A Speed Camera for the Universe
Astronomers developed a clever method to measure our universe’s expansion The post A Speed Camera for the Universe appeared first on Nautilus .
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Are We Finally Over the “Jaws Effect?”
Most people in a recent survey saw sharks as neutral, coinciding with a global treaty to protect declining species The post Are We Finally Over the “Jaws Effect?” appeared first on Nautilus .
When a Chimp Screams, What Do You Hear?
The calls of our closest living evolutionary cousins still hit an ancient target in the human brain The post When a Chimp Screams, What Do You Hear? appeared first on Nautilus .
AI can dramatically speed up digitizing natural history collections
A new study from UNC-Chapel Hill researchers shows that advanced artificial intelligence tools, specifically large language models (LLMs), can accurately determine the locations where plant specimens were originally collected, a process known as georeferencing.
Satellite Photobombing Is Disrupting Space Telescope Astronomy
Yet another peril of a teeming low Earth orbit The post Satellite Photobombing Is Disrupting Space Telescope Astronomy appeared first on Nautilus .
New Moby Dick-like termite species discovered
In the canopies of a South American rainforest, a tiny soldier termite has stunned a team of international scientists with its whale-like features.
Spain not ruling out lab leak as cause of swine fever outbreak
Spain's government said Friday it had not ruled out an accidental laboratory leak as the cause of an outbreak of African swine fever that has rocked the country's lucrative pork industry.
Alkaline-loving microbes could help safeguard nuclear waste buried deep underground for thousands of years
Billions of alkaline-loving microbes could offer a new way to protect nuclear waste buried deep underground. This approach overcomes the limitations of current cement barriers, which can crack or break down over time.
Watch a Frog Eagerly Munch on a Murder Hornet
Pond frogs nonchalantly dined on the venomous insects, hinting at special mechanisms that help the amphibians avoid pain—and grisly deaths The post Watch a Frog Eagerly Munch on a Murder Hornet appeared first on Nautilus .
Free radicals caught in the act with slow spectroscopy
Why does plastic turn brittle and paint fade when exposed to the sun for long periods? Scientists have long known that such organic photodegradation occurs due to the sun's energy generating free radicals: molecules that have lost an electron to sunlight-induced ionization and
Programmable CRISPR platform can reduce stem cell differentiation from months to weeks
Syntax Bio, a synthetic biology company programming the next generation of cell therapies, has published new research in Science Advances detailing the company's CRISPR-based Cellgorithm technology, which lays the groundwork for programmable control of gene activity in human
The spread of AI in UK journalism comes with reservations
Professor Neil Thurman and Sina Thäsler-Kordonouri from the Department of Media and Communication (IfKW) at LMU have published comprehensive findings on the perception and professional use of artificial intelligence by journalists.
Study reveals key psychological barriers to game meat consumption in Japan
A new study provides a crucial roadmap for Japan to address an escalating ecological challenge while advancing food sustainability: overcoming the psychological barriers to game meat consumption.
Close-up images show how stars explode in real time
Astronomers have captured images of two stellar explosions—known as novae—within days of their eruption and in unprecedented detail. The breakthrough provides direct evidence that these explosions are more complex than previously thought, with multiple outflows of material and,
Microplastics in oceans may distort carbon cycle understanding
The carbon cycle in our oceans is critical to the balance of life in ocean waters and for reducing carbon in the atmosphere, a significant process to curbing climate change or global warming.
A CDC panel has struck down universal newborn hepatitis B vaccination
A reshaped vaccine committee voted to scale back newborn hepatitis B shots despite decades of data showing the birth dose is safe, effective and vital.
Copper-64 isotope made easier: Recoil chemistry could lower medical imaging costs
The copper isotope Cu-64 plays an important role in medicine: It is used in imaging processes and also shows potential for cancer therapy. However, it does not occur naturally and must be produced artificially—a complex and costly process.
