The number of chicks in the Coulman Island emperor penguin colony decreased by about 69% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to research published in Communications Earth & Environment. The authors suggest that a large iceberg, which grounded off the island between July 2025
The European Union adopted new legislation on plants obtained through certain new genomic techniques in June 2026. The new framework will apply after a two-year transition period. It distinguishes between two categories. Plants in Category 1 (NGT-1) have a limited number and
Puerto Ricans share deep skepticism toward elected officials and a widespread sense of limited self-governance, according to a new study from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras.
Researchers at the University of Cologne have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that links two fundamental processes in mitochondria. The team, led by Julia Racho and Dylan Stobbe under the supervision of Professor Dr. Jan Riemer from the Institute of Biochemistry at
Chiral molecules can exist in left- and right-handed forms. Although these mirror-image forms may look almost identical, they can behave very differently in chemical reactions, biological systems and advanced materials. Preparing one mirror-image form in high purity is
Drug development is among the slowest, most failure-prone processes in modern science, with about 90% of drug candidates never reaching the market. Today, artificial intelligence methods have accelerated the first step—plucking promising molecules out of endless
Earlier toilet training and new recycling technologies are among expert-backed solutions to reduce the environmental impact of disposable diapers and other hygiene products, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.
Scuba diving is often presented as a success story for marine ecotourism.
For more than 20 years, about 4,000 autonomous profiling floats have been drifting through the ocean. They form part of the international Argo program (Argo—global array of profiling floats). At regular intervals, they descend to a depth of 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) and, as
In May 2026, OpenAI released a new math result that sent shock waves throughout the world of mathematical research. A major unsolved problem called the "unit distance conjecture" had just been resolved by generative AI.
A startling new study of a little-known, unpublished short story by Alan Turing challenges our understanding of the man who played a key role in cracking the Nazis' Enigma code, developed the theoretical underpinnings of the first computers and laid the groundwork for the
Astronomers searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence may have been missing alien signals in part of the radio spectrum that has not recently been explored.
In mammals, males are usually stronger and more competitive than females. Males also show greater inequality in reproductive success—the number of offspring they produce—than females. In spotted hyenas, the opposite is true: Reproductive inequality is greater among females than
Fusion at high temperatures powers the sun and, if harnessed, could provide a potential source of energy here on Earth. But controlling fusion reactions has other benefits. The process also generates subatomic particles called neutrons that are used in a range of applications
Snakes are everywhere in our legends and mythology. Yet for most of us, our blood runs cold whenever we encounter these strangely undulating, scaly tubes of muscle slithering through the leaf litter.
Crop production faces threats from plant pathogens. Traditional disease-resistance breeding relies heavily on natural plant resistance genes that encode immune receptors adapted to particular pathogens. However, rapidly evolving pathogens frequently overcome these natural
Leiden environmental researchers have mapped the environmental footprint of different diets and revealed which population groups have the greatest impact through their food choices. Their findings show where efforts to make the food system more sustainable could make the
It's been four years since the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion.
Plant diversity has long been regarded as key to stable and resilient ecosystems. However, until now, little has been understood about why it has different effects in agricultural areas than in grasslands or forests. An international research group, in which the Leibniz
New research from the University of St Andrews and Université de Neuchâtel has uncovered the mechanism that allows sperm whales to sleep in a unique vertical position just under the ocean surface.
Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students' reading habits, or rather, nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age.
Animals and electronic devices aren't the only things with memory. Materials can retain memories of past deformations in their microscopic structure. A common example is a crease in a sheet of paper that has been folded then unfolded. Understanding this type of memory could
Sustainable business practices are often seen as a luxury that only rich countries can afford. And these days, some of the biggest economies, including the U.S., are backtracking on those commitments.
A new study led by Japanese researchers from Tohoku University and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) reveals that some of the minerals most essential for green technologies may have a significant negative impact on biodiversity. Using remote sensing and
Efficient heat management in solids is key to advancing the next generation of electronics. However, wave-like heat movement—known as phonon focusing—had been observed only at extremely low, or cryogenic, temperatures, limiting its study and practical use.
Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, or Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La in Persian, is part of a volcanic arc that formed tens of millions of years ago and is made of a tough-to-penetrate rock
From the moment they enter the world, human babies depend on others in a way that is unmatched across most species.
