A new study by researchers at the SETI Institute suggests that stellar "space weather" could make radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence harder to detect. Stellar activity and plasma turbulence near a transmitting planet can broaden an otherwise ultra-narrow signal,
Intact ecosystems have the capacity for self-regulation, which keeps their complex structure of species—such as animals, plants, fungi and bacteria—in balance. For example, when the population of a species increases, its per capita growth rate decreases, keeping population
A five-year study on California's Central Coast, led by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Western Center for Food Safety at the University of California, Davis, is helping scientists better understand how harmful bacteria can move through the environment.
When a species lives in two distinct types of habitats, individuals with traits better suited to each habitat will thrive and reproduce, naturally selecting descendants with those traits. But what about mobile aquatic species that live across a broad range of temperatures and
Ocean temperatures may be quietly protecting the world from a global drought catastrophe. By analyzing more than a century of climate data, researchers discovered that droughts rarely spread across the planet at the same time, affecting only about 1.8%–6.5% of global land
Polymers are fundamental to our daily lives, serving as the core components for a wide array of goods, including clothing, packaging, transportation infrastructure, construction materials, and electronics. Advances in polymer science open pathways for recycling and upcycling
Woodpeckers are well known for striking tree trunks with remarkable force and precision. These birds deliver thousands of high-speed impacts per day, generating mechanical loads that would destabilize the skulls of most other birds. For decades, this performance has often been
Their rebound shows resilience after a severe genetic bottleneck The post Koalas Recover Genetic Diversity as Populations Expand appeared first on Nautilus .
The European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) was once widespread in the North Sea. However, overfishing, habitat destruction and infectious diseases pushed the species to the brink of extinction in some regions nearly one hundred years ago. In particular, infections with the
Tyrannosaurus rex may have taken far longer to grow up than scientists once thought. By analyzing growth rings in fossilized leg bones from 17 tyrannosaur specimens and using new statistical methods, researchers found that the famous predator likely took about 40 years to reach
As koalas in southern Australia have grown from a few hundred to almost half a million, the marsupials show signs of regaining lost genetic variation.
Microplastics (MPs), defined as plastic fragments with sizes ranging from millimeters (
The Neo-Latin theater play "Cenodoxus" (1602) by Jakob Bidermann is now only known to some researchers in Latin and German studies. But from 1930 to 1960, the story about the battle between heavenly and hellish powers for the soul of the Parisian scholar Cenodoxus was at the
Scientists have discovered a new species of chiton, an ancient marine mollusk that has remained virtually unchanged for the last 300 million years. Chitons have an elongated oval shape with a shell composed of eight interlocking plates that resemble suits of armor. They are
New insights into a tiny, tough microbe have huge implications for the search for life beyond Earth
Scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School have found that viruses circulating in live poultry markets can be detected more effectively by sampling the surrounding environment than by testing individual birds. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that environmental
This polyextremophile bacterium could survive an interplanetary trip The post Watch How Planet-Hopping Microbes Can Survive Asteroid Strikes appeared first on Nautilus .
Drones flying above the waters of Shetland have captured rare footage of harbor porpoises gathering in unusually large groups and engaging in mating behavior. The footage, gathered between 2019 and 2023, provides one of the most detailed records of harbor porpoise mating
During armed conflicts in Latin America, state forces, insurgents, and paramilitaries systematically employed massacres, torture, abductions, and targeted killings to dismantle social structures. The Comisión para el Esclarecimiento de la Verdad, la Convivencia y la No
A new study published in Science is challenging long-held assumptions about how we measure genetic risk in endangered species. Researchers analyzed whole genomes from hundreds of koalas, finding that populations previously considered most at risk are now showing early signs of
An international team of researchers has uncovered a remarkable molecular trick used by a unique group of land plants, one that could eventually be engineered into crops like wheat and rice to dramatically boost how efficiently they convert sunlight into food. The study was
Forest damage in Europe caused by wildfires, storms and bark beetle outbreaks is projected to increase compared to recent decades under all analyzed climate scenarios, according to a new international study, published in Science, with contributions from the Potsdam Institute
A molecule made of carbon and chlorine is half as twisty as the paper loops common in math classes.
This year’s Death Valley flower bloom is the greatest since 2016, according to the U.S. National Park Service. See it for yourself
A team at IBM Research has assembled a strange new ring-shaped molecule that bends around like a more complicated Möbius strip
Little Punch, a seven-month-old Japanese macaque living in the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, has captured hearts on the internet. Abandoned by his mother in the first few days of his life and raised by the keepers at the zoo, he has had some trouble integrating into the group of
Do the bones of all Nile crocodiles have the same number of growth marks as their age? And can such growth rings be counted to accurately gauge the age of these reptiles? Is this also an accurate method to use when trying to "age" dinosaurs and other extinct and extant
Students using AI to cheat on homework or tests is a source of much discussion. But some scholars argue the greater risk of students using AI is that they will simply not learn.
