In today's medical landscape, antibiotics are pivotal in combating bacterial infections. These potent compounds, produced by bacteria and fungi, act as natural defenses against microbial attacks. A team of researchers delved into the intricate world of glycopeptide antibiotics—a … | Continue reading
There's a species of ant that is so rare, only a handful of records exist from across the entire eastern United States. North Carolina State University researcher Michelle Kirchner not only found these ants in the Triangle region of North Carolina, she is the first to document an … | Continue reading
While many people want to achieve major long-term goals—such as improving their diet, quitting smoking or adopting a more sustainable lifestyle—they often find it difficult to do so. Is it all down to a lack of self-discipline? No, it's not, according to social psychologist Profe … | Continue reading
Biomolecular condensates transport RNA molecules inside of cells for functions such as cell signaling and regulating cell processes, but little is known about how they form distinct compositional identities, similar to how oil and water stay separated. | Continue reading
Scientists should seek answers hidden in the dirt using proven and state-of-the-art archaeological science techniques to support new discoveries about human evolution following recent controversies at a cave site in Africa, says a group of international experts. | Continue reading
The Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí (PCJ) River Basin comprises 76 municipalities in São Paulo state, Brazil, with more than 5.8 million inhabitants and a drainage area of more than 14,000 square kilometers. These three rivers and their tributaries are essential sources of drink … | Continue reading
The United Nations Environment Programme recently published a report with an unusually strong title for a UN body: "Emissions Gap Report 2023: Broken Record—Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again)". Yet again, it highlights how far countries are off t … | Continue reading
Over the past decades, environmental scientists and engineers have been trying to devise effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. This has led to the creation of various energy models, frameworks that can be used t … | Continue reading
No one ever sets out to join a cult. At the beginning it looks like the group will meet some need or ideal. For most people it seems to work initially—at least somewhat. | Continue reading
Basic oxide catalysts contain oxygen ions with unpaired electrons that can be shared with other species to facilitate a chemical reaction. These catalysts are widely used in the synthesis of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and petrochemicals. There have been efforts to improve the ca … | Continue reading
The Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, and life less than a billion years after that. Although life as we know it is dependent on four major macromolecules—DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids—only one is thought to have been present at the beginning of life: RNA. | Continue reading
For all the attention on flashy new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, the challenges of regulating AI, and doomsday scenarios of superintelligent machines, AI is a useful tool in many fields. In fact, it has enormous potential to benefit humanity. | Continue reading
A new study, published in PLOS ONE, has uncovered a remarkable connection between individuals' musical preferences and their moral values, shedding new light on the profound influence that music can have on our moral compass. | Continue reading
With the world projected to be highly urbanized by 2050, cities are encouraged to take urgent climate actions to mitigate and adapt to the threats of climate change. As climate change intensifies and urbanization increases rapidly, local governments are expected now more than eve … | Continue reading
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are hot springs on the ocean floor. Sea water penetrates into the ocean crust, becomes heated, and rises to the seafloor surface carrying dissolved nutrients. Around these vents, far from any sunlight, vibrant biological communities are found. Here, mi … | Continue reading
Spatial transcriptomics (ST) emerges as a pivotal technique for cataloging gene expression across tissue sections while retaining crucial locational data. | Continue reading
Microgels form a thin protective shell around a droplet until the temperature rises above 32°C. Then the microgels shrink and the droplet dissolves in the surrounding liquid. A study by researchers from the University of Gothenburg now reveals the underlying mechanism behind this … | Continue reading
MIT geologists have found that a clay mineral on the seafloor, called smectite, has a surprisingly powerful ability to sequester carbon over millions of years. | Continue reading
A new study led by the University of Oxford has shed light on why certain species of bacteria carry astonishing arsenals of weapons. The findings, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, could help us to engineer microbes that can destroy deadly pathogens, reducing o … | Continue reading
Plants regulate their development with a distinct group of molecular players. ROP proteins, a group of plant-specific proteins, are known to control plant tissue formation. Now, Hugh Mulvey and Liam Dolan at the GMI show that ROP proteins evolved at the transition between unicell … | Continue reading
Three astronomers from the Netherlands have proven that gas that was previously heated near a supermassive black hole flowed to the outskirts of the galaxy and cooled down, moving back towards the black hole. While there had been indirect evidence for this theory, this is the fir … | Continue reading
Many people are familiar with the haunting images of wildlife—including sea turtles, dolphins and seals—tangled in abandoned fishing nets. | Continue reading
Melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, extreme heat waves: the consequences of climate change are more visible than ever, and the scientific community has confirmed that humans are responsible. Yet studies show that a third of the population still doubts or disputes these facts. | Continue reading
A cornerstone but surprising prediction arising from Einstein's theory of general relativity is the existence of black holes, which astronomers later found to be widespread throughout the universe. Key characteristics of black holes include their masses and their "spin"—they rota … | Continue reading
