Scientists discover 'hyperparasite' in Malaysia Borneo jungle
Malaysian scientists have discovered a new species of parasitic fungus in Borneo's jungles that preys on "zombie fungi" known to infect insects before subjecting them to a gruesome death.
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Indonesia to capture last-known wild Bornean rhino for IVF
Indonesia's government is racing to capture the last-known Bornean rhino in the wild in a bid to preserve the species through in vitro fertilization, a government official told AFP on Friday.
Black hole winds may be robbing giant galaxies of their future stars
Astronomers may be closing in on a long-standing cosmic mystery: why some of the universe’s biggest galaxies seem to have far fewer stars than expected. Using NASA- and JAXA-supported XRISM observations of a galaxy called NGC 4151, researchers found strong evidence that
Arabian Sea humpback whale's long-distance trip further highlights species' unique ecology
Off Oman's coast lives a small population of just over 80 Arabian Sea humpback whales (ASHWs). They are classified as endangered and are thought to be the only humpback whale population that doesn't undertake seasonal migrations across the world's oceans.
SpaceX wants to build AI data centers in space. Will it work?
The race to build data centers in space is gaining momentum as AI drives unprecedented demand for computing power. Orbital facilities could tap into abundant solar energy and avoid many of the environmental challenges faced on Earth. Yet space remains a harsh and expensive
Scientists finalize H5 bird flu findings from Heard Island and McDonald Island voyages
Australian Antarctic Program scientists are contributing to global understanding of the spread of H5 avian influenza (bird flu) with the release of findings from recent voyages to the remote sub-Antarctic Heard Island and McDonald Islands. The team has submitted its findings
Scientists May Have Found What Really Triggers Alzheimer’s Disease
Scientists may have uncovered a hidden trigger behind Alzheimer’s disease. Instead of plaques being the root cause, amyloid beta appears to interfere with tau, a protein that helps keep neurons functioning properly. This disruption could set off the damage that eventually leads
Video: How are we so good at folding proteins?
Proteins carry out almost every important function in our body, from copying our DNA to turning the food we eat into energy. These tiny "molecular machines" are first made by our cells as straight chains, like long pieces of string. Then, to work properly, each protein must
Brain enzyme caught doing something unexpected—it builds polysialic acid on itself
A chance discovery at Nagoya University in Japan has shown that a well-known brain enzyme has a hidden ability: It builds a sugar chain on itself, becomes secreted from the cell and deactivates, then switches on outside the cell once the chain is removed. The finding, published
Building more apartments won't ease housing crisis
Building more apartments will not solve Australia's housing affordability crisis unless policymakers address rising house prices and investor activity, new research shows. Australia's housing affordability crisis is being driven less by a shortage of apartments than by
Impact of genomic selection on genetic diversity in five European cattle breeds
Genomic selection has revolutionized animal breeding and accelerated genetic gains in breeding programs. However, the introduction of genomic selection in some cosmopolitan breeds has also been associated with increased inbreeding rates, raising concerns about the potential
Analysis of 352 probiotic supplements finds mismatched microbes across marketed health benefits
Probiotic supplements found in drugstores nationwide contain an assortment of microbes sold for specific health purposes despite limited understanding of the microbes' connections to their marketed use, new University of Virginia School of Medicine research reveals. But the
Corrected microbial family tree offers statistically sound model for how earliest life forms evolved
In this era of Big Data, the prevailing wisdom is that more information leads to better answers. However, a new Canadian study shows that in the hunt for life's ancient ancestors, more data can actually lead to less truth. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Diamond-based particle detector captures one-picosecond electron bursts for high-rate beam diagnostics
Physicists at UC Santa Cruz and other institutes across California and New Mexico have developed a detection system that will allow next-generation particle accelerators to better reveal fundamental biological and chemical processes, as well as advance critical areas such as
Canada's national parks can do better at limiting landscape fragmentation, study suggests
According to a Concordia-led study, Canada's national parks may still be struggling to protect landscapes from fragmentation as effectively as intended. The paper is published in the journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.
Long gamma-ray bursts may trace collapsing stars rather than neutron-star mergers
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts are some of the most energetic events in the universe, releasing more energy in just a few seconds than the sun emits in 10 billion years. Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, having discovered gamma-ray bursts more than 50 years ago,
Making a big, life‑changing decision? Seven steps to consider
Should you marry that person? Quit a steady career to retrain? Move across the country, away from aging parents? Sit with any of these and watch your mind spin. You weigh what you'd gain against what you'd lose. You run the numbers. And still no answer arrives.
