Why does mint make water taste so cold? A scientist explains
You've just cleaned your teeth, you're feeling minty fresh and ready to climb into bed. You take a sip of water, but the water is icy cold, and your next breath feels cool and crisp.
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Combining ecological restoration with climate-resilient agriculture to tackle desertification
Desertification threatens 24% of the world's land area spanning 126 countries and impacts 35% of the global population. Yet mainstream global efforts to tackle desertification prioritize short-term vegetation greening over addressing resource constraints and local livelihoods,
Exercise may relieve depression as effectively as antidepressants
A comprehensive review confirms the benefits of exercise for treating depression, even if the exact reasons remain unclear
Did This Spiral Sea Creature Outlive the Dinosaurs?
An ancient marine murder mystery that remains unsolved The post Did This Spiral Sea Creature Outlive the Dinosaurs? appeared first on Nautilus .
As Australia bakes through an extreme heat wave, even insects aren't immune to its impact
Australia is baking through another extreme heat wave, with temperatures forecast to reach above 45°C for multiple days in a row across large swaths of the country.
New dietary guidelines flip the food pyramid
The new guidelines emphasizes eating protein and full-fat dairy while reducing sugar, carbs and ultraprocessed foods.
UK consumers may be ready to swap salmon for sprats and sardines
Millions of Britons could be ready to swap imported fish for home-caught favorites like sardines, sprats and anchovies, according to a new study from the University of East Anglia (UEA), titled "The Socio-economic evidence for sustainable fisheries."
Zombie fungi and 'bloodstained' orchids: Top plant and fungal species named new to science in 2025
Scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and their international partners, reveal today their pick of the top 10 plants and fungi named new to science in 2025. From "camouflaged" plants to spider-infecting parasites, the annual list underscores how much of the natural
Dogs' dinners can have greater climate impact than those of their owners
Dogs fed on premium, meat-rich pet food can have a bigger dietary carbon pawprint than their owners, according to the largest study into dog food's climate impact.
Weight regain seems to occur within 2 years of stopping obesity drugs
Drugs like Ozempic have transformed how we treat obesity, but a review of almost 40 studies shows it doesn't take long for people to regain weight if they come off them
NASA Postpones Spacewalk Just Hours Before Astronauts Were to Exit ISS
Two NASA astronauts were scheduled to complete a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk on January 8, but the agency has postponed it indefinitely
Did This Drawing Preserve Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA?
Cracking the code on the origins of a Renaissance work of art The post Did This Drawing Preserve Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA? appeared first on Nautilus .
Families reveal harsh reality of prison visits
Family members of prisoners experience a form of incarceration themselves through strict rules, surveillance and emotional regulation imposed during visits, a study by La Trobe University has found.
OpenAI Would Like You to Share Your Health Data with Its ChatGPT
Users will be able to upload their health data to ChatGPT in order to get what OpenAI has described as a more personalized experience
Schmidt Sciences Announces Plan for Lazuli, a Private Space Telescope
Bigger than Hubble and launching as soon as 2029, the Lazuli Space Observatory would be the first-ever full-scale private space telescope
Solar physicists discover long-hidden source of gamma rays unleashed by flares
Solar physicists say they have found a key source of intense gamma rays unleashed when Earth's nearest star produces its most violent eruptions.
THz spectroscopy system bypasses long-standing tradeoff between spectral and spatial resolution
Terahertz (THz) radiation, which occupies the frequency band between microwaves and infrared light, is essential in many next-generation applications, including high-speed wireless communications, chemical sensing, and advanced material analysis.
Warming winters and storm-driven dispersal facilitate northward mangrove expansion along the US Atlantic coast
In recent decades, mangroves along the Atlantic coast of North America have expanded into areas traditionally dominated by salt marshes. This shift shows that climate change is already reshaping temperate coastal ecosystems, with consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage,
The mechanical ratchet: A new mechanism of cell division
Cell division is an essential process for all life on Earth, yet the exact mechanisms by which cells divide during early embryonic development have remained elusive—particularly for egg-laying species.
