Plant diversity has long been regarded as key to stable and resilient ecosystems. However, until now, little has been understood about why it has different effects in agricultural areas than in grasslands or forests. An international research group, in which the Leibniz
New research from the University of St Andrews and Université de Neuchâtel has uncovered the mechanism that allows sperm whales to sleep in a unique vertical position just under the ocean surface.
Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students' reading habits, or rather, nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age.
Animals and electronic devices aren't the only things with memory. Materials can retain memories of past deformations in their microscopic structure. A common example is a crease in a sheet of paper that has been folded then unfolded. Understanding this type of memory could
Sustainable business practices are often seen as a luxury that only rich countries can afford. And these days, some of the biggest economies, including the U.S., are backtracking on those commitments.
A new study led by Japanese researchers from Tohoku University and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) reveals that some of the minerals most essential for green technologies may have a significant negative impact on biodiversity. Using remote sensing and
Efficient heat management in solids is key to advancing the next generation of electronics. However, wave-like heat movement—known as phonon focusing—had been observed only at extremely low, or cryogenic, temperatures, limiting its study and practical use.
From the moment they enter the world, human babies depend on others in a way that is unmatched across most species.
Today, people speak or sign around 7,500 languages. Yet this figure provides only a snapshot of a constantly changing history. How many languages existed before written records? Did agriculture reduce linguistic diversity by allowing expanding farming populations to replace
Researchers at the University of Würzburg have succeeded in detecting exceptionally robust electrical transport in a topological insulator. This could lead to new metrological applications. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications.
If the Colorado River Basin is the lifeblood of the American Southwest, keeping the region's agricultural, ecological and economic systems thriving, Colorado's West Slope River basins could be considered the heart. Together, they contribute about 70% of the water delivered to
African gray foam-nest treefrogs (Chiromantis xerampelina) are common across the savannas and dry forests of southeastern Africa. Despite their unremarkable outward appearance, these small animals display some of the most intriguing reproductive behaviors known to science. Most
What if the Higgs boson found in 2012 is not alone but is the only sibling we have encountered so far? Scientists at CERN discovered the particle that year, and it was a major discovery because it explained how other particles acquire mass. For a long time, scientists thought
Exceptional points, or EPs for short, are among the phenomena of modern physics. These are special points or locations at which the properties of matter, space or time change. In a new theoretical study, researchers from the Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems (PhoQS) at
Every year, thousands of tourists pile into game drive vehicles or don their hiking gear and cross South Africa's nature reserves. Binoculars and cameras at the ready, each hopes for a special encounter with Africa's wildlife—as small as dwarf mongooses, as mighty as elephants
A moth caterpillar identified by the agribusiness sector as one of the most destructive pests of soybean, cotton and corn crops may harbor fungi and bacteria in its gut that can degrade expanded polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam. In an article published in the journal BMC
The history of testicular transplants is long and often sordid, but this successful procedure offers hope for survivors of cancer and other diseases that affect fertility
NASA is about to launch a space observatory that could help settle some of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will study how the universe began, what it is made of and how it has evolved over time.
NASA MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission scientists have uncovered a key puzzle piece in understanding certain types of auroras on Mars, finding that they form in a similar way to Earth–based auroras.
Coffee grounds that usually end up being thrown away can have a second life as a raw material for producing biofuels and other high-value-added products. A study by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has evaluated how to extract oil from coffee grounds efficiently while
New research led by atmospheric scientists at the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa found that the century-old yardstick used across many industries to estimate air-conditioning and refrigeration energy demand—called cooling degree days—is missing something fundamental.
There are few pleasures greater than letting a piece of chocolate melt slowly on your tongue. Indeed, the proximity of chocolate's melting point to our own body temperature is one reason it is so widely appreciated.
Viking 1 landed on Mars 50 years ago The post The Amazing Photos from NASA’s First-Ever Mars Lander appeared first on Nautilus .
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University of Cambridge in collaboration with colleagues at HHMI Janelia and NIH, have created some of the most detailed three-dimensional maps ever generated of human airway cells, revealing how the specialized cells that
An international collaborative research group led by Professor Bong June Sung of the Department of Chemistry at Sogang University and Professor Shinji Saito of the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), and the Graduate University
Chemists have demonstrated that neutral chalcogen-bond donors can induce asymmetry in chemical reactions, addressing a challenge that has limited the development of chalcogen-bonding catalysis.
