This large freshwater sawfish might look scary, but its greatest survival assets are tiny microbes that may give its young an invisible force field when environmental conditions get tough. New research led by Flinders University describes how microscopic communities living on
A new research article published in Polymers explores an innovative way to turn lemon processing residues into biopolymers. Authored by ANIPH's coordinator, CETEC, together with partners from companion projects Viss and PHAntastic, the study investigated the use of lemon
Ceramic films are widely used in solid-state batteries, energy conversion devices and electronic systems. Their fabrication, however, often requires high-temperature sintering, which can cause elemental volatilization, compositional segregation and undesirable interfacial
The universe is filled with light at many different energies. Some of it is invisible to our eyes, including extremely energetic gamma rays, which can only be produced in the most extreme environments in our universe, for example supermassive black holes, exploding stars or
Sometimes massive stars can mimic the behavior of a black hole and trick astronomers into misinterpreting their nature. Such is the case with a strange pair of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) cluster NGC 1850. The system was initially thought to contain a star about
Pumpkin season is about more than cute décor. The squash contains lots of seeds with a high protein content, but they're usually discarded. Researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found another way to use the seeds, extracting that protein to
Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, but their origins remain uncertain. Were they asteroids captured by Mars' gravity, or did they form from debris following a giant impact on the planet?
The alpine zone is located above the tree line in mountainous regions and is characterized by long winters and short growing seasons. Birds and other animals inhabiting these environments breed during a limited period extending from spring to summer. Arthropods, including
An AI companion can be available for a late-night conversation, respond to personal disclosures and discuss a favorite topic for hours. For people who develop intimate relationships with chatbots, those exchanges can offer a meaningful sense of connection.
Fruits and vegetables keep "breathing" even after they're picked. Respiration consumes sugars and organic acids that contribute to flavor, while moisture loss and continued ripening soften the fruit. These changes shorten shelf life and contribute to food waste. Thin edible
Highly pathogenic avian influenza causes significant damage to the poultry industry worldwide. As the virus evolves, new variants regularly emerge that may differ in how easily they spread and how severely they affect infected birds. Researchers at Wageningen Bioveterinary
As superbugs become harder to treat and antibiotic resistance continues to rise worldwide, Flinders University scientists have uncovered an unlikely ally in the fight to prevent infections before they take hold. They have found that carefully controlled microscopic cracks can
It's that time of year when gratitude seems to be everywhere: at work, around the dinner table and at holiday gatherings. But with so much pressure to feel thankful, gratitude can start to feel like one more thing on the holiday to-do list.
Creative, interdisciplinary, and bold, the study of the origins of life has entered a new age. Welcome to Quanta Magazine’s special series on the origins of life. The post A New Era for the Dawn of Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Global carbon budgets, which track carbon's movement among the atmosphere, ocean and land, may underestimate how much carbon the ocean absorbs by roughly 5% to 15% because current estimates do not fully account for rain's effects on the ocean surface.
Even plants, from towering palm trees to vegetables such as onions and eggplants, can get stressed. Now, a team of engineers has designed a new kind of sensor that attaches directly to plants and peers inside them to track how they respond to stressors such as drought and fires
Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed a unified framework for establishing symmetry criteria and classifying unconventional magnets.
New research from the Working for Women Research Partnership (WFWRP) shows overlapping life demands make women ages 40–55 more likely than other groups to both want and need workplace flexibility.
What determines which moments are remembered? The amygdala, typically associated with regulating fear and aggression, may play a major role
Mathematicians will remember 2026 as the year AI changed everything about their field. Scientists may be next in line for disruption
After decades of bickering about which molecules came first, a new generation of scientists is rethinking what life was, is, and could be. The post The Evolving Story of How Chemistry Became Biology first appeared on Quanta Magazine
An Australian native plant traditionally used by Indigenous communities for food and medicine could help scientists develop stronger, more flexible biodegradable film. UNSW researchers have discovered that adding extracts from pigface, Carpobrotus glaucescens, a hardy coastal
Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists have achieved early success using electron beam, or eBeam, technology for the sterile insect technique, or SIT, against New World screwworm flies.
What would it mean to teach students who are learning academic writing to use AI in "ethical" ways—for example, large language model (LLM) chatbots like ChatGPT, a specific form of GenAI?
