Top Science News

March 13, 2023

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Experiment Unlocks Bizarre Properties of Strange Metals

Mar. 13, 2023 — Physicists are learning more about the bizarre behavior of 'strange metals,' which operate outside the normal rules of ...

Surprising Similarities in Stone Tools of Early Humans and Monkeys

Mar. 10, 2023 — Researchers have discovered artefacts produced by old world monkeys in Thailand that resemble stone tools, which historically have been identified as intentionally made by early hominins. Until now, sharp-edged stone tools were thought to represent the onset of intentional stone tool production, ...

Scientists Identify Substance That May Have Sparked Life on Earth

Mar. 10, 2023 — A team of scientists dedicated to pinpointing the primordial origins of metabolism -- a set of core chemical reactions that first powered life on Earth -- has identified part of a protein that could provide scientists clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing ...

Scientists Complete First Map of an Insect Brain

Mar. 9, 2023 — Researchers have completed the most advanced brain map to date, that of an insect, a landmark achievement in neuroscience that brings scientists closer to true understanding of the mechanism of ...

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Biological Network in Cells Helps Body Adapt to Stresses on Health

Mar. 13, 2023 — Scientists have done research that opens up a whole new world within our cells. Their study uncovers a vast network of interactions that assist cells in adjusting in real time to withstand stresses on our ...

Dim Lights Before Bedtime to Reduce Risk of Gestational Diabetes

Mar. 10, 2023 — Pregnant women should dim the lights in their home and turn off or at least dim their screens (computer monitors and smartphones) a few hours before bedtime to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, a new study shows. Women who developed gestational diabetes in the multisite study had greater light exposure in the three hours before sleep onset. They did not differ in their light ...

MIND and Mediterranean Diets Associated With Fewer Alzheimer's Plaques and Tangles

Mar. 8, 2023 — People who eat diets rich in green leafy vegetables as well as other vegetables, fruits, whole grains, olive oil, beans, nuts and fish may have fewer amyloid plaques and tau tangles in their brain -- signs of Alzheimer's disease -- than people who do not consume such diets, according to a new ...

Does More Money Correlate With Greater Happiness?

Mar. 6, 2023 — Reconciling previously contradictory results, researchers find that for most people, there's a steady link between higher happiness and more money. The exception is people who are financially well-off but unhappy; for them, more money does not ...

In the World's Smallest Ball Game, Scientists Throw and Catch Single Atoms Using Light

Mar. 9, 2023 — Researchers show that individual atoms can be caught and thrown using light. This is the first time an atom has been released from a trap -- or thrown -- and then caught by another trap. This technology could be used in quantum computing ...

Viable Superconducting Material Created, Say Researchers

Mar. 8, 2023 — Researchers report the creation of a superconducting material at both a temperature and pressure low enough for practical applications. In a new paper, the researchers describe a nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride that exhibits superconductivity at 69 degrees Fahrenheit and 10 kilobars (145,000 pounds per square inch, or psi) of ...

ALMA Traces History of Water in Planet Formation Back to the Interstellar Medium

Mar. 8, 2023 — Observations of water in the disk forming around protostar V883 Ori have unlocked clues about the formation of comets and planetesimals in our own solar ...

The Planet That Could End Life on Earth

Mar. 7, 2023 — A terrestrial planet hovering between Mars and Jupiter would be able to push Earth out of the solar system and wipe out life on this planet, according to a recent ...

Minke Whales Are as Small as a Lunge-Feeding Baleen Whale Can Be

Mar. 13, 2023 — A new study of Antarctic minke whales reveals a minimum size limit for whales employing the highly efficient 'lunge-feeding' strategy that enabled the blue whale to become the largest animal on ...

Complex Learned Social Behavior Discovered in Bee's 'Waggle Dance'

Mar. 9, 2023 — Researchers have discovered early social learning in insects. They found signaling communicated by honey bees about food sources -- transmitted through a 'waggle dance' -- is an intricate form of social learning and one of the most complex known examples of non-human spatial referential ...

Prehistoric Sea Monster May Have Been Shorter, Stouter, Than Once Believed

Mar. 1, 2023 — A big fish story? Maybe so: The greatest sea monster of the Devonian Period (Dunkleosteus terrelli) may be getting downsized. A new article contents that the famous sea monster of the Age of Fishes may not have neared 30-feet in length, as long believed, but topped off at maybe 13 feet. The new assertion brings attention to a famously fierce looking armored fish from 360 million years ago -- and ...