Energetic neutral atoms may help map Uranus's odd magnetic environment
Sending a spacecraft to the underexplored planet Uranus is at the top of many planetary scientists' wish lists. But which spacecraft-mounted instruments would be most useful for answering questions about the mysterious ice giant?
AI teaches asset traders not to sweat the small stuff
Financial markets are governed by a combination of rational and irrational forces, statistical probabilities and "animal spirits." It takes fluency in both to understand the market, let alone beat it. Yet market actors, including asset traders, now frequently use
Electrically tunable spin polarization in graphene opens path toward low-power spintronic devices
Researchers at the National Graphene Institute, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore, have shown that the magnetic behavior of electrons in graphene can be precisely controlled using electricity, revealing unusually large spin signals in a carefully
Circular polarization could cut laser backscatter in fusion experiments
Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision. Each of the 192 lasers is focused to a width of a few millimeters to enter a 3-millimeter hole at the top or bottom of a 2-centimeter (0.8-inch) gold
Suburban street design has driven emissions since WWII, study suggests
Half of all Americans live in the suburbs. For decades, planners and policymakers have blamed suburban sprawl's environmental and social costs on one thing: distance. The farther people live from city centers, the more they drive, the more carbon they emit and the more
Rice gene switch helps plants rebound from cold and use nitrogen more efficiently
Global climate change has increased the frequency of regional cold spells, causing substantial yield losses and even crop failure. Meanwhile, excessive nitrogen fertilizer use in agriculture has increased non-point-source pollution. Improving both stress resilience and nitrogen
Asteroid Donaldjohanson wobbles as it rotates, Lucy flyby reveals
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists studying the inner main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson have found that its rotation wobbles. Rather than rolling through space in a steady pattern, Donaldjohanson turns on two axes, rotating end over end once every 10.5 Earth days
Laser pulses set layered metals vibrating 1 trillion times per second, revealing electron-driven motion
How does light turn into motion within a metal? A team of researchers from European XFEL, the University of Potsdam and other participating institutions has shown that ultrashort optical laser pulses can trigger extremely rapid lattice vibrations in periodically layered metal
In the Midst of Tornado Season, a Surprisingly Short History of Predicting Twisters
A United States Army Lieutenant was the first to forecast the deadly storms in the late 1800s. Then he was told to stop. The post In the Midst of Tornado Season, a Surprisingly Short History of Predicting Twisters appeared first on Nautilus .
Climate change is now causing more local extinction in temperate regions than the tropics, study shows
Imagine returning to a favorite hiking trail 15 years after your first visit and discovering that many of the plants and animals that once lived there are gone. While these species may still exist elsewhere, these disappearances—known as local extinctions—are among the clearest
Early warning tool may protect river fish in heat waves
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) have proposed a warning tool that predicts, up to three weeks in advance, when river fish in Switzerland will be at risk from heat. As heat waves become more frequent with climate change,
Low-development regions suffer far higher losses in climate disasters, study warns
People living in regions with lower scores on the Human Development Index face a substantially higher risk from climate-related disasters, even when these are not unusually severe. This is the key finding of a new study led by researchers at Leipzig University. The study
Fermi mission uncovers possible sibling supernova remnants
A new study of two supernova remnants, the debris left behind after stars explode, suggests the explosions came from stellar siblings that once orbited each other. The first star's detonation sent its binary companion hurtling through space, and then, after traveling for
Hidden fungus inside desert moss could rewrite 470-million-year story of how plants moved onto land
Mosses are survivors. They can dry into what looks like green dust, only to spring back to life minutes after rain. They can grow on rocks, in deserts, and there's talk of using them to terraform Mars someday. According to new research, mosses have also been hiding something.
