Physicists have used a new optical centrifuge to control the rotation of molecules suspended in liquid helium nano-droplets, bringing them a step closer to demystifying the behavior of exotic, frictionless superfluids.
A recently identified tree species in Queensland has been given the name "zombie" by scientists who say ambitious assistance is needed to reverse its "living dead" status.
Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to study plant microbiomes—communities of microbes living in and around plants—could help improve soil health, boost crop yields, and restore degraded lands. But there's a catch: AI needs massive amounts of reliable data to learn
Greenland, which has been prominently in the news in recent days, hosts a vast ice sheet. If it melts, it will become one of the largest contributors to global sea-level rise. Under a high-emissions scenario, the Greenland Ice Sheet is expected to largely disappear over time,
Decades later, extraterrestrial rubbish is quickly piling up The post The First Person to Get Hit by Space Junk appeared first on Nautilus .
Florida State University researchers have discovered a pathway within a certain type of molecule that limits chemical reactions by redirecting light energy. The study could enable development of more efficient reactions for pharmaceuticals and other products.
Families of the astronauts lost in the space shuttle Challenger accident gathered back at the launch site Thursday to mark that tragic day 40 years ago.
Using robotic fins, researchers at the University of California, Riverside have learned how stingrays are able to swim with impressive control. These insights could help underwater vehicles avoid disastrous ground collisions.
A new study has examined how future human missions to Mars could access one of the planet's most vital resources—water. The "Martian aqua: occurrence of water and appraisal of acquisition technologies" paper, published in the Advances in Space Research journal, presents a
Oskari Lahtinen, Senior Researcher at the INVEST Research Flagship Center at the University of Turku in Finland, has developed validated tools for studying "woke" attitudes on both the political left and the political right.
A research team at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Tucson is developing a drug that works in combination with copper to kill bacteria, including those that cause MRSA, a type of staph infection that is resistant to usual treatments. The team's research is
China's rising demand for cooling doesn't have to drive rising temperatures. A recent study shows how rapid shifts to cleaner refrigerants and high-efficiency technologies could cut cooling-related climate impacts to near zero by mid-century. The work is published in the
Coral reefs, the "rainforests of the sea," provide habitats for 25% of all marine life. Critical to global biodiversity, they are essential for food supply, culture and recreation and coastal protection from hurricanes for communities around the world and even contain a vast
Scientists analyzing data from heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)—the world's most powerful particle collider, located at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research—have new evidence that a pattern of "flow" observed in particles streaming from
Antibiotic resistance in human and animal health is at the forefront of public debate, but it's a less well-known issue in plant agriculture. However, antibiotics are important tools in fruit production, and their efficacy hinges on avoiding resistance to disease-causing
If Europeans eat less meat and dairy, this will have major consequences for farmers. New research shows that many barns and machines could lose their value. With the right policies, these losses can be limited. This is shown by research from Leiden, Oxford and Vienna.
Loneliness is a common problem among students. However, encouraging students to socialize at an early stage can improve the well-being of this group. This is evident from an experiment with a new preventive intervention developed by researchers at Radboud University. Their
Animal survival depends on effective attack and defense strategies, yet how these behaviors arise remains unclear. Addressing this question, a recent study shows that predator and prey behaviors emerge naturally as stable patterns shaped by simple sensory abilities and motor
Enzymes with specific functions are becoming increasingly important in industry, medicine and environmental protection. For example, they make it possible to synthesize chemicals in a more environmentally friendly way, produce active ingredients in a targeted manner or break
A single enzyme that can generate all four nucleoside triphosphates, the building blocks of ribonucleic acid (RNA), has been identified by researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo. The study was published online in the journal Nature Communications.
Organic matter carried in rivers to the Russian part of the Arctic Ocean may be creating more clouds and keeping the region cooler, a new study has found.
Researchers from several European institutions, led by scientists from the University of Barcelona and the University of Alcalá, have demonstrated that the hunter-gatherers who inhabited the interior of the Iberian Peninsula during the Last Glacial Maximum (between
Researchers have reported new experimental results addressing the origin of rare proton-rich isotopes heavier than iron, called p-nuclei. Led by Artemis Tsantiri, then-graduate student at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and current postdoctoral fellow at the
The scientific sage was always suspicious of grand promises delivered before details were understood The post What Would Richard Feynman Make of AI Today? appeared first on Nautilus .