What 'Chornobyl Dogs' Can Tell Us About Survival in Contaminated Environments

Mar. 8, 2023 — In the first step toward understanding how dogs -- and perhaps humans -- might adapt to intense environmental pressures such as exposure to radiation, heavy metals, or toxic chemicals, researchers found that two groups of dogs living within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone showed significant genetic differences between them. The results indicate that ...

Getting Good Sleep Could Add Years to Your Life

Feb. 24, 2023 — Getting good sleep can play a role in supporting your heart and overall health -- and maybe even how long you live -- according to new ...

Researchers Map Mosquito Cells That May Help the Insects Choose Tastiest Humans

Feb. 21, 2023 — In a bid to understand why mosquitoes may be more attracted to one human than another, researchers say they have mapped specialized receptors on the insects' nerve cells that are able to fine-tune their ability to detect particularly 'welcoming' ...

'We're Not All That Different': Study IDs Bacterial Weapons That Could Be Harnessed to Treat Human Disease

Feb. 8, 2023 — When it comes to fighting off invaders, bacteria operate in a remarkably similar way to human cells, possessing the same core machinery required to switch immune pathways on and off, according to new ...

This Groundbreaking Biomaterial Heals Tissues from the Inside out

Jan. 30, 2023 — A new biomaterial that can be injected intravenously, reduces inflammation in tissue and promotes cell and tissue repair. The biomaterial was tested and proven effective in treating tissue damage caused by heart attacks in both rodent and large animal models. Researchers also provided proof of ...

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Changing Landscapes Alter Disease-Scapes

Mar. 13, 2023 — A new study has?highlighted?how and when?changes to the environment result in?animal-borne disease?thresholds?being breeched, allowing for?a?better understanding and?increased?capacity to?predict?the?risk ...

Attracting Stem Cells and Facilitating Bone Regeneration by Adhesive Protein

Mar. 13, 2023 — Scientists have developed an osteogenic barrier coating material that maximizes the effect of guided bone regeneration (GBR) for implant ...

Study Sheds Light on Concerning New Trend in Drug Advertising: Patient Influencers

Mar. 13, 2023 — Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly partnering with real patients, or patient influencers, who share their experiences and advice on social media. A new study offers a first glimpse at why and how they do ...

The Immune System Does Battle in the Intestines to Keep Bacteria in Check

Mar. 13, 2023 — Researchers sheds light on a face-off in the intestines between the immune system and a bacterial pathogen whose family members cause gastrointestinal disease and the plague. The team's insights may extend to other chronic infections and could inform the development of immunotherapies capable of fully extinguishing such ...

Research Highlights Gender Bias Persistence Over Centuries

Mar. 13, 2023 — Using archaeological findings and survey data on contemporary gender attitudes, political scientists find individuals who live in areas that historically favored men over women display more pro-male bias today than those who live in places where gender relations were more egalitarian centuries ago. Findings speak to the power of cultural transmission of gender ...

A New and Better Way to Create Word Lists

Mar. 13, 2023 — Word lists are the basis of so much research in so many fields. Researchers have now developed an algorithm that can be applied to different languages and can expand word lists significantly better than ...

New Drug to Lower Brain Pressure Could Treat Blinding IIH Headaches, Trial Finds

Mar. 13, 2023 — Patients with 'blinding' headaches known as Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension (IIH) could be treated with a GLP-1RA peptide used for type 2 diabetes, a new phase 2 trial has ...

Synchronizing to a Beat Predicts How Well You Get 'in Sync' With Others

Mar. 7, 2023 — How well you synchronize to a simple beat predicts how well you synchronize with another mind, according to a new ...

Organosulfur Content of Vegetables Quantified

Mar. 13, 2023 — Scientists successfully quantified the total reactive polysulfide content of 22 different types of vegetables, including onions and garlic. They also revealed that reactive polysulfides are not only found in the leek genus (Allium), such as onions and garlic but also in the cruciferous family of vegetables (Brassicaceae), such as broccoli and ...

Innovative Breathing Aid Developed

Mar. 10, 2023 — One in 10 adults suffer from the debilitating effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Research around a new breathing device developed by pulmonologists offers promise for improving their lives. The new device not only improves symptoms of breathlessness and quality of life for people with COPD, it also offers benefits for people dealing with stress and anxiety and those ...

Astrocyte Cells Critical for Learning Skilled Movements

Mar. 10, 2023 — When astrocyte function is disrupted, neurons in the brain's motor cortex struggle to execute and refine motion, a new study in mice ...

Can Children Map Read at the Age of Four?

Mar. 8, 2023 — Researchers have found that children start to develop the basic skills that underlie map reading from the age of just four! The study involved 175 two to five-year-olds. It reveals that four-year-olds become able to use a scale model to find things in the real ...

