Limonene, a compound found in citrus fruits, has two enantiomers: mirror-image molecules that cannot be superimposed, like a left and right hand. | Continue reading
Most of our cells contain an immobile primary cilium, an antenna used to transfer information from the surrounding environment. Some cells also have many mobile cilia that are used to generate movement. The 'skeleton' of the cilium consists of microtubule doublets, which are 'pai … | Continue reading
An international team of scientists is challenging our understanding of a part of Earth's history by looking at the Moon, the most complete and accessible chronicle of the asteroid collisions that carved our solar system. | Continue reading
One of the last acts of NASA's Cassini spacecraft before its death plunge into Saturn's hydrogen and helium atmosphere was to coast between the planet and its rings and let them tug it around, essentially acting as a gravity probe. | Continue reading
A new fly-through of the fly brain allows anyone to whizz past neurons and visit any of the 40 million synapses where neurons touch neuron. It's a super-resolution view of the complex network connections in the insect's brain that underlie behaviors ranging from feeding to mating … | Continue reading
Google plans to invest in Tennessee and Alabama solar farms under a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority. | Continue reading
French carmaker Renault on Thursday launched the search for a successor to Chairman Carlos Ghosn, only hours after a Tokyo court quashed his appeal for bail as he faces three charges of financial misconduct. | Continue reading
Amazon announced plans Thursday to hold a conference open to the public on robotics, space and artificial intelligence, as well as to discuss future applications of emerging technologies. | Continue reading
Three Chinese fir trees on a nature reserve in Southeastern China are the last of their kind. As their existence is threatened by human disturbance and climate change, researchers are hurrying to learn everything they can about the tree—which might inspire new and more effective … | Continue reading
Separate skeletons suggested to be from different early hominin species are, in fact, from the same species, a team of anthropologists has concluded in a comprehensive analysis of remains first discovered a decade ago. | Continue reading
People with higher incomes and more education tend to have greater access to urban green spaces than their less privileged neighbours, a new University of British Columbia study of parks and greenery in 10 major North American cities has found. | Continue reading
Severe burns can leave physical and psychological scars, especially in children. When a burn patient enters the clinic, doctors use factors such as the depth and size of the burn, as well as the time required for skin healing—or re-epithelialization—to determine the best course o … | Continue reading
People with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), such as cognitive difficulties, behavior changes and mood swings, may wait months or even years to get a definitive diagnosis. That's because doctors lack a simple, accurate and inexpensive test for it. But according to an article … | Continue reading
People's love for their local areas could be harnessed to tackle global environmental problems, researchers say. | Continue reading
Scientists at Rutgers and universities in Russia, Poland and England have solved a nearly 30-year mystery—how the molecular machinery works in an enzyme that makes a potent antibiotic. | Continue reading
Researchers from two groups studying mouse development have accidentally created mice with unusually long and unusually short tails. Their findings, publishing January 17 in the journal Developmental Cell, offer new insight into some of the key aspects controlling the development … | Continue reading
Individual lichens may contain up to three different fungi, according to new research from an international team of researchers. This evidence provides new insight into another recent discovery that showed lichen are made up of more than a single fungus and alga, overturning the … | Continue reading
Routes to making life-saving medications and other pharmaceutical compounds are among the most carefully protected trade secrets in global industry. Building on recent work programming computers to identify synthetic pathways leading to pharmaceutically complex molecules, researc … | Continue reading
Scientists at Newcastle University have developed a biological system which lets cells form a desired shape by moulding their surrounding material—in the first instance creating a self-curving cornea. | Continue reading
Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have developed a highly innovative new enzyme biomarker test that has the potential to indicate diseases and bacterial contamination saving time, money and possibly lives. | Continue reading
Facebook announced Thursday that it has removed more than 500 pages, groups and accounts originating in Russia for engaging in what the social network called "coordinated inauthentic behavior." | Continue reading
Apple chief executive Tim Cook called on US lawmakers Thursday to pass privacy legislation enabling consumers to see and delete their harvested online personal data from a central clearinghouse. | Continue reading
Your cells have an amazing ability—they can build their own energy factories, called mitochondria. Once built, mitochondria must move where needed in the cell. Defects in mitochondrial transport are a suspected cause of diseases including Alzheimer's, ALS, Huntington's and Parkin … | Continue reading
If we're serious about feeding the world's growing population healthy food, and not ruining the planet, we need to get used to a new style of eating. This includes cutting our Western meat and sugar intakes by around 50%, and doubling the amount of nuts, fruits, vegetables and le … | Continue reading