Plasma rings around M dwarf stars offer new clues to planetary habitability
How does a star affect the makeup of its planets? And what does this mean for the habitability of distant worlds? Carnegie's Luke Bouma is exploring a new way to probe this critical question—using naturally occurring space weather stations that orbit at least 10% of M dwarf
New tool narrows the search for ideal metal organic frameworks
Princeton researchers have developed a new tool to speed the discovery of advanced materials known as metal organic frameworks (MOFs).
AI tool can take a cattle's temperature with only a photo
What if you could look into a cow's face and know whether it had a fever? A new tool from the Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision Lab at the University of Arkansas uses artificial intelligence and thermal cameras to estimate the body temperature of cattle.
Optics research uses dim light to produce bright LEDs
Researchers at Princeton and North Carolina State University have developed a technique that substantially improves the ability to convert low-energy light into a high-energy version. The method has immediate applications in lighting and displays.
Engineers create water-saving sand layer to improve plant resilience during drought
The Anasazi, a once-flourishing tribe in the American Southwest, lived on bounties of corn, squash and beans. In 1276 A.D., however, a long, unforgiving drought made agriculture untenable, forcing them to migrate away from their settlements. Droughts, even the catastrophic
Snow's compressibility acts as avalanche crumple zone
How do avalanches affect pylons and other sensitive infrastructure? Using detailed simulations, SLF researcher Michael Kohler has shown that the compressibility of snow initially reduces avalanche pressure, but that at high speeds this buffer suddenly fails.
Overlooked molecule points to new treatments for drug-resistant fungal infections
Fungal infections kill millions of people each year, and modern medicine is struggling to keep up. But researchers at McMaster University have identified a molecule that may help turn the tide—butyrolactol A, a chemical compound that targets a deadly, disease-causing fungi
The Deep Evolutionary Roots of Sleep
Protective slumber emerged even before brains did in the ocean shallows The post The Deep Evolutionary Roots of Sleep appeared first on Nautilus .
Creating psychedelic-like molecules by shining light on life's basic building blocks
UC Davis researchers have developed a new method that uses light to transform amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—into molecules that are similar in structure to psychedelics and mimic their interaction with the brain.
Synchronizing ultrashort X-ray pulses for attosecond precision
Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have, for the first time, demonstrated a technique that synchronizes ultrashort X-ray pulses at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL. This achievement opens new possibilities for observing ultrafast atomic and molecular processes
Chasing ghost plumes: How underwater drones captured the secret 48-hour countdown to algal blooms
Globally, toxic algal blooms are becoming more frequent and severe, fueled by a warming climate and nutrient runoff. While satellites can easily spot the green carpets once they reach the surface, the "prequels" to these outbreaks remain hidden in the deep.
Pocketbook realities reshape Americans' commitment to democratic ideals
Money talks, and new research from Northwestern University suggests that it often speaks louder than an American voter's commitment to democratic norms.
Forests under climate stress: Why trees are growing less despite an early start
Climate change is causing trees to sprout earlier in spring. Nevertheless, some tree species are growing less. A study by the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL shows that increasing heat and drought are slowing down the growth of the most common tree species in Switzerland.
Swinging abyss: Oxygen isotope analysis shows less dynamic Antarctic ice sheet in Oligocene period
Oxygen isotopes data enable researchers to look far back into the geologic past and reconstruct the climate of the past. In doing so, they consider several factors such as ocean temperature and ice volume in polar regions. A new publication by an international team from Bergen
Unearthing experimental materials data buried in scientific papers using LLMs
Technologies that underpin modern society, such as smartphones and automobiles, rely on a diverse range of functional materials. Materials scientists are therefore working to develop and improve new materials, but predicting material properties is no simple task. Data science
AI boosts bird sound identification accuracy
In a study conducted at the University of Helsinki, AI was trained to classify bird sounds with increasing accuracy. The results of the study have been used, among others, in the "Muuttolintujen kevät" (Spring of Migratory Birds) mobile application, which has become a
Image: Lightning from above
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers captured this image of lightning while orbiting aboard the International Space Station more than 250 miles above Milan, Italy on July 1, 2025.
