Scientists have created a programmable optical chip that can slow light on demand, giving engineers far greater control over how optical signals propagate through a circuit. The technology could provide the delays, synchronization, and buffering functions needed to make
Two companion papers in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society provide new insight into the causes and predictability of the 2025 Texas Hill Country floods, the deadliest flash flood event in the United States since 1976.
Members of the Horse Microbiome Research Group recently published a new study in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, led by Dr. Joy Leng, who is currently undertaking the Alborada Well Foal 2 project. This research aims to understand how the foal gut microbiome develops by
A Southwest Research Institute and University of Texas at San Antonio experiment has passed a critical NASA review, designating it ready for parabolic flight testing. The two institutions will evaluate the performance of a patent-pending electrolyzer, the Mars Atmospheric
According to current understanding, the universe is expanding—and is doing so at an accelerating rate. This is believed to be caused by something called the cosmological constant, which was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity. In recent
For most adults, a daily caffeine habit may be safer for the heart than many people assume. A new American Heart Association review found that up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, roughly three to five cups of regular black coffee, is generally safe and may even be linked to
Avoiding guilt is a powerful motivator for charitable giving, according to a study in PNAS Nexus. Masahiko Haruno and colleagues ran two experiments to determine the most effective psychological framing to encourage donations to WaterAid, an NGO working to provide clean water
Scientists have known for years that birds like geese and ibises gain an aerodynamic advantage from flying in a "V" formation. Now, researchers from Brown University have provided new insights into the nature of that advantage.
A pioneering study has revealed that by the turn of the next century, at least half a million more people in the UK will be at risk of coastal flooding—a 25% increase compared with now. The research, led by the Met Office and the University of Bristol, quantifies for the first
A study by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) analyzes Instagram discourse that associates the ideal of being a good mother with exclusive breastfeeding and fosters guilt among women who cannot or do not wish to breastfeed, often because of the difficulty of balancing it with other
A new method at the University of Missouri could transform how Rocky Mountain spotted fever is diagnosed. The method detects the deadly tick-borne disease in just 40 minutes—a leap that could help patients get lifesaving treatment sooner. The study, "A rapid isothermal
Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, demonstrating that progress is possible. However, the improvements remain fragile, unevenly distributed and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, according to The State of Food Security
A 2-year-old is lying on the floor yelling, with their socks pulled off after spending 15 minutes trying to get them on in the first place. A caregiver might take a deep breath and think, "Here we go again—another 'terrible twos' tantrum."
For decades, water utilities have relied on giant tanks filled with ion-exchange resin beads to remove perchlorate, a harmful industrial pollutant, from drinking water. The system works by attracting negatively charged perchlorate ions to positively charged resin beads,
Personal and professional conversations about triumph and disappointment happen every day, but what is the most appropriate way to react when others share their news with us? New research by Bayes Business School (City St George's, University of London) reveals that a common
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), the Tübingen AI Center and Ellis Institute Tübingen have conducted a study that uncovers a mathematical strategy explaining how digital labor platforms can systematically suppress wages. The research,
Physical touch may be an important evolutionary tool to help manage social tension and keep the peace. That is according to a new study led by Durham University in the UK, analyzing behaviors of our closest ape relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees.
Humans could learn from chimpanzees and bonobos, who turn to group members for physical comfort during tense moments.
Mysterious high-speed "bullets"—clumps of possibly oxygen-rich gas traveling at up to 20 million miles per hour—have been discovered shooting out of the rarest stellar explosion in our galaxy.
As legalized sports betting becomes increasingly accessible through mobile apps such as DraftKings and FanDuel, a new study by BYU finance professors finds that people are saving less to fuel gambling habits.
The mountain jewelflower inhabits a wide swath of California and Oregon, from summer-scorched foothills to high mountains where snow falls during winter. But it is already suffering from climate change, with plants in the mountains struggling to survive both summers and
Sustained supershear earthquake ruptures produce distinct ground-motion characteristics compared with subshear earthquakes, according to a study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, with potential implications for current building codes and
Scientists at the University of California, Riverside, have developed a new way to help gravitational-wave observatories see farther into the universe by solving one of their biggest challenges: tiny heat-induced distortions in the massive mirrors at the heart of the detectors.
By examining 200 years of demographic data from 237 countries and territories, Kenji Itao, of the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan, discovered that universal mathematical laws describe how fertility declines as societies develop, providing a new framework for
A black hole may be stirring a "pot" of gas containing a neighboring galaxy in the early universe, according to a new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics that used observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The galaxy slowly being "cooked" is named MQN01
Some 400 years ago, a member of the Indigenous Potano-Timucua tribe scooped up some clay and carefully molded it into a modest vessel, small enough to rest in the palm of their hand. You can imagine their fingers pressing a tight crease around the pot's simple rim and smoothing
New video evidence has revealed whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, are serial snackers, feeding on large amounts of small prey at all ocean depths, according to research led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and Murdoch University.
