When cold and flu season comes around, we take steps like getting our flu shots and taking immune supplements to strengthen our bodies' defenses against pathogens. Plants face pathogenic threats, too. Plant pathogens can have devastating effects on crop yields, with up to 40%
Researchers have developed a vehicle-mounted spectroscopy system that can reliably detect methane in real time while driving. Using a moving vehicle to detect methane could make it easier to locate hidden methane emissions across large areas.
Different cover crops may affect how plants defend themselves against pests—including by attracting more insects that eat harmful caterpillars—according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
A team of researchers led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry has uncovered a faster way large carbon-based molecules may form in space, helping solve a long-standing mystery about how some of the building blocks of the universe grow.
Near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that emit about 1,000 nanometers could support biomedical and security technologies. Yet pushing organic light to these longer wavelengths usually causes a steep drop in efficiency. As the energy gap becomes smaller, molecular
With Hong Kong recently recording record-breaking high temperatures, extreme weather has once again raised public awareness of global warming and emission-reduction measures. A large-scale international study led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has
A protein's function is determined by its structure, and structure—the way a protein folds—is determined by its sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.
While long-term data show that Hawaiʻi is getting drier overall, short, intense downpours that cause sudden, dangerous flash floods are getting stronger on the islands, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Many cars and not enough lanes is a recipe for traffic jams. Now, researchers from Japan show that even proteins can get backed up and start behaving poorly when too many try to squeeze too quickly through a small space.
Talk about getting to the bottom of things The post This Is What Happens When 1,000 People Bury Their Underwear for Science appeared first on Nautilus .
Corals that partner with heat-tolerant algae may be better equipped to survive warming oceans—but that resilience comes with an unexpected trade-off, according to a new study from Boston University published in Science Advances.
Researchers at the University of Osaka have developed a catalyst that uses mechanical vibration to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbon monoxide (CO), an important chemical feedstock. The catalyst consists of barium titanate (BaTiO3) coated with a metal-organic framework
Fungal contamination in stored grain across sub-Saharan Africa causes major post-harvest losses and severe public health risks, costing billions of dollars annually, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). High humidity, warm temperatures
The formation of complex terrestrial ecosystems was a significant innovation in the evolutionary history of life on Earth. This event signified the expansion of life beyond marine environments and marked the beginning of a new phase in the diversification of terrestrial biota.
A University of Alberta literacy expert has completed the largest reading intervention in Canadian history, tripling the rate of progress for most participants after just five months. Preliminary results show that about half of the children in the program require no further
In dark skies at night, distant starlight twinkles and speaks to vast cosmic histories almost as old as time itself. New data from instruments such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are helping astrophysicists probe deep cosmic mysteries, including the evolution of black
What the science says about their DIY one-person clinical trials The post Fact-Checking the Biohackers Who Claim Metformin is an Anti-Aging Wonder Drug appeared first on Nautilus .
Most of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy sit neatly on a flat plane. But the space around our galaxy is much more chaotic. Rogue bands of stars called "stellar streams" orbit the Milky Way much like planets in our solar system orbit the sun.
An AI assistant helped University of Colorado Boulder researchers solve a mathematical problem that had challenged their lab for a year and a half, though it made subtle errors along the way. The breakthrough could improve how scientists study nanoparticles—tiny particles about
As extreme heat becomes more frequent and intense across California, knowing which communities are struggling and what kind of help they need is increasingly important for protecting public health. A new UC Irvine study suggests that part of the answer may be hiding in everyday
Just a few minutes of freezing and thawing can have a decisive impact on how ferrihydrite, the most reactive iron mineral in cold soils, permafrost and glaciers, transforms, according to researchers at Umeå University. As climate warming intensifies freeze-thaw cycles and
How has offspring dependence on parents evolved over the course of evolution? Researchers at the University of Bayreuth, in collaboration with Kyoto University, Japan, have investigated one possible mechanism by studying the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Their new
An aerial survey captures images of marine megafauna aplenty in the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Massachusetts The post In Photos: The Sea Creatures Lurking Off the Shores of Nantucket appeared first on Nautilus .
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine. A new class of programmable antibiotics known as asobiotics can be used to treat bacterial infections when classical antibiotics fail. A team of researchers from TWINCORE, Center for Experimental
Plastic pollution is one of the most urgent environmental challenges of the 21st century. As larger plastic debris breaks down through mechanical, photochemical and biological processes, it forms microplastics that have been detected in water, soil, air and even the human body.
