What did the face of our ancestors look like three million years ago? Our international team has answered this question by virtually reconstructing the facial fragments of Little Foot, the most complete Australopithecus skeleton yet discovered. This reconstruction sheds light
Just a few days in simulated microgravity can subtly change the way women's blood clots, sparking bigger questions about health monitoring protocols for astronauts who can spend six months or more in orbit, say Simon Fraser University researchers. First reported in 2020, an
Stanford researchers have combined two microscopy techniques to create a one-of-a-kind instrument that can show cell structures interacting in real time at an unprecedented 120-nanometer resolution—the highest achieved without the use of fluorescent labels. This new
Researchers from the University of Nottingham have uncovered a surprising biological quirk in domestic cats that may help explain why they are so prone to chronic kidney disease. Unlike dogs and most other mammals, cats appear to accumulate unusual fats inside the cells of
If a tree falls in the forest, it can create an opening for more incoming light, and that makes a significant impact on the surrounding environment, according to new research. An international science team has used supercomputer simulations to model forest population dynamics
Scientists at the University of Tokyo have captured something never seen before: a frame-by-frame view of how electron spins flip inside an antiferromagnet, a material once thought to be magnetically “invisible.” By firing ultrafast electrical pulses into a thin layer of
Rural communities bordering the Tongass National Forest harvest more than 4.5 million pounds of wild food per year, including 100 different species that our public lands help support. Just how much food is this? An average quarter-pound cheeseburger might weigh around 6 oz,
An independent researcher claimed on Wednesday that a marble bust of Christ in a Roman church is by Michelangelo, the latest purported attribution to the Renaissance genius who is one of the most imitated artists in the world.
Up to half of the insects in the Amazon region could be exposed to life-threatening heat levels due to progressive, anthropogenic global warming. This is shown by a recent study by the universities of Würzburg and Bremen.
Mosquitoes transmit several pathogens of public health importance, including malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Zika. These vector-borne diseases are responsible for millions of cases every year, and hundreds of thousands of deaths. The most effective way to cope with the threat
Earth experienced a period of intense, large-scale volcanism during the early Aptian. Around that time, it also experienced widespread ocean deoxygenation during the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) as well as the onset of a period of unusual stability in Earth's magnetic field,
Thousands of years ago, European communities used a variety of plant and animal products to create elaborate meals, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS One by Lara González Carretero of the University of York, U.K. and colleagues.
New 3D reconstructions of a key sensory organ in ctenophores reveal an unexpected structural and functional complexity. The findings suggest that an elementary brain may have already appeared in our most ancient relatives, reshaping our understanding of nervous system evolution
Different regions of the United States are experiencing different patterns of warming climate, requiring region-specific adaptation, according to a study published in PLOS Climate by María Dolores Gadea Rivas of the University of Zaragoza, Spain and Jesús Gonzalo of University
A large-scale study led by the University of Jyväskylä revealed that human activity is consistently changing the ecosystems of Northern European lakes. The study shows that hydropower and human activity in catchment areas are altering the food webs of lakes. The study
Pay range transparency laws that are intended to promote pay equity can inadvertently deter women from applying for those positions, thus perpetuating gender gaps in the workforce, according to research from the Cornell ILR School.
A research team led by Profs. Zhu Min, Lu Jing, and Zhu You'an from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published two back-to-back cover stories in the journal Nature on March 4, reporting new discoveries
A sweeping new study reveals that what’s on your plate may directly shape the pesticides circulating in your body. Researchers found that people who eat more fruits and vegetables known to carry higher pesticide residues—such as strawberries, spinach, and bell peppers—also have
An exceptionally flexible region of the spine enables falling cats to twist the front and back halves of their body sequentially to ensure a safe landing
In a first, a space mission led by NASA and France has tracked Earth's rivers swelling and shrinking from month to month over the course of a year and found significantly less of a swing than previous model-based estimates. A record drought in the Amazon likely influenced the
A new study proposes that a crash between Titan and another moon spawned Hyperion and, much later, destabilized Saturn’s inner moons into rings.
Northern wildfires may be more dangerous for the climate than they appear. Researchers found that fires in boreal forests can burn deep into peat soils, releasing ancient carbon stored for hundreds or thousands of years. These slow, smoldering fires often look small from space,
When economists track inequality, they typically focus on income and spending.
Climate change's rising seas may threaten tens of millions more people than scientists and government planners originally thought because of mistaken research assumptions on how high coastal waters already are, a new study said.
