Top Science News

September 18, 2022

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Saturn illustration | (c) Matthieu / stock.adobe.com

Saturn's Rings Due to Ancient, Missing Moon?

Thermometer, sun in | (c) Günter Albers / stock.adobe.com

Risk of Multiple Climate Tipping Points

Antarctica from space | (c) Artsiom P / stock.adobe.com

Concerns Over 'Doomsday' Glacier Loom Large

Mars Perseverance Rover, | (c) Tryfonov / stock.adobe.com

MOXIE Experiment Produces Oxygen On Mars

Sep. 15, 2022 — Scientists propose a lost moon of Saturn, which they call Chrysalis, pulled on the planet until it ripped apart, forming rings and contributing to Saturn's ...

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 ...

Sep. 5, 2022 — The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica has been an elephant in the room for scientists trying to make global sea level rise predictions. This ...

Aug. 31, 2022 — The MOXIE experiment has now produced oxygen on Mars. It is the first demonstration of in-situ resource utilization on the Red Planet, and a key step in the goal of sending humans on a Martian ...

Latest Top Headlines

updated 12:31pm EDT

Cravings for Fatty Foods Traced to Gut-Brain Connection

Sep. 7, 2022 — A dieter wrestling with cravings for fatty foods might be tempted to blame their tongue: the delicious taste of butter or ice cream is hard to resist. But new research investigating the source of our appetites has uncovered an entirely new connection between the gut and the brain that drives our desire for ...

People Generate Their Own Oxidation Field and Change the Indoor Air Chemistry Around Them

Sep. 1, 2022 — High levels of hydroxyl radicals (OH) can be generated indoors, simply due to the presence of people and ...

Human digestive system | (c) magicmine / stock.adobe.com

New Study Links Ultra-Processed Foods and Colorectal Cancer in Men

Aug. 31, 2022 — A new study links men who consumed high rates of ultra-processed foods to a 29% higher risk for developing colorectal cancer than men who consumed much smaller amounts. The researchers did not find the same association ...

Team Developing Oral Insulin Tablet Sees Breakthrough Results

Aug. 30, 2022 — Researchers working on developing oral insulin tablets as a replacement for daily insulin injections have made a game-changing discovery. The researchers have discovered that insulin from the latest version of their oral tablets is absorbed by rats in the same way that injected insulin ...

Beyond AlphaFold: A.I. Excels at Creating New Proteins

Sep. 15, 2022 — Over the past two years, machine learning has revolutionized protein structure prediction. Now there's a similar revolution in protein design. Biologists show that machine learning can be used to create protein molecules much more accurately and quickly than previously possible. By creating new, useful proteins not found in nature, they hope this advance will lead to many new vaccines, ...

Tiny, Caterpillar-Like Soft Robot Folds, Rolls, Grabs and Degrades

Sep. 14, 2022 — When you hear the term 'robot,' you might think of complicated machinery working in factories or roving on other planets. But 'millirobots' might change that. They're robots about as wide as a finger that someday could deliver drugs or perform minimally invasive surgery. Now, researchers have developed a soft, biodegradable, magnetic millirobot inspired by the walking and grabbing capabilities of ...

It's a Planet: New Evidence of Baby Planet in the Making

Sep. 14, 2022 — Astronomers have developed a new technique to identify small planets hidden in protoplanetary ...

Could More of Earth's Surface Host Life?

Sep. 9, 2022 — Of all known planets, Earth is as friendly to life as any planet could possibly be -- or is it? If Jupiter's orbit changes, a new study shows Earth could be more hospitable than it is ...

Heart of Our Evolution Discovered: 380-Million-Year-Old Heart

Sep. 15, 2022 — Researchers have discovered a 380-million-year-old heart -- the oldest ever found -- alongside a separate fossilized stomach, intestine and liver in an ancient jawed fish, shedding new light on the evolution of our own ...

Pioneering Research Using Bacteria Brings Scientists a Step Closer to Creating Artificial Cells With Lifelike Functionality

Sep. 14, 2022 — Scientists have harnessed the potential of bacteria to help build advanced synthetic cells which mimic real life ...

Early Gibbon Fossil Found in Southwest China: Discovery Fills Evolutionary History Gap of Apes

Sep. 14, 2022 — A team of scientists has discovered the earliest gibbon fossil, a find that helps fill a long-elusive evolutionary gap in the history of ...

