Quantum advantage refers to the point at which a quantum computer solves a clearly defined task faster or more efficiently than any classical computer—or makes it solvable in the first place. For many practical applications, this has not yet been demonstrated. Research
The Amish, a Christian denomination and a three-century-old ethnic group of German migrants known for its strict lifestyle standards, are one of the fastest-growing minority populations in the U.S. For more than a century, the number of Amish people—whose American lineage
You walk in a park. Children are playing, people are walking their dogs, and then you hear someone say, "Who's my little sweetie?" You turn around expecting to see a stroller. But someone is sitting beside a dog, speaking in the same voice they would use with a baby.
Most glues need a dry surface to stick properly. Bonding materials underwater is challenging because water forms a thin film on any surface, so instead of an adhesive touching a material directly, it touches a layer of water, which weakens the bond. But scientists from China
The surface of the moon is a bleak and forbidding place that could be hiding a lot of water ice within its dusty landscape. However, most possible ice deposits don't just stand out in an image. Scientists need specialized mapping to find those deposits, so they have devised
Bumblebees are able to learn to associate new odors with their colony's queen, instead of being preprogrammed to recognize the queen's pheromones from birth, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. For the study, published in the journal Communications
They may look like any ordinary species of flies buzzing around on any given day, but the New World screwworm is quite extraordinary. Screwworm flies are highly destructive parasitic flies that feed on the tissue of warm-blooded animals, including humans (though the risk to
The Western U.S. is experiencing periods of increasingly intense drought, and higher temperatures are exacerbating the issue by drawing even more moisture from plants and soils into the atmosphere. The results can be seen in the ever-expanding wildfire footprint, with many of
Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with zero electrical resistance below specific temperatures. Most of these materials become superconducting at very low temperatures, but some also exhibit superconductivity at higher temperatures.
A portrait taken over 5,000 light-years The post This Lion-Like Nebula Has Cosmic Dust for a Mane and a Dying Star for a Face appeared first on Nautilus .
On a perfect, crisp fall day with blue skies, scientists in yellow safety coats gather in the sprawling desert north of Reno. They watch as flames consume a burning bush and quickly spread through the surrounding grass. The fire is completely controlled and monitored by dozens
With extreme weather increasing around the world, scientists are working to help critical infrastructure, such as water management systems, adapt. On the U.S. West Coast, where both periods of prolonged drought and intense atmospheric river storms are common, effective water
A dangerous cocktail of tectonic positioning, loose earth and shoddy construction contributed to the unprecedented damage caused by Venezuela's twin earthquakes, experts say.
This dying star appears to have a face of gas and a mane of space dust
Follow all the latest updates on the eclipse with Scientific American
Linguists explain how a language built from musical notes could convey complex meaning and even support conversation
In extreme environments, habitats are built for survival. Submarines, Antarctic bases and post-disaster dwellings are designed to prioritize health and safety. This is especially the case for habitats in space, where room is limited, contact with Earth is remote and hazards are
Genetic screening that identifies cancer-linked mutations in newborns could give doctors a head start on treatment, but it comes with risks.
Millions of Europeans will contemplate the sky in awe on Wednesday as a rare total solar eclipse crosses part of the continent and plunges a swath of Spain into eerie daytime darkness.
Britain is "on course" to chalk up its warmest summer on record for the second year running, the UK's Met Office weather agency said Tuesday as the country braced for its fifth heat wave of the season.
Once used to defend Britain's shores against Napoleonic France, the Ordnance Survey's detailed maps are now essential for tracking and adapting to climate change.
Invented languages tend to be the stuff of fantasy or science fiction worlds. But as a child, you may have made one up yourself.
Sorry, North America. After winning the cosmic lottery with a pair of coast-to-coast total solar eclipses, now it's Europe's turn.
The Roman emperor Julian (332–363 CE) called bread the food that "among us is thought to be the most nourishing."
Emergency workers attempting to rescue survivors after a recent earthquake in Kyushu, Japan, also had to cope with extreme summer heat.
The habitable zone concept is useful for understanding which worlds might, possibly, maybe, be habitable. It highlights exoplanets at the right distances from their stars for liquid water to potentially exist on their surfaces. But that alone can't determine habitability.