Why can zebrafish regenerate damaged gut nerves while humans largely cannot? Michigan State University researchers have developed a new research tool that allows them to remove gut neurons in zebrafish and watch them regenerate in real time, helping scientists investigate one
Spliceosomal introns are noncoding DNA sequences located between exons in many eukaryotic protein-coding genes. Most are removed post-transcriptionally by RNA splicing and do not encode proteins, but they have been implicated in various regulatory processes, including gene
The Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis), a marine fish species endemic to the Chinese coast and known as the "Panda of the Sea," is critically endangered and one of the few marine fish listed as a first-class protected wild animal in China. Collaborative research led by the
If approved, this deal would give SpaceX hundreds of acres that are currently part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for private land
Immune cells protect and heal the human body. In medicine, they are specifically activated through biochemical reactions to treat certain diseases. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, ETH Zurich, Humboldt University of Berlin, Charité Berlin and Inselspital Bern have
Bureaucracy moves slowly, and decades of outdated provisions clogging the bylaws of cities and states only make it worse. Sometimes dubbed "policy sludge," such obsolete processes and stale reporting requirements can trap civil servants in red tape and cause program dysfunction.
Past studies have shown that cannabis use during adolescence is associated with a variety of negative impacts—including emotional distress, adverse academic outcomes, and brain development and functioning—that can persist into adulthood. Though there has been an overall
How close do we stand to other people during a social interaction? The distance we maintain between our body and that of another person—known as interpersonal distance—is a fundamental aspect of everyday life. It influences our sense of comfort, safety, intimacy and tendency to
Sending quantum information through a chain of qubits, like energy through a Newton's cradle, could be the key to faster operations and take quantum computing to the next level.
In research published in npj Climate Action, UNSW Sydney behavioral scientists, in collaboration with researchers from Griffith University, say they found no evidence for claims that climate action at the individual level distracted from support for meaningful action on climate
Prior moon rock samples, including from Apollo, seem heavily influenced by one impact. The farside samples tweak the story.
A few millennia ago, people worldwide may have spoken or signed up to 10 times as many languages as they do today.
A new study reveals that human activities have fundamentally reshaped biodiversity patterns on islands across the globe, with important implications for how scientists understand ecology, evolution and conservation.
Deep-diving insect larvae are challenging a long-held idea about why there are almost no insects in the ocean, thanks to sturdy air sacs. In Lake Malawi in East Africa, billions of lake fly larvae (Chaoborus edulis) make an unusual commute: By day, they sink more than 200
The silkworm moth, whose caterpillars have been used in silk production since antiquity, may have been brought to southern Central Asia 4,000 years ago—nearly 2,000 years earlier than previously assumed—according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
More than 450 people received hospital treatment for heat-related issues in a single day in Tokyo—the highest number since records began 16 years ago, emergency services said Thursday.
The moon is 384,000 kilometers (239,000 miles) away from Earth, but one of the best places to study its surface is much closer to home. Western planetary scientist Catherine Neish and PhD candidate Sashank Vanga traveled to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park in June to investigate
Nobody knows why insects aren't found living in the ocean. Scientists just eliminated one theory
The volatile compound they emit induces temporary infertility in other females The post Mole Rat Queens Stink Their Way to Power appeared first on Nautilus .
During a lost ‘golden age’ of language, humans may have spoken tens of thousands of different tongues, a new study suggests
Human sacrifice was deeply ingrained in Inca civilization. Children and young people were selected for sacrifice to appease the gods and sacred mountain spirits. Being chosen was considered a great honor for both the victims and their families. Now, research into the remains of
It's no secret that management at major firms such as Starbucks and Tesla isn't exactly a fan of unionization. But for other companies, how does an anti-union stance affect worker output and performance? It might depend on whether that stance is, in fact, a secret.
Sweden said Thursday it plans to ban so-called "forever chemicals" in consumer products such as clothing and kitchenware as early as 2028, before expected European Union regulations come into force.
The Fields Medal, known as the Nobel Prize for mathematics, was awarded Thursday to four people—two Chinese citizens, one American and one Canadian.