Rydberg-atom detector conquers a new spectral frontier
A team from the Faculty of Physics and the Center for Quantum Optical Technologies at the Center of New Technologies, University of Warsaw has developed a new method for measuring elusive terahertz signals using a "quantum antenna."
Plastic Pollution Will More than Double by 2040, Yielding a Garbage Truck's Worth of Waste Each Second
An estimated 280 million metric tons of plastic waste will enter the air, water, soil, and human bodies every year by 2040, data shows
Birds shift to higher mountain elevations in Europe as climate warms
Many bird species have moved toward colder areas in the mountains of Europe as the climate has warmed over the past two decades. Sunny southern slopes attract birds to live at higher elevations than do shadier northern slopes.
Ultrafast, highly reversible sodium storage in engineered hard carbon achieved
A research team from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has demonstrated ultrafast and highly reversible all-slope sodium storage using specially engineered hard carbon anodes.
Selfies of Endangered Sumatran Tigers Expose a Robust Population
Array of camera traps captures surprising images of tigers in the wild The post Selfies of Endangered Sumatran Tigers Expose a Robust Population appeared first on Nautilus .
Comet 3I/ATLAS from beyond solar system carries key molecule for life
Astronomers have discovered that 3I/ATLAS is carrying methanol and other chemicals that were probably important in the origin of life
New deep-sea species discovered during mining test
There is high global demand for critical metals, and many countries want to try extracting these sought-after metals from the seabed. An international study, which has discovered large numbers of new species at a depth of 4,000 meters, shows that such mining has less of a
AI in the classroom: Research focuses on technology rather than the needs of young people
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT has arrived in classrooms and sparked an intense debate about its role in education. These technologies raise the fundamental question of which human skills will still matter in the future.
An adolescent growth spurt in young stars helps giant planets form
Stars form in massive clouds of gas called molecular clouds. As they form, they accrete gas from these clouds, and as the stars rotate, gas and dust accumulates in a rotating disk around the star called a protoplanetary disk. As the name makes clear, this is where planets form
Extreme engineering: Unlocking design secrets of deep-sea microbes
The microbe Pyrodictium abyssi is an archaeon—a member of what's known as the third domain of life—and an extremophile. It lives in deep-sea thermal vents, at temperatures above the boiling point of water, without light or oxygen, withstanding the enormous pressure at ocean
Chameleon-like nanomaterial can adapt its color to mechanical strain
Inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami, a team of scientists from the University of Amsterdam have developed a material that can reflect different colors of light, depending on how it is stretched. The results were recently published in the journal ACS Photonics.
Using video games to get kids interested in learning
Though some might see video games as a distraction, a recent study from the University of Georgia suggests they can actually serve as a place to practice key science skills—with the help of some adorable cats, of course.
What If the Moon Were Cheese? John Scalzi’s Latest Book Has the Answer
Scientific American talks to the author of When the Moon Hits Your Eye, one of our best fiction picks for 2025
The hexatic phase: Ultra-thin 2D materials in a state between solid and liquid observed for the first time
When ice melts into water, it happens quickly, with the transition from solid to liquid being immediate. However, very thin materials do not adhere to these rules. Instead, an unusual state between solid and liquid arises: the hexatic phase. Researchers at the University of
Tattooing may trigger localised damage to the immune system
There is relatively little information on the long-term health effects of tattooing, but a couple of recent studies suggest the art form might trigger prolonged inflammation
Big Neandertal noses weren’t made for cold
Tiny cameras threaded inside a Neandertal skull provide evidence that their big noses were not an adaptation to cold climates.
Decoding dark matter's imprint on black-hole gravitational waves
A new study by researchers at the University of Amsterdam shows how gravitational waves from black holes can be used to reveal the presence of dark matter and help determine its properties. The key is a new model, based on Einstein's theory of general relativity, that tracks in
X-ray spikes reveal electron beam size
While synchrotron radiation is often thought of as "stable," the electromagnetic field exhibits pronounced randomly fluctuating distributions both temporally and spatially. These fluctuations encode spatial information about the electron beam that produces the X-rays.
