Scientists at UBC Okanagan have uncovered how plants produce mitraphylline, a rare natural compound with promising anti cancer potential. The team identified two enzymes that work together to build the molecule’s unusual twisted structure, solving a mystery that had puzzled
Scientists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, have uncovered a crucial trick used by enteroviruses—the group behind diseases like polio, myocarditis, encephalitis, and even the common cold—to reproduce inside human cells. The team captured, in unprecedented
Researchers found a new way to kill harmful “zombie” cells that linger after chemotherapy and help cancers become more aggressive. These senescent cells survive by relying on a protective protein called GPX4, even while sitting on the edge of a deadly iron-triggered collapse.
Iodine deficiency is often seen as a problem of the past, but this isn't entirely true. During the 20th century, the iodization of salt became one of the most effective public health interventions for preventing conditions caused by a lack of this mineral, including goiter
Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, is also the solar system's largest satellite, even larger than the planet Mercury. It is also the only celestial body aside from Earth (and the gas giants) to have an intrinsic magnetic field. As if this didn't make the icy body interesting
Gravitational wave researchers working on the world's most sensitive scientific instruments have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production.
New research in mice is shedding light on this paradox The post Why Do Regular Cannabis Users Tend to Weigh Less? appeared first on Nautilus .
Harbor porpoises were once found across a much wider area of the Baltic Sea than they are today, including regions where they are now rare or absent. This is shown in a new study that uses centuries-old Swedish newspapers to reconstruct past distribution patterns.
As blood stem cells age, their lysosomes become overactive and damaged, triggering inflammation and weakening the body’s ability to regenerate healthy blood and immune cells. By calming this cellular “overdrive,” researchers restored the stem cells’ youthful function,
The largest-ever survey of physicists from around the world—released today—shows a distinct lack of consensus across many of physics's most important questions, from the nature of black holes and dark matter, to the still-incomplete unification of Einstein's theory of gravity
With plastic pollution at an all-time high, the need for biodegradable materials has never been higher. Most packaging is "single use" and is made from sources, like natural gas, that take hundreds of years to decompose in the environment. This is greatly contributing to the
Beneath the tropical trees of southern Mexico, enormous shoals of sulfur mollies blanket the water surface of toxic sulfur springs, where survival depends on collective defense against relentless attacks from predatory birds. The tiny fish survive attacks of birds through
Male primates may be larger than females partly because of pressure from rival groups, not just competition with males inside their own group.
Weak science leads to bad forecasting and poor decision making The post How Trump’s Science Cuts Threaten National Security appeared first on Nautilus .
Technion researchers have developed, for the first time, a comprehensive physical model explaining how the properties of a radiating material, including absorption, emission, and quantum efficiency, affect the fundamental characteristics of the light it emits as a function of
Scientists have discovered that they can eavesdrop on the secret lives of birds using networks of inexpensive microphones, revealing complex behaviors across vast wilderness areas, according to research published in the journal Ecology. Previously, microphone technology that
Different receptors respond to different neurotransmitters or hormones, such as adrenaline involved in the fight-or-flight response, or dopamine linked to reward and motivation. Both the receptors themselves and the substances they recognize are often very similar, but still
If you've ever taken an introductory astronomy class, you've probably seen the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. This graph maps out the life cycle of stars by plotting their temperature against their luminosity, and has been a "cheat sheet" for stellar astrophysics for over a
Soils are home to some of the most diverse animal communities on Earth. These animals—including nematodes, springtails, mites, earthworms, spiders and other arthropods—drive decomposition, regulate microbial communities and contribute to nutrient cycling. However, little is
A new study shows that a single radioactive cloud was responsible for a large share of the nuclear fallout during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on 11 March 2011. The work is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
The signatories, including more than 35 Nobel laureates, decry the “alarming attack on the ability of the US to engage in basic and applied research” The post Thousands of Scientists Sign Letter to Combat Science Board’s Firing appeared first on Nautilus .
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls Lac de Charmes. Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows Perseverance training its mast on a rocky outcrop on
Oil and natural gas are vital constituents of our energy ecosystem that need to be transported across long distances. Although steel pipelines are the infrastructure used for this purpose, thereby serving as the lifeline for crucial energy distribution, they introduce the added
Human childbirth is commonly viewed as uniquely difficult and dangerous. The reason: The combination of bipedalism and large brains creates a tight fit between the baby and the birth canal. Research at the University of Vienna has now shown that many other mammals—from domestic
Proteins do most of the work in our body's cells. But when a protein is too active or does not function properly, it can lead to disease or other health problems. Researchers from the University of Toronto have discovered a molecule, CLEO4-88, that acts as a "molecular glue,"
Many creams and serums contain artificial ingredients that are harmful to the environment. Natural plant oils would be more sustainable but are difficult to process. ETH researcher Svitlana Mykolenko has developed a way of turning plant oils into stable gels without synthetic
What if fog isn't just misty air, but a living ecosystem? This question hung over cloud researcher Thi Thuong Thuong Cao. As a Ph.D. student at Arizona State University, her curiosity led her from knocking on the doors of microbiologists and chemists, to sampling fog before
Cornell astronomers are deploying a new instrument that grants them, for the first time, a better view of the universe's earliest galaxies, which can't be observed individually with traditional ground- or space-based telescopes.
