There are few technologies more fundamental to modern life than the ability to control light with precision. From fiber-optic communications to quantum sensors, the manipulation of photons underpins much of our digital infrastructure. Yet one capability has remained
As a result of climate change, rising sea levels are threatening low-lying coastal areas around the world, such as the Wadden Sea in the North Sea. Tidal basins form a natural protective barrier there. They connect the mainland with the offshore islands. They fill with seawater
For experimental physicists, the latest measurement of the muon is the best of times. For theorists there's still work to do.
The explosiveness of a volcanic eruption depends on how many gas bubbles form in the magma—and when. Until now, it was thought that gas bubbles were formed primarily when the ambient pressure dropped while the magma was rising.
In 1882, the French Naturalist Camille Viguier was among the first to propose the existence of a magnetic sense. His speculation proved correct. Many animals—from bats, to migratory birds and sea turtles use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate.
Islamophobia in Western Europe is driven far more by anti-immigrant nativism and authoritarian attitudes than by religious belief, new research from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) shows.
Solve the math puzzle from our December 2025 issue, in which a holiday gift exchange occurs.
Simple chemistry could give the reindeer his famously bright snout. But physics would make it look different colors from the ground.
A US$125 billion rainforest fund is being hailed as a flagship announcement from the 2025 UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil. The goal is noble: this is essentially a trust fund that will pay countries to keep their tropical forests standing. But its core idea was tried 30
Every November, Black Friday arrives with big claims of massive savings and "one-day-only" deals. We are bombarded with offers that seem too good to pass up. But beneath all this lies something far more strategic.
If you've ever tried to buy a home at auction, you know how frustrating it can be to show up thinking you can afford a particular property, only for it to sell for far more than the advertised price.
Conventional computing devices will play a crucial role in turning quantum computers into tools with real-world application
Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) ferromagnets are thin and magnetic materials in which molecules or layers are held together by weak attractive forces known as vdW forces. These materials have proved to be promising for the development of spintronic devices, systems
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is powerful, but Jeff Bezos' rocket company wants more.
Home Depot is leveraging artificial intelligence to help professional contractors with a complex task—measuring and quantifying all the materials needed for residential projects.
In one of the most important state environmental decisions this year, California air regulators adopted new rules designed to reduce methane leaks and better respond to disastrous underground fires at landfills statewide.
Politics can be a stressful discussion topic, but when the holiday season arrives, political chatter is difficult to avoid, especially in a world that feels polarized and divided. A Baylor College of Medicine psychiatrist explains how to discuss politics in a calm manner among
November marks the start of the busiest time of year for retailers and shoppers alike. But how will recent developments like tariffs and the government shutdown impact the winter shopping season?
As ecosystems in coastal British Columbia disappear due to long-term browsing pressures from overabundant black-tailed deer, a new study led by UBC with Coast Salish Nations and regional research partners identifies the most effective solutions to address deer overabundance on
At an eel restaurant near Tokyo, four friends sit down to eat a Japanese delicacy now the subject of a heated international debate as its numbers decline.
A breach, a blockade, and a blaze: tumultuous UN climate talks head into their final day Friday in the Brazilian Amazon, with countries still sharply split over fossil fuels.
One of North America's longest rivers, the Rio Grande—or Rio Bravo as it's called in Mexico—has a history as deep as it is long. Indigenous people have tapped it for countless generations, and it was a key artery for Spanish conquistadors centuries ago.
One of the great mysteries in plant biology is how, given the clouds of pollen released by dozens of plant species all at the same time, an individual plant can recognize which particular species' pollen grains will induce fertility and which to reject. We are now one step
Across Europe, scientists and citizens are uncovering a hidden legacy of contamination beneath their feet. From Denmark's first PFAS crisis to a new generation of soil-mapping initiatives, a continent is learning to see—and stop—the pollution it once ignored
Researchers created a dissolvable microneedle patch that delivers IL-4 directly to damaged heart tissue, jump-starting repair after a heart attack. The targeted approach shifts immune cells into a healing mode while improving communication between heart muscle and blood vessel
Scientists confirmed that West Coast transient killer whales actually form two separate groups split between inner and outer coastal habitats. Inner-coast whales hunt smaller prey in shallow, maze-like waterways, while outer-coast orcas pursue large marine mammals in deep
New climate modeling shows that heatwaves will keep getting hotter, longer, and more frequent for centuries—even after the world hits net-zero emissions. Delays of just a few years dramatically increase the likelihood of extreme, once-rare heat disasters, especially for
Political systems become polarized when internal unity within groups strengthens and the divide between them deepens. As polarization intensifies, societal tensions can grow, making it difficult to find compromises. The intensity of polarization has been measured in research,
Influencers use oppression, manipulation and weaponization to police Black women on social media, according to new research uncovering the entrenched nature of digital racism.