Lunar spacecraft exhaust could obscure clues to origins of life
Over half of the exhaust methane from lunar spacecraft could end up contaminating areas of the moon that might otherwise yield clues about the origins of Earthly life, according to a recent study. The pollution could unfold rapidly regardless of a spacecraft's touchdown site;
Vera C. Rubin Observatory spots record-breaking asteroid in pre-survey observations
Astronomers analyzing data from Vera C. Rubin Observatory have discovered the fastest-ever spinning asteroid with a diameter over half a kilometer—a feat uniquely enabled by Rubin. The study provides crucial information about asteroid composition and evolution, and demonstrates
Flexible material mimics octopus skin with nanoscale color and texture transformations
Stanford researchers have developed a flexible material that can quickly change its surface texture and colors, offering potential applications in camouflage, art, robotics, and even nanoscale bioengineering.
Sentinel-1's decade of essential data over shifting ice sheets
The extent and speed of ice moving off the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica into the sea—an important dynamic for climate and sea-rise modeling—has been captured over a 10-year period by satellites from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission.
North Pacific winter storm tracks shifting poleward much faster than predicted
Alaska's glaciers are melting at an accelerating pace, losing roughly 60 billion tons of ice each year. About 4,000 kilometers to the south, in California and Nevada, records for heat and dryness are being shattered, creating favorable conditions for wildfire events.
Ribosomal engineering creates 'super-probiotic' bacteria with enhanced immune activation
Using ribosome engineering (RE), researchers from Shinshu University introduced mutations affecting the protein synthesis mechanism of probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG). These mutant LGGs exhibit altered surface protein expression, including increased presentation
The Poison-Arrow Technology of Our Hunter-Gatherer Ancestors
Tipping their arrowheads with poison may have tipped the survival odds in their favor The post The Poison-Arrow Technology of Our Hunter-Gatherer Ancestors appeared first on Nautilus .
Hunting with poison arrows may have begun 60,000 years ago in Africa
A collection of arrow points excavated in South Africa has provided the oldest direct evidence of hunters deploying plant-based poisons on their weapons, a practice that has continued into modern times in some traditional cultures
How rice viruses manipulate plant defenses to protect insect vectors
Planthoppers and leafhoppers not only feed on rice plants but also act as highly efficient vectors for plant viruses, causing substantial yield losses worldwide. Notably, their persistent ability to evade natural enemies is not merely a matter of chance—it is subtly reinforced
Urban atmosphere acts as primary reservoir of microplastics, researchers find
Over the past two decades, microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have been recognized as emerging pollutants, detected across every environmental compartment of Earth's system—the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere.
Earth's early sponges were soft: Scientists close fossil record gap
Sponges are among Earth's most ancient animals, but exactly when they evolved has long puzzled scientists. Genetic information from living sponges, as well as chemical signals from ancient rocks, suggest that sponges evolved at least 650 million years ago.
Understanding the role of linear ubiquitination in T-tubule biogenesis
Transverse tubules (T-tubules) play a significant role in muscle contraction. However, the underlying mechanism of their formation is yet to be elucidated. In a recent study, a research team from Japan used a Drosophila model to understand this process. The results show the
60,000-year-old traces of world's oldest arrow poison reveal early advanced hunting techniques
Researchers from South Africa and Sweden have found the oldest traces of arrow poison in the world to date. On 60,000-year-old quartz arrowheads from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, researchers have identified chemical residues of poison from the plant
60,000-year-old poison arrowheads show early humans’ skillful hunting
A new analysis uncovers traces of poison on the South African arrowheads, pushing back the timeline for poisoned weapons by more than 50,000 years.
