How the invention of glassblowing changed everyday life in ancient Rome
We see glass objects every day and often don't think much about them. Mass-produced glass has become so cheap we barely think about the things it allows us to do.
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When less is more: Scaling law explains why ultrathin materials get stronger as they get thinner
One of the most fascinating aspects of physics is that nature often behaves in ways that seem completely counterintuitive. A good example comes from ultrathin materials. If I take a sheet of material and make it thinner and thinner, most people would expect it to become
New tool to help build more reliable DNA nanostructures
Scaffolded DNA and RNA origami is a technique that allows scientists to build tiny, highly precise two- and three-dimensional objects. Because these nanostructures can interact naturally with biological systems, they could have important future uses in health care and agritech.
Black Lives Matter movement changed workplace cooperation between Black and white employees, research shows
The increased public attention on racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd influenced how Black and white employees interacted at work, new University of Washington research suggests. The study, recently published in the Academy of Management Journal, examines how
Hydrogen-based steelmaking gets 2x boost from nickel oxide catalyst, study finds
Steel and metal production are among the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for approximately 10% of global CO2 emissions. At the same time, modern technology relies on tailored steels and metals for applications in fields such as mobility,
NASA's proposed Early eVolution Explorer mission aims to solve the radius valley mystery
A debate has been raging among planetary scientists for more than a decade—why are there so few exoplanets with a radius of about 1.8 times that of Earth? Exoplanets are currently largely grouped into two distinct categories—"super-Earths" are below that size and have rocky
Manakins' dazzling dances may owe their origins to an ancient diet shift
Few animals put on a show quite like manakins. In the rainforests of Central and South America, males of these small tropical birds, with strikingly bright plumage, often gather at communal display sites (leks), where they clear their own dance courts and spend much of their
Plant diversity may explain why some caterpillars are fussy about their food
Many insects will eat almost anything in their sight, such as certain beetles, grasshoppers and locusts, while others are remarkably picky eaters. For example, numerous insect herbivores will feed only on a single plant family or a specific type of tree. But why is this so?
Canary Island relics offer new clues into how North African cultures adapted to ocean living
Archaeological evidence from the Canary Islands suggests that by the 11th century, people there were harvesting and processing a variety of fish and other marine organisms—indicating that coastal resources may have played a vital role in the economic system, according to a
The hidden physics complicating interstellar lightsails
If we're to reach another star, chemical propulsion will not get us there in any reasonable time frame. We're going to need a different propulsion technology, and one of the most promising seems to be a solar sail. These giant reflective surfaces form the basis of many
A 5.3-million‑year‑old whale graveyard has been found on the floor of the Indian Ocean
When a whale dies, a very special natural phenomenon can come alive. The carcass might float at the surface for some time, attracting sharks and other predators. As it becomes weathered, it may start to sink, falling through the water until it eventually settles on the
Burned as waste for years, this overlooked plant material is poised to reshape how nylon gets made
Most people have seen nylon listed as a material on their clothing tags, but nylon is used in an array of other products, too, including automotive parts, wire insulation and medical supplies. Unfortunately, one of the building blocks of nylon, adipic acid, is produced from
Researchers publish first complete connectome of fruit fly brain and 'spinal cord'
In a first, a large, international team led by multiple labs at Harvard Medical School and Princeton University has published a complete wiring diagram of all the connections between neurons in the central nervous system of an adult fruit fly.
Research reveals how parenting styles influence children's honesty
Parents who come down hard on their children for telling lies or misbehaving may believe they are teaching the child right from wrong. But new research by NUS suggests that overly strict or punitive parenting could be part of what drives the behavior in the first place.
Rare 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes unearthed at Inca coastal site
Archaeologists digging at an Inca site on the arid coast of southern Peru have unearthed two rare, roughly 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes. The potatoes are among the only ones found in more than a century and would have been transported across the empire from the freezing
Standard tests do not always detect all gluten residues in barley beer
Some barley beers labeled "gluten-free" contain small amounts of gluten residues that may trigger celiac disease but are not detected by the standard antibody-based tests currently in use, according to a study by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical
Damaged boreal peatlands may triple methane emissions, reshaping climate risk
A new study reveals that, for the first time, areas of Canada's boreal peatlands damaged by oil and gas exploration have failed to recover as scientists and companies predicted and instead have led to a tripling of methane emissions, with global implications. The study,
Chemical impurities make carbon surfaces superslippery, researchers find
Engineers often treat impurities as a problem to eliminate to improve material performance. But new research from Osaka Metropolitan University and Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM suggests that in some cases, a little chemical messiness is exactly what helps
What powered the Earth's earliest life?