The Hubble and Euclid space telescopes combined forces to capture the dying star in stunning new detail
The NA62 Collaboration has dramatically reduced the uncertainty in its measurement of an extremely rare particle decay, in results just presented at the 2026 La Thuile conference.
A plastic drinks bottle is one of the most "recyclable" objects in the modern waste stream. It is lightweight and collected in huge volumes. Yet even for this item, the reality of recycling is messy: labels, inks, caps, food residues, colorants and the occasional wrong plastic
A #MeToo-style reckoning appears to be unfolding within Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Astronomers have reported observations of a rare star system consisting of one star orbiting a system of three more tightly bound stars. This quadruple star system is described in a new study, published in Nature Communications, as the most compact quadruple star system
Researchers have built the smallest OLED pixel ever made—just 300 nanometers across—without sacrificing brightness. By redesigning the pixel with a nano-sized optical antenna and a protective insulation layer, they prevented the short circuits that normally plague devices at
Every chemical reaction faces a barrier: For substances to react with one another, it is first necessary to supply energy. In many cases, this energy barrier is low—such as when striking a match. For many key reactions in industry, however, it is much larger—and increased
Researchers at Kobe University have developed an AI system that can detect acromegaly, a rare hormone disorder, by analyzing photos of the back of the hand and a clenched fist. The disease often develops slowly and can take years to diagnose, even though untreated cases may
Children as young as seven begin to internalize stereotypes about who is more or less likely to pursue occupations related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)—beliefs that may influence career choices as they approach adulthood, according to a new child
Scientists have discovered that, far from being solitary insects, some cockroaches appear to form an exclusive bond with a partner. And how do they get this relationship off the ground? By eating each other's wings.
A new study suggests that decades of reported gains in crop yields from plant breeding may be significantly overstated, challenging a common method used worldwide to measure genetic progress. The international research team includes five University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists.
Carbon markets rewarding the recovery of degraded environments risk penalizing long-term Indigenous stewardship, according to a coalition of experts writing in Nature Climate Change. The article by RMIT University environmental science and legal experts working with a
Most coastal risk assessments have underestimated current sea levels, meaning tens of millions of people face losing their homes to rising waters earlier than expected
People may be frustrated by the lack of detail when weather forecasters say, "There will be thunderstorms popping up, but we don't know where." Now a key finding in a study by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), published in the journal Nature, is set to improve the
The DNA foundation model Evo 2 has been published in the journal Nature. Trained on the DNA of over 100,000 species across the entire tree of life, Evo 2 can identify patterns in gene sequences across disparate organisms that experimental researchers would need years to
A widely used method to calculate sea level rise may have missed up to a century of change, so the risks could hit home for millions sooner than thought.
Walking on two legs has long been considered a milestone in human evolution and one of our most defining characteristics. Until now, researchers assumed that the first humans originated in Africa and that bipedalism developed there around 6 million years ago. However, an
For the first time, researchers in France and Israel have observed how an emulsified liquid droplet can transform from a hexagon into a six-pointed star shape in response to rising temperature. Publishing their results in Physical Review Letters, a team led by Eli Sloutskin at
Under the supervision of Université de Montréal archaeology professor Christina Halperin, Ph.D. student Jean Tremblay spent six years, from 2018 to 2024, studying how the Mayan city of Ucanal managed its drinking water. Combining geochemistry and paleolimnology, his
A massive bloom of rimu berries fueled a mating surge among the world’s heaviest (and strangest) parrots
Columnist Natalie Wolchover explores whether applied category theory can be “green” math. The post Can the Most Abstract Math Make the World a Better Place? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
A new study from Hiroshima University shows that, among university students just entering the workforce, those with optimism about the future better manage "reality shock" through formation of a career-related identity.
Craters, craters, and yet more craters: this snapshot from ESA's Mars Express is packed full of them, each as fascinating as the last.
Light is an unusually rich carrier of information. Its direction of travel, wavelength, and polarization can all be used to encode signals or images. Yet controlling these properties independently remains difficult, especially when light can enter a device from either side.
The food flying aboard Artemis II is designed to support crew health and performance during the mission around the moon. With no resupply, refrigeration, or late-load capability, all meals must be carefully selected to remain safe, shelf-stable, and easy to prepare and consume
The end-Permian extinction 252 million years ago wiped out over 80 per cent of marine species, but many ecosystems still had complex food webs despite the losses