What Killed Dinosaurs and Other Life on Earth?

Sep. 12, 2022 — Determining what killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period has long been the topic of debate, as scientists set out to determine what caused the five mass extinction events that reshaped life on planet Earth in a geological instant. Some scientists argue that comets or asteroids that crashed into Earth were the most likely agents of mass destruction, while ...

Brains Cells Born Together Wire and Fire Together

Mosquito on skin | (c) frank29052515 / stock.adobe.com

Mosquitoes' Unbreakable Attraction to Humans

Baby chimpanzee | (c) Patrick Rolands / stock.adobe.com

What Makes the Human Brain Different?

'Synthetic' Embryo With Brain and Beating Heart

Aug. 22, 2022 — Brain cells with the same 'birthdate' are more likely to wire together into cooperative signaling circuits that carry out many functions, including the storage of memories, a new study ...

Aug. 18, 2022 — When female mosquitoes are looking for a human to bite, they smell a unique cocktail of body odors that we emit into the air. These odors then ...

Aug. 25, 2022 — What makes the human brain distinct from that of all other animals -- including even our closest primate relatives? In an analysis of cell types in the prefrontal cortex of four primate species, ...

Aug. 25, 2022 — Researchers have created model embryos from mouse stem cells that form a brain, a beating heart, and the foundations of all the other organs of the ...

Latest Health Headlines

updated 12:31pm EDT

Infants, Young Children Finally Get Relief from Eczema's Terrible Itch

Sep. 16, 2022 — The first study to treat moderate-to-severe eczema in infants and children 6 months to 5 years old with a biologic drug rather than immune-suppressing medications shows the drug was highly effective in reducing the signs and symptoms of eczema. More than half of children had at least a 75% reduction in signs of eczema and itch. Kids slept through night for first time instead of scratching. ...

New Tool Overcomes Major Hurdle in Clinical AI Design

Sep. 15, 2022 — Most clinical AI models rely on laborious human annotation to make accurate diagnoses. A new AI model overcomes this ...

Novel Analysis Shows the Experience of Reward Increases Connectivity Between the Default Mode Network and Other Brain Regions

Sep. 16, 2022 — In line with other studies, during the reward-processing task, researchers observed decreased activation of the default mode network (DMN) and relative increased activation of other ...

Gut Microbes and Humans on a Joint Evolutionary Journey

Sep. 16, 2022 — Researchers discover simultaneous evolutionary history of gut microbes with their human hosts over hundreds of thousands of ...

Even Smartest AI Models Don't Match Human Visual Processing

Sep. 16, 2022 — Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) don't see objects the way humans do -- using configural shape perception -- and that could be dangerous in real-world AI applications. The study employed novel visual stimuli called 'Frankensteins' to explore how the human brain and DCNNs process holistic, configural object ...

An Unstable, Flake-Like Network in the Making

Sep. 16, 2022 — During development, the cells of an embryo divide until a fully functional organism emerges. One component of the cell is especially important during this process: the cell cortex. This fine network of hair-like filament structures (called actin) just below the cell membrane is the main determinant of cell shape and is involved in almost everything a cell does, such as moving, dividing, or ...

Adult ADHD Linked to Elevated Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases

Sep. 15, 2022 — Adults with ADHD are at greater risk of developing a range of cardiovascular diseases than those without the condition, according to a large observational ...

The Hemispheres Are Not Equal: How the Brain Is Not Symmetrical

Sep. 15, 2022 — Although the brain is divided into two halves, it is not exactly a mirror image. Some functions are processed more on the left side, others more on the right. Scientists have now discovered heritable underpinnings of brain asymmetry and how much we share with ...

Machine Learning Gives Glimpse of How a Dog's Brain Represents What It Sees

Sep. 15, 2022 — Scientists have decoded visual images from a dog's brain, offering a first look at how the canine mind reconstructs what it ...

Talk With Your Hands? You Might Think With Them Too!

Sep. 15, 2022 — Scientists observed how the brain responds to words representing hand-manipulable objects, when a participant's hands were either free to move or restrained. They showed that brain activity in response to hand-manipulable words was significantly reduced by hand restraints. Verbal responses were also affected by hand constraints. Their results support the idea of embodied cognition, which proposes ...