From houses to hearing aids, three-dimensional (3D) printing is revolutionizing how we create complex structures at scale. Zooming down to the micro and nano levels, a process known as two-photon polymerization lithography (TPL) allows scientists and engineers to construct object … | Continue reading
As the latest UN climate change summit (COP28) gets underway in Dubai, conversations around limiting global warming to 1.5°C will confront a harsh reality. Global temperatures have surged over the past year, with the monthly global average surpassing 1.5°C above pre-industrial le … | Continue reading
To ensure that vaccines provide strong and lasting immunization, it is often necessary to supplement the actual vaccine (antigen) with additives that stimulate the immune system: adjuvants. Today, only a few substances have been approved for use as adjuvants. | Continue reading
In a recent review of more than 180 peer-reviewed articles—which I conducted with fellow researcher Richard Parncutt—we found that a scientific consensus has formed around the so-called 1,000-ton rule. | Continue reading
An international team of researchers including Prof. Badri Krishnan at Radboud University has verified an important property of black holes known as the no-hair theorem using gravitational wave observations. Their research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. | Continue reading
Electron-trapping materials (ETMs) with persistent luminescence (PersL) or photostimulated luminescence (PSL) hold great promise for versatile applications, due to their distinctive characteristics of energy harvesting and controllable release. | Continue reading
Coral reefs, among the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth, are under threat due to the changing climate. In a new study, an international research team found that if reefs were to disappear entirely, it may take millions of years—even after environmental conditions imp … | Continue reading
China's Zhurong rover was equipped with a ground-penetrating radar system, allowing it to peer beneath Mars's surface. Researchers have announced new results from the scans of Zhurong's landing site in Utopia Planitia, saying they identified irregular polygonal wedges located at … | Continue reading
A future quantum network may become less of a stretch thanks to researchers at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and Cambridge University. | Continue reading
Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, astronomers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Virginia, and elsewhere have investigated a batch of 36 high latitude supernova remnants. Results of the observations campaign, published Nov. 20 on the pre-pri … | Continue reading
Hung from a common utility pole, a fiber optic cable—the kind bringing high-speed internet to more and more American households—can be turned into a sensor to detect temperature changes, vibrations, and even sound, through an emerging technology called distributed fiber optic sen … | Continue reading
A trio of experimental physicists and applied mathematicians at New York University has found evidence that Egypt's Great Sphinx of Giza may have originated as a natural formation. For their study, published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, Samuel Boury, Scott Weady and Lei … | Continue reading
Hafnia ferroelectrics are based on their technical promise and remarkable behaviors, where the peculiarities stem from an active extrinsic mechanism that contributes to their properties from a growing number of new intrinsic features. | Continue reading
Economics and physics are distinct fields of study, yet some researchers have been bridging the two together to tackle complex economics problems in innovative ways. This resulted in the establishment of an interdisciplinary research field, known as econophysics, which specialize … | Continue reading
Agriculture, like other sectors of the economy, is a profit-driven business. Simple cultivation systems such as monocultures have therefore become firmly established, because they promise higher returns. However, they are more susceptible to diseases and parasites, which can caus … | Continue reading
The practice of keeping time hinges on stable oscillations. In a grandfather clock, the length of a second is marked by a single swing of the pendulum. In a digital watch, the vibrations of a quartz crystal mark much smaller fractions of time. And in atomic clocks, the world's st … | Continue reading
The Emirati host of the UN climate conference said Thursday that fossil fuels must be part of any deal as the crucial negotiations on global warming opened in Dubai. | Continue reading
This year is set to be the hottest ever recorded, the UN said Thursday, demanding urgent action to rein in global warming and stem the havoc following in its wake. | Continue reading
An international team of researchers led by botanists at the University of Vienna, Austria, has analyzed the morphological diversity of fossilized flowers and compared it with the diversity of living species. They found that flowering plants had already produced a large number of … | Continue reading
The European Space Agency announced on Thursday that the long-delayed first launch of its next-generation Ariane 6 rocket will take place between June 15 and July 31 next year. | Continue reading
The German government on Thursday lost a key climate case brought by environmental groups, in an embarrassing slap down the day before Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due to travel to the COP28 climate summit. | Continue reading
University of California, Santa Cruz Professor of Planetary Sciences Francis Nimmo recently co-authored a Science Advances paper about the internal structure of the dwarf planet Eris. | Continue reading
In a study published in Current Biology, researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with their collaborators, reveal a groundbreaking discovery: Morphology of the orchid mantis' petal-shaped femoral lobes actua … | Continue reading
Consumer skepticism about the taste of vertically farmed greens is widespread. But the first scientific taste test from the University of Copenhagen and Plant Food & Research, New Zealand, shows that respondents rate greens grown vertically and without soil as just as good as org … | Continue reading