For several decades, particle physicists have been trying to better understand nature at the smallest distances by colliding particles at the highest energies. While the Standard Model of particle physics has successfully explained most of the results produced by experiments, man … | Continue reading
Since the time of ancient Egypt, humans have been making and breaking secret codes to retain and gain critical information. Human life itself is based upon a genetic code of DNA or RNA sequences which cells read and translate into proteins—the building blocks of life. Recent scie … | Continue reading
Bits of genetic material in rivers make it possible to detect the organisms living in them – without having to collect these and examine them under the microscope. Researchers at Eawag, the ETH and the EPFL have now developed a computer model that, with the help of single DNA mea … | Continue reading
A new reconfigurable security solution outperforms currently available ones in protecting Internet of things (IoT) devices and data by exploiting edge computing. | Continue reading
Americans use rare earth elements (REEs) every day—without knowing it. In fact, they are crucial to society. Rick Honaker, professor of mining engineering at the University of Kentucky, knows all about these fascinating elements and the modern electronics they make possible. | Continue reading
Scientists who hunt for interesting bacterial metabolites using the online tool antiSMASH now have the opportunity to use an antiSMASH database with pre-calculated results of nearly 25,000 bacterial genomes. This database will ease the discovery of antibiotics, pesticides, and an … | Continue reading
A team of researchers have developed an artificial tactile sensor that mimics the ability of human skin to detect surface information, such as shapes, patterns and structures. This may be one step closer to making electronic devices and robots that can perceive sensations such as … | Continue reading
Greenhouse gases and plastic waste are the targets of a USC Dornsife chemistry startup. | Continue reading
Leftovers from nuclear reactors contain the element neptunium. To safely store the waste, scientists need to know more about how to control neptunium's chemistry. Knowing the stability of different oxidation states is central to chemical control. The +3 oxidation state is general … | Continue reading
Among municipalities recycling and reusing construction waste, including gravel, concrete, sand and asphalt, Ontario has its 'leaders' and its 'laggards,' explained Kate Graham, a Political Science professor at King's and Brescia University Colleges. | Continue reading
Björn Alling, researcher in theoretical physics at Linköping University, has, together with his colleagues, completed the task given to him by the Swedish Research Council in the autumn of 2014: Find out what happens inside magnetic materials at high temperatures. | Continue reading
We all start out as a clump of identical cells. As these cells divide and multiply, they gradually take on distinct identities, acquiring the traits necessary to form, for instance, muscle tissue, bone, or nerves. A recent study from Rockefeller scientists offers new insight into … | Continue reading
Epigenetic changes can bring about new traits without altering the sequence of genes. This may allow plants to respond quicker to changes in their environment. Plant biologists at the University of Zurich have now demonstrated that epigenetic variation is also subject to selectio … | Continue reading
At the height of the Cold War in 1982, American psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton argued that the "central existential fact of the nuclear age is vulnerability." That warning predated the proliferation of computers into almost every aspect of modern life, including nuclear weapons. | Continue reading
Scientists are increasingly interested in the prospect of solving a range of fundamental problems facing our civilisation by designing and reconstructing organisms. | Continue reading
In 2018, the southern resident killer whale population in the Pacific Northwest's Salish Sea was at its lowest ever. The world watched in September as an orca named Scarlet, or J50, wasted away and died, leaving just 74 of her kind left. Some wondered if this was "What extinction … | Continue reading
The job of hemoglobin seems to be quite simple: It transports oxygen molecules through the bloodstream. But this only works so well because the hemoglobin molecule is extremely complex. The same applies to chlorophyll, which converts sunlight into energy for plants. | Continue reading
With its wind and precipitation patterns, the South Asian Monsoon influences the lives of several billion people. Recent studies indicate that its drivers are more complex than previously assumed. Scientists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have now publis … | Continue reading
ESA's Proba-V minisatellite images the verdant Yucatán peninsula, once home to the Maya civilization and the site of the impact believed to have doomed the dinosaurs. | Continue reading
The entire history of human existence is a tiny blip in our solar system's 4.5-billion-year history. No one was around to see planets forming and undergoing dramatic changes before settling in their present configuration. In order to understand what came before us—before life on … | Continue reading