Today, people speak or sign around 7,500 languages. Yet this figure provides only a snapshot of a constantly changing history. How many languages existed before written records? Did agriculture reduce linguistic diversity by allowing expanding farming populations to replace
Researchers at the University of Würzburg have succeeded in detecting exceptionally robust electrical transport in a topological insulator. This could lead to new metrological applications. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications.
If the Colorado River Basin is the lifeblood of the American Southwest, keeping the region's agricultural, ecological and economic systems thriving, Colorado's West Slope River basins could be considered the heart. Together, they contribute about 70% of the water delivered to
African gray foam-nest treefrogs (Chiromantis xerampelina) are common across the savannas and dry forests of southeastern Africa. Despite their unremarkable outward appearance, these small animals display some of the most intriguing reproductive behaviors known to science. Most
What if the Higgs boson found in 2012 is not alone but is the only sibling we have encountered so far? Scientists at CERN discovered the particle that year, and it was a major discovery because it explained how other particles acquire mass. For a long time, scientists thought
Exceptional points, or EPs for short, are among the phenomena of modern physics. These are special points or locations at which the properties of matter, space or time change. In a new theoretical study, researchers from the Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems (PhoQS) at
Every year, thousands of tourists pile into game drive vehicles or don their hiking gear and cross South Africa's nature reserves. Binoculars and cameras at the ready, each hopes for a special encounter with Africa's wildlife—as small as dwarf mongooses, as mighty as elephants
A moth caterpillar identified by the agribusiness sector as one of the most destructive pests of soybean, cotton and corn crops may harbor fungi and bacteria in its gut that can degrade expanded polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam. In an article published in the journal BMC
The history of testicular transplants is long and often sordid, but this successful procedure offers hope for survivors of cancer and other diseases that affect fertility
NASA is about to launch a space observatory that could help settle some of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will study how the universe began, what it is made of and how it has evolved over time.
NASA MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission scientists have uncovered a key puzzle piece in understanding certain types of auroras on Mars, finding that they form in a similar way to Earth–based auroras.
Coffee grounds that usually end up being thrown away can have a second life as a raw material for producing biofuels and other high-value-added products. A study by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has evaluated how to extract oil from coffee grounds efficiently while
New research led by atmospheric scientists at the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa found that the century-old yardstick used across many industries to estimate air-conditioning and refrigeration energy demand—called cooling degree days—is missing something fundamental.
There are few pleasures greater than letting a piece of chocolate melt slowly on your tongue. Indeed, the proximity of chocolate's melting point to our own body temperature is one reason it is so widely appreciated.
Viking 1 landed on Mars 50 years ago The post The Amazing Photos from NASA’s First-Ever Mars Lander appeared first on Nautilus .
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University of Cambridge in collaboration with colleagues at HHMI Janelia and NIH, have created some of the most detailed three-dimensional maps ever generated of human airway cells, revealing how the specialized cells that
An international collaborative research group led by Professor Bong June Sung of the Department of Chemistry at Sogang University and Professor Shinji Saito of the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), and the Graduate University
Chemists have demonstrated that neutral chalcogen-bond donors can induce asymmetry in chemical reactions, addressing a challenge that has limited the development of chalcogen-bonding catalysis.
Why can zebrafish regenerate damaged gut nerves while humans largely cannot? Michigan State University researchers have developed a new research tool that allows them to remove gut neurons in zebrafish and watch them regenerate in real time, helping scientists investigate one
Spliceosomal introns are noncoding DNA sequences located between exons in many eukaryotic protein-coding genes. Most are removed post-transcriptionally by RNA splicing and do not encode proteins, but they have been implicated in various regulatory processes, including gene
The Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis), a marine fish species endemic to the Chinese coast and known as the "Panda of the Sea," is critically endangered and one of the few marine fish listed as a first-class protected wild animal in China. Collaborative research led by the
If approved, this deal would give SpaceX hundreds of acres that are currently part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for private land
Immune cells protect and heal the human body. In medicine, they are specifically activated through biochemical reactions to treat certain diseases. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, ETH Zurich, Humboldt University of Berlin, Charité Berlin and Inselspital Bern have