Teens Become More Exploratory With Age -- A Behavior Linked to Greater Social Connectivity and Psychological Well-Being

Sep. 15, 2022 — Teenagers become more exploratory in their behaviors with age, becoming increasingly likely to visit new places over time, finds a new study. Its results also show that greater exploration is associated with enhanced psychological well-being and larger social ...

Nanoplastics Can Disrupt Human Liver, Lung Cells' Processes in Lab Experiments

Sep. 15, 2022 — What happens when people unknowingly eat, drink or inhale nearly invisible pieces of plastic? Although it's unclear what impact this really has on humans, researchers have now taken a step toward answering that question. A team now reports laboratory results indicating that tiny plastic particles could enter liver and lung cells and disrupt their ...

Window Into Early Universe: Spiraling Stars

'Water Worlds' Surprisingly Common

RC Cyborg Cockroach

3D Printing On Mars: Rock-Metal Composite

Sep. 8, 2022 — Stars are the machines that sculpt the universe, yet scientists don't fully know how they form. To understand the frenzied 'baby boom' of star birth that occurred early in the universe's history, ...

Sep. 8, 2022 — A new study suggests that many more planets may have large amounts of water than previously thought--as much as half water and half rock. The catch? All that water is probably embedded in the rock, ...

Sep. 5, 2022 — Researchers have engineered a system for creating remote controlled cyborg cockroaches, equipped with a tiny wireless control module that is powered by a rechargeable battery attached to a solar ...

Sep. 6, 2022 — A small amount of simulated crushed Martian rock mixed with a titanium alloy made a stronger, high-performance material in a 3D-printing process that could one day be used on Mars to make tools or ...

Latest Physical/Tech Headlines

updated 12:31pm EDT

A New Holographic Microscope Allows Scientists to See Through the Skull and Image the Brain

Sep. 16, 2022 — A new holographic microscope allows scientists to see through the skull and image the brain. The new label-free deep-tissue imaging with the wave correction algorithm retrieves the fine neural network of the mouse brain with the intact skull by focusing the light and filtering out undesired multiple scattered light ...

The Physics of the Premature Lung: Why Mechanical Ventilation Can Harm Preterm Lungs

Sep. 16, 2022 — In Germany, about ten per cent of all children are born before the 37th week of pregnancy and are thus considered premature. Many of these premature babies require help with breathing due to their underdeveloped lungs. However, clinical practice shows that mechanical ventilation can cause irreversible damage to the lungs, although the exact causes ...

Researchers Go 'Outside the Box' to Delineate Major Ocean Currents

Sep. 16, 2022 — Researchers have quantified the energy of ocean currents larger than 1,000 kilometers. Using a novel coarse-graining technique, they have discovered that the most energetic is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, some 9,000 kilometers in ...

Physicists Demo Method for Designing Topological Metals

Sep. 15, 2022 — Physicists have demonstrated a design principle for predicting whether metallic compounds are likely to host topological states that arise from strong electron interactions. The method cross-references theoretical models for 'Weyl-Kondo semimetals' that are based on realistic crystal structures with information from a materials ...

NASA's Perseverance Rover Investigates Geologically Rich Mars Terrain

Sep. 16, 2022 — NASA's Perseverance rover is well into its second science campaign, collecting rock-core samples from features within an area long considered by scientists to be a top prospect for finding signs of ancient microbial life on ...

Astronomers Risk Misinterpreting Planetary Signals in James Webb Data

Sep. 15, 2022 — Astronomers risk misinterpreting planetary signals in James Webb data if models to interpret the data don't improve, a new study ...

Byzantine Solar Eclipse Records Illuminate Obscure History of Earth's Rotation

Sep. 15, 2022 — To improve understanding of variation of Earth's rotation in the 4th--7th centuries CE, a research team analyzed Byzantine records from this period to identify total solar eclipses around the Eastern Mediterranean. Five total eclipses with reliable information on location, timing, and totality were identified, in 346, 418, 484, 601, and 693 ...

MICROSCOPE Mission Presents Most Precise Test of General Relativity's Weak Equivalence Principle

Sep. 14, 2022 — Researchers present the most precise test yet of the weak equivalence principle, a key component of the theory of general relativity. The report describes the final results from the MICROSCOPE mission, which tested the principle by measuring accelerations of free-falling objects in a satellite orbiting ...

