Somewhere between the microscopic realm of elementary particles and the macroscopic world of human beings, something strange happens: The rules of quantum physics, which work so exquisitely for tiny atoms, seem to lose their grip as objects grow larger. Pondering where and how
In the late evening of Aug. 31, 2026, I missed a call from Jennifer, a seventh-generation cattle rancher in Georgia. She was one of more than 70 family farmers and ranchers across the rural U.S. South and Midwest whom I'd gotten to know through my research over the past five
Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have teamed up to get a fresh look at the complex makeup of meteorites and glimpse into our solar system's past.
How do you measure the value of a relationship? One way is forbearance—what the involved parties would give up to stay together. That's the principle used by Stephen Karolyi, associate professor of finance at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, in his
A new study reveals that an important pollinator is rapidly losing genetic diversity in Britain. Moss carder bumblebees were once widespread across the UK, living in flower-rich meadows, marshes and heathlands, where they pollinated a wide variety of plants. However, the loss
Service children are children of current or former armed forces personnel. Being a service child can be a source of pride, resilience and determination. Yet service life brings experiences and challenges their civilian peers may not face.
A Stanford team has documented the first direct observation of quantum jumps of sound in a mechanical resonator, completing an arc of scientific exploration that started more than 100 years ago.
The latest company to spin out of a Stanford Medicine lab is a biotech undertaking with 37,000 employees—and none of them are human. There's no lab space, no lunch breaks and no payroll. It's an artificial intelligence-powered virtual biotech company that's the brainchild of
As the 2026 El Niño intensifies across the Amazon, new research highlights the urgent need to better protect the region's remaining forests from disturbances.
From the Brontës' Haworth to Jane Austen's Bath, Wordsworth's Lake District and Thomas Hardy's Dorset, literary places continue to exert a powerful hold over readers.
Marine carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has advanced significantly, with growing research activity, technological development, private-sector involvement and movement toward field testing. But major questions remain about whether these approaches can remove carbon dioxide at
Artificial intelligence programs used to classify images could be trained much more cheaply using a surprisingly simple method inspired by the childhood game of 20 Questions, according to new research posted to the arXiv preprint server by a team from the University of Bristol.
As human-caused climate warming destabilizes high mountain regions, the threat of rock-ice avalanches and other glacial hazards grows.
Mysterious trenches stretching for kilometers across southern Australia's Nullarbor Plain have been revealed as the surface footprints of deep, hidden ancient cave systems.
Along a quarter of the planet's coastal waterways, humans contribute more harmful nitrogen—via agricultural runoff, wastewater discharges and other activities—than all natural sources combined.
Quantum computers are no longer theoretical concepts. Today, they are being developed to tackle a range of complex problems, including exploring financial risk, modeling complex molecules and optimizing massive logistics networks. However, until now, there has been no way to
A new technique could unlock the secrets of the Herculaneum scrolls The post How Do You Read Ancient Charred Scrolls? Make Your Own appeared first on Nautilus .
Carbonate minerals are among the best records of past liquid water on Mars: They form when water carrying dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with rock, and their composition reflects the chemistry of both. Yet Mars has surprisingly little carbonate on its surface compared with
The ground is shifting beneath the feet of Australian authors and other creatives. A leaked proposal seen by the ABC suggests the government might grant artificial intelligence (AI) companies access to the copyrighted works of Australians under an opt-out system.
Climate change is increasing the likelihood and intensity of extreme rainfall, putting China's agricultural land at growing risk of flooding, disruption and damage, according to new research led by Dr. Haoyu Hu from the University of Manchester.
Researchers have discovered 16 new species of fungus living unnoticed inside garden flowers and wildflowers across northern Thailand, more than quintupling the number of such fungi known to occur in the country. The findings are published in the journal IMA Fungus.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph). It devastated communities and infrastructure, was associated with nearly 3,000 deaths and caused tens of billions of dollars in losses.
Ask any zoo-goer and they will tell you that capybaras are adorable. Ask a scientist specializing in the rodents, which resemble oversized guinea pigs, and they will tell you they are obligate semiaquatic herbivores that indicate persistent riparian ecosystems. In plain
Antarctic krill are tiny shrimp-like creatures that were previously thought to mostly inhabit the upper layer of the Southern Ocean. Although they had occasionally been observed at deeper levels, they were never seen near deep-sea hydrothermal vents until 2024, when a group of
You forget a load in the machine overnight, and by morning it smells worse than before you washed it.
