Stuart Thompson, University of Westminster, The ConversationContinue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Plants, Sensory, Hearing, xxSyndication | Continue reading
Observations of a far-distant galaxy several times the size of the Milky Way reveal a surprising stillness overcoming the sea of early stars.Continue ReadingCategory: Astronomy, ScienceTags: Galaxy, JWST, Big Bang Theory, University of California, UC Davis, Space exploration | Continue reading
Michelle Spear, University of Bristol, The ConversationContinue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Fear, Neurological, Sensory, proprioception | Continue reading
For centuries, one of the most important numbers in physics has evaded accurate identification. The results of a recent experiment by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US could help bring us closer to a satisfying answer.Continue ReadingCate … | Continue reading
It's long been thought that the type-2 diabetes drug taken by an estimated 20 million Americans was doing its heavy lifting in the liver, suppressing the production of glucose to regulate blood sugar. But new research has uncovered it's actually working its magic in the gut – whi … | Continue reading
If you've ever wondered why you procrastinate when it comes to doing your taxes early or getting started on mundane admin jobs at work, you'll be pleased to know it's not just because you dislike them. New research has uncovered a specific pathway in the brain that slams the brak … | Continue reading
Newly observed negative-phase waveforms in earthquake data have alerted scientists to a previously unrecognized feature of the "big ones" to do with tectonic plates slipping by each other: they create a kind of geological 'whiplash' that happens when a rupturing fault movement ab … | Continue reading
Our taste for bread and pasta wouldn’t be the same if not for our ability to break down starch, a talent Peru’s Andean populations have taken to the extreme.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Food, Genetics, UCLA | Continue reading
Based on the results of two completed Phase III trials, scientists are confident that we could see an effective vaccine against Lyme disease by next year.Continue ReadingCategory: Illnesses and conditions, Body and MindTags: Pfizer, Lyme disease, Drug delivery, Vaccines, clinical … | Continue reading
You know the saying: Time flies when you’re having fun.Continue ReadingCategory: Learning & Memory, Brain Health, Body and MindTags: Dopamine, Brain, Time, Perception, Memory, Neuroscience, UCLA | Continue reading
Naps are one of life's pleasures, but as we age, they can also be an early sign of health issues we're unaware of. These findings are thanks to a groundbreaking study of more than 1,000 people who had their daytime naps tracked for up to 19 years.Continue ReadingCategory: Sleep, … | Continue reading
Planetary systems evolve over dizzying timespans. It typically takes millions, even billions, of years for gravitational interactions to noticeably alter a planet’s orbital trajectory. This stability allowed life to take hold on Earth. It also means orbital planes are effectively … | Continue reading
If you had to name the most dangerous place in the Solar System, you’d probably start with the obvious suspects.Continue ReadingCategory: Astronomy, ScienceTags: Space Junk, Orbit | Continue reading
The lab techniques for accurately testing the qualities of a batch of coffee are out of reach, for even the most maniacally obsessed coffee nerds in search of the perfect cuppa joe. But what if you could instead electrocute your brew to determine if it's indeed good stuff – right … | Continue reading
An ancient Roman ship was repaired multiple times, with multiple techniques, and in multiple places around the Adriatic Sea before it sank, a new study suggests. The findings highlight the expansive nature of trade and technical transfer in the Roman Republic.Continue ReadingCate … | Continue reading
It’s generally believed that the most complex systems of our world began from very simple things. Then, as a force of survival, evolution began to occur, and things gradually became more complex. This same perspective applies to science’s general understanding of the origin of li … | Continue reading
Humans are eating more fructose than ever and it’s becoming problematic — not just for our widening waistlines but for our brains, mounting research suggests.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: fructose, Sugar, Gut health, Gut Bacteria, Anxiety | Continue reading
Around 30 million Americans are living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – close to double the number of those officially diagnosed – making it one of the deadliest health conditions worldwide. While frontline treatment is generally medication to support and boost … | Continue reading
Parrot feathers found at a thousand-year-old burial tomb in Peru provide new evidence for an expansive live bird trade network across the Andes Mountains that pre-dates the Inca Empire, a new study suggests.Continue ReadingCategory: Archaeology, ScienceTags: Parrot, Birds, Inca, … | Continue reading
For decades, scientists believed that associative learning – understanding that two events are linked to each other, like a stimulus and a response – required at least some form of neural machinery. But now, a tiny unicellular creature without a trace of gray matter and living at … | Continue reading
The floor is literally lava on a nearby exoplanet, new telescope observations show. Given its small size and strange history, one team of scientists suggests planet L 98-59 d’s molten ocean and odd atmosphere might represent an entirely new category of extraterrestrial world.Cont … | Continue reading
