Here’s What’s Happening in the Brain When You’re Improvising
It has a surprising cerebral signature The post Here’s What’s Happening in the Brain When You’re Improvising appeared first on Nautilus .
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Image: Ball bearings as tools for studying physics in microgravity
In this Oct. 20, 2025, photo, tiny ball bearings surround a larger central bearing during the Fluid Particles experiment, conducted inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) aboard the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module.
Mathematicians crack cellular noise puzzle, paving path for better cancer treatment
Why does cancer sometimes recur even after successful treatment, or why do some bacteria survive despite the use of powerful antibiotics? One of the key culprits identified is "biological noise"—random fluctuations occurring inside cells.
NASA's Chandra rings in the new year with the Champagne Cluster
Celebrate the New Year with the "Champagne Cluster," a galaxy cluster seen in this new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes.
Nanozigzags, a new biomaterial, can enhance cancer immunotherapy efficacy by nearly 70%
Immunotherapy has emerged in recent years as a new cancer treatment that is gentler than traditional chemotherapy and causes milder side effects in patients. However, conventional dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy shows inconsistent clinical outcomes, and the cell culture
NIH Agrees to Evaluate Stalled Scientific Grants
Health officials have agreed to assess pending medical research grants after a Trump administration antidiversity purge put them on ice
Earth’s worst extinction was followed by a shockingly fast ocean comeback
A spectacular fossil trove on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen shows that marine life made a stunning comeback after Earth’s greatest extinction. Tens of thousands of fossils reveal fully aquatic reptiles and complex food chains thriving just three million years later. Some
Physicists stirred up controversy with scientific cooking tips in 2025
Cacio e pepe pasta and boiled eggs were the subjects of meticulous studies aiming to help cooks achieve perfection, but the reimagined recipes weren't always well-received
This Robot is Tinier than a Grain of Salt
Engineers had been trying to solve this problem for 40 years The post This Robot is Tinier than a Grain of Salt appeared first on Nautilus .
Time runs faster on Mars and scientists just proved it
Thanks to Einstein’s relativity, time flows differently on Mars than on Earth. NIST scientists have now nailed down the difference, showing that Mars clocks tick slightly faster—and fluctuate over the Martian year. These microsecond shifts could play a big role in future Mars
Scientists stunned by a massive hydrothermal field off Greece
Scientists have uncovered an extensive underwater vent system near Milos, Greece, hidden along active fault lines beneath the seafloor. These geological fractures act as pathways for hot, gas-rich fluids to escape, forming clusters of vents with striking visual diversity. The
AI model uses social media posts to predict unemployment rates ahead of official data
Social media posts about unemployment can predict official jobless claims up to two weeks before government data is released, according to a study. Unemployment can be tough, and people often post about it online.
Most sensitive radio observations to date find no evidence of technosignature from 3I/ATLAS
Since the interstellar object (ISO) 3I/ATLAS was first discovered on July 1, 2025, it has garnered much attention, including speculation, hopes and fears that it may somehow contain evidence of technologically advanced civilizations outside of our solar system.
NASA’s New Chief Hints Iconic Space Shuttle Might Not Be Moving to Texas After All
NASA’s new boss Jared Isaacman hinted that he could break with Texas lawmakers’ push to move iconic space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Houston
Early tests rule out lab as cause of Spain swine fever outbreak
Preliminary analysis rules out a lab leak as the cause of an African swine fever outbreak that has rocked Spain's lucrative pork industry, but further tests are needed, authorities said Tuesday.
Simple wipe test reveals hidden PFAS contamination on firefighter protective gear
The flames die down. The sirens fade. Firefighters peel off their gear, thinking the danger has passed. But in the quiet aftermath, another enemy lingers, an invisible film of "forever chemicals" clinging to jackets, pants and masks.
French ban on 'forever chemicals' in cosmetics, clothing to enter force
A French ban on the production and sale of cosmetics and most clothing containing polluting and health-threatening "forever chemicals" goes into force on Thursday.
The year's first meteor shower and supermoon clash in January skies
The year's first supermoon and meteor shower will sync up in January skies, but the light from one may dim the other.
The century-long hunt for the gigantic meteorite that vanished
A soldier returned from the Sahara desert in 1916 with a wild story about a meteorite that dwarfed all others. Over 100 years of hunting yielded nothing – but now twin brothers think they have solved the puzzle
LA fires showed how much neighborliness matters for wildfire safety—schools can do much more to teach it
On Jan. 7, 2025, people across the Los Angeles area watched in horror as powerful winds began spreading wildfires through neighborhood after neighborhood. Over three weeks, the fires destroyed more than 16,000 homes and businesses. At least 31 people died, and studies suggest
Image: JWST captures colliding spiral galaxies
Mid-infrared observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, shown in white, gray, and red, are combined here with X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, highlighted in blue. Together, these different wavelengths reveal a detailed and layered view of a pair of
West Coast levee failures show growing risks from America's aging flood defenses
In recent weeks, powerful atmospheric river storms have swept across Washington, Oregon and California, unloading enormous amounts of rain. As rivers surged, they overtopped or breached multiple levees—those long, often unnoticed barriers holding floodwaters back from homes and
'Weights of gold in bullion': How the ancients invested in precious metals
"All I want is an income of 20,000 sesterces from secure investments," proclaims a character in a poem by Juvenal (1st–2nd century CE), the Roman poet.