Liver-on-a-chip cell culture devices are attractive biomimetic models in drug discovery, toxicology and tissue engineering research. To maintain specific liver cell functions on a chip in the lab, adequate cell types and culture conditions must be met, which includes 3D cell orie … | Continue reading
In the world of paleoecology, little has been known about the historical record of ecosystems in the West African highlands, especially with regard to glacial cycles amidst a shifting climate and their effects on species diversity. It has long been a subject of debate whether sta … | Continue reading
Currently approximately 600 species might be inaccurately assessed as non-threatened on the Red List of Threatened Species. More than a hundred others that couldn't be assessed before, also appear to be threatened. A new more efficient, systematic and comprehensive approach to as … | Continue reading
Sea ice cover in Antarctica shrank rapidly to a record low in late 2016 and has remained well below average. But what's behind this dramatic melting and low ice cover since? | Continue reading
Wrapped, sealed, boxed, cling-filmed and vacuum packed. We have become used to consumables being packaged in every way imaginable. | Continue reading
By combining deep learning algorithms and statistical methods, investigators from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Institute of Genomics at the University of Tartu h … | Continue reading
Coralline red algae have existed for 130 million years—in other words since the Cretaceous Period, the time of the dinosaurs. At least this was the established view of palaeontologists all over the world until now. However, this classification will now have to be revised after fo … | Continue reading
A trio of researchers at the University of Wisconsin has discovered that a common soil bacterium produces a chemical that is more effective in repelling mosquitoes than DEET. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, Mayur Kajla, Gregory Barrett-Wilt and Susan Pas … | Continue reading
If CO2 emissions do not fall fast enough, then CO2 will have to be removed from the atmosphere to limit global warming. Not only could planting new forests and biomass contribute to this, but new technologies for artificial photosynthesis as well. Physicists have estimated how mu … | Continue reading
When it came to our online lives, 2018 was revealing in its dysfunction. | Continue reading
Volcanic ash consists of tiny particles containing minerals and glass. LMU researchers have now used a new analytical technique based on quantitative chemical analysis under a scanning electron microscope to link their surface composition to activity during volcanic eruptions. | Continue reading
Emperor penguin chicks hatch into one of Earth's most inhospitable places—the frozen world of Antarctica. Childhood in this environment is harsh and lasts only about five months, when their formerly doting parents leave the fledglings to fend for themselves. | Continue reading
From high winds and heavy rainfall to droughts and plummeting temperatures, people in Europe have already begun to feel the effects of extreme weather. As we get used to this new reality, scientists are investigating how it will affect how we get around and whether our infrastruc … | Continue reading
Researchers in South Korea have developed extremely fast information processing technologies that can help usher in the next generation of the Internet. Researchers at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in South Korea have developed technology capabl … | Continue reading
The widespread deaths of fish in the Darling River – with more predicted to come – has raised serious questions about the allocation of water between agriculture and the environment. Water-hungry crops like cotton and rice are also raising eyebrows: are they worth growing in the … | Continue reading
A genetic study uncovers that birds maintain a dynamic coevolutionary relationship with their feather mites. The study has involved the participation of the Estación Biológica de Doñana from the CSIC, and its results have just been published in the journal Molecular Ecology. | Continue reading
Electronegativity is one of the most well-known models for explaining why chemical reactions occur. Now, Martin Rahm from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has redefined the concept with a new, more comprehensive scale. His work, undertaken with colleagues including a No … | Continue reading
A periodic table chart discovered at the University of St Andrews is thought to be the oldest in the world. | Continue reading
Whether they are found in an engagement ring or an antique necklace, diamonds usually generate quick reactions from their recipients. Now, new research shows deep inside the Earth, fast reactions between subducted tectonic plates and the mantle at specific depths may be responsib … | Continue reading
Hitachi said Thursday it would freeze construction of its stalled nuclear power station in Wales due to financing problems, a blow to Britain's nuclear strategy and a costly decision for the Japanese firm. | Continue reading
India's environmental court Thursday threatened Volkswagen executives with arrest and gave the German automaker a day to pay $14 million for violating pollution norms by fudging emission tests. | Continue reading
Confidence that the politically sensitive merger of their rail businesses would be waved through by the European Commission was ebbing at both Siemens and Alstom Thursday. | Continue reading
Cambridge researchers are studying the interaction between robots and humans – and teaching them how to do the very difficult things that we find easy. | Continue reading
A cotton seedling that sprouted on the moon has been left to die as China's historic lunar lander continues a freezing night-time nap that will last as long as two earth weeks, scientists said. | Continue reading