How cracks in dry soil impact moisture evaporation
Soils that are exposed to prolonged drought often develop desiccation cracks, which impact soil properties and exacerbate moisture loss through evapotranspiration. Now, a study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines the evolution of soil cracking and how
How a telescope's mirror stability makes or breaks exoplanet detection
Finding life beyond our solar system is a major goal of modern astronomy. NASA's planned Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to take direct images of Earth-sized planets around stars other than our sun. This task, however, is extraordinarily difficult, given that these
Trace additive unlocks faster bioplastic biodegradation without losing transparency or strength
Compostable plastics could be part of a solution to the world's plastic waste problem. But currently these materials need industrial composting facilities to break down. In a step toward making a home-compostable plastic, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer reveals four cosmic ray classes across 20 elements, defying current models
Millions of light-years away, millions of years ago, a star exploded. In this violent process, it ejected incredible amounts of mass, including carbon, nitrogen and oxygen—the building blocks of life. In fact, the star may have produced elements on the periodic table all the
Hubble glimpses merging galaxy clusters
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy cluster called CL0016+1609, or MACS J0018.5+1626, that is very bright at X-ray wavelengths and is one of the most extensively studied clusters at X-ray and radio wavelengths. X-ray observations of this cluster revealed
Can “Dante’s Inferno” Tell Us Something About Space Rocks?
A conversation with an expert in geomythology about a wild idea The post Can “Dante’s Inferno” Tell Us Something About Space Rocks? appeared first on Nautilus .
Heat waves increase wildfire risk—a new study explains how much, and it's not a small number
When heat waves hit the Western United States, the risk of wildfires quickly rises. The prolonged heat dries out vegetation, but that's only part of the cause—heat waves also play other roles in spreading wildfires.
Greenland sees wildfires earlier in the year
Greenland has recently been hit by localized wildfires, a rarity at this time of year that could be explained by global warming, a researcher at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources said Thursday.
Mating reveals cholesterol's hidden role in male fruit fly lifespan
Scientists have discovered that the optimal diet for male fruit flies may depend strongly on whether they are reproducing, challenging long-standing assumptions about nutrition and aging. Led by researchers from the University of Liverpool's Department of Evolution, Ecology and
Five new springtail species discovered in China
There is a Chinese saying that east or west, Guilin scenery is the best. Guilin and Chongqing, located in western China, are famous for their many mountains and rivers. They also harbor unique flora and fauna, such as the scaly-sided merganser, a globally endangered species
Remarkable fossils rewrite the story of how animals conquered the land
Palaeontologists have found new evidence that the early ancestors of amphibians, reptiles and mammals did not have a larval stage with external gills like modern frogs or salamanders
Waves reflecting off Earth's core shifted Japan after 2011 earthquake
An extremely unusual tectonic movement took place 15 minutes after the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, causing almost the whole of Japan to move 5 millimetres to the east
Missing DNA replication step revealed in first image of pre-initiation complex
Cells have evolved careful checks to ensure DNA is copied only once, but how they switch on replication at the right moment has been the focus of a 30-year research question. New work from the Crick has recorded the missing step.
Bedding structure controls rainfall runoff in mountain catchments
Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have discovered that rainwater runoff in the highly rugged sedimentary rock mountains of Japan's Southern Alps is governed by two processes: "deep infiltration" and "shallow drainage via landslides." These processes are dictated by the
Ancient worshipers gathered at a ‘prototype’ Stonehenge to celebrate the solstices, new analysis reveals
These ruins, located just five kilometers from Stonehenge, likely laid the groundwork for religious rites celebrating the longest and shortest days of the year
Ultrasound propagation in porous rocks: Theory identifies three distinct wave modes
Ultrasound-based irradiation of rock formations has attracted considerable attention as a technique for enhancing heavy-oil (high-viscosity crude oil) recovery from deep underground reservoirs. However, a unified theoretical framework for wave propagation and energy dissipation
Describing past relationship as a story may help women process breakups
Breaking up with a loved one is often a painful life experience, one that is difficult to recover from. Researchers from SWPS University, however, suggest that a simple step can help. Writing down the story of a past relationship increases the effectiveness of thinking about
Did Neanderthals use rhinoceros teeth as tools?
The RINO project was born from the discovery of unusual marks on rhinoceros teeth recovered from the prehistoric Payre site in France's Rhône Valley. The study of fossil rhinoceros teeth from this Middle Paleolithic site, dating to around 250,000–130,000 years ago, provides
Mars life search gets boost as rover test distinguishes mirrored biosignature molecules
Billions of years ago, environmental conditions on Mars were significantly more hospitable than they are today. Our neighboring planet was likely warm, humid and surrounded by a dense atmosphere. Whether simple microorganisms could have evolved at that time remains an open