Clouds are vital to life—but many are becoming wispy ghosts. Here's how to see the changes above us
As a scholar researching clouds, I have spent much of my time trying to understand the economy of the sky. Not the weather reports showing scudding rainclouds, but the deeper logic of cloud movements, their distributions and densities and the way they intervene in light,
Heritage railway volunteers show how deep friendships can be formed without discussing emotions
"Let's face it, we're just not that into emotions," Brian tells me with a smile talking with other volunteers at a heritage steam railway in northern England. They are discussing a popular TV restoration show. Allan grimaces, parodying the presenter: "He's always jumping
These fossil finds shed new light on the past in 2025
The year's top paleontological wonders ranged from a 540-million-year-old penis worm to a decades-old rodent impression.
Why your vitamin D supplements might not be working
A randomized trial from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center reveals that magnesium may be the missing key to keeping vitamin D levels in balance. The study found that magnesium raised vitamin D in people who were deficient while dialing it down in those with overly high
New dataset maps global city boundaries in high resolution from 2000 to 2022
A research team led by Prof. Liu Liangyun from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has produced the first comprehensive, high-resolution map of global city and town boundaries, offering a view of how urban boundaries have
The cassette tape made a comeback in 2025 thanks to a DNA upgrade
With a storage capacity of 36 petabytes, a DNA-based cassette tape can hold every song every recorded, and it could be on the market within five years
Scientists have uncovered evidence of Ireland's largest prehistoric hillfort settlement
In a recent study published in Antiquity, Dr. Dirk Brandherm and his colleagues identified more than 600 suspected house platforms in the Brusselstown Ring hillfort, making it the largest nucleated settlement ever discovered in the entirety of prehistoric Britain and Ireland
Hunting for dark matter axions with a quantum-powered haloscope
Axions are hypothetical light particles that could solve two different physics problems, as they could explain why some nuclear interactions don't violate time symmetry and are also promising dark matter candidates. Dark matter is a type of matter that does not emit, reflect or
AI-driven breeding strategy aims to boost orphan crops for food security
With global population growth and climate change posing escalating threats to crop production, the current food system is unlikely to be sufficient to meet future demand. Although more than 12,000 plant species are edible, global agriculture remains reliant on a narrow set of
Ethylene and oxygen found to drive periderm regeneration after plant injury
Plants have an extraordinary ability to sense tissue damage and quickly rebuild their protective outer layers, a process vital for survival amid environmental stresses. The periderm—a specialized protective tissue found in many woody plants—serves as a crucial barrier against
Not all scientific breakthroughs survive the hype
Some scientific breakthroughs may be lost to time due to scandal and redaction, while others are simply a case of waiting for more evidence.
ASKAP discovers a spectacular outflow in a nearby galaxy
Using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), an international team of astronomers has discovered a spectacular bipolar outflow from the disk of a nearby galaxy known as ESO 130-G012. The finding was reported in a paper published December 17 on the pre-print
Against the odds, a burbling lava planet retains an atmosphere
The James Webb Space Telescope detected an atmosphere on a lava-covered exoplanet, evidence that small planets close to stars can have atmospheres.
What's inside Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano? Scientists obtain first 3D images
In the predawn darkness, a team of scientists climbs the slope of Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano, one of the world's most active and whose eruption could affect millions of people. Its mission: figure out what is happening under the crater.
2025 was one of three hottest years on record, scientists say
Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said.
Rare jumping bristletail reveals new step in insect mating evolution
Understanding the evolution of insect mating behavior is essential for explaining how early insects adapted to life on land. A new study examines Petrobiellus akkesiensis, a rare jumping bristletail, and reveals that its highly specialized male genital structures enable direct
Climate policies can backfire by eroding 'green' values, study finds
A popular vision of life after climate action looks like vegetarians riding bikes, city centers without cars, and people foregoing air travel. But a new paper published in Nature Sustainability finds that climate policies targeting lifestyle changes (say, urban car bans)
What Makes Ultraprocessed Foods Addictive?
A neuroscientist explains how highly processed foods may be key to “food addiction.” She also reveals some solutions
Could Next-Generation Medicines Help Solve the Opioid Crisis?
New medications are in the pipeline that could help people win their battles against addictive substances, including opioids
Encoding adaptive intelligence in molecular matter by design
For more than 50 years, scientists have sought alternatives to silicon for building molecular electronics. The vision was elegant; the reality proved far more complex. Within a device, molecules behave not as orderly textbook entities but as densely interacting systems where
These Are the Most Exciting Space Science Events for 2026
From crewed lunar voyages to flight tests of fully reusable rockets and launches of new orbital telescopes studying the outer limits of the cosmos, 2026 should be a banner year for space science and exploration
A controversial experiment threatened to kill the multiverse in 2025
A photon was apparently detected in two places at once in a twist on the classic double-slit experiment, but many physicists didn't accept the results
Genetic Ancestry Doesn’t Tell Your Whole Story
If you’re looking for your genetic origin story, your DNA will only take you so far. The post Genetic Ancestry Doesn’t Tell Your Whole Story appeared first on Nautilus .
Benefits of mRNA cancer vaccines could exceed $75 billion in US alone
An analysis of ongoing trials suggests that mRNA cancer vaccines have the potential to deliver health benefits worth $75 billion each year in the US alone
Dual-cation strategy boosts upconversion efficiency in stable oxide perovskites
Researchers at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new way to significantly enhance upconversion luminescence in oxide perovskites, a class of materials known for their thermal and chemical stability but limited optical
Are Colorado's new natural gas pipeline rules tough enough?
A state audit in 2023 painted a grim picture of Colorado's oversight of natural gas pipelines, but critics say despite the findings and legislation mandating improvements, new rules backed by regulators are inadequate.
Colorado River: Upper Basin states must be willing to compromise
The states along the Colorado River are proving the truth of the famous adage often attributed to Mark Twain: "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."