The Earth’s rotation has never been perfectly stable; the spin has changed significantly throughout history. Even slight changes on the planet, from melting ice sheets to flux in the Moon's gravitational effects, can make days longer or shorter. But for most of Earth’s history, t … | Continue reading
The warm waters of Mexico and Texas are home to a small fish that has produced nothing but daughters for over 100,000 years. Essentially, the offspring are the exact genetic copy of their mother, with no father involved. The fish in focus is the Amazon molly.Continue ReadingCateg … | Continue reading
For the first time, astronomers claim they’ve found a way to reconstruct a galaxy’s entire ‘life story’ – from a single snapshot in time.Continue ReadingCategory: Astronomy, ScienceTags: Astronomy, Spectroscopy, UCSC, Harvard-Smithsonian, Astrophysics | Continue reading
In April 2023, local fishermen off the coast of eastern Spain, incidentally caught something massive within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Genetic analysis confirmed its species as Carcharodon carcharias, the great white shark.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, Scie … | Continue reading
Not all body fat is created equal. There is white adipose tissue, which stores excess energy, brown adipose tissue, which burns energy, and a third category known as “beige” fat. This type of fat can emerge from white fat under certain conditions and take on the energy-burning pr … | Continue reading
The case for the negativeContinue ReadingCategory: Psychedelics, Medical Innovations, Body and MindTags: Psychedelic Medicine, Drugs, Brain, Consciousness, Dreams | Continue reading
Humanity may be one step closer to space-mining and cosmic self-sustainability, thanks to a secret, tiny weapon: microbes.Continue ReadingCategory: ScienceTags: Asteroid Mining, Asteroid, Metals, Microbes | Continue reading
In January 2023, researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health in Germany noticed that an infant monkey known as a sooty mangabey had developed reddish skin lesions across its forehead, chest, and legs. Within 48 hours, the animal was reported dead. Over the following wee … | Continue reading
Baby caterpillars have figured out how to get themselves the royal treatment in certain ant colonies – getting carried around like precious cargo, fed on demand, guarded and being rescued from danger. But why would ants give this celebrity status to a caterpillar? The secret lies … | Continue reading
For more than 150 years, vertebrate vision has been understood as a two-part system: rods for low-light conditions, and cones for bright light and color. That tidy division is now under the microscope, as researchers from the University of Queensland have discovered a new hybrid … | Continue reading
Imagine it’s a regular Tuesday morning and you’re in Antarctica. Your eyes meet the sky, and the blue is so vivid it feels electric. The air is so clean you can just about taste it. Now, picture a dust storm over the Himalayas; you squint, trying to catch a hint of that crisp blu … | Continue reading
During the last ice age, when glaciers spread across the northern world, ancient humans had some serious adapting to do; our species wouldn't survive without developing new ways to keep warm. We got there by improving the ways we clothed ourselves using new tools, such as bone ne … | Continue reading
Some of us get bitten far more often than others. A new study, yet to be peer-reviewed and published in a journal, has revealed that certain mosquito species show a clear preference for men, while others zero in on specific scents from our skin. However, some experts in the field … | Continue reading
In a "triple win" for green research, scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a new sunlight-activated reactor that uses one waste stream to tackle another – all while producing clean hydrogen, and promising to be profitable at commercial scale.Continue ReadingCa … | Continue reading
Sometimes, the most important paleontological discoveries may come from the most disgusting materials.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Paleontology, Predator, Reptile, Fossils | Continue reading
A new study has shown that the popular GLP-1 weight loss drug semaglutide has the power to halt, and to some extent restore, cartilage in people suffering from osteoarthritis (OA). The finding hints at a possible use of the drug beyond weight loss.Continue ReadingCategory: Body a … | Continue reading
When escaped domestic pigs bred with wild boar after the Fukushima evacuation, researchers gained a rare chance to observe large-scale hybridization. New findings show that maternally inherited rapid breeding accelerated genetic turnover, quickly diluting pig ancestry in the wild … | Continue reading
It's long been known that living at higher altitudes can affect physiology, including reducing the incidence of diabetes. The reason why has evaded scientists for decades. That has changed with a new discovery that was hiding in plain sight.Continue ReadingCategory: Body and Mind … | Continue reading
Male nipples. Whale pelvic bones. Vestigial hind limbs in snakes. Evolution is full of features that look purposeful. But upon closer inspection, science tells us that they are actually by-products of development and shifting gene expression. New research suggests the human chin … | Continue reading
In the late 1990s, molecular biologist Yoram Eyal, and colleagues at The Volcani Center in Israel, identified the key gene and enzymes responsible for producing the bitterness compounds in grapefruit. Now, using the genome editing technology CRISPR/Cas9, the team has inactivated … | Continue reading
For more than two decades, giant viruses have unsettled one of biology’s most fundamental boundaries: the line between simple viruses and complex cells. With genomes rivaling some bacteria, and gene sets that resemble those of eukaryotes (cells with membrane-bound nuclei and othe … | Continue reading