Headlines

Tracking Arctic freshwater flow from space

Arctic rivers wind through remote tundra and boreal forests, freezing solid in winter and surging each spring with snowmelt, eventually emptying into the ocean. Runoff—water that does not soak into the ground but instead flows over the land surface—further increases the volume

The evolutionary secret of the California poppy's alkaloids

Characteristic features of plants, such as their active ingredients or flower color, may have developed through very different evolutionary histories. This is shown by an international study on the orange-flowering California poppy led by researchers at Justus Liebig University

Decoding sugars one bond at a time—without labels

Researchers at National Taiwan University have developed a tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy platform that can identify tiny structural differences in oligosaccharides without fluorescent labels. The method can distinguish glycosidic linkages, estimate chain length, and even

Mining a methane-degrading bioreactor for protein rubies

Scientists have found a new type of iron-storing protein in a mixture of microbes containing methane-degraders. This discovery underscores the importance of characterizing proteins from microbes that cannot be isolated, thereby enabling the discovery of new enzymes for future

Online ad fraud is a feature, not a bug

Technological advancements and the dynamics of the platform economy make rooting out fraud more complicated than it may seem. With print media circulation and broadcast television viewership in free fall, a lot is riding on the online advertising space being able to take up the

Self-cleaning fabric could eliminate the need for detergent

Detergents may begin their journey by cleaning our clothes, but they end up contaminating the environment, flowing into rivers, ponds, and oceans, where they severely disrupt aquatic animal life. Even after wastewater treatment, some chemicals remain and pass through filtration

Quantum computers could have a fundamental limit after all

The performance of quantum computers could cap out after around 1,000 qubits, according to a new analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Through new calculations, Tim Palmer at the University of Oxford has reconsidered the mathematical

Saturn-mass world discovered orbiting two low-mass stars

Researchers report the discovery of a Saturn-sized exoplanet orbiting two M-dwarf stars, which are smaller and cooler than our sun. The findings from this discovery were published in the The Astronomical Journal and were made using a lesser-known exoplanet discovery method

How soil microbes may control the future of our planet

The soil beneath our feet is a huge carbon bank storing up to approximately three times more carbon than the entire atmosphere. That makes it a significant player in the future of our climate. If even a small fraction of the carbon escapes into the air as carbon dioxide, it

A promising fatty liver treatment may raise cancer risk

A surprising new study reveals that blocking a supposedly protective enzyme, Caspase-2, could actually backfire—raising the risk of chronic liver damage and cancer over time. Researchers found that without this enzyme, liver cells grow abnormally large and accumulate genetic