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Could Rocky’s musical language in Project Hail Mary actually work?
Linguists explain how a language built from musical notes could convey complex meaning and even support conversation
How to design a space habitat that supports its residents' mental health
In extreme environments, habitats are built for survival. Submarines, Antarctic bases and post-disaster dwellings are designed to prioritize health and safety. This is especially the case for habitats in space, where room is limited, contact with Earth is remote and hazards are
Newborn screening for cancer risk could save lives. Should it be done?
Genetic screening that identifies cancer-linked mutations in newborns could give doctors a head start on treatment, but it comes with risks.
Total solar eclipse to spellbind Europe
Millions of Europeans will contemplate the sky in awe on Wednesday as a rare total solar eclipse crosses part of the continent and plunges a swath of Spain into eerie daytime darkness.
UK 'on course' to record warmest summer for second year in a row
Britain is "on course" to chalk up its warmest summer on record for the second year running, the UK's Met Office weather agency said Tuesday as the country braced for its fifth heat wave of the season.
How Britain's mapmakers track climate change
Once used to defend Britain's shores against Napoleonic France, the Ordnance Survey's detailed maps are now essential for tracking and adapting to climate change.
Elvish, Klingon and Pig Latin: What can invented languages teach us about the human brain?
Invented languages tend to be the stuff of fantasy or science fiction worlds. But as a child, you may have made one up yourself.
Looking to see the solar eclipse from North America? Here's where and when to catch a sliver
Sorry, North America. After winning the cosmic lottery with a pair of coast-to-coast total solar eclipses, now it's Europe's turn.
Today's Mediterranean diet leans on olive oil, veggies and fish—But the ancients mainly ate bread
The Roman emperor Julian (332–363 CE) called bread the food that "among us is thought to be the most nourishing."
Japan's earthquake shows extreme heat can turn one disaster into two
Emergency workers attempting to rescue survivors after a recent earthquake in Kyushu, Japan, also had to cope with extreme summer heat.
The ESCAPE mission will study the evolution of exoplanet atmospheres
The habitable zone concept is useful for understanding which worlds might, possibly, maybe, be habitable. It highlights exoplanets at the right distances from their stars for liquid water to potentially exist on their surfaces. But that alone can't determine habitability.
Archaeology has evolved: Four eras of understanding Africa's past
What is the past? It may seem a simple question to answer, but it is more complex than we might think at first. As science, politics, technologies and ways of thinking change, so does our understanding of what went before.
Genomics used to find endangered fish populations most vulnerable to climate change
Scientists have shown that genomics can help identify which wild populations are most vulnerable to climate change—offering practical guidance for conserving threatened species before declines become irreversible.
Beauty by contrast: How hair color and background color influence skin appearance
Skin appearance plays an important role in the perception of age, health and attractiveness. Of course, skin appearance is affected by actual skin condition, but previous research has also found that it is affected by adjacent surfaces (e.g., eyebrows, eyes and lips).
Can better civics education restore voter dissatisfaction over political corruption?
This summer, America celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, widely recognized as the formal founding of our nation and one of the early stages of establishing a democratic government.
Genetic neighborhoods distinguish harmful poultry bacteria from harmless strains
When it comes to identifying harmful bacteria, it helps to look at the company their genes keep. Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, used a machine-learning approach to study not
AI-assisted grant proposals may win more often—while narrowing research ideas
A new study from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management found that research proposals showing stronger signs of AI-assisted writing were four percentage points more likely to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Real-time X-ray data analysis with DONUT accelerates materials science
What if scientists could get a taste of discovery as soon as their experiment finishes? Thanks to a new machine learning tool called DONUT, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are transforming how experiments are run at the Advanced
Why do certain lyrics touch us so deeply? We studied 35 years of hits to find out
A growing body of research suggests that listening to music has a positive impact on our health and well-being. We use music in at least seven different ways to regulate our emotions, including for entertainment, comfort or reflection. And it's not just feel-good tracks; we
Rivers are moving sediment in intense bursts, a worrisome new pattern uncovered by AI
After a heavy rain, rivers often turn brown with sediment, sand, silt and soil washed from the landscape that play a vital role in shaping rivers.
