Public concern over the total failure of the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant on Wellington's south coast has been growing, despite this week's announcement of an independent review.
Jessica Rimsza, a materials engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, sees untapped potential in what most people see as waste. Food scraps, manure and sewage are natural byproducts of the U.S. agricultural industry. They are also rich in biogas, a mixture that contains methane
Have you ever seen a hibiscus flower? Although its petals have a range of colors, what makes the trumpet-shaped flower more beautiful is the central stalk, which houses the anthers that produce pollen grains. Powdery in structure, this pollen is commonly bright yellow or golden
Pioneering alpinist and scientist Horace Bénédict de Saussure brought us a curious relic to capture the blues above us The post The Mountain Man Who Measured the Sky’s Brilliance appeared first on Nautilus .
University of Queensland research has revealed that double-stranded RNA-based biopesticides (dsRNA) sprayed on plant leaves can travel right down into root systems. Led by Dr. Chris Brosnan at UQ's Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Science, the work also disproves a
SeaCast is an innovative high-resolution forecasting system for the Mediterranean that harnesses AI to deliver faster and more energy-efficient predictions than traditional models. Unlike existing global AI models, which operate at lower resolutions and primarily rely on ocean
A team of physicists from the University of Ottawa have developed a new theoretical model that shines new light on how scientists understand the way lasers interact with dense matter, such as solids and liquids. This could unlock advances in ultrafast physics and
Just as for humans, sufficient sleep supports learning and coping for horses. A recent study at the University of Helsinki indicates that short periods of REM sleep impair horses' perseverance and performance in demanding learning tasks. In a study published in the journal
New ethnographic research reveals nine justifications that make AI innovations almost "irresistible" across organizational and professional boundaries. The study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland and Aalto University provides rich empirical insight into how
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life and public institutions, trust in the companies developing AI is emerging as a critical societal issue. A new international study led by researchers at Tampere University shows that people's trust in AI
Growing lettuce in the Arctic as a business venture? One Greenland entrepreneur believes in the idea, selling his house to get start-up capital in a gamble he's hoping will pay off.
Human-driven climate change intensified rainfall that triggered Spain's deadliest natural disaster in a generation when flash floods hit the Valencia region in 2024, a new study showed on Tuesday.
A team of 48 astronomers from 14 countries, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has discovered a population of dusty, star-forming galaxies at the far edges of the universe that formed only a billion years after the Big Bang, believed to have occurred 13.7 billion
“How does our climate connect to what’s going on inside our planet?” The post The 3-D Secrets of the “Gravity Hole” Under Antarctica appeared first on Nautilus .
Solar radiation warms and illuminates our planet. It is the primary driver behind the movement of clouds and wind, helps keep us warm, and governs activity through daily and seasonal cycles. However, over the past 30 years, a complex combination of reduced atmospheric aerosol
Efficient generation and reliable distribution of quantum entangled states is crucial for emerging quantum applications, including quantum key distribution (QKDs). However, conventional polarization-based entanglement states are not stable over long fiber networks. While
For years, Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway have ranked near the top of the United Nations' annual index of countries based on indicators of well-being and quality of life. Countries with more poverty and less access to health care and education tend to rank lower on the list,
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and managing its availability is critical for growing crops to maintain the global food supply. In an effort to move toward a more sustainable bioeconomy, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and
Quasicrystals are orderly structures that never repeat. Scientists just showed they can exist in space and time.
Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website, a Nature investigation finds
New research shows that short periods of extreme heat and drought during flowering could become one of the biggest threats to global wheat production in the coming decades. As the climate changes, farmers around the world are facing more frequent and intense weather extremes.
An international research team, including VUB data scientist Yannick Jadoul, has shed new light on the rhythmic nature of sexual behavior in bonobos. By precisely analyzing the tempo of movements during sex, researchers aim to better understand which building blocks of rhythm
On a cool spring morning in a northern forest, the ground feels soft underfoot. Mist hangs between the trunks, and the air smells of wet leaves and old humus; the slow alchemy that keeps a forest alive. Beneath the surface, billions of microbes break down organic matter and
For years, consumers have quietly edited themselves online. A harsh review softened. A detail left out. A complaint never posted at all. New research shows that when the legal threat behind that silence disappears, the internet gets more honest, and more useful, almost
A technology that uses a coiled wire to electrify aerosols has boosted snowfall amid a drought in the western US, according to the company developing it, but the results haven't convinced other scientists
Some sound baffling could give birds the reprieve they need from our noise pollution The post The World Is Becoming Too Loud for Birds appeared first on Nautilus .
