Designing surfaces that precisely control how light behaves at the nanoscale is tricky. Optical Fourier surfaces, which are nanostructured gratings that redistribute light into specific directions and wavelengths, hold enormous potential for compact spectrometers,
Residents in informal settlements in Lagos—who are among the most vulnerable to climate change—have developed sophisticated, multi-scale climate adaptation systems and are earning a living from climate action, a new study by Brianna Castro, assistant professor of urban
Making social connection part of job design, whether people work remotely, hybrid or in-person, is key to supporting employees‘ well-being.
New research may upend the cognitive primacy of humans and other large-brained vertebrates The post Bumblebees Have Chimp-Like Problem-Solving Abilities Despite Tiny Brains appeared first on Nautilus .
Blurry light from lens imperfections is a problem everywhere, from microscopes to telescopes to smartphone cameras. Using a tiny yet carefully engineered optical element and artificial intelligence, University of California San Diego engineers have built a way to spot and
Users tend to trust artificial intelligence (AI)-powered fact-checkers as much as human fact-checkers, but for different reasons, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. The researchers said there is no definitive "winner" when comparing the two fact-checking
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a computation-guided strategy to produce urea more efficiently from carbon dioxide and nitrate. By combining large language models, density functional theory calculations and experiments, the approach
The race to replace the aging International Space Station is heating up after US company Vast announced a mission to fly an astronaut to its planned Haven-1 station next year.
A fossil bed in northwestern China is littered with the remains of hundreds of prehistoric birds—including some whose broken bones were crushed into pellets, similar to those coughed up by modern owls. For years, scientists guessed that a larger predatory animal must have
On a hot afternoon in California wine country, the sun can do more than warm a vineyard. It can scorch it. When temperatures climb above 100°F, grape clusters can heat to nearly 140° in direct sunlight. The berries shrivel. Their color compounds break down. Yields drop. And for
Researchers in Japan have created some of the world's smallest semiconducting nanotubes, structures 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. By growing molybdenum disulfide inside protective tubes of boron nitride, the researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo,
The most distant, nearly invisible dormant black hole has been detected and "weighed" by an international team of astronomers that includes researchers from UCL. The study, published in Science, identified a dormant black hole at the heart of a galaxy known as MRG-M0138 located
In a new study, bumble bees solve a completely novel object-manipulation task. What makes this behavior especially remarkable is that the bees had never been trained. The findings challenge the long-standing assumption that spontaneous problem-solving is restricted to humans
Mangrove forests, once considered one of the world's most threatened coastal ecosystems, are showing signs of recovery worldwide, according to new research from Tulane University that finds decades of losses largely offset by regrowth and expansion.
The study "Homo cooperans: Understanding the nature of human cooperation" arrives at a clear result: 69% of study participants chose to cooperate. At the same time, the study published in the journal Science shows that people systematically underestimate the willingness of
Ozone pollution has worsened in much of the continental United States over the past decade, fueled by wildfires and the long-distance transport of unhealthy air, according to a new study titled "Fires reverse progress toward ozone air quality standards in the U.S.," led by
For years, remote work has been viewed as one of the most important drivers of employee satisfaction. New research suggests that assumption may be giving remote work too much credit.
The 50-year mystery suggests humans may be more rational than we thought The post Solving Feynman’s Formula for Eating Well, Parking Your Car, and Finding a Mate appeared first on Nautilus .
With no training, bumblebees can work out how to use a ball like a ladder to feed on sugar from an out-of-reach flower.
Arctic communities are increasingly exposed to dangerous weather events due to climate change and rely on accurate weather forecasts. However, conditions in the lower atmosphere remain poorly observed in the Arctic because monitoring systems are expensive and difficult to deploy.
