Headlines

Boat burial reveals leprosy strain in fifth-century Germany

Visigothic and Vandal forces marched into Italy and conquered Rome; the Huns spread fear and terror on their campaigns through Western Europe; the Franks expanded their domain southward—the fifth century was an era of profound, often violent upheavals in Europe, and at the same

Red and green auroras may share electron-driven origins

With their mysterious glow and swirling veils of color, auroras enchant even experienced researchers. When a particularly intense solar storm reached Earth on the night of May 10, 2024, and relevant websites predicted auroras even for southern Lower Saxony, several researchers

JWST may have found where heavy black hole seeds formed

Astrophysicists think that the supermassive black holes (SMBH) we see in the modern universe are the result of a long, drawn-out process. That process is referred to as the hierarchical black hole mergers framework. It explains how some SMBHs can reach such staggering masses.

Why are we so squeamish about eating hagfish?

When fishers are out working their boats, they are typically targeting a specific type of fish. However, other species often end up in their nets or trawls as well. This is known as "bycatch"—seafood for which the fishers receive no payment. Although it is illegal to discard

Fingernail-sized chip untangles mixed light into clean beams

Stanford engineers and colleagues designed a chip that can take a muddled mixture of light from multiple lasers and output clean beams of light. It's the first time researchers have demonstrated a device that can take in mixed, or partially coherent, light and sort its photons

Unpacking wheat's water use for drought research

Researchers at The University of Queensland have developed a way to quantify how wheat varieties capture and convert soil water. Dr. Raul Gimenez from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation said the technique could be used to identify drought-tolerant crops.