We tend to think of our bones as solid, unchanging support structures inside our bodies, but a recent study from the University of Chicago shows just how much they can change depending on how we use them.
As urbanization spreads worldwide, the loss and fragmentation of habitats are driving the global decline in biodiversity. At the same time, urban green spaces like parks, meadows and forests have the potential to contribute significantly to biodiversity conservation at the
As the climate changes, protecting wildlife increasingly depends on both the conditions within protected areas and the connections between them. A new study published in Conservation Letters identifies where climatic stability and opportunities for movement coincide in Europe,
Volcanoes have cast a shadow over climate and history. Cold spurts after eruptions may have spurred famine, disease, revolts and other events.
We imitate what we notice The post How We Control What Accents We Pick Up appeared first on Nautilus .
Polymer brushes are dense layers of polymer chains that can be engineered to change how a surface interacts with its surroundings. By controlling interactions with water, ions, proteins and other materials, they can reduce friction, prevent unwanted materials from sticking,
Phase transitions are strongly constrained by spatial dimension. In conventional one-dimensional systems with short-range interactions, thermal fluctuations generally prevent continuous degrees of freedom from maintaining order over long distances.
A rocky lava planet once thought to be too extreme to have an atmosphere appears to be wrapped in one with a reflective layer of vaporized silicate mineral clouds, the same family of compounds that make up quartz and sand.
New in JNeurosci, Pyry Heikkinen and colleagues, from the University of Helsinki, explored how emotional meaning influences the way the human brain prioritizes information during naturally spoken conversations in a cocktail party setting.
From its visible surface, the sun radiates heat at a relatively cool temperature of 5,800 Kelvin. Yet within the thin outer layer of the sun's atmosphere known as the corona, electrons can reach temperatures of millions of degrees, for reasons astronomers have yet to fully
Napoleon Bonaparte and Bernardo O'Higgins: two 19th-century military leaders renowned to this day in their native countries of France and Chile. Yet, while Napoleon's name and exploits are known throughout the world, O'Higgins remains largely obscure outside his homeland. This
A lizard making a dramatic escape, leaving its tail wriggling behind as it darts to safety, is an image familiar to many. Tail-shedding is one of the most widespread defenses against predators among living lizards, yet tracing the origins of this extraordinary ability has
This 2,000-year-old cold case offered a wealth of information, Leiden archaeologists Carol van Driel-Murray and Mark Driessen explain. Few skeletons from the late Iron Age and early Roman era have been preserved, making this largely intact skeleton a valuable research resource.
A new study provides perhaps the strongest evidence yet that education can help mitigate long-term dementia risk.
As climate change reshapes habitats both on land and at sea, you might go to the beach one day, only to find yourself in a place that looks nothing like you remember, around sea creatures you don't recognize.
Scientists report fossil evidence of the first fully marine amphibian in a study from the University of California, Davis; Peking University; and the Geological Museum of Guizhou. The amphibian is an armored, giant salamander–sized, bottom-dwelling ocean creature that the
Some proteins that are linked to neurodegenerative diseases can form both liquid droplets and amyloid fibers. But how are these two states connected, and where do the fibers grow? Leiden physicists Liru Feng and Louise Jawerth have discovered a counter-intuitive mechanism.
A U.S. startup has booked two Indian rocket launches to test a planned service no company has sold before: sunlight at night.
Most people know by now that artificial intelligence powers much of the online world, sifting through social media posts, planning driving routes or helping to choose a movie to watch. But what goes largely unseen is the human labor—often performed by people working for low
A new study led by an international research team including scientists at the University of South Carolina challenges the idea that the ancient Laacher See volcanic eruption in western Europe triggered a significant climate-cooling period affecting central Europe and the Arctic
There's no tree like the humble eucalypt.
In our solar system's corner of the galaxy, stars rarely collide. It makes sense: Space is vast, and stars have room to roam. Even in most of the present-day universe, stellar collisions are rare. The James Webb Space Telescope, however, peers deep enough into space to see the
Unexpectedly, a kind of protein that is usually linked with diseases in the brain may play a vital role in semen, helping shepherd genetic material into sperm cells, scientists at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute report in the journal Molecular Cell.
When it comes to reproduction, plants have options. Some can fertilize themselves, while others rely on pollen from genetically different plants. Many populations even contain a mixture of both strategies. But scientists have long debated whether this mixed approach is truly
Red isn’t the only color when it comes to blood—critters produce the vital fluid in a variety of hues The post The Bloody Palette of the Animal Kingdom appeared first on Nautilus .