Newly described aquatic insects, belonging to the genus Hydropsyche, are helping close substantial knowledge gaps regarding the biodiversity of Azerbaijan, Iran, and Türkiye. Caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are vital components of freshwater ecosystems, and the Hydropsyche
Journalist Charlotte Cowles received a call about suspicious activity on her Amazon account. A dentist named Daniel answered a call from a number listed as the local police. Mr. Lee, a retired engineer, was told he had to marry his newfound girlfriend so she could receive an
Fish that split their lives between fresh and salt water often face obstacles getting back and forth. Dams and roads fracture river networks and interfere with traditional migratory routes, sparking concerns about fish health and abundance, as well as biodiversity on a broader
Parents report loving their partners less within the first year of having a child, but that doesn't mean the feeling is permanent or inevitable
For the first time, mighty ocean waves generated in the Southern Ocean have been accurately measured all the way to the tiny ripples they form on the shores of Alaska. Professor Ian Young, from the University of Melbourne's Department of Infrastructure Engineering, is lead
Forest restoration can help fight climate change and restore lost biodiversity, but the satellite-based techniques used to measure successful forest restoration have been less-than-helpful for measuring changes in biodiversity. Instead, a team of researchers listened to the
Studying physics can be very useful—even when it comes to machine learning. A digital "super-brain" with built-in knowledge of the fundamental laws of nature can speed up the development of optical components for everything from quantum computers to eyeglasses or camera lenses,
This marks the first case of the New World screwworm in U.S. livestock since the parasite was eliminated in the country in the 1960s
Team Australia kicked it long from the goalkeeper. Switzerland took a slower approach and preferred short passes over long drives. Spain, on the other hand, tended to string the ball with sharp, sideways passes across the field. Those are a few of the takeaways from
DNA is the blueprint of the human body. However, tens of thousands of DNA lesions occur in our bodies every day. In particular, if "apurinic/apyrimidinic sites" (AP sites, damaged sites where one letter of DNA information has been erased) are not properly repaired, they can
Deep below the Tyrrhenian Sea offshore Italy, scientists drilled into what they thought would be dark mantle rock—and found pieces of granite that seemingly had no business being there. Those unexpected intrusions turned out to offer a rare glimpse of how a massive fault
In 1970, nearly half of all Black individuals in the U.S. resided in a large city. Over the past 50 years, that number has fallen to merely 25%, while the share living in the suburbs of large cities rose from 16% to 36%.This demographic shift is as large as the post-World War
Electrons around Jupiter have been caught in the process of being accelerated, revealing a potentially unified mechanism for particle acceleration. The findings, published in Nature, may help constrain how energetic particles are produced throughout the universe.
Earth is divided into two halves: the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Both reflect equal amounts of sunlight (albedo) even though they have different landmasses and weather patterns, especially cloud distribution. Why this is so is an ongoing mystery waiting to be solved.
The quality of recycled plastic tends to be higher when the waste is pre-sorted by households compared with plastics recovered from mixed waste at a recycling facility in the Netherlands, research in Nature suggests. While mixed waste (not pre-sorted) collections may increase
It lies just 30 miles away from Auckland The post Newly Discovered Active Fault Line Could Threaten New Zealand’s Biggest City appeared first on Nautilus .
Today, many of our social interactions are routed through technology: text messages, video calls, voice messages, emails and instant messaging apps. In romantic relationships, couples often use these methods to deal with conflicts.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are helping show what it means to design a material almost atom-by-atom. In two publications, scientists show they can carefully choose the types of atoms in a material, where those atoms sit and
A giant fan-shaped network of hidden basins has been discovered beneath East Antarctica, revealing that several well-known subglacial features are actually part of one massive geological structure. The finding sheds new light on Antarctica’s ancient tectonic history and could
New data reveals that young people with caregiving responsibilities are more than twice as likely as their peers to be persistently not in employment, education, or training (NEET) for a period of two years or more. The research, published by City St George's, Carers Trust and
As climate change alters the temperatures of animal habitats, it seems natural that endotherms, warm-blooded animals, would prefer to hang out in the shade during hot weather. The use of microhabitats in the sun and shade is an important thermoregulatory behavior that has been
A patch of ocean south-east of Greenland is the only place on Earth that is cooling, and it could be a sign that the warm water "conveyor belt" in the Atlantic is slowing down
Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence-powered platform that could significantly speed up the discovery of catalysts for methane pyrolysis, a promising technology for producing hydrogen with lower carbon emissions.
A new technology allows scientists to map, in single cells, the DNA binding sites of transcription factors and other regulatory proteins that control gene activity, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and the New York Genome Center. With key
A breeze is emanating from Sagittarius A* at the heart of our galaxy
Researchers at EPFL have developed a chip-scale ultrafast laser that performs on par with traditional tabletop femtosecond lasers. The innovation could make advanced laser technologies far smaller, cheaper, and more accessible for applications ranging from medical diagnostics
You may have heard the rumors of a "monster El Niño." It's not the first time we've heard forecasts like this in Australia, but this time, they aren't coming out of nowhere. Early signs in the Pacific have been building for months and forecasts now point to a high likelihood of
Using box jellyfish as an example, researchers from Kiel University show how the physics of density, not behavior or physiology, can prevent animals from reaching the surface even as they actively swim upward.
Built to track enemy submarines, the Navy’s underwater listening network inadvertently revealed that whales may be singing across entire oceans The post The Cold War’s Accidental Whale Observatory appeared first on Nautilus .
Nuclear physicists used a little magic in their latest experiment conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and the result has revealed surprising new information about the behavior of protons and neutrons inside the atom's
