Light pollution is one of the fastest-growing and least-regulated environmental changes worldwide. It disrupts biological processes at all levels—from genes to entire ecosystems—and contributes significantly to global biodiversity loss. A recent review article, in which the
One of NASA's premier space telescopes plunged to Earth on Wednesday, ending its 22-year investigation of the universe's biggest explosions.
The "Geolinking Service SoRa" research data infrastructure helps to close a gap in the German research landscape. Many questions—such as those regarding social inequality or environmental justice—can only be answered through interdisciplinary analyses, such as linking social
The genital structures of male hawkmoths are lifesavers. By rubbing specialized scales on their genitals against parts of their abdomen, the nocturnal insects emit ultrasonic sounds that can potentially scramble the acoustic signals that bats use to hunt.
An international study jointly led by researchers from the Department of Geography and the Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality at the Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has revealed that vegetation resilience across Northern Hemisphere
Mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining in tropical regions is finding its way into wildlife. A team from the University of Vienna and the Veterinary University of Vienna shows that mercury exposure impairs the glucocorticoid response that helps animals cope with acute
Scientists have uncovered surprising evidence that many of Britain's overlooked insects and spiders are becoming more abundant and emerging earlier in the year, according to a new study.
Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed a carbon dioxide (CO₂) sensor that combines high sensitivity with a wider measurement range.
Expert listeners can often form an immediate impression of a singer's performance. But what exactly in the voice drives that judgment? In classical vocal competitions, performers are rated on an overall score. However, the criteria behind that score are rarely made explicit.
Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope, have developed a new approach using the artificial intelligence platform AlphaFold 3 to predict whether a T cell receptor will recognize a specific antigen based solely on its genetic
The gig economy is rapidly growing, and scholars are still working to understand the conditions gig workers encounter. Julieta Aguilar at the University of Kentucky, U.S., and Dr. Jeremy Reynolds at Purdue University, U.S., examined experiences of harassment in the gig economy.
Some cats display a complex mixture of fear and curiosity, which is similar to shyness observed in human infants, according to a study published Nov. 4, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Madoka Hattori at Kyoto University, Japan, and colleagues.
For Belding's ground squirrels, adult females are more likely to survive from year to year if they live near more adult female kin—but neither males nor young females get the same boost from nearby family. Jill Mateo and colleagues at the University of Chicago, U.S., report
Ancient DNA reveals that denizens of the Iberian Peninsula made leather from domestic goats as far back as 7,000 years ago, according to a study published Nov. 4, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Jolijn A. M. Erven of University College Dublin, Ireland, and colleagues.
Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. A study published Nov. 4, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth at Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Germany, and colleagues found that with training,
A new study published in the journal Ecography finds that there are more than 60,000 different species of insects in California—and scientists have only described about two-thirds of them.
This week Florida and the Four Corners region have been hammered by major rain events, swamping roads and washing away homes
A conversation with neuroscientist Susana Carmona, author of “A Mother’s Brain,” about how the brain changes in motherhood The post The Myth of Mommy Brain appeared first on Nautilus .
Every time someone picks up a call, the phone does a quiet bit of translation. Incoming radio signals are converted into tiny sound waves that ripple across chips before being turned back into data.
Researchers at Kanazawa University and the National Institute of Genetics in Japan have used high-speed atomic force microscopy to observe how a group of proteins known as Smc5/6 interacts with DNA. The images reveal how this structure opens and closes, captures DNA and brings
Mount Kilimanjaro is warming in some places and cooling in others, according to a new study by the University of Portsmouth, published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science.
The Ebola virus can cause severe, often life-threatening disease in humans. To replicate, it must enter human cells and exploit their cellular processes. In doing so, it encounters natural defense mechanisms that can make infection more difficult.
Imagine a crowded dance floor where bodies move to the beat beneath a glittering disco ball. Some of the dancers pair up, drawn together by the heady atmosphere. For flies, as for humans, the right atmosphere can serve as a potent aphrodisiac.
When we think about nature in our cities, what often comes to mind are parks and reserves—planned, managed and clearly marked spaces that support animal and plant life in our urban environment.
