People experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Salt Lake City face hours of dangerous daytime heat and hot nights that offer little relief, according to a University of Utah study. Researchers also found that tree shade helps people feel measurably cooler, making it a critical
A surprising new discovery suggests that fear may cause the brain to blur the line between danger and safety rather than distinguish them more clearly. By observing brain activity in mice using augmented reality, scientists found that memories of threatening and harmless
Consumers often protect their sentimentally valuable possessions by storing them away, which precludes them from being used. Across five studies, research from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Oregon shows that usage of sentimentally valuable objects
Did birds of prey shape human evolution? The post The Monstrous Raptors That Threatened Our Ancestors appeared first on Nautilus .
A nearly 50-year-old mystery involving disappearing frogs in Brazil may finally be solved, with scientists uncovering evidence that a deadly fungus swept through the region and devastated vulnerable species. Remarkably, many frog populations have since rebounded, suggesting
Scientists have uncovered an unexpected connection between inflammation during pregnancy, placental damage, and autism-like traits in male mice, while females appeared naturally protected. The discovery could help explain why autism is diagnosed more frequently in boys and
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have confirmed a massive, dust-rich galaxy called Leviathan in the early universe. Seen when the universe was roughly 1.5 billion years old, the galaxy has its stars spread out rather than in a concentrated fashion. A
A survey of 50,000 people across 92 countries finds global mental health may be languishing, including in the wealthiest countries, and especially among young people, who in previous generations had comparatively higher levels of mental health.
Eating an avocado and a cup of mango every day may provide surprising benefits for heart health, according to a new study involving adults with prediabetes. After just eight weeks, participants experienced significant improvements in blood vessel function and diastolic blood
Diabetes and weight-loss medications may have economic effects beyond health care spending, according to new research from NYU Abu Dhabi. Using population-wide data from Denmark, the study found that diabetes treatment caused an increased likelihood of employment, while
A massive new study reveals that intelligence plays a surprisingly limited role in children's reading success, while visual processing showed no meaningful connection at all. Instead, the strongest predictors are sound recognition, vocabulary, and background knowledge, offering
Drought and extreme heat do not always occur separately. When they coincide, their combined effects can place greater pressure on water resources, agriculture, ecosystems, energy systems and public health.
The second Trump administration has dismantled, disrupted or weakened many of the country’s scientific bodies
A start-up valued at more than $1 billion wants to fly cargo planes with no one in the cockpit. First it needs to prove to regulators that they’re safe without a human aboard
For animals that can produce vocalizations, choosing to emit a sound involves various neural processes. For instance, it entails controlling when to emit a sound and how loud and high-pitched the sound will be, while also adaptively switching between vocalizations and other
Dogs are constantly passing gas. So why don’t cats seem to?
Scientists have discovered all five essential nucleobases used in DNA and RNA in pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu, revealing that key ingredients for life existed in space billions of years ago. The remarkable finding adds to growing evidence from other asteroids and
Fires in the U.S. are getting faster, larger and more dangerous, but people continue to develop and move into fire-prone regions. New research from the University of Colorado Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) shows that if we don't
Europe’s Hera spacecraft has captured its first clear view of two asteroids involved in NASA’s historic 2022 experiment to redirect a potentially dangerous space rock. Now approaching the pair, Hera will investigate the mysterious aftermath of the collision and uncover why the
As a child, Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón wondered where monarch butterflies stop for a meal and a night's rest on their long migrations across North America. Now she and other scientists are attaching tiny tracking devices to hundreds of butterflies to find those critical stopover
NASA’s Voyager 1 is approaching an extraordinary milestone nearly 50 years after its launch, even as engineers battle dwindling power and mysterious technical problems. A clever energy-saving maneuver has extended the spacecraft’s scientific mission, while an unexplained
Scientists have discovered that a drug originally developed for spinal cord injuries can tackle several key features of Alzheimer’s disease, including DNA damage and inflammation. Already tested for initial safety in humans, the experimental treatment could offer a faster path
The demand for donkey hides has grown exponentially over the past 15 years, driven mainly by demand from China. Lauren Johnston is a specialist on China trade with Africa. She has spent several years looking into the donkey trade, and has just published a book, "China, Africa
In the 2025 federal election, Canadians voted at the highest rate since 1993. Explanations for high or low turnout usually focus on the national election campaign, including how close the race was and what seemed to be at stake.
Simon Fraser University researchers are zeroing in on how global forestation efforts impact our climate system beyond CO₂ removal in a new study.
Scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider have uncovered compelling new evidence that even relatively small atomic collisions can recreate the extraordinary state of matter that filled the universe moments after the Big Bang. Known as quark-gluon plasma, this exotic substance
The dwarf planet Ceres is arguably one of the most overlooked and underappreciated planetary objects in the solar system. This could be because while Ceres has the same dwarf planet designation as Pluto, Ceres is largely considered an "asteroid" since it resides in the main
A new study finds that tropical areas often thought to be safe from the effects of climate change are actually experiencing significant changes in rainfall and extreme temperature events. The paper, "Shifting climate in Caribbean tropical forests: Long-term trends at La Selva
A new historical analysis challenges the received wisdom as to why Chinese characters developed their distinctive square shapes. The work, published in the International Journal of Arts and Technology, argues that their shape resulted from interacting linguistic, technological
Scientists have discovered a possible loophole in the laws that normally prevent black holes from splitting apart, suggesting that extremely fast-spinning black holes might divide into two. The surprising finding raises the possibility of an entirely new black hole phenomenon
Where a storm surge strikes along a stretch of U.K. coastline is decided by global climate patterns in the Atlantic, Arctic and even further afield—according to new research led by Cambridge University.
An international team led by researchers at Queen's University Belfast has made a discovery that has eluded astronomers for decades. Beginning in 1906, telescope observations revealed a population of asteroids leading and trailing Jupiter, which came to be known as the "Trojan"
In recent years, the principle behind the humble ice cream truck has been getting a high-tech makeover. Retailers are reinventing mobile stores—both people-piloted and self-driving—often selling perishable items such as baked goods or fresh meals. BPM Analytics projects sales
A surprising discovery suggests that rejuvenating the liver could help protect against Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease. USC researchers found that an experimental drug restored aging liver cells in rats, cutting levels of an Alzheimer’s-linked protein in half and bringing
When we think about Antarctica, many people imagine penguins, seals and whales. However, the majority of Antarctica's scientific wonders cannot be seen without a microscope. These microbial communities form the foundation of Antarctic ecosystems yet remain largely invisible to
A gas naturally produced by our own bodies could one day help treat skin and wound infections, potentially offering a new approach alongside conventional antibiotics.
Mountain snow in the Northeast is different. The region's milder, more humid mountain climate shapes winter conditions that are different from those of the western United States. Yet, snow models don't always capture those differences.
Archaeologists have performed toxicological analysis on the mummified remains of people sacrificed at mountain shrines across the Inca Empire, revealing the psychoactive substances they consumed before their deaths.
To what extent does bottom trawling impact the seafloor of the Baltic Sea—and how quickly does it recover? Two new studies from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) show that the marks on the seafloor provide a much clearer picture of the actual impact
Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the HI-STEM Stem Cell Institute have discovered a group of particularly long-lived blood stem cells in mice. These cells remain in a dormant state for an exceptionally long time while retaining their ability to
Liverworts reproduce through a life cycle involving two distinct stages. First, sperm fertilize eggs in the presence of water, producing embryos that develop into spore-producing structures called sporophytes. These structures then produce spores that can disperse and grow into
A new review involving researchers at Umeå University has revealed the critical role that plant roots play in shaping how Arctic tundra ecosystems respond to climate change. The paper, recently published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, highlights how processes occurring
A new study from Tel Aviv University reveals how plants, despite having neither a brain nor a nervous system, integrate light coming from multiple directions to determine where to grow. The researchers show how this process emerges from local sensing across the stem, without
Nearly 200 countries recently came together in Armenia for the 2026 United Nations Biodiversity Conference to review progress toward halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Many of these governments will soon convene again in Turkey to discuss efforts to tackle climate change
Its jaws were fruit-mashing machines The post Bizarre Fruit-Eating “Hell Chicken” Suggests Dinosaurs Played a Role in Flowering Plant Evolution appeared first on Nautilus .
Hydrothermal vents lie in perpetual darkness in the depths of the ocean, yet the cells of the vent mussel Bathymodiolus azoricus, which lives 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) below the surface, follow a 24-hour rhythm in the laboratory.
The world is a far louder and more distracting place than when humans first evolved. But there's increasing evidence that experiencing nature can help restore attention lost to modern distractions, known as "directed attention fatigue."
Little is known about the long-term effects of deep-sea mining on the organic matter that supports life on the seafloor. However, as interest in mining the deep sea for rare metals grows, there is concern that disturbing the seabed could affect the ecosystems of the deep ocean.
When you think about making computer chips better, you probably think about transistors. My colleagues and I focused on a less visible part of the problem: the components that deliver power to those transistors. A chip needs more than electricity. It needs electricity supplied
A research team wanted to better understand how the forces between particles inside a material change. They discovered that by confining one-dimensional classical spin chains inside a mirror box cavity with light, they could force these magnetic particles to organize and