Educators should teach students how to use AI tools but with an emphasis on the ethics, social impact, and potential biases of the tech, experts said Thursday during a conversation sponsored by Harvard Education Press.
Life leaves a pattern, not just a trace The post A Powerful New Tool to Find Alien Life appeared first on Nautilus .
The widespread hypothesis that climate warming will result in unprecedented agricultural pest populations and cause food insecurity worldwide is oversimplified, according to a new study by a team led by Mia Lippey, an entomologist at the University of California, Davis. But the
Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth. Somehow, it feels like it's getting hotter and drier every day.
Although about half of primate species play as adults with other adults, a team of international researchers has just unlocked a key factor in the reason why some don't. The answer lies in the type of society in which the animals live.
Simulating the nonlinear optical physics that underlies ultrafast laser systems is computationally demanding—a practical bottleneck in settings that require rapid feedback. A study by researchers at Stanford University, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and SLAC
During takeoff and landing, planes emit ultrafine aerosol particles. Some particles also contain lubricating oil, as shown by measurements made by researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in the environs of the Zurich Airport. Low-sulfur fuels could be the solution.
The galaxy cluster Abell 2029 is sometimes described as "the most relaxed cluster in the universe." This moniker does not arise from some sort of mellow vibe, but rather because of how calm and undisturbed the superheated gas that pervades the cluster appears to be.
The kingfisher's brilliant blue feathers were once used like paint to create works of art. The technique, known as tian-tsui, was popular during China's Qing Dynasty. And because tian-tsui uses delicate feathers, previous scientists struggled to study them using traditional
A research team led by Hainan University, together with, among others, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), investigated a total of 102 reef sites in the waters around Hainan Island over a period of 20 years (2000
Every year, millions of gallons of wine are pressed, leaving behind a mountain of pulpy residue—grape skins, seeds, stems and peels—that wineries struggle to dispose of. Now, researchers say this overlooked byproduct could find a new life on the farm, as a replacement for the
There is no cure for the hantavirus that has so far sickened at least nine people and killed three of them on a cruise ship outbreak, but several therapies have shown promise in animal studies
The "Asian Water Towers" (AWTs), a high-altitude region with a mean elevation exceeding 4,000 meters, serve as the primary freshwater source for nearly 2 billion people. While the Indian summer monsoon is well known for shaping seasonal rainfall patterns that help feed the
Dark matter is thought to make up most of the matter in the universe, but the only way it interacts with its surroundings is through gravity. If two colliding black holes spiral through a dense region of dark matter and merge, gravitational waves rippling across space and time
Scientists have uncovered evidence supporting a mechanism in which transposable elements (TEs), once considered "non-functional" DNA, may have contributed to the evolution and expansion of gene regulation during neural development. Such insights into the mechanisms regulating
Researchers at The University of Osaka, in collaboration with Ritsumeikan University, have demonstrated that growing europium-doped gallium nitride (Eu-doped GaN) on a semipolar crystal plane dramatically improves red light emission. The team found that this approach
To what extent can self-activating catalysts enhance hydrogen production in electrolyzers? Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have investigated this question, and their findings were published in Advanced Energy Materials.
In 2018, an artificial intelligence (AI) program called AlphaFold achieved a major breakthrough by placing first in the critical assessment of structure prediction, a competition for predicting the three-dimensional structures of proteins. It scored close to 90 on a 100-point
Imagine trying to build a house without a blueprint, find a shortcut through an unfamiliar city without a map, or govern a large organization with no leaders and no meetings.
A conversation with a pediatrician about the first study to track paternal mortality The post New Fathers Are Dying, and We Don’t Know Why appeared first on Nautilus .
Living by the sea in the tropics means being exposed to some of nature's most powerful forces. Hurricanes can bring storm surges, flooding and destructive waves that threaten homes, infrastructure and livelihoods.
Until now, it has been technically nearly impossible to rotate highly sensitive samples in all directions under a microscope without making contact. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed a new laser-based technique that allows microscopic