A new study published in Environmental Research Letters has found little evidence that hyperscale data centers cause significant heating of surrounding land. While a previous study suggested data centers heat surrounding land by about 2 °C on average (up to 9 °C), reaching 10
Every Bonfire Night, people pay for a box of fireworks so their friends and family can enjoy the colorful display. Within a few minutes, it's all over. But the price on the box doesn't reflect the hidden costs: the smoke inhaled by neighbors, the animals disturbed or the public
Researchers and advocates say they hope the “blue wave” could signal more accountability after two years of attacks on science
Less than a decade ago, there were about 2,000 operational satellites orbiting Earth. Today there are more than 15,000. Millions more are planned.
Natural materials, ranging from butterfly wings to mother-of-pearl, can exhibit an array of optical effects. In trying to reproduce these effects, scientists have found it challenging to use biodegradable, sustainable raw ingredients while also achieving the high levels of
What happens when the most successful rocket in history stops flying? The world is about to find out
In today's interconnected world, millions of people move between two or more languages every day. They may negotiate at work in one language, speak with family in another and follow news, entertainment and social media across several others.
Researchers have described a new species of fish from the northern Red Sea, found at the entrance to a cave on a steep reef slope. Charon's pygmygoby (Trimma charon) is a small, translucent fish with a broad orange-red stripe, golden spots on its tail and an unusual four-part
“Everybody’s hair is on fire in the climate or meteorologist community”
It’s also highly personal The post Protein Can Help Build and Preserve Muscle, But Eating More Has Its Limits appeared first on Nautilus .
Democrats swept Congress and won in red states. Here are the races that matter most for decarbonization, disasters and data centers
Scientists at Nottingham Trent University, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Ethiopia and Ethiopia's Jimma University wanted to explore the benefits of growing oats and alfalfa together, as opposed to separately, and without
The observatory had spent decades studying powerful cosmic explosions and was the target of an unsuccessful rescue mission earlier this year
So far, observations by instruments including the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed the presence of surprisingly massive black holes in the early universe. Even less than a billion years after the Big Bang, some of these bodies already weighed billions of times the mass
An estimated 6 billion liters (1.6 billion gallons) of untreated sewage is discharged daily into the Ganges River Basin, home to 650 million people. Combined with seasonal monsoon flooding, the sewage and other pollutants, including agricultural runoff and industrial waste,
Comprehensive genetic analysis has shed new light on the spread of an invasive, bloodsucking fly, which poses a devastating threat to the iconic Darwin's finches of the Galápagos Islands.
Children's developmental readiness in kindergarten can predict their math achievement as late as ninth grade, according to research from the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).
Research led by a University of Wollongong (UOW) Ph.D. candidate may have solved one of Earth's most perplexing geological mysteries: What caused the Great Unconformity?
English, German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages are all members of the Germanic language group, spoken by hundreds of millions of people today. But where did these languages come from?
Even the world's most powerful telescopes have their blind spots. Although NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can peer billions of years into the past, it still struggles to photograph planets orbiting nearby stars. Stars shine with such extraordinary brightness that
By modeling the James Webb Space Telescope’s tiny movements, a new technique can reveal up to 15 times fainter alien worlds
Researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) used satellite images collected across the growing season to map shrub cover in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China. By tracking seasonal differences in growth, they
Human feet are much stiffer than those of other primates, which means they limit midfoot bending during walking. The evolutionary reasons for this are not entirely clear. One idea is that the features that stiffen the foot evolved to make upright walking less effortful.
By injecting “thoughts” directly into large language models, researchers are trying to map out AI’s capacity for introspection. The post New Research Tests Whether AI Models Know Their Own Thoughts first appeared on Quanta Magazine
A team led by Vojtěch Brlík from Charles University in Czechia and the University of Guelph in Canada analyzed data from more than 2,300 birds tracked using miniature devices to find out how closely linked individual stages of the migratory birds' annual cycle are. The
Electron spin is a quantum property that makes electrons behave like tiny magnets. It can influence how electrons interact with each other and how chemical reactions take place. But what does this have to do with producing fertilizers, making cleaner fuels or improving energy
