A recently discovered extinct bird from the early Cretaceous Period (approximately 121 million years ago) may have waggled its long tail feathers to attract mates, according to a study published May 27, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Alexander Clark of the
Around the world, people watched NASA's Artemis II mission in awe as humans returned to lunar orbit for the first time since 1972.
Nonlinear interactions between light and matter are at the heart of some of the most powerful tools in modern optics, but pushing these processes to their limits has long been hampered by a fundamental constraint: the stronger you make the laser, the more likely it is to
Climate change is exacerbating rainfall, flooding and sea-level rises in coastal and low-lying areas. During the past few years, disastrous floods have swept through Lismore in New South Wales, Northern Queensland, and the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Large waves have pounded
Some 350,000 years ago, the center of New Zealand's North Island appeared much different than the mountainous, scrub-covered landscape it is today. Amid a glacial period, temperatures were colder and conditions harsher. Vast beech and podocarp forests blanketed the region,
Astronomers from the George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC, and elsewhere have employed NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft to observe a pulsar wind nebula inside a supernova remnant known as CTA 1. Results of the observational campaign, presented in a research paper
As wildflowers go, the mountain jewelflower is demure, clever and quietly unbreakable. It has spread across many of California's iconic landscapes, from Sonoma wine country to the oak-dotted foothills, even over the Sierra Crest, where snow covers the ground during winter.
Highlights from the last week of May, 2026: A key climate tipping point is disrupting the Arctic Ocean food chain (more of a lowlight, I guess). Scuba-diving tourism may not be the benefit to coral reef systems that we once thought, and might actually be unsustainable. And an
Nearly 5,000 years ago, respiratory infections, possibly including tuberculosis, were ravaging the children buried at Camino del Molino (CMOL), Spain. The massive circular burial cave carved into rock is Europe's largest Copper Age mass burial, containing over 1,300
A research team from HKU Engineering has pioneered a fundamentally new imaging strategy known as AIMED (Arbitrary illumination microscopy with encoded depth), which utilizes a sub-sampling approach. By integrating innovations in axial optical encoding with advanced
The new open-source atlas, generated by an AI tool called ESMFold2, vastly increases the known protein universe
Cosmic rays seen at Earth show a wide range of particle energies, from 107 electron-volts (eV) to more than 1020 eV, the latter being about the same as the kinetic energy of a 450 gram football (soccer ball) being kicked across the pitch at about 8 meters per second. A plot of
For the past several years, Penn State geoscientist Sarah Ivory and her students have been among a team of scientists scaling the East African Rwenzori Mountains, collecting sediment core samples from lakes formed at the end of the last ice age as glaciers began receding in the
Getting hot and sweaty in a British heat wave, volunteers from home and abroad have been hard at work all week to restore a historic naked chalk giant dubbed "Rude Man" on a hillside in southwest England.
As traditional chip miniaturization slows, researchers have found a way to pack more computing power into the same space by stacking silicon circuits in multiple layers. The new process uses ultra-thin silicon membranes and low-temperature manufacturing techniques to overcome a
Non-native wall lizards living in Cincinnati, Ohio, have thrived against the odds thanks to an ability to expand their population more quickly than any inbreeding-amplified harmful genes could weaken their chances for survival, new research suggests.
There is plenty of intriguing sci-fi on offer this month, whether it’s solar-powered cities from Adrian Tchaikovsky or a strange future from M. John Harrison
Space exploration is filled with setbacks, but the spectacular explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on Thursday night marked a significant blow to not only the company, which was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, but also NASA, with the two collaborating for the
Messier 88 is an active galaxy with a central supermassive black hole that is gobbling up gas and dust
The gleaming skyscrapers and bright lights of the United Arab Emirates draw the eyes of all who travel there, a sign of the Arabian Peninsula nation's rapid, oil-fueled development over the last decades into a major hub for commerce and tourism.
A new study suggests melatonin supplements may help night shift workers boost their body's DNA repair processes, potentially offsetting some of the damage linked to working overnight. The findings are early but raise the possibility of a simple strategy to help reduce long-term
New DNA evidence shows that Europe’s hunter-gatherers and early farmers interacted far more closely than previously thought, with women likely playing a crucial role in spreading farming across northwestern Europe. Centuries later, the arrival of Bell Beaker migrants triggered
By stacking custom-designed silver nanoparticles like nanoscale LEGO bricks, scientists stabilized a mysterious crystal phase that had never been observed before. The material not only solves a longstanding puzzle in materials science but also exhibits promising quantum
Particles of light cannot be divided into smaller particles, but if you try to snip off the end of one, instead of shortening it multiplies
A specially formulated tomato-soy juice packed with natural plant compounds may help calm inflammation linked to obesity, according to a new clinical study. Healthy adults with obesity who drank the juice daily for four weeks saw significant reductions in several key
Scientists discovered that sleep deprivation damages a key brain circuit responsible for social memory, making it harder to recognize familiar individuals. In laboratory studies, caffeine restored communication between neurons in this pathway and reversed the memory deficits
A new room-temperature quantum device uses twisted light to entangle photons and electrons, overcoming one of the biggest hurdles in quantum technology. The breakthrough could pave the way for smaller, cheaper quantum systems with applications ranging from secure communications
From satellite imagery to clandestine price reports, a new study draws on North Korea to explore economic activity in opaque regimes and information-scarce regions. North Korea is the blackest of economic black holes. Even a basic question like "is the economy shrinking or
Ever feel uncomfortable when a payment screen asks for a tip? We sure have. As tipping prompts become more widespread, more consumers are feeling uneasy or frustrated, but not always sure why.
Radar data from an agricultural area in South Africa, shown in a vivid color palette, reveal crop types and how they changed during the Southern Hemisphere's growing season.
Professional learning and student assessment in schools is set to be transformed, thanks to a first of its kind advance in education technology led by the University of Glasgow.
As General Dwight D. Eisenhower prepared for D-Day, he needed a forecast. The new movie Pressure shows the tense make-or-break weather prediction that led to the successful invasion of Europe that spelled the beginning of the end of World War II
Their lithium gave them away The post These Stars Swallowed Their Earth-like Planets appeared first on Nautilus .
Understanding the dynamics of how water moves is deceptively simple in concept and endlessly complex in practice. Real-world marine environments are anything but controlled: weather, seasons, and geography change constantly. Yet understanding water movement is a critical aspect
New research reveals a potential link between the gut microbes of a fish and global ocean processes, offering new insight into how marine ecosystems help regulate ocean chemistry and the marine carbon cycle. The study, titled "Symbiotic bacteria may support calcium carbonate
For nearly a century, there were two known kinds of magnets. Ferromagnets are the classic magnets that attract metal and keep pictures stuck to the refrigerator. Antiferromagnets hide their magnetism at the atomic scale but are increasingly prized for their technological
Bright colors in animals are beautiful but often considered risky because they are more obvious to predators. However, conspicuous colors can also serve defensively, signaling toxicity or even luring predators away from more vulnerable body parts.
High-bandwidth memory keeps powerful AI chips fed with data, and demand for it helped Boise-based Micron briefly top $1 trillion