Data Science Reveals Universal Rules Shaping Cells' Power Stations

Sep. 16, 2022 — Researchers have used data science and computational biology to show that the same 'rules' have shaped how mitochondria and chloroplasts have evolved throughout life's ...

'Digital Mask' Could Protect Patients' Privacy in Medical Records

Sep. 15, 2022 — Scientists have created a 'digital mask' that will allow facial images to be stored in medical records while preventing potentially sensitive personal biometric information from being extracted and ...

Dense Liquid Droplets Act as Cellular Computers

Sep. 14, 2022 — A new study describes the rules by which physical force on cells affects squishy biocomputers inside, and the action of a related kinase known to be overactive as tau tangles form in the brain cells of Alzheimer's ...

New Method for Comparing Neural Networks Exposes How Artificial Intelligence Works

Sep. 14, 2022 — A team has developed a novel approach for comparing neural networks that looks within the 'black box' of artificial intelligence to help researchers understand neural network behavior. Neural networks recognize patterns in datasets; they are used everywhere in society, in applications such as virtual assistants, facial recognition systems and ...

more top physical/tech stories

Environment News

September 18, 2022

Timing of Earth's Largest Volcanic Events

Stone Age Surgery: Evidence of Amputation

Fossil of Unusual Dragon-Like Creature

Brain Neurons: Modern Humans Vs Neanderthals

Sep. 9, 2022 — Scientists have shed new light on the timing and likely cause of major volcanic events that occurred millions of years ago and caused such climatic ...

Sep. 9, 2022 — Researchers have uncovered the oldest case of surgical amputation to date in Borneo. The find presents a remarkable feat in human prehistory. The discovery describes the skeletal remains of a young ...

Sep. 8, 2022 — Researchers have run through near-perfect fossils of the world's first gliding reptile with a fine-toothed comb and untangled hitherto unknown facets ...

Sep. 8, 2022 — The question of what makes modern humans unique has long been a driving force for researchers. Comparisons with our closest relatives, the Neanderthals, therefore provide fascinating insights. The ...

Latest Environment Headlines

updated 12:31pm EDT

Pythons Are True Choke Artists

Sep. 16, 2022 — Biologists have found that it's not just the size of its head and body that puts almost everything on a Burmese python's menu. They evolved super-stretchy skin between their lower jaws that allows them to consume prey up to six times larger than similar-sized ...

Does Exercise Drive Development? In the Sea Anemone, the Way You Move Matters

Sep. 16, 2022 — Researchers employed interdisciplinary approaches to show how sea anemone 'exercise' changes their developing size and shape, uncovering an intimate relationship between behavior and body development. With expertise in live imaging, computational methodology, biophysics, and genetics, the multidisciplinary team of scientists turned 2D and 3D live ...

Mexican Mangroves Have Been Capturing Carbon for 5,000 Years

Sep. 16, 2022 — Researchers have identified a new reason to protect mangrove forests: they've been quietly keeping carbon out of Earth's atmosphere for the past 5,000 ...

Caller ID: Hyena 'Whoops' Feature Individual Signatures

Sep. 16, 2022 — The combination of dogged field expeditions and machine learning algorithms has revealed that long-distance hyena calls feature signatures unique to individuals -- a form of caller ID distinct enough that hyenas can likely tell one from ...

Pollutants from Burning Structures Linger in Waterways Post-Wildfire

Sep. 15, 2022 — As the frequency of wildfires has increased, so have pollutants in the waters from burned watersheds, say researchers in a review paper that highlights the need for more research in the ...

Earth's Newest Secret: How Volcanoes Really Work

Sep. 15, 2022 — It isn't every day that we learn something that fundamentally changes how we understand our world. But for volcanologists across the globe, such a revelation has ...

Popular Sport Fish Are Behaviorally Impaired from Exposure to Crude Oil, Study Finds

Sep. 15, 2022 — New research has confirmed that a popular sport fish exposed to sublethal levels of crude oil and released back into the wild exhibits altered behavior, decreased survival, and reduced ...

Refreezing Poles Feasible and Cheap, New Study Finds

Sep. 15, 2022 — Refreezing the poles by reducing incoming sunlight would be both feasible and remarkably cheap, according to new ...