What is the past? It may seem a simple question to answer, but it is more complex than we might think at first. As science, politics, technologies and ways of thinking change, so does our understanding of what went before.
Scientists have shown that genomics can help identify which wild populations are most vulnerable to climate change—offering practical guidance for conserving threatened species before declines become irreversible.
Skin appearance plays an important role in the perception of age, health and attractiveness. Of course, skin appearance is affected by actual skin condition, but previous research has also found that it is affected by adjacent surfaces (e.g., eyebrows, eyes and lips).
This summer, America celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, widely recognized as the formal founding of our nation and one of the early stages of establishing a democratic government.
When it comes to identifying harmful bacteria, it helps to look at the company their genes keep. Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, used a machine-learning approach to study not
A new study from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management found that research proposals showing stronger signs of AI-assisted writing were four percentage points more likely to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
What if scientists could get a taste of discovery as soon as their experiment finishes? Thanks to a new machine learning tool called DONUT, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are transforming how experiments are run at the Advanced
A growing body of research suggests that listening to music has a positive impact on our health and well-being. We use music in at least seven different ways to regulate our emotions, including for entertainment, comfort or reflection. And it's not just feel-good tracks; we
After a heavy rain, rivers often turn brown with sediment, sand, silt and soil washed from the landscape that play a vital role in shaping rivers.
Fluorescent protein imaging is an indispensable tool in life science research, enabling visualization of protein movement and localization, gene expression, signaling pathways, protein-protein interactions and more. For simultaneous analysis of multiple proteins (i.e.,
What does it mean when brown patches show up in a perfectly healthy lawn? The truth is, it could be anything from drought to dog urine, fungal diseases, pests or too much fertilizer. But many homeowners automatically blame grubs.
When social media arrived on the scene, there were high hopes that they would improve—or even "democratize"—communication about climate change by, for instance, lowering access barriers, creating a more direct channel between science and the public, and giving more voices from
Capturing carbon or storing hydrogen to combat global warming requires compressing gases into sponge-like porous materials. Until now, gas molecules were thought to adsorb in a disordered manner throughout the pores. But what if invisible gas molecules could be lined up in
Karevo's AI-powered optical recognition system can sort up to 10 tons of potatoes per hour with 95% accuracy. The founder's journey took him from a potato farm to the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and ultimately to his own startup.
Researchers say a spike in temperatures during an ice age 304 million years ago could inform what climate scientists are learning about rapidly changing conditions today.
Does a human-made problem need a natural solution? The post How Our Attraction to Natural Fixes Can Stymie Climate Progress appeared first on Nautilus .
In the Midwestern summer, humans and plants have to breathe through the heat and humidity. Researchers hope that a retooled crop plant—one with an improved ventilation system within its leaves—could thrive while avoiding drought stress by reducing "crop sweat." Thanks to
A University of Kansas physicist played a leading role in a CERN study showing that two rival explanations for how gluons behave inside atomic nuclei can now be experimentally distinguished.
In the 1950s, the New World screwworm cost U.S. livestock producers tens of millions of dollars a year, reaching $50 million to $100 million annually in the hardest-hit Southwest, before it was eradicated from the United States and pushed south to Panama. Now the flesh-eating
Scientists from the Centre for Crop and Food Innovation (CCFI) at Murdoch University have participated in a landmark proof-of-concept research project demonstrating how pangenome-guided breeding strategies can reunite two traits that usually involve trade-offs: stress tolerance
Understanding how marine ecosystems respond to a warming ocean requires detailed records of past temperatures. An international research team led by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz has found a new way to
The devastating impacts of marine heat waves extend far beyond dying coral reefs and declining fisheries, with new research warning that these extreme ocean-warming events pose a growing threat to human physical and mental health.
A coalition of farmers, consumer associations and environmental groups is urging Malaysia's National Biosafety Board to reject a proposed field trial of genetically modified rice, warning Tuesday the project could pose risks to food safety, the environment and farmers.
Researchers at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, have made an advance by using a natural substance from fungi called chitin to create hydrogels that are significantly stronger and tougher. This