Beyond color: Fluorescence lifetime imaging distinguishes multiple proteins in living plant cells
Fluorescent protein imaging is an indispensable tool in life science research, enabling visualization of protein movement and localization, gene expression, signaling pathways, protein-protein interactions and more. For simultaneous analysis of multiple proteins (i.e.,
How to test your lawn for grubs and what to do if you find them
What does it mean when brown patches show up in a perfectly healthy lawn? The truth is, it could be anything from drought to dog urine, fungal diseases, pests or too much fertilizer. But many homeowners automatically blame grubs.
Climate debate remains dominated by established voices despite social media, research finds
When social media arrived on the scene, there were high hopes that they would improve—or even "democratize"—communication about climate change by, for instance, lowering access barriers, creating a more direct channel between science and the public, and giving more voices from
Porous material can arrange disordered gas molecules into a crystal-like structure, study predicts
Capturing carbon or storing hydrogen to combat global warming requires compressing gases into sponge-like porous materials. Until now, gas molecules were thought to adsorb in a disordered manner throughout the pores. But what if invisible gas molecules could be lined up in
Sorting potatoes with AI
Karevo's AI-powered optical recognition system can sort up to 10 tons of potatoes per hour with 95% accuracy. The founder's journey took him from a potato farm to the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and ultimately to his own startup.
Late Paleozoic Ice Age warming event hints at potential climate 'tipping point'
Researchers say a spike in temperatures during an ice age 304 million years ago could inform what climate scientists are learning about rapidly changing conditions today.
How Our Attraction to Natural Fixes Can Stymie Climate Progress
Does a human-made problem need a natural solution? The post How Our Attraction to Natural Fixes Can Stymie Climate Progress appeared first on Nautilus .
X-ray analysis reveals the inner life of leaves while advancing engineering efforts to reduce 'crop sweat'
In the Midwestern summer, humans and plants have to breathe through the heat and humidity. Researchers hope that a retooled crop plant—one with an improved ventilation system within its leaves—could thrive while avoiding drought stress by reducing "crop sweat." Thanks to
New CERN measurement challenges conventional models of how gluons behave inside atomic nuclei
A University of Kansas physicist played a leading role in a CERN study showing that two rival explanations for how gluons behave inside atomic nuclei can now be experimentally distinguished.
As New World screwworm returns to the US, a new dashboard tracks the risk
In the 1950s, the New World screwworm cost U.S. livestock producers tens of millions of dollars a year, reaching $50 million to $100 million annually in the hardest-hit Southwest, before it was eradicated from the United States and pushed south to Panama. Now the flesh-eating
Himalayan grain demonstrates the potential of pangenome-guided breeding for higher yields and adaptability
Scientists from the Centre for Crop and Food Innovation (CCFI) at Murdoch University have participated in a landmark proof-of-concept research project demonstrating how pangenome-guided breeding strategies can reunite two traits that usually involve trade-offs: stress tolerance
Reading daily ocean temperatures from red algae
Understanding how marine ecosystems respond to a warming ocean requires detailed records of past temperatures. An international research team led by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz has found a new way to
Marine heat waves pose hidden threat to human health, researchers warn
The devastating impacts of marine heat waves extend far beyond dying coral reefs and declining fisheries, with new research warning that these extreme ocean-warming events pose a growing threat to human physical and mental health.
Malaysian farmers, environmental groups call for rejection of GMO rice trial
A coalition of farmers, consumer associations and environmental groups is urging Malaysia's National Biosafety Board to reject a proposed field trial of genetically modified rice, warning Tuesday the project could pose risks to food safety, the environment and farmers.
