"Mercy," a film released in January 2026, depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in the near future: a city riddled with violence, homelessness, and civic disorder. California's response is to set up the Mercy Capital Court, run entirely by an AI bot that goes by the name Judge
As record-breaking amounts of sargassum seaweed drift toward Florida's shores, researchers at Florida International University are exploring how the coastal nuisance could become a valuable ingredient in everyday foods.
Without good dental care, teeth tend to suffer. An abundance of archaeological evidence has shown that poor oral health was common throughout history. And unsurprisingly, there have been many attempts at dental restoration throughout history, as well. Now, archaeologists have
For decades, coral reefs throughout the Caribbean have been suffering from disease, pollution, overfishing and rising sea temperatures, yet most have continued to grow—until now.
Languages and human DNA both capture aspects of human diversity. But how are they related? A new international study led by the University of Zurich finds a clear but counterintuitive pattern: regions with high genetic diversity tend to have more similar languages, while
These insects not only survived gravity four times stronger than Earth’s, they thrived The post Fruit Flies: Masters of Hypergravity appeared first on Nautilus .
A Florida law designed to prevent gun violence by temporarily removing firearms from people at risk of harming themselves or others is used unevenly across the state, according to a new study. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined nearly
Salicylic acid, the active molecule in aspirin and some acne medications, is a hormone in plants that is essential for immunity, but it's a double-edged sword: Too much can cause autoimmunity and stunt growth. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers at the
New research analyzing two decades of company data shows that board interpersonal diversity mitigates aggressive tax avoidance. The study concludes that diversity brings new perspectives and strengthens oversight, underscoring the importance of composing boards with members
For decades, scientists have sought to explain the so-called "Cambrian Explosion," a pivotal period over 500 million years ago when a remarkable diversity of animal life appeared in the fossil record. But rather than a sudden burst of innovation, new research suggests this
Cue the Grateful Dead The post What Happens in the Brain When “Psychedelic Virgins” Trip for the First Time appeared first on Nautilus .
Eighty-one years after Adolf Hitler died by his own hand in a Berlin bunker, a viral video on TikTok shows an AI-generated vision of the Nazi dictator standing in Antarctica, shoulders broad and face smiling, sipping a White Monster Energy drink while Men at Work's iconic song
The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been detected in over 700 herds of dairy cows in California, the largest dairy-producing state in the U.S. A study published in PLOS Biology led by Seema S. Lakdawala at Emory University School of Medicine, U.S. and
A growing minority believes it’s a mistake to tie so many mathematical formulas to the famed 3.14... value. Another value, tau, could be better
Like people, nonhuman primates live in groups that vary in size and shape depending on the species. Some primate groups are small and simple; others are large and more layered. Over the decades, primatologists have observed that baboons and other closely related monkeys, the
Modern biology is awash in data. Scientists can sequence DNA, track gene activity cell-by-cell, map proteins in space, and image tissues at microscopic resolution. However, it is a struggle to put all that information together to form a cohesive view.
While some of us enjoy curling up with a good book, others prefer watching a series or playing video games. But from the perspective of neuroscience, reading is much more than just entertainment. This is especially true for children and teenagers. In the young brain, reading
Electronic nematicity is a phase of some crystalline solids in which electrons' collective properties, such as charge or spin densities, organize themselves into ordered patterns, lowering the crystal's rotational symmetry. This phase is found across a wide range of diverse
Plants use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into energy-rich sugars and oxygen in various ways (photosynthesis). Drought is a major challenge in this process. A research team led by Wolfram Weckwerth at the University of Vienna has now demonstrated how a
Hostage-taking by nation-states is emerging as an overlooked consequence of the more unstable and dangerous world that's been created by the fracturing rules-based order. In an increasingly might-is-right system of international relations, malign actors have become even more
Public health officials are racing to find out how the sometimes deadly hantavirus got aboard a cruise ship and if there has been human-to-human spread.
Indigenous people of the Andes were the first to domesticate the potato, making the starch-rich crop a dietary staple for this high-altitude population long before it spread to the rest of the world. Today, their descendants in Peru carry the highest known numbers of a gene
Many properties of molecules cannot be predicted from the properties of the atoms they consist of. These properties only emerge when they are combined—a phenomenon known in science as "emergence." A publication by Goethe University Frankfurt examines, from chemical, biological,
If you've decided to separate from your partner, and you have kids together, it's normal to worry about the potential impact on them.