New NASA DART Data Prove Viability of Asteroid Deflection as Planetary Defense Strategy

Mar. 1, 2023 — Astronomers offer new insight into how deflection missions can protect the planet from future Earth-bound asteroids and ...

Will Future Computers Run on Human Brain Cells?

Feb. 28, 2023 — A 'biocomputer' powered by human brain cells could be developed within our lifetime, according to researchers who expect such technology to exponentially expand the capabilities of modern computing and create novel fields of ...

Galactic Explosion Offers Astrophysicists New Insight Into the Cosmos

Feb. 28, 2023 — Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope's first year of interstellar observation, an international team of researchers was able to serendipitously view an exploding supernova in a faraway spiral ...

James Webb Spots Super Old, Massive Galaxies That Shouldn't Exist

Feb. 22, 2023 — A team of international researchers have identified six candidate galaxies that existed roughly 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang and are about as big as the modern Milky Way Galaxy -- a feat that scientists didn't think was ...

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Switching to Hydrogen Fuel Could Prolong the Methane Problem

Mar. 13, 2023 — Hydrogen is often heralded as the clean fuel of the future, but new research suggests that leaky hydrogen infrastructure could end up increasing atmospheric methane levels, which would cause decades-long climate ...

Magnetism Fosters Unusual Electronic Order in Quantum Material

Mar. 13, 2023 — Physicists have published an array of experimental evidence showing that the ordered magnetic arrangement of electrons in crystals of iron-germanium plays an integral role in bringing about an ordered electronic arrangement called a charge density wave that the team discovered in the material last ...

Scientists Transform Algae Into Unique Functional Perovskites With Tunable Properties

Mar. 13, 2023 — Scientists have transformed single-cell algae into functional perovskite materials. The team has converted mineral shells of algae into lead halide perovskites with tunable physical properties. The new perovskites have unique nano-architectures unachievable by conventional synthetic production. The method can be applied to the mass production of ...

Are Piezoelectrics Good for Generating Electricity? Perhaps, but We Must Decide How to Evaluate Them

Mar. 13, 2023 — A 'best practice' protocol for researchers developing piezoelectric materials has been developed by scientists. The protocol was developed by an international team led by physicists in response to findings that experimental reports lack consistency. The researchers made the shocking discovery that nine out of 10 scientific papers miss experimental ...

Scientists Call for Global Push to Eliminate Space Junk

Mar. 9, 2023 — As almost 200 countries agree a legally-binding treaty to protect the High Seas, a collaboration of experts in ocean plastic pollution and satellite technology has urged world leaders to learn lessons from the management of the High Seas and act now to protect Earth's ...

Underused Satellite, Radar Data May Improve Thunderstorm Forecasts

Mar. 9, 2023 — Tens of thousands of thunderstorms may rumble around the world each day, but accurately predicting the time and location where they will form remains a grand challenge of computer weather modeling. A new technique combining underused satellite and radar data in weather models may improve these predictions, according to a team of ...

How Does the Immune System React to Altered Gravity?

Mar. 7, 2023 — Space travel has always tested the human body by the effects of the new conditions of altered gravity on biological systems. It has long been known that continuous exposure to microgravity conditions human physiology and causes effects that compromise muscular, sensory, endocrine and cardiovascular functions. But is it also risky to be exposed to altered gravity for short periods of ...

Flat, Pancake-Sized Metalens Images Lunar Surface in an Engineering First

Mar. 7, 2023 — Astronomers and amateurs alike know the bigger the telescope, the more powerful the imaging capability. To keep the power but streamline one of the bulkier components, a research team created the first ultrathin, compact metalens telescope capable of imaging far-away objects, including the ...

New Ultrasound Method Could Lead to Easier Disease Diagnosis

Mar. 10, 2023 — A new ultrasound method that can measure the level of tension in human tissue -- a key indicator of disease -- has been ...

Customizing Catalysts for Solid-State Reactions

Mar. 10, 2023 — A newly developed molecular catalyst specifically tailored for mechanochemical reaction conditions enables high-efficiency transformations at near room ...

Hotter Than Infinity: Light Pulses Can Behave Like an Exotic Gas

Mar. 10, 2023 — In our modern society huge amounts of data are transmitted every day, mainly as short optical pulses propagating through glass fibers. With the steadily increasing density of such optical signals, their interaction grows, which can lead to data loss. Physicists are now investigating how to control large numbers of optical pulses as precisely as possible to reduce the effect of such interactions. ...

Ringing an Electronic Wave: Elusive Massive Phason Observed in a Charge Density Wave

Mar. 9, 2023 — Researchers have detected the existence of a charge density wave of electrons that acquires mass as it interacts with the background lattice ions of the material over long ...