Some molecules come in two "handed" forms. This property, called chirality, can influence not only how molecules interact with light but also which electron spins they allow to pass. Researchers at the University of Osaka have developed novel chiral hole-transport materials
Farmers and foresters manage around 80% of Germany's land area. They are therefore key agents of change in protecting biodiversity—and are often accused of not doing enough to protect it.
The COVID vaccine is perhaps the first thing many people think of when they hear about mRNA-based drugs. Small packages of genetic material are sent into the body, prompting cells to produce useful proteins in the fight against the virus. But the list of diseases that can
It’s a weird meteorological coincidence on the heels of Dolly Parton’s death
Candida auris and Candida albicans are microscopic fungi that cause life-threatening human infections, killing almost a million people globally every year. The World Health Organization lists both species among the top four most concerning fungal pathogens in existence, and
More than 150 people are dead and hundreds more are missing after an enormous wave of water, ice, mud and rock cascaded more than 170 kilometers (106 miles) down the Bhote Koshi River valley in Nepal. The valley is the main link between Kathmandu in Nepal and Lhasa in Tibet. At
Why do we remember certain moments while forgetting others? Every day, our minds are bombarded with thousands of pieces of information, yet our brains have a limited capacity to consolidate these experiences into lasting memories. This means we need a way to hold on to what is
Why do humans rely on XY chromosomes to determine sex, while birds use ZW—and many reptiles use neither, letting temperature decide instead? Sex determination is remarkably diverse across the animal kingdom. In genotypic sex determination (GSD), sex is encoded in the genome: XX
As an El Niño of historic proportions is taking shape in the tropical Pacific, a University of Michigan study has found that El Niño events have become nearly 40% stronger in the last 40 years than they were in the preindustrial era.
A study of 70,000 earthquakes finds tiny tremors often precede larger fracking-linked quakes, offering a warning to halt fluid injection.
New research seeks to confirm the identity of tropical lampreys that don’t have the taste for blood The post Meet the Vegan Draculas of Australia appeared first on Nautilus .
Fossilized Galápagos corals show clear evidence that today’s El Niños are much stronger than those in the past
New research by SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Margarita Orlova is providing new insight into how bumblebee queens communicate through chemical signals and how those signals change throughout their lives.
The genome—which contains genes encoded in DNA—acts as the fundamental blueprint of life. But what you might not know is that, in addition to this genetic information, we have something akin to an "instruction manual" for how genes should be handled. This instruction manual is
A new study examining death-related conceptual metaphors employed by neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi in his memoir, "When Breath Becomes Air," sheds light on how he depicted death after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at age 36.
Election rumors, such as unverified accounts of voter fraud, have run rampant in the U.S. in recent years. Powered by the speed of social media and artificial intelligence (AI), it can be hard for people to know what messages to trust. Now, a team led by Caltech researchers is
Many plant species parasitize other plants by latching on and taking the nutrients their hosts need to survive. But sometimes, plants steal more than nutrients; they take genes.
Finding one Higgs boson was hard enough, but physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are hunting for something even more elusive: pairs of Higgs bosons. At the recent International Conference on High Energy Physics 2026, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations presented new
The Nepal disaster appears to be a “cascading event,” where one hazard seems to have triggered another, experts say
A new manufacturing method could help move the production of nanoscale sensors from specialized fabrication facilities to conventional semiconductor manufacturing plants.Publishing in Science Advances, researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology liken their technique to
As climate change has led to more frequent extreme-heat events around the world, moist heat metrics such as wet-bulb temperature, which combines temperature and humidity, have become increasingly relevant. Days with both high heat and high humidity are dangerous to human
Ancient Egypt has left us a wealth of artistic treasures, including wall paintings, wooden coffins and limestone reliefs. Many retain their vibrant colors despite the passage of time, a testament to the ingredients used to make the paint mixtures. A new study published in the
Every spring, many monarch butterflies drift back into Florida on orange-and-black wings that have captivated scientists for generations. They arrive quietly, fluttering through fields and roadsides, stopping at nectar plants to feed and lay eggs on patches of milkweed. Soon,
With their charming waddles, heat-conserving huddles and tuxedo-like plumage, emperor penguins are among the world's most recognizable animals. Recent satellite surveys estimate that hundreds of thousands of the flightless birds live in 66 colonies spread around Antarctica's
When an athlete swings upside down atop a 7-meter (23-foot) pendulum, it may seem like a feat of strength, courage or technique. A new study suggests it is something more fundamental: a striking demonstration of how intelligence emerges from the interaction of brain, body and
