A sprinkle of nutmeg powder on baked goodies or mashed potatoes can immediately lift the flavor with its warm and sweet aroma. Even though it is used globally, not much is known about the true origins of the nutmeg spice tree, Myristica fragrans. In an attempt to retrace
Blistering temperatures rising to 40°C and above will now be branded "cruelly hot" or "kokusho-bi" in Japan, the weather agency said Friday, as heat wave days become increasingly frequent in the region.
Does a male bird with a long and complex courtship dance have superior cognitive abilities? Simply put, is a talented dancer a smarter bird? To answer the question, researchers at Université de Montréal studied the zebra finch, a small bird known for the dramatic differences
The earliest documentary evidence of organized whaling dates back to the 11th century in the Basque Country. From there, the activity spread rapidly across the ports of the Bay of Biscay, from Galicia to Labourd in France, and then across the Atlantic to countries such as
Long before rising seas swallowed Doggerland beneath the North Sea, this lost landscape may have been a surprisingly lush and life-friendly haven. New DNA evidence reveals that forests of oak, elm, and hazel were already thriving there more than 16,000 years ago—thousands of
A randomized trial in a large economics course found that AI-mediated feedback improved students' revisions when teaching assistants stayed in control. Artificial intelligence can help instructors write better feedback on student essays and improve learning outcomes when AI is
A hidden threat is emerging in the world’s glaciers: while most are shrinking, a rare group known as “surging glaciers” can suddenly accelerate, unleashing powerful and sometimes destructive events. Scientists have identified over 3,100 of these glaciers worldwide, with many
European astronomers have used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe a recently discovered giant disk galaxy known as ADF22.1. Results of the new observations, published April 8 on the arXiv preprint server, shed more
How do some wealthy families remain in the upper class for many generations, while other rich families do not? That is the question author Shay O'Brien (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) tackles in the sociological study "Kinship Interlocks: How the Intimate Exchange of
Asian immigrants are both the fastest-growing and highest-earning immigrant ethnic group in the United States, facts that have caught the attention of many economists interested in how these groups—whether investors or residents—impact housing prices, K-12 education, and other
A study finds that less than half of surveyed parents know the legal age, 21, to buy cigarettes, vapes, nicotine pouches and other tobacco products.
A new quantum sensing approach could dramatically improve how scientists measure low-frequency electric fields, a task that has long been limited by bulky setups and blurry resolution. Instead of relying on traditional vapor-cell methods, researchers developed a system using
Scientists have uncovered a surprising twist in how bacteria share genes—including those that spread antibiotic resistance. Tiny virus-like particles called gene transfer agents (GTAs), once ancient viral invaders, have been repurposed by bacteria into delivery systems that
Texas A&M University is preparing for a new era of space research with the launch of a research centrifuge at the Anthony Wood '87 Artificial Gravity Lab. Set to become one of the most advanced human centrifuge facilities in the United States, the lab can simulate lunar and
Originally deployed to record re-entry signals of the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, a T-shaped fiber optic cable draped across the ground at a Nevada airfield also captured unique aspects of a Cessna 172's speed and maneuvering.
New research led by the University of Houston suggests that formerly incarcerated people are more likely to receive job search assistance if they voluntarily disclose their past while highlighting accomplishments earned during their sentence.
Observations by the Mars Express orbiter reveal rapid changes on the Red Planet’s surface from windblown volcanic ash
As AI songs get harder to tell apart from human-made music, an older technology offers a revealing preview of the fight over artistry, labor and pay
How a few unique traits helped modern-style birds—the last living dinosaurs—survive the asteroid apocalypse that took out T. rex and other mighty beasts
Changing your opinion can be difficult, and it’s sometimes even seen as a flaw. But research shows being open-minded has a host of benefits. Columnist David Robson finds there are a few simple ways to encourage yourself to withstand the discomfort that gets in the way of mental
Publishing in Communications Chemistry, researchers from Kyushu University have discovered a simple method of generating hydrogen gas by mixing methanol, sodium hydroxide, and iron ions, then irradiating the solution with UV light.
Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have revealed the detailed workings of a cell membrane protein that has essential roles in all animals. The discovery could lead to new therapeutic strategies for blood coagulation disorders, cancers and other conditions in which the
Cyclic cosmology, or the big bounce, is the idea that the universe will eventually crunch back together and then go through another big bang. Columnist Leah Crane finds that, appropriately, it’s coming back
Nearly a week after their Pacific splashdown, the astronauts who crewed the Artemis II mission that flew around the moon told reporters Thursday they have yet to fully grasp the magnitude of the moment.
The Artemis II astronauts who ignited a lunar renaissance gave high marks Thursday to their moonship, especially the heat shield, for its performance during reentry.
