce when pinnipeds evolved to hear well in both air and water.
Unsweetened sparkling water may offer a tooth-friendlier alternative to sugary soda, according to a small preliminary study tracking how different drinks change mouth acidity. Soda caused the strongest and longest drop in salivary pH, while sparkling water produced only a
Animals are constantly moving to find food, water, suitable habitats, mates and safe places to rest. Because moving requires substantial energy, animals often rely on various biological and behavioral strategies to reduce unnecessary costs while seeking available resources.
Early humans in England crafted a rare piece of elephant bone into a reusable hammer for sharpening stone tools nearly 500,000 years ago. The extraordinary find reveals that ancient toolmakers were resourceful, skilled, and capable of surprisingly advanced planning.
Black holes represent some of the most extreme environments in the universe. They are the sources of the strongest gravitational fields, allowing us to test Einstein's theory of general relativity to an extent impossible with small objects. But we are also reaching the limit of
There are countless cultures and societies around the world, spanning thousands of years. One thing they all have in common is that death is a part of everybody's life. Examining how different societies commemorate their dead can give archaeologists and anthropologists insight
Searching for extraterrestrial intelligence has so far primarily meant focusing on one particular type of signal—and that signal has normally been based on our own current cutting-edge technology. But what if that's the wrong way to look for signs of alien intelligence? What if
