A study of changes to the habitats of more than 700 species reveals massive biodiversity loss—but also possibilities for restoration. "There is a lot of talk about deforestation and biodiversity loss in the Amazon, but even here in Colombia there is much less said about the
Whether it's a sudden dash across the garage or silhouette in a backyard web, spiders evoke fear in many people. But researchers don't have a clear picture of why, exactly, this phobia is so common. An interdisciplinary team at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is using
The glacier located near Sunlight Peak, Wyo., has been its icy self since the Yellowstone region's last major glaciation occurred some 20,000 years ago. The bulk of Sunlight's ice has remained ensconced in its northern Rocky Mountain keep for many thousands of years. But that
Plants are fast-tracking their own evolution by "plugging in" genetic code stolen from their neighbors, according to new research that reveals the secret to their own successful genetic engineering. The study, led by Catherine Collins, Dr. Luke Dunning and Dr. Lara Pereira from
A new interdisciplinary study published in Nature Communications provides the first detailed insights, from a biomolecular and archaeological perspective, into the lives of people living in Central Europe during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1300–800 BCE), the so-called Urnfield
The WHO warned countries in the Northern Hemisphere to be prepared to fight flu viruses H1N1, H3N2 and the B/Victoria lineage
More than four out of every five dead black vultures examined by University of Georgia researchers tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. The actual toll of the virus on the integral species is likely
A new accounting of nitrogen pollution in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) reveals a significant decline in recent decades, suggesting positive momentum for water quality goals in local watersheds and the Gulf of Mexico. Surprisingly, the University of Illinois
"Sunlight" beams off a partly cloudy Atlantic Ocean just after sunrise as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above on March 5, 2025. This is an example of sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same
A provocative new international study published in Austral Ecology warns the massive "broadcast baiting" campaign currently used to combat Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA) in south-east Queensland may be doing more harm than good.
While sifting through the extensive data collected by NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft over the last decade, scientists discovered a familiar type of electromagnetic signal commonly caused by lightning. This rare find represents the first direct
Shed antlers offer a valuable mineral supplement for moms The post The Surprising Reason Female Caribou Grow Antlers appeared first on Nautilus .
A “digital gut” predicted which probiotics and high‑fiber diets would take hold in people's guts and produce healthier outcomes.
It's been about eight months since the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) saw first light. Now the telescope is scanning the night sky to detect transient changes and sending alerts to astronomers and observatories around the world so they can perform follow-up observations. This
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the hottest place on Earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment. Now, it can be one of the brightest places thanks to the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC), NIF's laser-within-a-laser.
The deep sea is a dark, cold place. It's just a few degrees above freezing, subject to immense pressure, and beyond the reach of the sunlight needed for photosynthesis. The life that does survive in such a hostile place must find a different way to thrive.
If you gathered every American with a prison record into one contiguous territory and admitted it to the union, you would create the 12th-largest state. It would be home to at least 7 million to 8 million people and hold a dozen votes in the Electoral College.
The house sparrow is a highly invasive pest in North Carolina, and bluebird enthusiasts frequently throw their eggs out and remove their nests to keep them from overtaking the nestboxes that bluebirds call home. A new study puts those discarded eggs to use in detecting heavy
Known as “ La Calima, ” this desert dust plume could hit Spain, Portugal and France, bringing with it grit-laden, rust-colored rainfall
On a hazy day in June 2023, doctoral students Trifosa Simamora and Timothy Boycott noticed that the birds at their field site had gone quiet. Now in a study published in Biological Conservation, they show that the culprit was smoke from that summer's record-breaking Canadian
Melting ice is an emblem of climate change. For sea ice, the Arctic has been grabbing most of the headlines for its truly alarming rate of decline. But recently Antarctica has followed suit.
A Dutch lock is closed for the spring, and its employees want you to tell them when migrating fish come knocking by ringing a digital doorbell
Teens need eight to 10 hours of sleep each night. A large majority get less than that, according to a national survey of U.S. high school students.
An international team of astronomers has carried out photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2024abvb—a recently discovered supernova of a rare Type Icn. The new observational campaign yields important information regarding the properties and nature of this supernova.