The Euclid Consortium and the European Space Agency (ESA) have released the first major batch of data from the Euclid space telescope. This release, which captures light from more than a billion objects and covers an area of sky equivalent to 9,500 full moons, lays the
In the deep ocean, translucent sea pigs trundle across the seafloor. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have discovered an unusual bacterium beneath the sea pig's "skin." Through fluorescent imaging, they determined the location of the bacterium, which they named Candidatus
There's a doomsday scenario where university students hand in work generated by artificial intelligence (AI), which is then graded by AI and university assessment no longer involves any humans at all.
Getting older usually brings a higher risk of death and declining reproduction. Yet for western harvester ant colonies, the opposite occurs. As a colony gets older, it becomes less likely to die and more likely to reproduce.
A barreleye’s peepers watch from inside its head The post Scientists Catch a Rare Glimpse of a Fish With a See-Through Head appeared first on Nautilus .
Nvidia’s chips power the AI frontier—thanks, many say, to co-founder and now ex-CEO Jensen Huang
CCTV has been promoted as one way to make early learning safer in the wake of ongoing reports of child abuse and neglect. It's certainly something families see as enhancing safety in services. But does it help in practice?
The world of mushrooms is surrounded by myth and misunderstanding. One thing seems clear: There are magic mushrooms, containing psychedelic compounds, and there are poisonous mushrooms, containing amatoxins. Or is it?
Building a multicellular organism, even a fruit fly, is kind of like assembling a complicated piece of Ikea furniture. As with furniture, you have to assemble it in the right order. "There are many moving parts, many cell types, many organs, and the sequence and timing of
Yesterday evening, an unknown hacker posted messages on the Victorian exam authority website, saying they had accessed 2026 Year 12 exam papers.
The number of reported hate crimes (hate crime refers to violence, threats or hateful speech motivated by someone's skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender identity or similar characteristics) has more than quintupled since 2012. Approximately 40% of them consist of hate speech.
Half of the groundwater used to grow America's favorite fruits, nuts, veggies, seeds and greens is drawn from aquifers faster than they can refill, according to a new study. Irrigating 75% of produce and specialty crops with groundwater between 2008 and 2020 helped spare farms
Europe’s Hera spacecraft is just beginning its exploration of the binary asteroid Didymos in a mission that’s tantalizing scientists on two fronts.
The environmental legacy of a uranium-copper mine continues to impact the ecosystem of a major Top End river system more than 50 years after the site was closed, a first-of-its-kind study led by Charles Darwin University (CDU) has found.
Roads, buildings and other infrastructure can restrict the movements of wildlife in cities. As a result, urban wildlife from different areas encounter one another less frequently, potentially resulting in reduced genetic diversity.
According to new international research led by Monash University, embedding empathy, local culture and active community engagement into the school curriculum is key to increasing resilience to disasters.
Riders of shared e-scooters are much more likely to attribute their near misses to inexperience than riders of privately owned e-scooters, a longitudinal study led by QUT road safety researchers has found.
Boring jobs are important jobs The post How the Brain’s Failing Trash Compactor Can Contribute to Alzheimer’s Disease appeared first on Nautilus .
Researchers at The University of Queensland are on a quest to identify key aroma compounds that could make no- and low-alcohol (NOLO) wine more attractive to drinkers.
Climate change has caused substantial alterations in forest ecosystems worldwide through changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. A new study from Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) suggests that these effects are also evident in Japan, where forests are undergoing
Strangles is one of the most common infectious diseases of horses worldwide, but accurately determining whether a horse has been exposed to the bacterium that causes it can be challenging. Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Ryugu might have formed in the very first generation of planetary building blocks
Today, tropical waters typically host a wider range of marine animals than polar waters. This decline in marine biodiversity from the equator toward the North and South poles is known as the latitudinal diversity gradient.
Inside each cell is a dynamic world of molecules and chemicals, signals and receivers, and construction and destruction. With all this activity, it's inevitable that cellular parts get worn down over time. Thankfully, cells have evolved an efficient recycling process that
A majestic and all but indestructible 20th-century ocean liner that once ferried royal leaders, movie stars and even the "Mona Lisa" to the United States was being deliberately sunk Wednesday to become the world's largest artificial reef.
An NIH study found that women with high levels of two common “forever chemicals” had up to 93% higher rates of an aggressive form of breast cancer. The discovery raises concerns about the potential health effects of persistent chemicals found in everyday products.