A single queen in the tropics; large colonies in deserts; workers with uniform morphology in temperate regions; ant social structures vary according to environmental conditions. This is shown, for the first time at a global scale, by research carried out at the Department of
Our personalities affect the regularity of our mental dalliances, new research shows The post Neurotic People Have More Frequent Sexual Fantasies appeared first on Nautilus .
Dogs who scored well on the Wesen test, which is used to analyze a dog's temperament, tended to have lower levels of cortisol, often called the "stress hormone," and higher levels of serotonin, often called the "happiness hormone," according to a study published in the
Lung cancer tumor cells in mice communicate with the brain, sending signals to deactivate the body’s immune response, a study finds
Scientists have found “strange quarks” that originated as virtual particles that sprang from nothing
Around the world, millions of families have suffered forcible separation, through war, trafficking, natural disasters, or socioeconomic crises. In China, family separation is a particularly large-scale and far-reaching problem. Following the enactment of the country's One Child
A group in rural California wants to help us understand death through hallucinogens and narrative medicine The post Tripping at Death’s Door: Psychedelics in End-of-Life Care appeared first on Nautilus .
What do microplastics, water color, and satellites have in common? Dr. Karl Kaiser, professor of marine and coastal environmental science in the College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies at Texas A&M University at Galveston is exploring an innovative idea: using
Snakes may well be one of nature's greatest predators, capable of eating whole deer or even crocodiles, but just as impressive is that they can go months, or even a whole year, without a single meal. And now an international team of scientists thinks they know how they do it.
Ages ago, when societies were organized around small villages, a person's security and sense of belonging depended partly on how close they were to the village chiefs and elders. If the village was attacked, those closest to the powerful had a better chance of survival.
For over a century and a half, life expectancy has steadily increased in the wealthiest countries. Spectacular climbs in longevity have been noted in the 20th century, correlating with the slump in infectious illnesses and advances in cardiovascular medicine.
As temperatures plunged across the eastern U.S., a breathtaking cloud pattern took shape off the coasts of Florida
A study by researchers from the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute gauges how an initiative in New York's Hudson Valley is helping farmers and community organizations build more equitable regional food systems and advance food sovereignty, a movement focused on local control over
Cellphones are everywhere—including, until recently, in schools.
Newcastle University engineers are at the forefront of adhesive technology that promises to change how we recycle. They have developed a reversible glue that sticks things together like any other glue but can debond on demand. The glue's reversible nature means it can be used
Plants are a rich and renewable source of compounds used in medicines, food ingredients, and cosmetics. Since growing an entire plant just to extract a few specific compounds is rather inefficient, scientists are turning to plant cell cultures as a more sustainable alternative.
In mice, the oral bacteria F. nucleatum can travel to mammary tissue via the bloodstream, where it can damage healthy cells.
Satellites and spacecraft in the vast region between Earth and the moon and just beyond—called cislunar space—are crucial for space exploration, scientific advancement and national security. But figuring out where exactly to put them into a stable orbit can be a huge,
How far back does the rich history of Italian olives and oil stretch? My new research, published in the American Journal of Archaeology, synthesizing and reevaluating existing archaeological evidence, suggests olive trees have been exploited for more than 6,000 years. The first
A new study has identified five distinct subtypes The post Night Owls vs. Early Birds: Sleep Categories Are More Complicated Than We Thought appeared first on Nautilus .
The world is looking for more clean water. Intense storms and warmer weather have worsened droughts and reduced the amount of clean water underground and in rivers and lakes on the surface.
Although women have always been part of the mapping landscape, their contributions to cartography have long been overlooked.
A good home, or Minosin Kikiwa in Cree, is the foundation of dignity in later life, according to the Indigenous seniors who spoke to us. Yet "every year the rent goes sky-high and it's tough to be homeless," an anonymous participant said.
If an incoming asteroid hits the moon, it will be visible from Earth, according to a new study
Farming is central to life in Zambia, with about 60% of the country's labor force relying on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood or income. Seasonal rains shape planting and harvesting, and temperatures can rise to 40°C. On small farms, men generally manage livestock such
Informing people about political deepfakes through text-based information and interactive games both improve people's ability to spot AI-generated video and audio that falsely depict politicians, according to a study my colleagues and I conducted.
