Light in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum plays a key role in modern sensing. Because molecules interact with this kind of light in specific ways, researchers use technologies like mid-IR spectroscopy to identify biological materials, drugs and
If you want to drum up support for environmental action, putting climate change front and center may not always be the best strategy. A new study by Aya Takagi and Ryosuke Nakadai of Yokohama National University suggests that support for policies that emphasize biodiversity
It might be good for the birds—and you The post What Bird Feeding Has to Do with Happiness appeared first on Nautilus .
Some 550 million years ago, Earth looked very different than it does today. The Southern Hemisphere was dominated by an enormous single continent known as Gondwana.
A University of the Basque Country-EHU research group has determined the causes of a 255 m (837 feet) crustal uplift of the Atlantic slope and a 167 m (548 feet) uplift of the Mediterranean slope, as well as the development of rivers in these areas.
England's approach to teaching young people about pornography may be doing more harm than good, according to new research from the University of Surrey. A new study argues that fear-based education is failing to reflect how teenagers actually encounter sexual media.
Quantum technologies are poised to transform fields ranging from medicine and sensing to computing and communications by manipulating the energy states of atoms and molecules. These manipulations are achieved by controlling quantum states with laser pulses.
So far, quantum computers have been held back by their extreme sensitivity to errors and external disturbances. The longer a quantum operation takes, the greater the risk of computational errors.
As tiny as they are, marine plankton play pivotal roles in biogeochemical cycles and sustaining aquatic ecosystems, producing around half of the oxygen on Earth and also acting as carbon sinks. When they die, their decomposing cells produce dissolved organic carbon that can be
Peatlands store large amounts of carbon. However, when they are drained, they can become substantial sources of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂).
In the transformation toward sustainability, the interests of societal, economic and political actors often clash, making conflict inevitable. Understanding these dynamics and learning how to engage with them constructively is therefore crucial.
Tiny manufacturing imperfections in optical components normally go unnoticed. Yet they can alter light in surprisingly significant ways. An international research team led by TU Darmstadt has shown that such imperfections can affect not only polarization—the direction in which
A recent study coordinated by the University of Helsinki tracked the populations of 100 bird species across Finnish protected areas. Cold-dwelling species fared better in large protected areas, while the same species saw much steeper declines in smaller ones.
Paleontologist Riley Black’s latest book explores how this misunderstood carnivore might have lived.
For years, scientists have relied primarily on radio imaging from techniques like very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) to study jets from the active galactic nuclei of supermassive black holes. This allows for the detection of broad, unresolved features, called components,
Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant brain cancers known to medicine, carrying a median survival of just 12–15 months, even with the best available care.
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have discovered that the crystal structure of zirconia nanoparticles remains stable under uniform pressure applied from all directions but changes under anisotropic pressure. This unique property is expected to lead to new technologies for
A firm handshake used to be all a job candidate needed to make a good first impression, but today a growing number of firms are relying on artificial intelligence to screen applicants.
Harmful algal blooms pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment. The University of Toledo's Dr. Jeanine Refsnider counts it as a positive discovery that northern map turtles tend to steer clear, as she and an undergraduate collaborator recently reported in the
Vaping isn't just annoying to passersby who have to walk through clouds of vapor but may be actively harmful to the environment, a new study says. Discarded nicotine vapes contain extremely high levels of lead and other heavy metals in their remaining cache of e-liquid,
A research team at the University of Vienna led by physicist Jani Kotakoski demonstrates how the shape of nanopores in hexagonal boron nitride—the electrically insulating counterpart to graphene, also known as "white graphene"—can be precisely controlled at the atomic level.
Artificial intelligence is changing work in Ireland for the better, according to a new study led by Taha Yasseri, Workday Professor of Technology and Society at Trinity's School of Social Sciences & Philosophy.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, but memory isn’t the only thing it affects The post Rethinking the Mechanisms of Alzheimer’s Disease appeared first on Nautilus .
In early 2017 and 2023, California experienced two catastrophic and record-breaking floods that caused billions of dollars in damage, triggered mudslides and forced thousands of people to evacuate. Why this happened left scientists scratching their heads. Both disasters struck
The sun is capable of great things. In massive eruptions, it repeatedly hurls particles and radiation into space. This solar bombardment can be dangerous for technical infrastructure on Earth: For example, satellites and transformers in substations can be damaged.