Fungal chitin offers new route to tougher hydrogels for medical devices and soft robots
Researchers at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, have made an advance by using a natural substance from fungi called chitin to create hydrogels that are significantly stronger and tougher. This
Consistency-based rewards could build lasting cooperation better than punishing free-riders
A vaccine only protects a whole community if enough people get it, including those who would stay safe anyway once their neighbors are covered. The same tension runs through climate action and social movements: The shared payoff arrives only when enough people pitch in.
Three energy-loss routes may explain Tarantula Nebula's X-ray shortfall
Like a collage made of layered sheets of colored cellophane, a vibrant new image layers observations of a famous star-forming nebula from NASA's space telescopes. The resulting cosmic "craft" reveals new details about the star-forming region known as 30 Doradus, or the
Researchers create early warning system to monitor housing evictions
Human service organizations play an important role in connecting people to housing, health care, food access and other essential services. Yet forecasting community needs can be difficult in times of rapid change or crisis because of limited resources and restricted access to
Perceived naturalness emerges as key driver of public support for climate technology
From nuclear energy to lab-grown meat, the list of effective but unpopular climate solutions is long. A new University of Colorado Boulder study sheds light on why people reject or accept some proposed sustainability technologies: If it doesn't seem natural, they won't go for
Chinese label once tied to Boston Tea Party reveals 19th-century Pacific trade
When MIT historian Tristan Brown first examined a Chinese tea chest label displayed as a relic of the Boston Tea Party, he had no reason to doubt its story.
New contactless method reveals how mirror-image materials respond differently to light
New research introduces a contactless way to see how mirror-image materials respond differently to circularly polarized light, without first building them into a complete electronic device. The researchers developed a novel method based on light-induced charge separation that
Legal reforms shift public discourse on social issues across Asia, but acceptance varies by context
The past decade has brought a wave of legal reforms around same-sex relationships across Asia: India struck down its colonial-era ban in 2018; Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in 2019; Singapore repealed Section 377A, with the change taking effect in 2023; and Thailand's
More than a decade of observation in Seattle suburbs shows where sensitive bird species won't go
Nearly 30 years ago, a simple question sent University of Washington researchers into the Puget Sound lowlands to look for birds. With Seattle's population swelling and housing developments pushing into once-forested suburbs, researchers wanted to know how land conversion was
As the climate breaks down, costs go up: Welcome to 'climateflation'
If you ask an economist why everything is so expensive these days, you will likely get an answer explaining how oil—the lifeblood of the global economy—is currently facing supply bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz, thereby driving up global energy prices.
Major genetic weakness threatens future corn breeding, study reveals
A new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scientists reveals critically low genetic variation in one of the country's primary breeding stocks for corn. The finding relates specifically to grain yield in intermediate-maturity hybrids, which dominate commercial
“We Wanted to Create An Experience of Microscopic Awe”: A Radical New View of Sacred Plants
Fluorescent visions of the guts of living sacred plants from all over the Americas The post “We Wanted to Create An Experience of Microscopic Awe”: A Radical New View of Sacred Plants appeared first on Nautilus .
Mitochondrial proteins may trigger inflammation by mimicking bacterial distress signals
Mitochondria are often called the powerhouses of the cell. But their ancient origins may also make them drivers of inflammation. Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered that proteins released from mitochondria can activate the immune system in a
Larger natural diamonds retain per-carat premium over lab-grown stones, analysis finds
Natural diamonds consistently command higher prices per carat than laboratory-grown synthetic diamonds, according to a large-scale analysis of online diamond sales published in the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing. This perhaps unsurprising finding
Early farmers' larger grains may reflect rainfall, not genetic selection
A new archaeobotanical study by researchers from the University of Oxford and Kiel University (CAU) has revealed that increases in cereal grain size at the dawn of agriculture, more than 11,000 years ago, were initially driven by plants' plastic responses to favorable growing