'Blanket-Covered' Single-Molecules: Breakthrough in Revealing the Origin of Life

Sep. 15, 2022 — A research team succeeds in observing the difference in structural dynamics of one-nanometer single-molecules at room temperature. The new technology can be applied to the research on the cause and treatment of untreatable diseases in the ...

Discovery of Extinct Prehistoric Reptile That Lived Among Dinosaurs

Sep. 15, 2022 — Researchers have discovered a new extinct species of lizard-like reptile that belongs to the same ancient lineage as New Zealand's living tuatara. A team of scientists describe the new species Opisthiamimus gregori, which once inhabited Jurassic North America about 150 million years ago alongside dinosaurs like Stegosaurus and Allosaurus. In life, this prehistoric reptile would have been about 16 ...

What Ancient Dung Reveals About Epipaleolithic Animal Tending

Sep. 14, 2022 — Tiny crystals in ancient animal dung serve as key evidence in a new analysis suggesting the possibility that hunter-gatherers at Abu Hureyra, Syria, may have tended small numbers of animals just outside their dwellings between 12,800 and 12,300 years ...

Are We Missing a Crucial Component of Sea-Level Rise?

Sep. 14, 2022 — Across Antarctica, some parts of the base of the ice sheet are frozen, while others are thawed. Scientists show that if some currently frozen areas were also to thaw, it can increase ice loss from glaciers that are not currently major sea-level ...

Risk of Volcano Catastrophe 'A Roll of the Dice'

'Inoculating' Users Against Misinformation

Long Human Lifespan: The Importance of Elders

Stress Accelerates Immune Aging: Study

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 ...

Aug. 24, 2022 — Briefly exposing social media users to the tricks behind misinformation boosts awareness of harmful online falsehoods -- even amid intense 'noise' of ...

July 7, 2022 — In a new paper, researchers challenge the longstanding view that the force of natural selection in humans must decline to zero once reproduction is complete. They assert that a long post-reproductive ...

June 13, 2022 — Stress -- in the form of traumatic events, job strain, everyday stressors and discrimination -- accelerates aging of the immune system, potentially increasing a person's risk of cancer, ...

Latest Society/Education Headlines

updated 12:31pm EDT

Typical Movement Behavior at Large Events Increases Risk of Spreading Infectious Diseases

Sep. 15, 2022 — What is the typical movement behavior of visitors to large events, such as concerts, and what does this mean for the risk of spreading infectious diseases like COVID-19? Researchers set out to investigate using data from events in a large stadium in ...

How Songbirds' Striking Colors Put Them at Risk

Sep. 15, 2022 — Bright, uniquely colored songbirds are at higher risk of extinction and more likely to be traded as pets. Researchers also predict that almost 500 additional bird species, most of them living in the tropics, are at risk of future trade based on their unique and desirable ...

Decarbonizing the Energy System by 2050 Could Save Trillions

Sep. 13, 2022 — Transitioning to a decarbonized energy system by around 2050 is expected to save the world at least $12 trillion compared to continuing our current levels of fossil fuel use, according to a new ...

Researchers Identify How Science Can Help Cities and Companies to Operate Within Earth System Limits

Sep. 13, 2022 — What businesses and cities must do to stay within 'safe and just' environmental limits for carbon, water, nutrients, land and other natural resources is the subject of a new set of recommendations from Earth Commission ...

Food Insecurity Has Lasting Impacts on the Brains and Behavior of Mice

Sep. 9, 2022 — The pandemic saw an increase in the number of food-insecure households with children in America, but what are the consequences? A new study, conducted in mice, is among the first to look at impacts on the brain and behavior of food insecurity apart from other adversities in the environment. Mice raised with uncertain food resources exhibited changes in adulthood in the brain's dopamine network ...

Simple Measures Can Go a Long Way to Combating Air Pollution in Schools

Sep. 5, 2022 — Most UK primary schools experience levels of pollution which exceed the safe levels set out by the World Health Organization, yet simple measures can cut outdoor and indoor exposure of toxins by almost half, according to a new ...

Can 'Random Noise' Unlock Our Learning Potential?

Sep. 5, 2022 — Though many of us may seek a quiet place in which to study, 'noise' may play a key role in helping some people improve their learning ...

What You Know Changes How You See Things

Aug. 31, 2022 — Researchers have gained important insight into how the human brain processes an object in the visual system and where in the brain this processing takes place. The study shows people perceive objects differently depending on their prior knowledge and experience with that ...