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Environment News

March 13, 2023

Bumblebees Learn New 'Trends' in Their Behavior by Watching and Learning

Mar. 7, 2023 — A new study has shown that bumblebees pick up new 'trends' in their behavior by watching and learning from other bees, and that one form of a behavior can spread rapidly through a colony even when a different version gets ...

Study Into Global Daily Air Pollution Shows Almost Nowhere on Earth Is Safe

Mar. 7, 2023 — In a new study of daily ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) across the globe, a new study has found that only 0.18% of the global land area and 0.001% of the global population are exposed to levels of PM2.5 -- the world's leading environmental health risk factor -- below levels of safety ...

Ancient Proteins Offer New Clues About Origin of Life on Earth

Feb. 27, 2023 — By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and ...

Deep Earthquakes Could Reveal Secrets of the Earth's Mantle

Feb. 22, 2023 — A new study suggests there may be a layer of surprisingly fluid rock ringing the Earth, at the very bottom of the upper ...

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Thousands of Native Plants Are Unphotographed, and Citizen Scientists Can Help Fill the Gaps

Mar. 13, 2023 — New research finds almost 4000 Australian plant species have not been photographed before in the wild, which may lead to their ...

Agriculture Needs Fresh Approach to Tackle Insect Resistance to Biopesticides, New Analysis Finds

Mar. 13, 2023 — Insect pests which attack crops have extraordinary powers to develop resistance to greener pesticides and a new way to manage resistance risks is needed, according to a recent ...

Researchers Develop New Technology to Easily Detect Active TB

Mar. 13, 2023 — A team of faculty has discovered new technology that will quickly and easily detect active Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection ...

Swan Populations Grow 30 Times Faster in Nature Reserves

Mar. 13, 2023 — Populations of whooper swans grow 30 times faster inside nature reserves, new research ...

Researchers Find Decaying Biomass in Arctic Rivers Fuels More Carbon Export Than Previously Thought

Mar. 13, 2023 — A new study found that plants and small organisms in Arctic rivers could be responsible for more than half the particulate organic matter flowing to the Arctic Ocean. That's a significantly greater proportion than previously estimated, and it has implications for how much carbon gets sequestered in the ocean and how much moves into the ...

Entire Populations of Antarctic Seabirds Fail to Breed Due to Extreme, Climate-Change-Related Snowstorms

Mar. 13, 2023 — The arrival of the new year is a prime time for Antarctic birds like the south polar skua, Antarctic petrel, and snow petrel to build nests and lay their eggs. However, from December 2021 to January 2022, researchers did not find a single skua nest on Svarthamaren, one of the regions where the birds go to raise their young. Similarly, the number ...

Arctic Climate Modelling Too Conservative

Mar. 13, 2023 — Climate models used by the UN's IPCC and others to project climate change are not accurately reflecting what the Arctic's future will be, experts ...

Wheat's Ancient Roots of Viral Resistance Uncovered

Mar. 6, 2023 — The DNA sequence of a gene in wheat responsible for resisting a devastating virus has been discovered, providing vital clues for managing more resistant crops and maintaining a healthy food ...

Jewel Beetles Evolve to See New Colors by Duplicating Their Genes

Mar. 10, 2023 — Jewel beetles are striking insects, easily recognized by their vivid colors and metallic sheen. New research investigated the complex evolutionary history of jewel beetles' ...

Life in the Smoke of Underwater Volcanoes

Mar. 9, 2023 — Disconnected from the energy of the sun, the permanently ice-covered Arctic deep sea receives miniscule amounts of organic matter that sustains life. Bacteria which can harvest the energy released from submarine hydrothermal sources could thus have an advantage. Scientists found bacteria uniquely adapted to this geo-energy floating in deep-sea waters. They describe the role of these bacteria for ...

Major North American Oil Source Yields Clues to One of Earth's Deadliest Mass Extinctions

Mar. 8, 2023 — Geologists studying the Bakken Shale Formation discovered a critical kill mechanism behind a series of extinctions some 350 million years ...

Short-Distance Migration Critical for Climate Change Adaptation

Mar. 8, 2023 — Short-distance migration, which accounts for the vast majority of migratory movements in the world, is crucial for climate change adaptation, according to new research. Contrary to common assumptions, most migratory movements are people moving short distances, largely due to economic, social and environmental factors, such as climate ...

Feedback Loops Make Climate Action Even More Urgent, Scientists Say

Feb. 17, 2023 — Researchers have identified 26 global warming accelerators known as amplifying feedback loops that the researchers say aren't being properly included in climate models. They note that the findings add urgency to the need to respond to the climate crisis and provide a roadmap for policymakers aiming ...

