Top Science News

Sep. 9, 2024 — Out-of-body experiences, such as near-death experiences, can have a 'transformative' effect on people's ability to experience empathy and connect with others, new research ...

Sep. 2, 2024 — New research suggests that alternative splicing may have an even greater influence on biology than just by creating new protein isoforms. The study shows that the biggest impact of alternative splicing may come via its role in regulating gene expression ...

Sep. 5, 2024 — A novel study addresses a critical yet under-explored question in cancer research: Why is aging the biggest risk factor for cancer? The study reveals how an aging immune system spurs tumor growth, offering new insights into cancer prevention and treatment, especially for older adults. In preclinical models, the research team found that anakinra, a ...

Sep. 6, 2024 — An AI-powered tool can distinguish dark matter's elusive effects from other cosmic phenomena, which could bring us closer to unlocking the secrets of dark ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — In a new study, astronomers report novel evidence regarding the limits of planet formation, finding that after a certain point, planets larger than Earth have difficulty forming near low-metallicity ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Researchers have developed a robotic leg with artificial muscles. Inspired by living creatures, it jumps across different terrains in an agile and energy-efficient ...

Sep. 6, 2024 — A team models the atmospheres of distant planets using neural ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Methane concentrations in Earth's atmosphere increased at record speed over the past five years. At least two-thirds of annual methane emissions now come from human activities, including fossil fuel use, agriculture, and landfills and other ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Researchers published findings describing a new species of fanged frog, named Limnonectes cassiopeia, from the Philippine island of ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — During the Age of Sail, sailors riding the trade winds past the equator dreaded becoming stranded in the doldrums, a meteorologically distinct region in the deep tropics. For at least a century, scientists have thought that the doldrums' lack of wind was caused by converging and rising air masses. Now, new research suggests that the opposite may ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — The study shows how global warming can combine with normal variations in the weather to produce decade-long periods of very rapid changes in both extreme temperatures and ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Demand for cancer genetic testing is on the rise, but there's not enough genetic counselors to guide patients through the process. Researchers say chatbots could be the ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Women who are being treated for asthma are more likely to miscarry and need fertility treatment to get pregnant, according to a large study. However, the study also suggests that most women with asthma are able to have ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Bioactive glasses, a filling material which can bond to tissue and improve the strength of bones and teeth, has been combined with gallium to create a potential treatment for bone cancer. Tests in labs have found that bioactive glasses doped with the metal have a 99 percent success rate of eliminating cancerous cells and can even regenerate diseased ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Researchers found that older adults learned a memory task best after practicing multiple related tasks, suggesting that diverse cognitive training supports mental sharpness as we ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Findings from a new study suggest that older people with mild cognitive impairment who engage in high levels of activities such as word games and hobbies have better memory, working memory, attention and processing speed than those who do ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Bothnia dystrophy is a form of hereditary blindness, prevalent in the region Vasterbotten in Sweden. A new study shows that gene therapy can improve vision in patients with the ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — According to two psychologists, the field of psychological science has a problem with the concept of self-control. It has named self-control both a 'trait' -- a key facet of personality involving attributes like conscientiousness, grit and the ability to tolerate delayed gratification -- and a 'state,' a fleeting condition that can best be described as willpower. These two concepts are at odds ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — People with obesity who are long-time exercisers have healthier belly fat tissue and can store fat there more effectively than nonexercisers with obesity, according to a new ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — A new study shows that the body's muscles sense mechanical pressure. This new discovery has important implications for movement neuroscience and may improve the design of training and rehabilitation to relieve stiff ...

Sep. 4, 2024 — Researchers are using works by Johann Sebastian Bach, along with MEG and MRI scans, to investigate how the brain compensates for age-related ...

Sep. 4, 2024 — A diverse and abundant flower planting that provides flowers in bloom all season may be more important to bees and other pollinators than whatever is surrounding the flower garden, according to a new ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — A study has developed an innovative method that overcomes the limitations of traditional additive manufacturing (3D printing), significantly simplifying and accelerating the production of geometrically complex cellular ceramics. This groundbreaking approach has the potential to revolutionize the design and processing of multifarious ceramic ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Every living organism uses tiny quantities of metals to carry out biological functions, including breathing, transcribing DNA, turning food into energy, or any number of essential life ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Physicists present a nanometer-sized light antenna with electrically modulated surface properties -- a breakthrough that could pave the way for faster computer ...

Sep. 6, 2024 — What is the shortest route to the next stop or the agreed meeting point? Global positioning systems (GPS) have become a routine part of everyday life for most people. Until now, however, the minimum number of GPS satellites needed to determine the exact position of a mobile phone or other navigation device has remained a matter of conjecture. Researchers have now proved that a precise location ...

Sep. 5, 2024 — Drought is a widespread concern in the Western U.S., and water managers across the region are developing groundwater management plans to conserve the essential resource. Groundwater is often pumped to the surface to irrigate crops, and meters that measure the flow of pumped water have historically offered the best information on groundwater use. These meters are rare, however, so scientists set ...

Sep. 6, 2024 — Researchers have discovered compelling evidence suggesting that the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), is likely the result of a past cosmic merger. The study builds on recent observations from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which captured the first direct image of Sgr A* in ...

