The mechanics of the onset of cancer or neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease or ALS remain a mystery. Scientists associate these diseases with an increase in unstable molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells, but they don't fully know why they
Two unrelated groups of nectar eaters, hummingbirds and sunbirds, have evolved different techniques to slurp the sweet liquid from flowers. The tongue suctioning employed by sunbirds is unique among vertebrates, according to recent research appearing in Current Biology.
At this point in NASA's human spaceflight story, researchers have a substantial amount of material—documents, artifacts and images—with which to tell the stories of past flights to space. But with NASA's Artemis II mission around the moon now in the books, we're getting a
A new study by scientists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) shows that when a pressure disturbance moves across an ultrasoft elastic material, such as a gel or a biological tissue, it generates a V-shaped wake that's strikingly
How can a drug be released or activated exactly where and when it is needed in the body? For many treatments, particularly in cancer therapy, the active compound should ideally act only at a specific site. Yet in practice, drugs are distributed throughout the entire body: the
Quantum computers stand to revolutionize research by helping investigators solve certain problems exponentially faster than with conventional computers. Current quantum computers encounter a challenge where they lose stored information in a process known as quantum scrambling.
At least six gray whales have died in San Francisco Bay from mid-March to early April 2026. These deaths follow a pattern over the past few years, and they are raising concerns among marine biologists like us that 2026 is becoming another dangerous year for a struggling
The center of our galaxy is an extreme place. Surrounding the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, stars are packed densely into a region where gravity, radiation, and dark matter all interact in complex ways. It is a natural laboratory for testing some of the deepest ideas
A specific cellular mechanism regulates the protein balance of plants, thereby influencing how they respond to environmental stress. An international research team led by Dr. Markus Wirtz at the Center for Organismal Studies of Heidelberg University has identified a particular
Proposals to raise the minimum wage are often met with arguments that independent businesses may be vulnerable to such increases. In a new study, "Who's Afraid of the Minimum Wage? Measuring the Impacts on Independent Businesses Using Matched U.S. Tax Returns," researchers
An international team of scientists, including researchers from Loughborough University, has developed a method to dramatically speed up the discovery and design of advanced materials. The study, published in Physical Review Letters, shows how the new approach can map complex
Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have found that temporarily disabling a protein complex that organizes DNA into loops inside the cell's nucleus drastically disrupted the three-dimensional structure of the genome, but surprisingly, most genes continued to function as usual.
Social media is where teenagers spend most of their time, either scrolling and sharing, or sometimes falling into the traps of fake news, toxic content and online drama. But what if we could equip our young people to challenge harmful narratives and protect themselves from the
Researchers have developed a method to extract bio-oil from the surface fiber waste of date palm trees, an abundant, low-cost, and sustainable biomass resource generated by an estimated 150 million date palm trees worldwide. The findings are presented in an article published in
Humans have never taken photos of the moon like this The post The Best Photos of the Artemis II Mission appeared first on Nautilus .
It has long been known that environmental conditions can shape how traits are inherited, a phenomenon known as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. However, the molecular signals responsible for encoding this biological "memory" have remained largely unknown.
Justus Ndukaife, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Chancellor Faculty Fellow, and his team have developed next generation nanotweezers that better analyze extracellular vesicles and aid in unraveling the mysteries of how cells package molecules and
Heat, air pollution, and flooding can affect a city and the health of city residents. Yet few cities have a comprehensive network of weather stations providing accurate measurements of rainfall, humidity, and air temperature across different neighborhoods. Some of this
Isolating the first spark of life on Earth is a matter of biology, geology, and chemistry—but it's also an amazing math problem. At least, that's how Varun Varanasi viewed it when he was a Yale undergraduate. The question, in a nutshell, is this: How did the primordial soup of
To save money, Rachel Fordyce parked her car for free at Ithaca's East Hill Plaza and walked through East Lawn Cemetery to her job as a technician in an entomology lab on Cornell's campus. One spring day in 2022, she walked in to work with a jar full of bees.
Plankton are tiny, microscopic marine organisms that represent the very bottom of the food chain. Some are photosynthetic and others graze on bacteria and other plankton, but no plankton species can move against ocean currents.
These images, conservationists say, are evidence that wildlife corridors are paying off
Some gut bacteria recycle discarded sex hormones, like oestrogens, back into the body. The level of these bacteria seems to be higher in industrialised societies, which could have big implications for our health
Paleontologists have used an Ice Age fossil found 120 years ago in an underground cave to reveal that extinct giant echidnas roamed southeastern Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch, filling a major knowledge gap in the continent's prehistoric fauna. New research by Museums
Recently, a cheerful 100-year-old message in a bottle was found on the south-west coast of Australia. In it, a World War One soldier proclaimed to be "as happy as Larry."