In 2024 extreme rain and floods hit the Spanish region of Valencia, killing more than 230 people in the country. Now a new study shows climate change made it even worse
Rutgers researchers have made a discovery that could change the future of seafood farming in New Jersey. A study led by marine scientist Daphne Munroe has shown that Atlantic surfclams can be successfully farmed in the open ocean. Her research, published in the North American
A newly examined prehistoric shark from the age of dinosaurs provides surprising insights into the early evolution of modern sharks. It cannot be confidently assigned to any shark order that exists today and thus calls into question previous assumptions about the evolution of
Chinese chatbots may be censored by the state, according to a study published in PNAS Nexus. China has a robust program of censorship and all China-originating LLMs must be approved by the Chinese government before release.
The new moon on Feb. 17 marks the start of the Lunar New Year, a celebration originating in China that today is celebrated around the world. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse, symbolizing energy and passion.
An ultrastable laser could enable extremely precise timing and navigation on the moon, and the cold, dark craters near the lunar poles would be the ideal location for it
Just how small can a QR code be? Small enough that it can only be recognized with an electron microscope. A research team at TU Wien, working together with the data storage technology company Cerabyte, has now demonstrated exactly that. The QR code covers an area of just 1.98
The complex biology of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, has researchers wondering how its absence helps snakes last a long time with no food, if at all.
For 40 years, scientists have been monitoring the Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) along the southern coast of Brazil. A study published in Estuarine Management and Technologies reveals that these charismatic mammals are far more than just inhabitants of the coast; they
Understanding what complex chemical measurements reveal about materials and reactions can take weeks or months of analysis. But now, an AI-powered platform developed by researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could reduce
Common seal pups communicate in ways that are more similar to humans than previously thought. For instance, they take turns when "speaking" and their calls become increasingly alike when they spend time around each other. This is shown by research conducted by biologist Koen de
There is much debate about the role of social media in young people's lives. But what do adolescents themselves think about it? In any case, they feel they are not being listened to enough, according to a new study by Radboud University. The report outlines how young people
Fairy wrens are everywhere. Go anywhere in Australia and there will be at least one local fairy wren. They're not endangered. In fact, it would be hard to imagine an animal less endangered than fairy wrens. So what do we gain from researching them? Quite a lot actually.
Imagine a "smart fluid" whose internal structure can be rearranged just by changing temperature. In a new study published in Matter, researchers report a way to overcome a long-standing limitation in a class of "smart fluids" called nematic liquid crystal microcolloids,
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a prestigious competition featuring talented high school students from around the world, in which competitors solve complicated mathematical problems. Geometry problems from these kinds of competitions—in particular, the formal
Technology is making the ride-hail industry more accessible than ever, according to new research published in the Strategic Management Journal. The study, conducted by academics at the National University of Singapore (NUS), shows that navigation apps are not just a
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working with international partners, have uncovered surprising behavior in a specially engineered crystal. Composed of tantalum, tungsten and selenium—elements often studied for their potential in advanced
New research reveals the evolutionary accident that is the human chin The post Chins: The Evolutionary Accident Unique to Homo Sapiens appeared first on Nautilus .
What's the key to growing resilient crops that can survive tough conditions? Researchers at the University of Missouri are getting to the root of it—literally. Researchers in the Walter Gassmann lab at Mizzou's Bond Life Sciences Center have discovered how a specific protein
When an electron travels through a polar crystalline solid, its negative charge attracts the positively charged atomic cores, causing the surrounding crystal lattice to deform. The electron and lattice distortion then move together through the material—like a single object.
A mystery novel, a history book, and a fantasy epic may have little in common in plot or style. But count the words inside them and a strange regularity appears: many new words show up early, then fewer and fewer as the author reuses what has already been introduced. That
Adjusting the size and chemistry of nanocrystals within an ultrathin surface can speed up light-driven chemical reactions, according to a University of Michigan Engineering study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The new method works by matching the
Canine cancer patients receiving a new form of immunotherapy lived longer or shorter depending on the composition of their microbiome, the community of organisms living in their gut. Results of the clinical trial led by Oregon State University scientists were published in
NASA will attempt a second “wet dress rehearsal” and simulated launch of its upcoming moon mission on Thursday