Between 1347 and 1353, Europe was gripped by the most catastrophic pandemic in its history: the Black Death. Killing many millions, the plague wiped out between one-third and a half of Europe's population.
Researchers at the University of Vienna have uncovered a surprising phenomenon: polymer chains with segments that simply fluctuate at different intensities can spontaneously develop directional, persistent motion when densely packed—even though nothing in the system points them
As a space scientist, every time I go outside with my family, I tell my children to look up at the sky. The front door of our home looks southeast, and on winter nights the constellation Orion hangs majestically just above the horizon as soon as it grows dark enough to see stars.
The past three years have been the world's hottest on record by far, with 2025 almost tied with 2023 for second place. With that energy came extreme weather, from flash flooding to powerful hurricanes and severe droughts. Yet, by most indicators, the planet should have been
Polypropylene and polyethylene are two durable and affordable plastics commonly used as packaging materials, snack wrappers, microwave containers, and other, usually flexible, plastic films. Their flexibility, however, makes them resilient to recycling processes, and these
From brightly colored textile dyes to persistent pesticides and antibiotics, many modern pollutants dissolved in water—such as Bisphenol A—resist traditional treatment methods. A promising approach uses electricity to power chemical reactions in water over an electrode surface.
When analyst attention is absorbed by CEO turnover, other companies in their portfolio pay the price, new Cornell research finds. The study, "Analyst Rational Inattention: Evidence from CEO Turnover Events," published in the Accounting Review, finds that high-impact turnover
How do biological cells join forces to form a structure? In her Ph.D. research, Daphne Nesenberend uses mathematics to show how forces and cooperation between cells create structure—and how simulations and experiments can reinforce each other.
Genes that play a key role in the formation of an infectious organ used by parasitic plants have been identified by plant scientists at RIKEN. This discovery fills a gap in our understanding of how parasitic plants infect their hosts. The research is published in the journal
During the hottest summer days in New Haven's Dwight neighborhood, the kids at Kensington Playground improvise a way to stay cool—wedging T-shirts along the splash pad drain to form a makeshift pool. As the water rises, they lie on their stomachs in a circle around the drain,
Due to climate change, agriculture is facing an unprecedented transformation. While Germany was hardly affected by massive crop failures for decades, the picture has changed drastically since 2015. Since then, heat waves and dry spells have been responsible for yield losses in
Biology textbooks explain that cells follow a universal rule when processing gene transcripts to make proteins. Non-coding snippets of RNA are bracketed by a guanine-thymine (GT) nucleotide sequence on one end and an adenine-guanine (AG) sequence on the other—unmistakable
A new study finds that heart attack deaths in U.S. hospitals are rising in people aged 54 and below, signaling a shift in cardiovascular issues in younger ages
All complex biological systems—like the DNA, RNA and proteins constantly being copied and built within our cells—are prone to errors. That means as life evolved to be more elaborate, it also had to evolve error-correcting strategies.
A new catalog of gravitational waves more than doubles the known number of these spacetime ripples
When Vasilis Rodovitis rips open his brown paper bag in a sunny persimmon orchard just outside Naousa, in Greece, I half expect groceries to spill out. Instead, a barely there gray cloud emerges. For half a week, the bag was home to some 4,000 Mediterranean fruit flies
To misquote a famous song, "Diamonds are industry's best friend." Cubic diamond is the hardest mineral on Earth and is used in everything from precision cutting tools to high-performance semiconductors as well as expensive jewelry. But there is a rare and potentially tougher
Anyone familiar with the search for alien life will have heard of the "Goldilocks Zone" around a star. This is defined as the orbital band where the temperature is just right for liquid water to pool on a rocky planet's surface—a good approximation for what we thought of as the
Astronomers have analyzed the images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to investigate a galactic open cluster known as NGC 2158. Results of the study, published Feb. 25 on the arXiv pre-print server, provide essential insights into the population of binary stars in
Taking psilocybin – the psychedelic component of magic mushrooms – eased symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder among people who did not respond to conventional treatments, and the effects lasted at least several months
At the height of her career, chemist and physicist Katharine Burr Blodgett faced challenges that not even her closest colleagues suspected
Chickpeas produced seeds in simulated lunar soil, offering clues for future space farming.