Corn is a colossal grain in the global food and feed chain, with the U.S. producing roughly 30% of the world's supply, or nearly 278 million metric tons in the 2024–25 growing season alone. But its journey from wild grass to staple crop began in central Mexico with teosinte
For the ArchaeoSpain research team, it was a day just like any other on their dig at the castle of Zorita de los Canes (Guadalajara). They were working at the Corral de los Condes, where some knights from the Order of Calatrava are buried, when they came across some highly
A 5500-year-old genome recovered from human skeletal remains in Colombia may give insights into the early evolution of syphilis and its relatives
Space debris—the thousands of pieces of human-made objects abandoned in Earth's orbit—pose a risk to humans when they fall to the ground. To locate possible crash sites, a Johns Hopkins University scientist has helped to devise a way to track falling debris using existing
Scientists have recovered a genome of Treponema pallidum—the bacterium whose subspecies today are responsible for four treponemal diseases, including syphilis—from 5,500-year-old human remains in Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia. The research expands knowledge about the history of
Men assess potential rivals that have a larger penis as more of a threat, both physically and sexually, according to a study by Upama Aich at the University of Western Australia and colleagues, published in PLOS Biology.
Researchers at the University of Basel and the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel have demonstrated how quantum mechanical entanglement can be used to measure several physical parameters simultaneously with greater precision.
Scientists are using technology developed to study earthquakes to address an out-of-this-world risk
As the threat of falling spacecraft increases, using earthquake sensors to detect the effects of their sonic booms could better map trajectories.
Treponema pallidum, a microorganism that can cause a deadly sexually transmitted disease in humans, may have a far more ancient lineage than scientists once thought
A new study found that women in Finland who had a lot of kids—or none—aged faster than those with one or a few kids. But the findings don’t necessarily translate to today’s parents
By resurrecting a 3.2-billion-year-old enzyme and studying it inside living microbes, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have created a new way to improve our understanding of the origins of life on Earth and possibly recognize signs of life elsewhere.
Teeth have revealed that victims traveled from far-off homelands The post A Closer Look at an Elusive Ancient Plague appeared first on Nautilus .
I met Lufang Chen, a 30-year-old bank clerk based in the Fujian province of China, in 2016, after she had married a man she initially turned down years earlier. Although she preferred to remain single, and he was not her type anyway, she gave in to avoid the label "leftover
A growing distrust of expertise is reshaping the terrain of science in the United States.
People have long said that "bread is life." Now, researchers at Tufts University are using the bubbling mixtures of flour and water known as sourdough starters to explore what shapes life at the microscopic level. Their findings, published in Ecology, demonstrate a simple way
Generative AI was trained on centuries of art and writing produced by humans.
The diversity of water strider species apparently developed as early as the Cretaceous period, much earlier than previously thought. SNSB researchers have succeeded in clarifying the phylogenetic history of this insect family, with molecular analyses providing comprehensive
Mangroves, typical of tropical and subtropical latitudes, have become veritable natural traps for land- and sea-based waste. The roots of these trees, known as mangroves, have a great capacity to trap litter—from both land and sea—which gradually breaks down until it is buried
Our planet is unique for its ability to sustain abundant life. From studies of the rock record, scientists believe life had already emerged on Earth at least 3.5 billion years ago and probably much earlier.
Scientists have discovered over 6,000 planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets. More than half of these planets were discovered thanks to data from NASA's retired Kepler mission and NASA's current TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission.
The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration collected information on hundreds of millions of galaxies across the universe using the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at CTIO, a
Generative artificial intelligence technology is rapidly reshaping education in unprecedented ways. With its potential benefits and risks, K-12 schools are actively trying to adapt teaching and learning.
A new global study shows that increasing soil salinity is systematically reshaping the storage and distribution of soil inorganic carbon (SIC), a key but often-overlooked part of terrestrial ecosystems. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Chile is reeling from one of its most serious wildfire emergencies in years.
Beneath Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf lies one of the least measured oceans on Earth—a vast, dark cavity roughly twice the volume of the North Sea.
