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Firefighters gain upper hand on deadly Spain wildfire

Firefighters battling a wildfire in southern Spain that killed 12 people began to contain the blaze Saturday as the hardest-hit village remained deserted, with charred vegetation and blackened homes a grim reminder of the inferno that sent terrified people fleeing their homes.

Why gold never tarnishes has finally been explained

Gold may have a secret self-defense system that helps it resist tarnishing. Researchers discovered that atoms on gold surfaces reorganize themselves into patterns that block oxygen from reacting with the metal, suppressing oxidation by up to a trillion-fold. Beyond explaining

Q&A: Unforeseen consequences of the 'great aging' of America

The average life span for Americans hovered around 40 years for the first 100 years of the nation's existence. But after 1880, breakthroughs in modern medicine and public health resulted in a dramatic rise in life expectancy. By 1930, the average American could expect to enjoy

Managing water with local wisdom and science

Across a narrow watershed in Asakura, a rural city in Fukuoka Prefecture, centuries-old stone channels still guide water through fields and into the river below. Today, those same systems are the focus of researchers at Kyushu University's Watershed Systems Engineering

This electric field trick boosted heat flow by nearly 300%

Researchers discovered that electricity can dramatically reshape how heat flows through certain ceramic materials, increasing heat conduction by almost threefold in a preferred direction. The unexpected result could lead to much more efficient cooling technologies and

Second pregnancy changes the brain in surprising new ways

Researchers found that every pregnancy rewires the brain in its own way, with a second pregnancy bringing a different pattern of changes than the first. The discoveries could lead to better ways to recognize and treat maternal mental health challenges, including peripartum