If you read about AI, you'll find a widespread belief: When people don't want to use AI, it's because they're afraid or just don't understand it. They're afraid of losing their jobs or of change generally. Or they don't understand the technology, so they can't see the benefits.
The Pacific Ocean has seen an especially active hurricane season so far, while the Atlantic has had barely a whimper of a storm. Experts explain why
Tiny flowers trapped in amber around 15 million years ago are offering scientists a rare glimpse into the plant life of a tropical rainforest in what is now Southeast China. Researchers have studied two exceptionally well-preserved fossil flowers from the Zhangpu flora.
New research from The Earthshot Prize and the University of Exeter's Green Futures Solutions team, published today, reveals 51 environmental solutions that can trigger rapid, transformative change to repair our planet within the next five years. After a northern summer of
Six orangutans, including two nursing infants, have been rescued from fires raging on Borneo in the past week, Indonesian authorities and rescuers said Thursday, bringing the total to 15 in a month.
Extreme heat has become more common—both research and lived experience document this—but when it arrives is a different question. A new study finds that, rather than occurring only during warm seasons, extreme heat events have become more frequent in the months before and
High school student Khushi Kharuna creates and leads coding and artificial intelligence (AI) summer camps for K–12 students in her community outside Philadelphia. Priya Kumar, PNC Technologies Career Development Professor in Penn State's College of Information Sciences and
About 66 million years ago, a dinosaur—maybe a T. rex or a Nanotyrannus—ate a bird. The record of that meal, in the form of fossilized poop, has survived to today, preserving the best example of a feather ever found from the age of dinosaurs. By studying this feather,
Mars is a terrible place to build a house. It's bitterly cold, blasted by radiation and a near vacuum. Not to mention that the building materials, even for a modest shelter, could spend months hurtling through space before construction begins.
A preserved feather provides some essential clues The post How Did Birds Outlive the Other Dinosaurs? appeared first on Nautilus .
The joint BepiColombo mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is settling into orbit around Mercury after an eight-year journey. In early September, BepiColombo's two orbiters, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury
In drought-prone regions of Ethiopia, growing more food could start with something as simple as keeping more rainwater in the ground.
Nitrogen is a key ingredient in the biomolecules that form the building blocks of life. Yet as an unbonded gas, it is far more likely to drift into space than to lock itself into solid compounds, making it difficult for astronomers to trace its journey to Earth in the distant
Europe's climate monitor said Thursday that August was the hottest month ever recorded worldwide and warned of worse to come as an unprecedented El Niño pattern grows stronger.
NASA’s satellites captured the aftermath of the eruption, which lasted for more than a day
By revisiting the famous problem — which was controversially solved in the 1970s with the help of computers — mathematicians have gained important new insights into the nature of graphs. The post The Four-Color Theorem Gets a Rare New Proof first appeared on Quanta Magazine
In 2025, associate professor Christian Busch's Palisades home burned down in one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history. Busch says the disaster wasn't blind bad luck; it was a clear case of "zemblanity," which he defines as a patterned and preventable form of
An ancient cave in southwestern China has revealed new evidence about how Denisovans—an ancient human relative—lived, survived and adapted over more than 100,000 years.
Superconductors are materials that carry electricity with zero resistance below specific temperatures. Many of these materials become superconducting at very low temperatures, yet some enter superconducting phases at higher temperatures.
As cost-of-living pressures increase and the rental crisis worsens, many families are moving more often.
Lots of animals use mimicry to survive. Some copy the appearance of threatening predators, and others have evolved to resemble plants or rocks so they can blend into the background and avoid being attacked. But a viper from Iran has found an even stranger strategy. The tip of
It’s meant to help lure prey The post This Snake’s Tail Has a Fake “Spider” at the Tip appeared first on Nautilus .
As a veterinarian who studies infectious diseases in cats, I've been repeatedly asked whether Australia's outbreak of the H5 bird flu poses a risk to pets. The short answer is yes.
Dogs trained in scent detection may be better at sniffing out the right smell after breakfast, with new research finding hungry dogs working for treats are more likely to falsely identify the wrong scent. The study, led by researchers from the University of Waikato and Adelaide
Imagine a manager sends a thoughtful message to one of her hard-working employees after a particularly exhausting week in the office. The message communicates personal warmth, but when the recipient discovers it was generated by AI, it somehow feels less genuine.