Retroviruses are viruses that have evolved the ability to write their genetic code into a cell's own DNA. The most ancient known lineage of retroviruses, foamy viruses, emerged around 450 million years ago, before animal life moved onto land or even the evolution of trees.
Meet the miniscule protist harboring jaw-dropping evolutionary secrets The post “Living Fossil” Discovered by Accident Could Reshape Tree of Life appeared first on Nautilus .
Most people can recall a favorite class or teacher who left an indelible mark on their lives. While subject matter plays a role, the deeper connection often stems from how that teacher made students feel.
Richard Weissbourd and Kiran Bhai are part of the leadership team at Making Caring Common, a Harvard Ed School initiative focused on making moral and social development a priority in child-raising. In this article, they answer this question:
During the first COVID-19 lockdown, we were both mothers trying to stay sane. Our chats often revolved around diapers, feeding, sleep deprivation and motherhood chaos. Between laughter and exhaustion, cloth diapers kept coming up in conversation.
Potential treatments for one of the world's most dangerous hospital superbugs have been found in a surprising location—hospital toilets.
Scientists identify a new call issued by the King of the Jungle The post Lions Have Been Keeping One of Their Roars Secret appeared first on Nautilus .
Violence against women remains one of the world's most persistent and under-addressed human rights crises, with very little progress in two decades, according to a landmark report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners.
A new study has found African lions produce not one, but two distinct types of roars—a discovery set to transform wildlife monitoring and conservation efforts.
A machine learning analysis of wild lion audio reveals they have two roar types, not one. This insight might help detect where lions are declining.
Life can put strain on any couple's relationship. But mindfulness could help keep it strong, according to a recent study from the University of Georgia published in Child & Family Social Work.
Loggerhead turtles are able to sense Earth's magnetic field in two ways, but it wasn't clear which sense the animals use to detect the magnetic field when navigating using the magnetic map they are born with. Now researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Dunkleosteus was even weirder than we thought The post This Ancient Sea Monster Had a Killer Bite and No Teeth appeared first on Nautilus .
Making new friends has its challenges, even for birds. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati found that monk parakeets introduced to new birds will "test the waters" with potential friends to avoid increasingly dangerous close encounters that could lead to injury. They
When ultraviolet light hits ice—whether in Earth's polar regions or on distant planets—it triggers a cascade of chemical reactions that have puzzled scientists for decades.
The European Space Agency's Euclid mission—designed to map the geometry of the dark universe with unprecedented precision—continues to deliver its first scientific insights. The Euclid Consortium has published a fresh set of seven scientific papers based on data from the Euclid
Imagine trying to predict wind patterns as air flows across a landscape. It's a straightforward task over a flat plain—but becomes more complex when the terrain shifts to jagged mountain ranges. Here, wind does not simply sweep over peaks; it is deflected, slowed, and forced
Only two weeks after fertilization, the first sign of the formation of the three axes of the human body (head/tail, ventral/dorsal, and right/left) begins to appear. At this stage, known as gastrulation, a flat and featureless sheet of cells folds into a living blueprint for
Personalized learning is a very effective teaching method, but its potential is limited due to resource constraints. In a small, in-person class, instructors can walk around, engage with students individually, adjust lessons and adapt their teaching to match each learner's
A new study challenges the idea that language stems from a single evolutionary root. Instead, it proposes that our ability to communicate evolved through the interaction of biology and culture, and involves multiple capacities, each with different evolutionary histories. The
An international study, involving researchers from the University of Tartu Institute of Chemistry, was recently published in Chemical Society Reviews. It provides the most comprehensive theoretical description to date of electrocatalysis and how its current limitations can be