An international team of astronomers has analyzed the data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to investigate giant molecular clouds in nearby galaxies. The new study, presented April 27 on the arXiv preprint
Everyone on Earth takes a private vote by pressing a red or blue button. If more than 50% of people press the blue button, everyone survives. If less than 50% of people press the blue button, only the people who pressed the red button survive. Which button would you press? BE
From a geothermal hotspot to the one-time "Lighthouse of the Pacific," the heat is on beneath the volcanic landscape of western El Salvador.
There's increasing interest in deep-sea mining, but the impacts that this will have on the animals that live in the depths isn't fully understood. A new review led by our scientists is giving us our first insight into how this industry might affect some of the remotest
Creating quantum entanglement inside a solid material is tricky in the lab – but crystals buried in the earth could be growing it naturally. Now one scientist says he has proof he’s found them
NHS England is pulling its open-source software from the internet because of fears around computer-hacking AI models like Mythos. Opposition is growing among those who say the move is bad for transparency and efficiency, and will also do nothing to improve security
Heavy rains causing repeated river flood intrusions into Florida's freshwater springs are changing the function of the clear natural resource. Findings from University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researchers Paul Donsky and Matt Cohen reveal
Across the Milky Way galaxy, a planetary odd couple is circling a star some 190 light years from Earth. A normally "lonely" hot Jupiter is sharing space with a mini-Neptune, in a rare and unlikely pairing that's had astronomers puzzled since the system's discovery in 2020.
NASA announced that this uncrewed lander, named Endurance, completed vacuum testing on Earth—a key step toward a planned launch later this year
Scientists gave people a “heroic” dose of psilocybin and then looked at their brain. Here’s what happened
A research team led by Professor Denver Li Danfeng, Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Education) of the College of Science and Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), has achieved a significant advance in
Air pollution is estimated to cause around 48,881 adult deaths a year in Nepal and more than 25,000 deaths in Ethiopia, alongside significant health harm across Malawi's fast-growing cities. To combat this, researchers from the University of Surrey have developed three new
The mechanism that can cause a rapidly expanding plasma—the superhot state of matter harnessed in fusion energy systems—to spontaneously generate its own magnetic fields was identified through a new set of simulations. This improves our understanding of naturally occurring
Also known as Endurance, MK1 is an uncrewed cargo lander. It's a commercial demonstration mission to advance Human Landing System capabilities in support of NASA's Artemis program. The tests in Chamber A represent a public-private partnership model, with Blue Origin conducting
There's more bad news about microplastics. We already know they pose a risk to health and can pollute ecosystems, but now researchers have discovered that tiny plastic particles drifting in Earth's atmosphere could be a significant contributor to global warming.
Earth's ice is melting. As icebergs break away from glaciers and melt away, the fresh meltwater mixes into its saltwater surroundings. However, icebergs do not exist in isolation. In Greenland, for example, jammed collections of icebergs and sea ice make up what are known as
Companies celebrated for strong financial performance may actually be inefficient once their environmental impact is taken into account, according to research from the University of Surrey.
The Internet loves fitness-motivation content. Olympian and researcher Valerie Gruest explains why it can be so harmful
Increases in global trade and travel are causing animal and plant species to be more frequently introduced to regions of the world where they do not naturally occur. In these new regions, these species are often referred to as "alien species." The process through which they are
An artificial intelligence (AI) tool built by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) can help forecasters look further into the future as they work to identify the potential for deadly severe weather outbreaks.
Genetic insights from a 110,000-year-old individual recovered from a cave in Siberia The post The First Male Neanderthal Genome appeared first on Nautilus .
An international research team involving the Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems (PhoQS) at Paderborn University has made significant progress in researching so-called quantum materials. Their extraordinary properties—electrical conductivity, magnetism and
Archaeologists from the University of Southampton have excavated and recorded a large timber platform hidden beneath what today appears to be a stone-built island, located in a Scottish loch. They used a technique called stereophotogrammetry to record the human-made island
Traditional university essays may become a thing of the past, as new research shows "authentic assessments" can eliminate the awarding gap between students of different ethnic backgrounds.
Major new research on climate change, global warming and environmental collapse, how they connect with what men do, and what to do about it has just been published by a team including the University of Huddersfield's Professor Jeff Hearn.
One of life's many mysteries is how it ended up choosing only a set of 20 amino acids to build proteins for its wide catalog of organisms, from single-celled bacteria to behemoth whales. From a chemical standpoint, many of the canonical amino acids share similar chemical