Traffic Pollution Impairs Brain Function

Jan. 24, 2023 — A new study has shown that common levels of traffic pollution can impair human brain function in only a matter of hours. The study was the first to show in a controlled experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that exposure to diesel exhaust disrupts the ability of different ...

Risk of Multiple Climate Tipping Points Escalates Above 1.5°C Global Warming

Sep. 8, 2022 — Multiple climate tipping points could be triggered if global temperature rises beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to a major new analysis. Even at current levels of global heating the world is already at risk of passing five ...

Risk of Volcano Catastrophe 'a Roll of the Dice'

Aug. 18, 2022 — While funding is pumped into preventing low-probability scenarios such as asteroid collision, the far more likely threat of a large volcanic eruption is close to ignored -- despite much that could be done to reduce the risks, say ...

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Diverse Approach Key to Carbon Removal

Mar. 9, 2023 — Researchers find that 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide may need to be pulled from Earth's atmosphere and oceans annually to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. A diverse suite of carbon dioxide removal methods will be ...

The World's Atmospheric Rivers Now Have an Intensity Ranking Like Hurricanes

Mar. 9, 2023 — Atmospheric rivers, which are long, narrow bands of water vapor, are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. A new study demonstrates that a recently developed scale for atmospheric river intensity (akin to the hurricane scale) can be used to rank atmospheric rivers and identify hotspots of the most intense atmospheric rivers not ...

How Climate Change Threatens Asia's Water Tower

Mar. 9, 2023 — Tibet is known as the 'Water Tower of Asia,' providing water to about 2 billion people and supporting critical ecosystems in High Mountain Asia and the Tibetan Plateau, where many of the largest Asian river systems originate. This region is also one of the areas most vulnerable to the compounding effects of climate change and human activities. Researchers are identifying policy changes that need ...

Grassroots Data Vital for Reducing Deadly Bird-Window Strikes

Mar. 7, 2023 — Much of the progress made in understanding the scope of bird deaths from building and window collisions has come as the result of citizen science, according to a newly published study. But the study also concludes that such grassroots efforts need more buy-in from government and industry, and better funding so they can keep a foot on the gas in their efforts to reduce bird-window ...

Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods May Offer Clues to Improving Education and Wellbeing in Developed Countries

Mar. 8, 2023 — Hunter-gatherers can help us understand the conditions that children may be psychologically adapted to because we lived as hunter-gatherers for 95% of our evolutionary history. And paying greater attention to hunter-gatherer childhoods may help economically developed countries improve education and ...

Juggling Morality While We Learn

Mar. 6, 2023 — New research sheds light on how the brain juggles morally conflicting outcomes during ...

Real or Fake Text? We Can Learn to Spot the Difference

Feb. 27, 2023 — While apprehensions about employment and schools dominate headlines, the truth is that the effects of large-scale language models such as ChatGPT will touch virtually every corner of our lives. These new tools raise society-wide concerns about artificial intelligence's role in reinforcing social biases, committing fraud and identity theft, generating fake news, spreading misinformation and more. ...

Trained Brains Rapidly Suppress Visual Distractions

Feb. 23, 2023 — Researchers show that while strong distractions may automatically capture our attention, the trained brain can rapidly suppress such distractions to help us efficiently reach our ...

Virtual Reality Games Can Be Used as a Tool in Personnel Assessment

Mar. 9, 2023 — Fast gamers are more intelligent: Intelligence can be predicted through virtual reality ...

Working a Four-Day Week Boosts Employee Wellbeing While Preserving Productivity, Major Six-Month Trial Finds

Feb. 21, 2023 — Research involving 61 UK organizations found a 20% reduction in working time with no loss of pay led to significant drops in workforce stress and sick days, an increase in worker retention, and a much better work-life balance for most employees -- all while 'key business metrics' were ...

For Leaders, Playing Favorites Can Be a Smart Strategy

Feb. 13, 2023 — As anyone who’s worked in an office, a factory, or any other workplace can attest, sometimes bosses play favorites. Whether it’s assigning the most comfortable cubicles or the best parking spots, or deciding whose opinions take precedence during planning sessions, leaders inevitably wind up treating some employees better than ...

Extreme Earners Are Not Necessarily Extremely Smart

Feb. 8, 2023 — People with higher incomes also score higher on IQ-tests -- up to a point. At high incomes the relationship plateaus and the top 1% score even slightly lower on the test than those whose incomes rank right below them. This suggests that one cannot infer high intelligence from high ...

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