Sep. 5, 2024 — A better understanding of the inner workings of neutron stars will lead to a greater knowledge of the dynamics that underpin the workings of the universe and also could help drive future technology. A new study details how new insights into how dissipative tidal forces within double -- or binary -- neutron star systems will inform our understanding of the ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — An assist from a Google Artificial Intelligence tool has helped scientists discover how the proteins of a heat-loving microbe respond to the crushing conditions of the planet's deepest ocean trenches, offering new insights into how these building blocks of life might have evolved under early Earth ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Integrating artificial intelligence into today's environmental control systems could reduce energy consumption for indoor agriculture by 25% -- potentially helping to feed the world as its population rises, engineers have ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Researchers have found a chemical 'chameleon' that could improve the process used to purify rare-earth metals used in clean energy, medical and national security ...

Sep. 4, 2024 — In simulated life-or-death decisions, about two-thirds of people in a study allowed a robot to change their minds when it disagreed with them -- an alarming display of excessive trust in artificial intelligence, researchers ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Researchers have highlighted patterns of gene activation during Malabar grouper larval development, revealing an unusual early peak of activation of thyroid and corticoid genes during the early larval stage of these fish. Their paper shows that thyroid and corticoid genes are activated twice during larval development, once during the early larval ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Historically, Lake Okeechobee was thought to be impaired only by phosphorus, focusing efforts on reducing agricultural runoff. However, new comprehensive sampling across the Lake Okeechobee Waterway and its connected estuaries shows that toxic algal blooms also are driven by rising nitrogen levels from human waste and urban runoff. Increased nitrogen, worsened by extreme rainfall, significantly ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Researchers have engineered a library of strains that can be used to develop new antibacterial compounds to help address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Acinetobacter baumannii ...

Sep. 10, 2024 — Summer storms are generally more frequent, intense and concentrated over cities than over rural areas, according to new, detailed observations of eight cities and their surroundings. The results could change how city planners prepare for floods in their cities, especially as urban areas expand and as climate change alters global weather ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — A new theory explains how juvenile crown-of-thorns sea stars (commonly known as starfish) can destabilize coral reefs. The 'degraded reef framework' explains how the loss of live coral, which crown-of-thorns starfish feed off, paradoxically benefits juvenile COTS. As live coral diminishes, these starfish accumulate in rubble habitats, which serve as juvenile ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Researchers looked for evidence of precipitation anomalies in 1,056 cities across the globe and found that more than 60% of those cities receive more precipitation than their surrounding rural areas. This could have wide-ranging implications, the most serious of which is worsened flash flooding in densely built urban ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — Dangerous mixtures: pesticides in combination can have unexpected effects on the development of honeybees. This is shown by a new study in which the last neonicotinoid still approved in the European Union was combined with two ...

Sep. 9, 2024 — A new study challenges the theory that warrior groups with a 'Steppe' genetic component originating from Eastern Europe violently replaced the male population of the Iberian Peninsula some 4,200 years ago and presents a different scenario, in which groups with 'Steppe' ancestry mixed with other demographically weakened ...

Sep. 4, 2024 — Scientists have suspected that modern humans have more genes to digest starch than our hunter-gatherer ancestors, but the amylase locus of the genome is hard to study. Researchers have now developed new methods to isolate the multiple amylase genes and compare the locus to ancient genomes. They found that amylase gene number has increased from an ...

Sep. 4, 2024 — Researchers have developed a model that captures the dynamics of human dispersal across the continent during the last Ice Age in unprecedented ...

Sep. 4, 2024 — Chemists offer a new explanation for how collagen in dinosaur bones may have survived millions of years: An atomic-level interaction prevents its bonds from being broken down by ...

Sep. 6, 2024 — Conservation efforts directed towards just 0.7% of the world's land mass could help protect one third of the world's threatened and unique tetrapod (four-limbed vertebrate) ...

Sep. 6, 2024 — Conservation needs to scale successfully to protect nature. A new paper takes lessons from around the world to show how that might be ...

Sep. 6, 2024 — Vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus for adults over 60 is likely cost-effective by preventing illness, hospitalizations, lost quality of life and deaths, according to new ...

Sep. 4, 2024 — Researchers are designing real-time, intelligent tutors powered by AI. These systems mimic human surgical instructors in brain surgical training. Intelligent tutors help the learner acquire excellent skills by continuously assessing hand movements during simulated brain procedures and providing personalized verbal ...

Sep. 3, 2024 — In a study involving 11-year-olds, researchers have concluded that greater behavioral problems are linked to higher hair cortisol levels. The study also concluded that exposure to certain factors that can simultaneously cause chronic stress may determine the concentration of cortisol in the ...

Sep. 3, 2024 — When young adults first go off to college, more communication with parents generally leads to better relationships, but parents should avoid always initiating it, according to a new study. Researchers found that phone, text, video or in-person communication made first-year students feel better about the relationship with their parents. Students ...

Aug. 29, 2024 — Immersive virtual reality could open up a whole new world for people with intellectual disability, enabling them to learn practical life skills much faster without relying on caregivers, according to a new ...

Aug. 16, 2024 — Researchers developed a new method known as flash-within-flash Joule heating (FWF) that could transform the synthesis of high-quality solid-state materials, offering a cleaner, faster and more sustainable manufacturing ...

Aug. 14, 2024 — A new article concludes that current climate standards are not sufficiently incentivizing the big picture innovations necessary to deliver net zero, and must be expanded to include a company's broader influence on climate ...

Aug. 14, 2024 — Researchers reveal that individuals who finish their PhD in situations where the average team in their field is larger have worse academic career ...

Aug. 14, 2024 — Job strain and effort-reward imbalance at work were associated with a greater chance of developing an abnormal heart rhythm condition, finds a new ...