Shaping quantum light unlocks new possibilities for future technologies
Researchers from the School of Physics at Wits University, working with collaborators from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, have demonstrated how quantum light can be engineered in space and time to create high-dimensional and multidimensional quantum states. Their work
CDC Vaccine Panel Scraps Guidance for Universal Hepatitis B Shots at Birth
New guidance from the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel would do away with a decades-old universal birth dose recommendation for hepatitis B that helped cut infections by 99 percent in the U.S.
Rice enzyme OsPLC4 triggers Ca²⁺ and ROS bursts to drive ferroptotic cell death in immune response
A research team at Sejong University's Plant Immunity Laboratory, led by Professor Nam-Soo Jwa, has uncovered an important regulatory component of rice immunity.
Daniel H. Wilson on Finding a Native Take on Traditional Alien Invasion Stories
Hole in the Sky, by Daniel H. Wilson, is one of Scientific American’s best fiction picks of 2025. In the novel, aliens talk through an AI headset and land in the Cherokee Nation, while the military scrambles to contain and control the unknown
Yeast cell factory converts methanol into L-lactate for biodegradable plastics
Methanol is an ideal feedstock for bio-manufacturing. Converting it into lactate, a monomer for biodegradable plastic, offers a promising strategy for addressing the challenge of white pollution. However, it remains difficult to engineer microbes to produce lactate from
Penguins queue in Paris zoo for their bird flu jabs
A curious seagull strolled nonchalantly through the penguin enclosure at a zoo in Paris.
Physicists provide key mass data for determining X-ray burst reaction rate
A research team from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has directly measured the masses of two highly unstable atomic nuclei, phosphorus-26 and sulfur-27. These precise measurements provide crucial information for determining the
Extremophile ‘Fire Amoeba’ Pushes the Boundaries of Complex Life
It was thought that complex cells couldn’t survive above a certain temperature, but a tiny amoeba has proven that assumption wrong
Hunter-gather groups are much less egalitarian than they seem
There is a widespread belief that altruism and equality drive social behaviour in traditional hunter-gatherer societies, but the truth is more surprising and complex
Probing the existence of a fifth force via neutron star cooling
Neutron stars are ultra-dense star remnants made up primarily of nucleons (i.e., protons and neutrons). Over the course of millions of years, these stars progressively cool down, radiating heat into space.
Extremely rare 'dinosaur mummy' makes its way to Minnesota for study
The fossil called "Medusa" could be a dinosaur mummy—the remains of an Edmontosaurus about 66 million years old that researchers believe contains a significant amount of skin and tendon tissue.
China’s Explosive Zhuque-3 Test Previews the Global Race for Reusable Rockets
A partially successful test of China’s Zhuque-3 rocket shows that other countries are rapidly catching up with the U.S in the race for reusable rocketry
Next gen cancer drug shows surprising anti aging power
A next-generation drug tested in yeast was found to extend lifespan and slow aging by influencing a major growth-control pathway. Researchers also uncovered an unexpected role for agmatinases, enzymes that help keep this pathway in balance. Diet and gut microbes may affect
The Polyglot Neuroscientist Resolving How the Brain Parses Language
Is language core to thought, or a separate process? For 15 years, the neuroscientist Ev Fedorenko has gathered evidence of a language network in the human brain — and has found some parallels to LLMs. The post The Polyglot Neuroscientist Resolving How the Brain Parses Language
Scientists reveal a powerful heart boost hidden in everyday foods
Regular consumption of polyphenol-rich foods like tea, coffee, berries, nuts, and whole grains may significantly support long-term heart health. A decade-long study of more than 3,100 adults found that those who consistently ate polyphenol-packed diets had healthier blood