Of all the discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, the multitude of Little Red Dots it has observed is among the most enigmatic. Now, simulations using the Japanese Supercomputer ATERUI III have explained the nature of the Little Red Dots without requiring any exotic
In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Forest Research and collaborating organizations present the first-ever European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) pangenome, using high-quality DNA to aid research into natural
Physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have developed a technology that uses quantum sensors to measure biomagnetic signals, such as heart activity. Researchers from the DIAQNOS (DIAmond-based Quantum Sensing for NeurOSurgery) flagship project, coordinated by
Sometimes the best collaborations start with disagreements in class discussions.
An early-career Western Australian astrophysicist has helped uncover a universal rule behind one of the most powerful behaviors in the universe: when black holes launch jets. The discovery, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, shows black holes appear to fire off powerful
Australia's farm sector currently faces a double whammy from weather and nonweather-related factors: a confirmed El Niño effect and surging inflationary pressures.
Populations of the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) are under immense pressure in the wild in Europe. New research published in Conservation Science and Practice from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart and Agroscope in Zürich shows that there are frequent occurrences of
Jonathan Halliwell explains how quantum decoherence is key to understanding how we transition from a world with a wave-like nature of matter and energy to the classical macroscopic world that we’re used to. The post Where Does the Quantum World End and Ours Begin? first
Americans are grappling with artificial intelligence—from its lightning-fast development to the construction of data centers to support it—and are becoming more skeptical of its benefits.
A new study combines paleoanthropology and diving physiology to address a fundamental question in human evolution: Why did humans evolve their exceptional aerobic endurance? Did our ancestors begin endurance running to exhaust terrestrial prey, or did breath-hold diving for
Major hormonal milestones in women’s lives are usually associated with changes in brain volume — but a new study shows menopause is an exception.
Some types of marine life appear to have it easy. While exploring thousands of meters below the waves in the Chilean Margin in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, scientists observed tiny shrimp-like crustaceans known as amphipods (Mesopleustes abyssorum) clinging tightly to much
A kimchi-derived bacterium can bind to nanoplastics under gut-like conditions and may help carry them out of the body. In mice, the probiotic more than doubled the amount of nanoplastics detected in feces, pointing to a surprising potential use for microbes from fermented foods.
Vanderbilt University's Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens, assistant professor of human-centered learning technologies at Peabody College of Education and Human Development, partnered with Sarah K. Burriss (Ph.D. '23, Peabody's Department of Teaching and Learning), assistant professor
Every new generation of phone display, television screen and solar panel is the result of precision optics experiments, which use lasers and other light sources to measure the optical properties of candidate materials. These experiments can take months to run, requiring
When policymakers and city officials plan for climate change, they rely on economic studies showing how extreme heat affects violent crime, public health, energy grids and crop yields.
A study led by a doctoral researcher at the University of Liverpool has found that beavers may help restore degraded peatlands by keeping landscapes wetter and making them more resilient to drought.
Dark matter is one of the oldest open problems in physics. It makes up most of the matter in the universe and shapes how galaxies form and move, yet no one has ever directly detected it. Physicists have proposed dozens of candidates to explain it: exotic new particles, black
Scientists discovered a new frog species in the flooded forests of the western Amazon, distinguishing it from nearly identical relatives through DNA and its unique call. Adenomera varcena highlights how much Amazonian biodiversity remains hidden even as habitat loss and climate
Researchers have developed a compact, handheld mid-infrared imaging spectrometer that can produce high-resolution chemical maps of a sample without using stains or labels. With further development, the handheld device might provide a portable and easy-to-use way to map the
Forests and woodlands cover millions of hectares across Australia, from tropical rainforests and temperate eucalypt forests to the vast woodlands and shrublands of the arid interior. They store enormous amounts of carbon, support biodiversity, regulate water supplies and help
Blinding clinical trials for psychedelic medicines has been notoriously difficult The post Seeking a Trippy Placebo appeared first on Nautilus .
A pocket-sized, roughly $100 detector can reveal the invisible stream of cosmic particles constantly passing through Earth and even through our bodies. What began as a student physics project is now being used in major experiments, balloon missions, and potentially future
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have created a carbon material with a three-dimensional structure. The material, named diamondiyne, can be described as a porous diamond with the same basic shape as a tetrahedron.
Atmospheric desert dust has long swirled around the globe, but a new UCLA study presents the strongest evidence yet that global dust is mysteriously decreasing. Because atmospheric dust has a slight overall cooling effect on the climate, the researchers say its decrease may