Sparkling water is often seen as a simple, healthy drink—but could it also help with weight loss? New research suggests it may slightly boost how the body processes blood sugar and energy. However, the effect is very small, meaning it’s no substitute for diet and exercise.
In the era of precision cosmology, research often means big science: large observatories, highly complex instruments, international collaborations and substantial funding. Yet even in such an advanced field, progress is still possible—including in the search for elusive dark
A hormone called FGF21 can reverse obesity in mice by activating a newly identified brain circuit tied to metabolism. Surprisingly, it works in the hindbrain—the same region targeted by GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy—but through a completely different mechanism. Instead of
Researchers have found a way to make cancer-killing immune cells more powerful and precise. By adding specific signaling components, they boosted the cells’ readiness to attack tumors. Surprisingly, briefly suppressing the cells with a drug before use made them even more
Scientists have discovered that a protein linked to cell death is secretly driving the aging of blood stem cells in a completely different way. Instead of killing the cells, it damages their mitochondria, sapping their energy and weakening the immune system over time. When this
Seismicity decreases with depth because elevated confining pressure prevents frictional sliding of faults. However, seismicity tends to increase with depth in the mantle transition zone (depths of 410−600km). It has been believed that pressure-induced phase transitions of
It did not take long after the discovery of X-rays in the 1890s for scientists to begin exploring the harmful effects of radiation on living organisms. Yet even after more than a century of research, new insights continue to emerge about how radiation affects the body. In a
The East Asian Subtropical Westerly Jet (EASWJ) and the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) are two pivotal components of the East Asian monsoon system, shaping the precipitation distribution and climate over East Asia. Whether the co-evolutionary EASWJ–EASM relationship remains
In his doctoral thesis, Michael Roop develops numerical methods that allow finding physically reliable approximate solutions to nonlinear differential equations used to model turbulence.
Aluminum die-cast components are widely used in automotive and precision machinery applications due to their combination of low weight and structural strength. However, internal defects known as porosity—voids formed by entrapped air during casting—remain a persistent
Researchers from the University of Seville (US) and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) have demonstrated that it is possible to grow tomatoes and generate solar energy simultaneously, a key strategy for tackling global water scarcity. The study, carried out in Madrid
Bottom fishing can release CO₂ from the seabed, but the consequences for the climate are not straightforward. New research, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, shows that disturbing the seabed sets in motion multiple processes with contrasting effects. The overall
University of Birmingham experts have created open-source computer software that helps scientists understand how fast-moving particles behave when they interact with electromagnetic waves in space. Understanding how these particles behave in Earth's radiation belts is crucial
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is now on its way out of our solar system, never to return. The comet was only the third-ever detected object to originate from outside our solar system. Traveling at high speeds, it looped around the sun within 1.5 AU (one AU, or astronomical unit,
A new study shows that a specific type of silicone, the so-called methylsiloxanes, is widely present in the atmosphere across diverse environments. Also, concentrations appear to be much higher than expected. According to the researchers, this raises concerns about their
The launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021 pushed the horizon of seeing the early universe, unveiling cosmic events just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Among the most striking discoveries are supermassive black holes—some reaching 100
While the Netherlands was in lockdown because of the coronavirus, Ph.D. candidate Koen Rijpkema began his research into the same virus. In the lab, he developed molecules that can inhibit an important viral enzyme.
The time had come to open the envelope, but Stephan Schlamminger, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), wasn't sure he wanted to know the secret number that lay inside. For the past 10 years, Schlamminger had spent most of his working hours
When a bank wrongly charges fees, a debt collector harasses someone over a disputed bill, or a mortgage servicer fails to apply payments correctly, Americans have a formal recourse: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Filing a complaint with the CFPB is not like venting
Relocating the city of Venice is among four potential options—including movable barriers, ring dikes and closing the Venetian Lagoon—that could help it adapt to future sea-level rise over the next 200 years, according to a new study.
Researchers have developed a technique for detecting and measuring the concentration of many rare-earth elements in plants, without destroying the plant. The technique can be used to optimize "plant mining" efforts, in which plants take up and concentrate these critical
Popular AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini are not neutral and tend to favor certain political parties when asked who users should vote for. This makes them unsuitable for providing advice in connection with elections, according to researchers from the University of
Improved methods for social and behavioral sciences research could help enhance public trust in science, says a new study that investigated the robustness of data analysis to understand whether it reliably stood the test of time. It did.
Glaciers can reveal vast archives of information about Earth's environmental past, but deciphering the origins of the matter within them can be a challenge. Now, using a novel technique that enables researchers to directly analyze millions of individual particles at once, a new
A new Bar-Ilan University study points to a major advance in quantum information processing, demonstrating a way to send, manipulate, and measure quantum information across many frequency channels simultaneously, rather than one at a time. The study was recently published in
