In recent weeks, powerful atmospheric river storms have swept across Washington, Oregon and California, unloading enormous amounts of rain. As rivers surged, they overtopped or breached multiple levees—those long, often unnoticed barriers holding floodwaters back from homes and
"All I want is an income of 20,000 sesterces from secure investments," proclaims a character in a poem by Juvenal (1st–2nd century CE), the Roman poet.
As a scholar researching clouds, I have spent much of my time trying to understand the economy of the sky. Not the weather reports showing scudding rainclouds, but the deeper logic of cloud movements, their distributions and densities and the way they intervene in light,
"Let's face it, we're just not that into emotions," Brian tells me with a smile talking with other volunteers at a heritage steam railway in northern England. They are discussing a popular TV restoration show. Allan grimaces, parodying the presenter: "He's always jumping
The year's top paleontological wonders ranged from a 540-million-year-old penis worm to a decades-old rodent impression.
A new randomized trial from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center reveals that magnesium may be the missing key to keeping vitamin D levels in balance. The study found that magnesium raised vitamin D in people who were deficient while dialing it down in those with overly high
A research team led by Prof. Liu Liangyun from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has produced the first comprehensive, high-resolution map of global city and town boundaries, offering a view of how urban boundaries have
In a recent study published in Antiquity, Dr. Dirk Brandherm and his colleagues identified more than 600 suspected house platforms in the Brusselstown Ring hillfort, making it the largest nucleated settlement ever discovered in the entirety of prehistoric Britain and Ireland
Axions are hypothetical light particles that could solve two different physics problems, as they could explain why some nuclear interactions don't violate time symmetry and are also promising dark matter candidates. Dark matter is a type of matter that does not emit, reflect or
With global population growth and climate change posing escalating threats to crop production, the current food system is unlikely to be sufficient to meet future demand. Although more than 12,000 plant species are edible, global agriculture remains reliant on a narrow set of
Plants have an extraordinary ability to sense tissue damage and quickly rebuild their protective outer layers, a process vital for survival amid environmental stresses. The periderm—a specialized protective tissue found in many woody plants—serves as a crucial barrier against
Some scientific breakthroughs may be lost to time due to scandal and redaction, while others are simply a case of waiting for more evidence.
Using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), an international team of astronomers has discovered a spectacular bipolar outflow from the disk of a nearby galaxy known as ESO 130-G012. The finding was reported in a paper published December 17 on the pre-print
The James Webb Space Telescope detected an atmosphere on a lava-covered exoplanet, evidence that small planets close to stars can have atmospheres.
In the predawn darkness, a team of scientists climbs the slope of Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano, one of the world's most active and whose eruption could affect millions of people. Its mission: figure out what is happening under the crater.
Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said.
Understanding the evolution of insect mating behavior is essential for explaining how early insects adapted to life on land. A new study examines Petrobiellus akkesiensis, a rare jumping bristletail, and reveals that its highly specialized male genital structures enable direct
A popular vision of life after climate action looks like vegetarians riding bikes, city centers without cars, and people foregoing air travel. But a new paper published in Nature Sustainability finds that climate policies targeting lifestyle changes (say, urban car bans)
New medications are in the pipeline that could help people win their battles against addictive substances, including opioids
For more than 50 years, scientists have sought alternatives to silicon for building molecular electronics. The vision was elegant; the reality proved far more complex. Within a device, molecules behave not as orderly textbook entities but as densely interacting systems where
If you’re looking for your genetic origin story, your DNA will only take you so far. The post Genetic Ancestry Doesn’t Tell Your Whole Story appeared first on Nautilus .
An analysis of ongoing trials suggests that mRNA cancer vaccines have the potential to deliver health benefits worth $75 billion each year in the US alone
Researchers at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new way to significantly enhance upconversion luminescence in oxide perovskites, a class of materials known for their thermal and chemical stability but limited optical
A state audit in 2023 painted a grim picture of Colorado's oversight of natural gas pipelines, but critics say despite the findings and legislation mandating improvements, new rules backed by regulators are inadequate.
The states along the Colorado River are proving the truth of the famous adage often attributed to Mark Twain: "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."