Early biological systems likely relied on RNA molecules to copy themselves and drive simple chemical reactions. Any system that could generate guanosine-triphosphate (GTP)—which is necessary for RNA synthesis—from prebiotic chemicals would gain a crucial advantage toward
Light-programmed system projects 28-layer 3D images in single shot
Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute), led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, introduced a snapshot 3D image projection system that integrates a digital encoder with a passive diffractive optical decoder, jointly optimized
NASA's Chandra discovers possible supernova remnant in galactic center
Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers may have found a supernova remnant in an intriguing neighborhood in the middle of our galaxy. A paper describing these new findings was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Ancient ground squirrels feasted on carcasses like ‘zombies of the Pleistocene’
Fossilized poo harbors remains from mammoths, bison and big cats, including some of the oldest DNA ever reconstructed
Is 'gender gating' the secret to success in online dating?
Digital matching platforms—from professional networking to ride-sharing and accommodation services—add value by bringing supply and demand into balance. But deep-seated asymmetries can prove difficult to expunge, causing platforms' functionality and productivity to suffer. This
Inside the race to develop a new Ebola vaccine
As Ebola rages, Moderna and others are racing to develop an mRNA vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo virus driving the current outbreak
A dying star could create a new universe instead of a black hole
What if some black holes aren’t black holes at all? A new theoretical study suggests that when a massive star collapses, it might not form a singularity hidden behind an event horizon. Instead, the collapse could trigger the birth of a tiny new universe inside the dying star.
Millipedes beat vertebrates to land by 80 million years
Millipedes may have been crawling across Earth's landscapes nearly 460 million years ago, long before vertebrates ventured onto land. A new study finally completes their evolutionary family tree, revealing surprising clues about these ancient ecosystem engineers and their early
Scientists found a surprising problem with sugar-free diets
A surprising new study suggests that completely eliminating sugar may backfire. Mice on a sucrose-free low-fat diet showed worse blood sugar control, increased inflammation, disrupted gut bacteria, and signs of fatty liver compared with mice that consumed some sucrose.
People taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic started moving less
People taking popular weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound may be losing pounds, but they could also be moving less. Researchers analyzing Fitbit data found that daily step counts and exercise levels dropped after people started these medications,
Scientists discover parrots may actually use names
Parrots may be doing more than just repeating words—they may actually use names. By analyzing hundreds of recordings from pet parrots, researchers found evidence that many birds use specific names to identify particular people, animals, and even individual companions. Some
Yellowstone wolves may not have reshaped the national park after all
One of the most celebrated claims about Yellowstone’s wolves is facing a major challenge. Scientists say the study behind the famous trophic cascade story relied on flawed methods that overstated the ecological impact of wolf recovery. Their reanalysis found no evidence for a
Unique chromium beam experiment unlocks cosmic ray origins and galactic chemistry
When a star dies, it generates an explosion of elemental nuclei and hurls them into space. Those elements, called cosmic rays, travel at nearly the speed of light, and eventually some of them encounter manmade detectors. Recording how many of each of these elements show up
Why middle age is becoming a breaking point in the U.S.
A new international study finds that middle-aged Americans are lonelier, more depressed, and experiencing worse memory and health than earlier generations. Researchers say growing financial strain, weaker social supports, and chronic stress may explain why the U.S. is falling
Ancient Denisovan DNA still shapes human immunity today
Ancient encounters between humans and the mysterious Denisovans are still shaping people today. By analyzing genomes from populations across the Pacific, researchers uncovered evidence that the ancestors of Near Oceanians interbred with at least three different Denisovan
South African telescope detects record‑breaking signal from the early universe
Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa have discovered the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected, opening a new radio astronomy frontier. A hydroxyl megamaser is a natural space laser, and this one is located in a violently merging galaxy more
David Kipping has new take on the existence of advanced life in the universe and the numbers are not encouraging
Between the mid-1970s and early 1980s, two physicists, Michael Hart and Frank Tipler, published a controversial series of papers arguing that extraterrestrial intelligence didn't exist. As they argued, the likelihood that extraterrestrial civilizations (ETCs) would have had