Across the U.S., hundreds of sites on land or in lakes and rivers are heavily contaminated with hazardous waste produced by human activity. Many of these places, designated as Superfund sites by the Environmental Protection Agency, can be found in Houston, Texas, the city where
“Little Foot” is the most complete Australopithecus fossil ever found. And now we finally have an idea of what this group of ancient hominins looked like
Deep into the Panamanian night, the forest hums with sound. Chirping insects form a steady backdrop, rain softly trickles from leaves. Somewhere above a stream, frogs call into the darkness. But I am not there to see this scene. It's already passed. What I hold now is a small,
The Eleusinian Mysteries were secret religious rites in ancient Greece honoring the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, and aimed to remove the fear of death. The ceremonies included days of fasting, rituals and the drinking of kykeon, a concoction associated with
As part of a golden age of exploration and discovery, NASA announced Friday the agency is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program to achieve the national objective of returning American astronauts to the moon and establishing an enduring presence. This
Homo sapiens were grooving on geometry in the Stone Age The post 60,000-Year-Old Ostrich Eggshells Depict Ancient Human Thoughts appeared first on Nautilus .
New York state farmers who signed large-scale solar leases were three times more likely to say they'll use the revenue from solar to invest in their farms than to reduce operations, according to a new study. Nearly half of the farmers with leases said they did not plan to
Anglers along the Gulf Coast have long prized the hard-fighting, mild-tasting gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis), but some may have been surprised over the past few years by shortened seasons for this desirable reef fish. Due to concerns about the population of the species,
Hair regrowth treatment may soon take a major leap forward, as researchers in a recent study have successfully grown complete, fully functional hair follicles outside of the living body, in a dish. This was made possible by the discovery of a previously unknown third cell type,
Imagine trying to reconstruct the history of a city by studying only its oldest surviving buildings. You can't watch it being built, you can't interview the architects, all you have are the structures themselves, their materials, their arrangement, the subtle clues locked into
Researchers in Hong Kong and the UK have revealed how one species of self-propelling microbes can actively change the path of their swimming motions, depending on how much light they receive. Reporting in Physical Review Letters, a team led by Zhao Wang at the University of
That Switzerland is considering tightening its immigration policy was no surprise to demographic and economic experts. After all, that's the trend among European countries, both within and outside the European Union.
Microscopic crystals extracted from meteorites could help settle a debate about the birth of our patch of the Milky Way. The post What Crystals Older Than the Sun Reveal About the Start of the Solar System first appeared on Quanta Magazine
A survey of nearly 6,000 UK households warns of a sharp increase in those aged 40–59 years using buy-now-pay-later loans (BNPL). These loans are currently accessed by 18% of UK households (up from 15% in May 2025) and while BNPL use is highest among younger households, growth
Putting silicate rocks from mine waste on fields could improve crops and limit global warming, but some researchers question where all that rock is going to come from
In 1957, Vancouver took a decisive turn in its urban development when city council lifted the eight-story height limit in the West End neighborhood on the downtown peninsula, opening the door to high-rise living along English Bay. Over the next two decades, more than 300 mid-
International efforts to tackle climate change reached a major milestone with the Paris Agreement, adopted by more than 190 countries. The agreement aims to limit the average global temperature rise to well below 2 °C, preferably to 1.5 °C. However, questions remain as to
Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa have discovered the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected. It is located in a violently merging galaxy more than 8 billion light-years away, opening a new radio astronomy frontier.
Researchers from the University of Liverpool's Veterinary Data Science Group and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have created the world's largest open-source database of canine and feline tumors, containing more than one million records. This unique resource aims
Young adulthood—that pivotal period of time around the ages of 17 and 18—often brings a series of firsts: first time living away from home, first love, and, for many in the Western world, the decision to have sex for the first time. Research has established that experiences in
The discovery of a rare fossil goose in an ancient Central Otago lake shows the evolutionary history of Aotearoa New Zealand birds is much more dynamic than once thought, a University of Otago–Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka researcher says. Associate Professor Nic Rawlence, Director of
A new digital reconstruction of the face of an early Australopithecus specimen helps add details about the origins of our own species.
It is one of the most famous questions in science, and it was asked, as legend has it, over lunch. Enrico Fermi, the physicist who helped build the first nuclear reactor and whose name graces a unit of length so small it makes an atom look generous, was chatting with colleagues
Justin Smith-Ruiu takes a philosophical and first-person look at psychedelics The post Doing Science and Philosophy On Drugs appeared first on Nautilus .
Conventional crystals are materials in which atoms arrange themselves in repeating spatial patterns. Time crystals, on the other hand, are phases of matter characterized by repeating motions over time without constantly heating up, breaking a physical rule known as
For many of us, food is something we buy at a supermarket or order at a café. We usually give little thought to the complex systems required to produce and deliver it—until they stop working. It's not common to think of Australia as a place at risk of food insecurity. It has