From their cozy homes in suburban Burlington, children curiously watch their new neighbors through windows and brainstorm nicknames.
Vast swaths of the ponderosa pine forests that blanket Colorado's Front Range mountains could turn rust-colored and die over the next five years as pine beetles begin to spread aggressively, new federal forecasts show.
Our own emotions may play a major role when gauging Fido’s feelings The post You Might Be Misreading Your Dog appeared first on Nautilus .
With five weeks of school summer holidays (that's around 25 days of weekday activities to organize), being online is a major attraction for most kids and a concern for most parents and caregivers.
Picturing positive encounters can make you like a person more The post Imagine Your Way to a Better Relationship appeared first on Nautilus .
As the immune system weakens with age, scientists have found a way to restore some of its lost strength. By delivering mRNA to the liver, they created a temporary source of immune-boosting signals that normally come from the thymus. Older mice treated this way produced more
The Arctic is changing rapidly, and scientists have uncovered a powerful mix of natural and human-driven processes fueling that change. Cracks in sea ice release heat and pollutants that form clouds and speed up melting, while emissions from nearby oil fields alter the
Researchers have created a protein that can detect the faint chemical signals neurons receive from other brain cells. By tracking glutamate in real time, scientists can finally see how neurons process incoming information before sending signals onward. This reveals a missing
Voice cloning technology platforms like ElevenLabs allow anyone to replicate a voice using just a few seconds of audio, for a small fee. These technologies are reshaping cultural and artistic expression.
Language learning is often a daunting prospect. Many of us wish we had learned a language to a higher level at school. But even though adults of all ages can do well in acquiring a new language, fear—or the memory of struggling to memorize grammar at school—can hold us back.
A new catalyst design could transform how acetaldehyde is made from renewable bioethanol. Researchers found that a carefully balanced mix of gold, manganese, and copper creates a powerful synergy that boosts efficiency while lowering operating temperatures. Their best catalyst
Hitchhiking fishes regularly tag along with young mantas in Florida The post The Portable Ecosystems of Young Manta Rays appeared first on Nautilus .
It's peak bulking-up season for white sharks in Monterey Bay, and over the past week, two animals previously tagged by scientists passed through the waters near Lovers Point—the same area where swimmer Erica Fox vanished after witnesses reported seeing a shark nearby, experts
A dozen of the iconic swans that live in the heart of downtown Orlando, Florida, have died in recent days of an unknown cause, leading officials to suspect that bird flu is to blame.
Spruce bark is rich in phenolic compounds that protect trees from pathogenic fungi. A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena has investigated how these plant defenses function within the food web, particularly in spruce bark beetles (Ips
A new method to capture carbon dioxide from the air has been developed at the University of Helsinki's chemistry department.
The species Orcinus orca, generally known as orcas or killer whales, is made up of many genetically distinct populations called ecotypes. Each ecotype indicates an ecological specialization with its own ecological and phylogenetic characteristics.
Toxic masculinity doesn't stop at marginalizing women and LGBTQ+ people. It harms straight men by discouraging emotional expression, tenderness, and connection.
A series of Iceland volcanic eruptions yields clues The post How Does Life Take Hold in Barren Environments? appeared first on Nautilus .
We've made it. After another long and difficult year, frazzled Australians are now ready for some long-overdue rest and recreation.
A humungous shark that lived 115 million years ago surpassed the size of modern-day great whites, paleontologists discovered
MIT researchers have designed a printable aluminum alloy that’s five times stronger than cast aluminum and holds up at extreme temperatures. Machine learning helped them zero in on the ideal recipe in a fraction of the time traditional methods would take. When 3D printed, the
Controlling light at dimensions thousands of times smaller than the thickness of a human hair is one of the pillars of modern nanotechnology.
Mars isn’t just dusty—it crackles with electricity. Scientists discovered that dust devils can generate tiny electric sparks, captured for the first time by Perseverance’s microphone. These static discharges may rapidly destroy chemicals like methane and reshape how Mars’
A research team from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has advanced the characterization and retrieval capability evaluation of microphysical properties of Venusian clouds and haze.
