An experiment in western China over the past four decades shows that it is possible to tame the expansion of desert lands with greenery, and, in the process, pull excess carbon dioxide out of the sky.
Skeletal muscle stem cells in hibernating Syrian hamsters preserve their ability to function by suppressing their activation during the hibernation period, a research team led by Hiroshima University has shown. This insight may lead to a broader understanding of the maintenance
Stronger El Niño events are more likely when springtime surface waters in the western Pacific Ocean become unusually salty, a new study in Geophysical Research Letters suggests. Traditionally, scientists have focused on temperature and wind patterns to understand El
Solar geoengineering could halve the economic cost of climate change, but stopping it would cause temperatures to rebound sharply, leading to greater damage than unabated global warming
What’s on the road to the launch of NASA’s Artemis II , how scientists are using artificial intelligence to help stroke patients speak, and what an Indonesian cave art discovery says about early human migration
Columnist Helen Thomson investigates the neurological benefits of saunas, and how heat therapy can have anti-inflammatory effects throughout the body
Alzheimer’s may destroy memory by flipping a single molecular switch that tells neurons to prune their own connections. Researchers found that both amyloid beta and inflammation converge on the same receptor, triggering synapse loss. Surprisingly, neurons aren’t passive
Despite its small size, Mars seems to have a huge impact on the orbital cycles that govern Earth’s climate, especially those that cause ice ages
This month, AFP reported from OceanXplorer, a high-tech marine research vessel owned by billionaire-backed nonprofit OceanX, as it studied seamounts off Indonesia.
A dome-fronted submersible sinks beneath the waves off Indonesia, heading down nearly 1,000 meters in search of new species, plastic-eating microbes and compounds that could one day make medicines.
A monster storm barreling across swaths of the United States has killed at least 10 people and prompted warnings to stay off the roads, mass flight cancellations and power outages, as freezing conditions persisted into Monday.
At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015, countries around the world committed to striving towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the 21st century. But achieving this goal is difficult, even for countries boasting extensive forests that could,
In Europe, it is well documented that bird species associated with agricultural landscapes have experienced a sharp decline over several decades. Since 1980, populations have been reduced by around 60%. New Norwegian figures show that the same negative trend is also evident in
Career pressure—not ideology—causes military officers to protect or overthrow dictators. New research from the Department of Political Science shows that ambition and anxiety can transform "ordinary men" into the regime's ruthless henchmen—or into those who bury the regime.
Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have developed a method that gives access to the valuable raw materials formate and hydrogen from the waste product glycerol. Formates are the salts of formic acid and are widely used in the chemical industry, while
Already recognized for its excellence and even adopted for operational weather forecasting, the European Space Agency's Arctic Weather Satellite has now fulfilled its most important role. This small prototype mission has succeeded in paving the way for a new constellation of
While period pain and heavy menstrual bleeding are common, they're often dealt with privately. Yet they take a profound toll on a person's health—and finances.
Like a recording artist who has had a long career, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has a "back catalog" of cosmic recordings that is impossible to replicate. To access these X-ray tracks, or observations, the ultimate compendium has been developed: the Chandra Source Catalog
Within the S&P 500, only a small fraction of chief executive officers speak with an accent or come from foreign backgrounds. The figure hovers around 10%. However, their share of the market is substantial.
Child sexual abuse cases involving female perpetrators are confronting and distressing. When these cases make the news, they often provoke shock and outrage.
For the first time, physicists have generated and observed stable bright matter-wave solitons with attractive interactions within a grid of laser light.
In a study published in Telestes, Dr. Joshua Kumbani and Dr. Margarita Díaz-Andreu categorized the various dance scenes depicted in South African rock art, drawing on ethnographic sources, published studies, and the comprehensive SARADA database to identify dance scenes, thus
For a long time, scientists assumed that Earth's water was delivered by asteroids and comets billions of years ago. This coincided with the Late Heavy Bombardment (ca. 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago), a period when planets and bodies in the solar system experienced a much higher
Researchers have discovered how bacteria break through spaces barely larger than themselves, by wrapping their flagella around their bodies and moving forward. Using a microfluidic device that mimics insect gut channels, the team revealed a remarkable "flagellar wrapping"
Global food trade is essential for food security, but its ecological consequences often remain unseen. A new data paper published in One Ecosystem introduces a global long-term dataset, quantifying biodiversity loss embodied in the international trade of staple food crops. As
Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, will require faster and energy-efficient memory components, which will allow them to perform well on complex tasks. Superconducting memories are promising memory devices that are made
Millions of years of isolation have shaped Australia's extraordinary mammal fauna into species unlike anywhere else in the world, from platypus to koalas and wombats. Tragically, Australia is the world leader in mammal extinctions.
A newly uncovered immune chain reaction in the gut may explain why people with inflammatory bowel disease face a much higher risk of colorectal cancer. Researchers found that a powerful inflammatory signal flips on specialized gut immune cells, which then call in waves of white
A Roman-era skeleton discovered in southern England has finally given up her secrets after more than a decade of debate. Known as the Beachy Head Woman, she was once thought to have roots in sub-Saharan Africa or the Mediterranean—an idea that sparked global attention. But new,
Iron is an essential trace element in biological cells. The concentration of the element and its so-called redox state—it can exist either in a doubly ionized state as iron (II) (Fe2+) or a triply ionized state as iron (III) (Fe3+)—play a key role in metabolic processes such as
A massive new study comparing more than 100,000 people with today’s most advanced AI systems delivers a surprising result: generative AI can now beat the average human on certain creativity tests. Models like GPT-4 showed strong performance on tasks designed to measure original
A new study of climate extremes since 1988 finds that many regions have seen increases in deaths due to floods, storms and extreme temperatures. In human terms, the harm comes not just from deaths, but also from lost labor and property damage. (And this doesn't consider damage