An EU court ruled Thursday that Brussels regulators are wrong to test the energy efficiency of vacuum cleaners using empty dust bags, in a victory for British manufacturer Dyson. | Continue reading
Forget swiping though endless profiles. Dating apps are using artificial intelligence to suggest where to go on a first date, recommend what to say and even find a partner who looks like your favourite celebrity. | Continue reading
Space weather describes the changing environment throughout the Solar System, driven by the energetic and unpredictable nature of our sun. Solar wind, solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections can result in geomagetic storms on Earth, potentially damaging satellites in space and th … | Continue reading
In October 2018, a stark report suggested that current methods being used to protect England's coastal communities are 'not fit for purpose'. | Continue reading
Extreme drought is one of the effects of climate change that is already occurring. This year, the decrease in rainfall and the abnormally hot temperatures in northern and eastern Europe have caused large losses in cereals and potato crops and in other horticultural species. Exper … | Continue reading
Excited photo-emitters can cooperate and radiate simultaneously, a phenomenon called superfluorescence. Researchers from Empa and ETH Zurich, together with colleagues from IBM Research Zurich, have recently been able to create this effect with long-range ordered nanocrystal super … | Continue reading
Remarkable rules have been detected in the apparent chaos of disequilibrium processes. Different systems behave identically in many ways, if they belong to the same "universality class." This means that experiments can be carried out with quantum systems that are easy to handle i … | Continue reading
Following an interdisciplinary approach, researchers in Japan have found new catalysts using unique Heusler alloys. Most studies on catalysts have been conducted by researchers in chemistry. However, catalysts also relate to other research fields. For example, materials science, … | Continue reading
AWI researchers recently assessed subglacial lakes detected by satellite, and found very little water. But if that's the case, what is the source of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's massive ice streams? | Continue reading
Using the energy from the sun and graphene applied to the surface of cubic silicon carbide, researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, are working to develop a method to convert water and carbon dioxide to the renewable energy of the future. They have now taken an important ste … | Continue reading
Current marine protected areas (MPAs) leave almost three-quarters of ecologically and functionally important species unprotected, concludes a new performance assessment of the Finnish MPA network. Published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the study finds the MPAs were designated … | Continue reading
Japanese automaker Nissan on Thursday logged a 10.9-percent drop in net profit for the six months to September due to a decline in global sales and rising material costs. | Continue reading
Tesla said it has appointed Robyn Denholm of the Australian telecoms company Telstra as board director after Elon Musk resigned from the post. | Continue reading
If a tree falls in the Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, it doesn't matter if there's no one around. You can hear it anyway. | Continue reading
Philippine survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan recalled their terror and loss while gathered Thursday at a mass grave for thousands killed five years ago in the country's worst storm on record. | Continue reading
The boss of struggling Toshiba said Thursday he would cut 7,000 jobs over the next five years as the Japanese engineering firm pulled out of foreign investments and downgraded its annual profit forecasts. | Continue reading
Profits rose in the past quarter at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, led by gains in digital subscriptions at the Wall Street Journal and newspapers in Britain and Australia, the company said Wednesday. | Continue reading
A landmark merger between Australian broadcaster Nine Entertainment and venerable newspaper group Fairfax won regulatory approval Thursday, clearing the way for the creation of a media giant across television, print, video streaming and digital. | Continue reading
More than 400 buffaloes believed to have been chased by lions drowned in a river in northern Bostwana this week, the government said. | Continue reading
The snow appears to be pristine on the Andean peaks that loom above Bolivia's capital, but even here ash and smog reach up to a remote plateau that is home to the world's highest atmospheric observatory. | Continue reading
Industrial equipment and technology company Siemens AG says net profit fell 46 percent in the most recent quarter as the company had expenses for severance and higher tax costs. | Continue reading
Samsung on Wednesday showed off a folding screen that lets a smartphone open into a tablet, heralding it as the future for portable devices. | Continue reading