An international research team led by the Medical University of Vienna has investigated a new peptide derived from cone snail venom that significantly reduced inflammation-induced pain in an animal model. Crucially, its effect takes hold immediately after subcutaneous
As of July 20, the public can access data from the two powerful radar instruments aboard the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. Teams in the United States and India will release files processed from the satellite's L-band and S-band radars on an ongoing
Deep learning approaches have transformed how scientists predict the activity and function of DNA sequences in the genome. A new AI tool called Corgi (Context-aware Regulatory Genomics Inference), developed by Martin Vingron's bioinformatics group at the Max Planck Institute
A research team consisting of researcher Somi Joo, Professor Changjun Lee and Professor Daeho Lee from the Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) Department of Artificial Intelligence Convergence have published a study comprehensively analyzing the opportunities and risks of using
A team of international scientists led by Dr. Ariel Malinsky-Buller, together with Ph.D. students David Nora, Ioannis Oikonomou and Dominik Rogall from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has uncovered new insights into the strategic decision-making and survival techniques of
The critically endangered sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) appears to have found a refuge off the northern coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, for mating and reproduction. This was revealed in a study conducted by scientists and divers in the Alcatrazes Archipelago, a
Penn Engineers have developed PeptiVerse, an AI-powered platform that predicts key chemical and biological properties of peptides, strings of amino acids whose medical potential has been demonstrated by the success of GLP-1 drugs, widely used weight-loss treatments.
A tapeworm fundamentally changes the lives of ants: Workers of the species Temnothorax nylanderi infected with the tapeworm Anomotaenia brevis live several times longer than their uninfected nestmates. They are also less active, and their metabolism becomes more similar in some
Researchers from the UAB have found the remains of a Roman camp linked to the suppression of the Ceretani revolt that took place in Cerdanya in 39 BCE. The research, based on archaeological surveys and the spatial distribution of recovered materials, provides new evidence
Residents of Salt Lake County, Utah, are highly concerned about the shrinking Great Salt Lake, according to new University of Utah–led research examining local perceptions of the lake's health and its economic and environmental impacts.
Some microorganisms that hold great promise for research have long lain dormant in historical collections. But only through new methods are their diversity and potential becoming apparent. The team led by Professor Christian Jogler at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena
A new study from Edith Cowan University (ECU) confirms that the presence of fungal food resources is important for supporting the reintroduction of two threatened marsupials to the Shark Bay World Heritage area, which could simultaneously advance species conservation and
Nostalgia is a major barrier to preventing more people from adopting plant-based diets, according to a new University of Stirling study. Research led by Aga Kosla of the University's Faculty of Natural Sciences found that links to childhood, cultural identity and a sense of
For decades, astronomers have cast galaxy mergers as the universe's ultimate relationship drama: two galaxies collide, chaos erupts, black holes awaken and star formation comes to a screeching halt. Upending this long-held belief, new research from Florida International
Increasingly scientists are testing chatbots rather than humans in experiments The post Why Are We Using Machines to Study Our Inner Lives? appeared first on Nautilus .
Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a device that enables them to control the flow of electrons through a semiconductor using only laser light—no electrical power source required. The device was built to explore fundamental physics and realize a previously
France's parliament on Tuesday backed a controversial bill authorizing farmers to use two bee-harming pesticides despite an outcry from environmentalists and left-wing politicians.
Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are working on a promising strategy to make cancer therapies smarter and more precise, using peptides that switch on in the acidic environment surrounding tumors. Francisco N. Barrera's lab in the Department of Biochemistry
In many urban areas, low-income neighborhoods have more mosquitoes, making residents more vulnerable to mosquito-borne diseases. A new study co-authored by scientists at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies found that invasive, nonnative plants, which tend to be more common in
The star that formed the Jellyfish nebula may have had a partner star that exploded 100,000 years earlier, according to international researchers, who say that this may be the first known discovery of a binary star system in which both stars have gone supernova.
Artificial intelligence faces an energy crisis stemming from a physical traffic jam inside modern computer chips. Processors must continually shuffle data, such as the billions of parameters in complex models, between separate computing and memory nodes. This traffic jam, known
When a child has been sexually abused by a family member, post-disclosure interventions prioritize the child who was victimized. Siblings who were not directly abused can also be deeply affected. New research from McGill University finds that siblings are nevertheless routinely
A team of Virginia Tech geoscientists has found a new way to examine the widespread effects of dams on river temperatures: using Landsat thermal infrared imagery to gather data on rivers across the United States. By using satellite imagery instead of site-specific,