Superconductors—materials that can conduct electricity without energy loss—are crucial for next-generation high-efficiency, ultrafast electronics. However, most superconductors share a critical limitation: they lose their superconducting properties in strong magnetic fields. In
We may get an exceptionally strong El Niño this year, but we’ve been tracking the climatic cycle since 1578 The post The Centuries-Old History of the Super El Niño appeared first on Nautilus .
The moon is Earth's only natural satellite, a rocky celestial body that orbits our planet at an average distance of about 384,000 kilometers. The most widely accepted scientific explanation for the moon's origin is the "giant impact," a high-energy collision between a
Researchers have discovered evidence that superconductivity can be controlled by influencing the surrounding environment, a finding that may lead to more efficient electronics down the road, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Physics.
Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent with a variety of applications in both industrial and household settings. Researchers are working on developing better and better ways to produce H2O2, such as photocatalytic H2O2 evolution techniques, which are more sustainable and
Researchers at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) have used engineering biology—an emerging technology that uses nature's own processes to manufacture everyday chemicals and materials—to dramatically simplify how Lenacapavir is manufactured. A novel class of HIV
Claims that fluoride in drinking water causes cognitive delays in kids are driving U.S. policy. A new study finds no evidence to back them.
When extreme weather looms, timely and accurate warnings can give people the chance to adjust their plans, brace for danger and, in the most severe cases, make decisions that keep them safe. Does that mean improving weather forecasts could save more lives in a warming climate?
Perched on a steep chalk hillside, are the remains of Wharram Percy—a ruined stone church and grassy mounds are all that is left of a once-thriving community. Now, a new study has revealed that the "rubbish" its residents left behind, such as broken cooking pots, shows an
Astronomers find a pair of super close, supermassive black holes for the first time The post Two Supermassive Black Holes Are on a Cosmic Collision Course appeared first on Nautilus .
The simplicity of a hydrogen atom makes it an ideal model for studying atomic structure and interactions. Yet, despite the fact that its simplest form consists of only one proton and one electron, physicists have had a hard time pinning down the exact charge radius of the
An 11th-century Anglo-Saxon seal belonging to Edward the Confessor has been rediscovered more than 40 years after being declared lost. The wax impression of the "Saint-Denis seal" disappeared without official explanation in the 1980s from the Archives Nationales in Paris, where
Over the past 20 years, nearly half of commercially important Mediterranean fish species have shifted their distribution due to climate change, causing marine species to move away from their historical locations. These significant changes in fish habits are expected to have a
For decades, the study of British politics has been defined by an extreme negativity bias, focusing almost exclusively on policy blunders, failures, fiascos, disasters, and crises. Although this criticality is crucial to academic analysis, it does create the risk that
The most realistic picture yet of how galaxies formed and then evolved from the beginning of time has been revealed in a suite of new and unique audiovisual simulations. These data, accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, show that the
Psychologists have long known that social situations profoundly influence human behavior, yet have lacked a unified, empirically grounded way to describe them. A new study addresses this problem by using generative AI to systematically classify thousands of everyday social
A small comet has been spotted slowing down and then speeding up again – but in the opposite direction, which we have never seen before
Child marriage in Malawi has proven to be a persistent problem. Nearly 40% of girls are married by the age of 18 despite legal reforms. New research from the University of Kansas draws on insights from those working on the issue in the country. Attempts to combat child marriage
Since July 2025, the European Space Agency's pair of Proba-3 satellites has already created 57 artificial solar eclipses. So far, the mission has collected more than 250 hours of high-resolution videos of the sun's atmosphere, called the corona. That's the same amount of
Located in Sicily, Mount Etna is Europe's most active volcano. Yet its origin remains largely enigmatic, as no existing geological model fully explains how it formed. In a new study, scientists from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) shed light on these mechanisms and reveal why
Artificial intelligence could soon allow powerful companies to charge each customer a different price for the same product, based on what they think each individual is willing to pay. That is the warning from new research co-authored by competition law academic Dr. Miroslava
The wave-shaped chart Ratul Chowdhury pulls up on a computer monitor in his office captures the evolutionary cat-and-mouse game his research lab is up against. The undulating curves track variants of the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus, which causes a
Raising a child with a disability presents unique challenges. A relationship education program from the University of Georgia may be able to help, according to a recent study published in the journal Child & Family Social Work.
Ecologists have long seen a strong connection between biodiversity and pollinators—the butterflies, birds, bats, bees, and other insects that help the flowers they snack on fertilize by transferring pollen from male anthers to female stigma.
Light has an increasing number of applications in biology and medicine—it can be used to stimulate cell growth, manipulate neural signals, and treat some cancers—but it doesn't easily pass through tissue. Most methods to bring light deep within the body are invasive, requiring