Everyday activities, from visiting zoos to cleaning bird droppings, can expose you to a potentially dangerous infection
A new topological model connects a centuries-old voting paradox to a surface with no distinct inside or outside. The post How Voting Is Like a Klein Bottle first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Applying mild electrical stimulation to the brain temporarily removed a perceptual bias linked to the sexual objectification of women, in the first study of its kind. The study is published in the journal Social Neuroscience.
Information on what a cell did a few hours or days ago is generally unavailable to researchers, who can only measure the cell's current status. This is a problem if the aim is to understand how immune responses arise or why individual cancer cells survive treatment.
For the first time, researchers in Japan have directly mapped several components of the stress field surrounding an atomic-scale flaw in the crystal structure of diamond. Led by Tokuyuki Teraji at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science, the team achieved its result
A team of Yale researchers has figured out what gives a magnetic material its mysterious properties, a discovery that could help boost computing memory and the field of "spintronics." Their work is published in Physical Review Letters.
High temperatures can significantly impair the growth and yield of crops, including tomatoes. A new study by an international research team led by Dr. Justyna Olas, of the Leibniz Institute for Horticultural Sciences (IGZ), has shown that tomatoes can respond better to
To produce hydrogen using sunlight, the energy obtained from light must be retained until it can be used in a chemical reaction. However, if an electron that has gained energy from light quickly returns to its original position, it becomes difficult to make use of that energy.
Barley seed could be carrying more than the potential for a new crop, with emerging research from the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) finding that fungicide-resistant net blotch can be carried on seed and transferred to seedlings.
Researchers have used artificial intelligence to identify promising catalysts using only the scientific knowledge that was available years before their actual discovery. Their findings could accelerate the search for more efficient hydrogen production and other valuable
How immune are people to bird flu viruses? To find out, Canadian virologists analyzed blood samples that 24 health care workers at Université de Montréal's teaching hospital, the CHUM, gave before and after getting their annual flu shot.
Quantum computers need qubits that can be controlled both quickly and reliably. Yet making semiconductor spin qubits faster often makes them more sensitive to electrical noise, creating a difficult trade-off.
A new study reveals a dust-reddened quasar from a time when the universe was less than a billion years old. Located at a redshift of 6.5488, the object J1440+0019 contains a rapidly accreting supermassive black hole with a mass of about 1.1 billion suns. The paper was posted to
Can crowds of people trading on what they believe will happen collectively predict the future? A new Tel Aviv University study of more than 1 million forecasts suggests that they often come remarkably close. But when it comes to certain events, from international conflicts to
Precision-cut lung slices allow researchers to study living human lung tissue outside the body, preserving the different cell types and structures that make up the organ. But a material that helps scientists create these slices can also make it difficult to study the genetic
NASA wants to explore it—perhaps as a potential moon base? The post This Dark Spot on the Moon Might Be a Giant Lunar Cave appeared first on Nautilus .
Anthropic says Claude helped a scientist plan potentially risky bird flu research, a case that highlights questions about AI’s growing role in biology.
Urban flooding is becoming a growing concern in densely developed neighborhoods, where paved surfaces limit infiltration and intense rainfall can overwhelm drainage systems. Low impact development measures, such as rain barrels (RBs) and rain gardens (RGs), help manage
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from industries such as steelmaking, chemicals and energy production requires enormous investment. Unlike conventional green bonds, which typically finance clearly defined environmentally friendly projects, climate transition bonds help
The cliffs that comprise much of California's coastline are constantly being reshaped by rain, waves and other geologic forces. The erosion of cliffs threatens critical infrastructure such as highways, railways, homes, parklands, public access points and more.
New research from UCLA Health and UC San Diego Health found a significant spike in suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts among older U.S. adults in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.
People can sometimes make decisions that benefit them but are less advantageous for someone else. In these scenarios, they might convince themselves that their choice causes little harm to others or that an alternative would not make much of a difference. The same can happen in
Regular exercise does more than strengthen the heart. New research reveals that it actually reshapes the nerves controlling how the heart functions, and the changes are surprisingly different on the left and right sides of the body.
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, the signs of democratic backsliding are everywhere across the U.S. political landscape. Troubling signs include the Trump administration's demand for state voter roll data and interference with mail-in voting, the pressure it applied to
A new study demonstrates that embedding short, asynchronous mindfulness practices into Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) curricula effectively reduces stress, combats burnout, and builds essential leadership skills. The project evaluated student responses to brief, 1-to-5-minute