Scientists at Rutgers University–Newark have developed a first-of-its-kind RNA-based nanotechnology that assembles itself inside living human cells and can be programmed to stop propagation of harmful cells. The findings, recently published in Nature Communications, represent a
If you've watched a giraffe browsing in the tree canopy, a white rhino meandering across open grassland, or a warthog shuffling around on its knees in South Africa's Kalahari desert, you know what they eat: leaves, grass, shoots, and roots. With every mouthful, they swallow
A new study has uncovered a hidden step that helps the deadliest malaria parasite survive and multiply inside the human body. Researchers studying Plasmodium falciparum found that the parasite relies on a brief but essential stage, nicknamed the "Crown" stage, to make sure a
NASA quietly updated its potential launch windows for its delayed moon mission. The agency is apparently now targeting March 6 to 11
Recently, the German term "lüften" has been circulating on social media and trending on Google. The term refers to the practice of opening windows and doors to replace stale indoor air with outdoor air, a longtime practice in many European homes. Americans have dubbed it "house
Instructors cracking a joke here and there could make students feel better about the class as a whole, according to new research from the University of Georgia published in the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education. Unlike lectures with packed auditoriums, smaller lab
Dyscalculia, characterized by deficits in number sense and calculation skills, affects approximately 5%–7% of the population and often persists into adulthood. A team from the University of Barcelona and the University of Vic—Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) has
New tools unlock new discoveries in science. So when a new type of non-destructive technology becomes widely available, it's inevitable that planetary scientists will get their hands on it to test it on some meteorites. A new paper, available on the arXiv preprint server, by
Journalism in the United States is in crisis: Local newspapers are shuttering at an alarming rate, large cities that were once served by multiple daily local newspapers now barely sustain one or two major outlets, and the government has made concentrated attacks against public
New research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) shows how many tropical cities are predicted to warm faster than expected under 2°C of global warming.
An orange solid with a camphor-like odor has helped aqueous zinc-iodide batteries move a large step closer to supplying safe and economic grid and household energy storage.
Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are a rare phenomenon in active galactic nuclei. They have been observed to occur at periods ranging from minutes to hours, days, weeks, and even years across the electromagnetic spectrum. A new study by Ashutosh Tripathi from the Xinjiang
Parts of ancient Earth may have formed continents and recycled crust through subduction far earlier than previously thought. New research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has uncovered chemical signatures in zircons, the planet's oldest minerals, that
Gene regulation is far more predictable than previously believed, scientists conclude after developing the deep learning model PARM. This might bring an end to a scientific mystery: how genes know when to switch on or off.
Keeping up with the latest research is vital for scientists, but given that millions of scientific papers are published every year, that can prove difficult. Artificial intelligence systems show promise for quickly synthesizing seas of information, but they still tend to make
University of Toronto researchers have expanded our understanding of bacterial immunity with the discovery of a new protein that can both sense and counteract viral infections. In the study, published in Nature, researchers from U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine describe how
You can tell a lot about a material based on the type of light shining at it: Optical light illuminates a material's surface, while X-rays reveal its internal structures and infrared captures a material's radiating heat. Now, MIT physicists have used terahertz light to reveal
An “extraordinary” brain network discovery shows that Parkinson’s disease may not be a movement disorder after all
A temperate tunneling species of dung beetle seems capable of adapting to climate change, but their tropical cousins may be less resilient.
When some ancient Romans were feeling a little under the weather, they were treated with human feces. While this practice was mentioned in ancient Greco-Roman medical texts by figures such as Pliny the Elder, there was no direct physical evidence that these remedies were
Popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy can dramatically curb appetite, but experts warn many users are flying blind when it comes to nutrition. New research suggests people taking these medications may not be getting enough guidance on protein, vitamins, and overall
How physically magnifying objects using a key ingredient in diapers has opened an unprecedented view of the microbial world. The post Expansion Microscopy Has Transformed How We See the Cellular World first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Would you create an interactive "digital twin" of yourself that can communicate with loved ones after your death?
Against the backdrop of climate change and dwindling water resources, supplying water to large metropolitan areas is becoming an increasingly challenging task for public authorities, who must find urgent solutions. One of the clearest and most viable ways forward is to
