Top Science News

March 15, 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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Robots Can Help Improve Mental Wellbeing at Work -- As Long as They Look Right

Mar. 14, 2023 — Robots can be useful as mental wellbeing coaches in the workplace -- but perception of their effectiveness depends in large part on what the robot looks ...

Humans Are Leaving Behind a 'Frozen Signature' of Microbes on Mount Everest

Mar. 14, 2023 — Thanks to technological advances in microbial DNA analysis, researchers have discovered that mountaineers' boots aren't the only things leaving footprints on the world's tallest mountain. When someone sneezes on Everest, their germs can last for ...

Mediterranean Diet Associated With Decreased Risk of Dementia

Mar. 13, 2023 — Eating a traditional Mediterranean-type diet -- rich in foods such as seafood, fruit, and nuts -- may help reduce the risk of dementia by almost a quarter, a new study has ...

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 ...

Mix-and-Match Kit Could Enable Astronauts to Build a Menagerie of Lunar Exploration Bots

Mar. 14, 2023 — The Walking Oligomeric Robotic Mobility System, or WORMS, is a reconfigurable, modular, multiagent robotics architecture for extreme lunar terrain mobility. The system could be used to assemble autonomous worm-like parts into larger biomimetic robots that could explore lava tubes, steep slopes, and the moon's permanently shadowed ...

Webb Telescope Captures Rarely Seen Prelude to Supernova

Mar. 14, 2023 — The rare sight of a Wolf-Rayet star -- among the most luminous, most massive, and most briefly detectable stars known -- was one of the first observations made by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in June 2022. Webb shows the star, WR 124, in unprecedented detail with its powerful infrared instruments. The star is 15,000 light-years away in the constellation ...

Spatial Patterns in Distribution of Galaxies

Mar. 14, 2023 — In an unlikely pairing, a chemist and an astrophysicist applied the tools of statistical mechanics to find similarities in spatial patterns across length ...

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 ...

Air Pollution Impairs Successful Mating of Flies

Mar. 14, 2023 — A research team demonstrates that increased levels of ozone resulting from anthropogenic air pollution can degrade insect sex pheromones, which are crucial mating signals, and thus prevent successful reproduction. The oxidizing effect of ozone causes the carbon-carbon double bonds found in the molecules of many insect pheromones to break down. Therefore, the specific chemical mating signal is ...

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 ...

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 ...

Latest Health Headlines

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Meta-Analysis Shows Association Between Autism in Children and Cardiometabolic Diseases

Mar. 10, 2023 — To help provide an insight into the possible ASD-cardiometabolic diseases link, researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. The results indicated that ASD was associated with greater risks of developing diabetes overall, including both type 1 and type 2 ...

How Neuroimaging Can Be Better Utilized to Yield Diagnostic Information About Individuals

Mar. 14, 2023 — Since the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging in the 1990s, the reliance on neuroimaging has skyrocketed as researchers investigate how fMRI data from the brain at rest, and anatomical brain structure itself, can be used to predict individual traits, such as depression, cognitive decline, and brain disorders. But how reliable ...

Solving the Alzheimer's Disease Puzzle: One Piece at a Time

Mar. 14, 2023 — Researchers have uncovered a novel regulatory mechanism in the brain that is essential for making the right kinds of proteins that promote healthy brain function, and its malfunctioning may be an early contributor of the development of Alzheimer's ...

Innovative Approach Opens the Door to COVID Nanobody Therapies

Mar. 14, 2023 — The relatively simple and low-cost procedure could empower laboratories in low-resource areas to generate nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2, as well as other ...

Fighting Intolerance With Physics

Mar. 14, 2023 — In a world experiencing growing inequality and intolerance, tools borrowed from science and mathematics could be the key to understanding and preventing prejudice. Experts apply evolutionary game theory, which combines techniques from economics and biology, and complex system analysis to investigate the relationship between inequality and intolerance. They found that inequality boosts intolerance ...

Researchers Develop Enhanced Genetic Animal Model of Down Syndrome

Mar. 14, 2023 — Researchers compared a new genetic animal model of Down syndrome to the standard model and found the updated version to be enhanced. The new mouse model shows milder cognitive traits compared to a previously studied Down syndrome mouse ...

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 ...

Getting a Good Night's Sleep Could Boost Your Response to Vaccination

Mar. 13, 2023 — We all know how important sleep is for mental health, but a meta-analysis found that getting good shut-eye also helps our immune systems respond to vaccination. The authors found that people who slept less than six hours per night produced significantly fewer antibodies than people who slept seven hours or more, and the deficit was equivalent to two months of antibody ...

New, Non-Invasive Imaging Tool Maps Uterine Contractions During Labor

Mar. 14, 2023 — Researchers have developed a new imaging tool, called electromyometrial imaging (EMMI), to create real-time, three-dimensional images and maps of contractions during labor. The non-invasive imaging technique generates new types of images and metrics that can help quantify contraction patterns, providing foundational knowledge to improve labor management, particularly for preterm ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Latest Physical/Tech Headlines

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STAR Physicists Track Sequential 'Melting' of Upsilons

Mar. 14, 2023 — Scientists using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to study some of the hottest matter ever created in a laboratory have published their first data showing how three distinct variations of particles called upsilons sequentially 'melt,' or dissociate, in the hot ...

Researcher Solves Nearly 60-Year-Old Game Theory Dilemma

Mar. 14, 2023 — A researcher has solved a nearly 60-year-old game theory dilemma called the wall pursuit game, with implications for better reasoning about autonomous systems such as driver-less ...

Game-Changing High-Performance Semiconductor Material Could Help Slash Heat Emissions

Mar. 14, 2023 — Researchers have engineered a material with the potential to dramatically cut the amount of heat power plants release into the ...

Simulating Cuts and Burns Reveals Wound Healing and Clearing Power of Fibroblasts

Mar. 14, 2023 — Researchers create a biomimetic model to study wound healing in burn and laceration wounds. The team designed an in vitro model system made of fibroblasts embedded in a collagen hydrogel. Wounds were created in this microtissue using a microdissection knife to mimic laceration or a high-energy laser to simulate a burn. They discovered that ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Cleaning Up the Atmosphere With Quantum Computing

Mar. 14, 2023 — Practical carbon capture technologies are still in the early stages of development, with the most promising involving a class of compounds called amines that can chemically bind with carbon dioxide. Researchers now deploy an algorithm to study amine reactions through quantum computing. An existing quantum computer cab run the algorithm to find useful amine compounds for carbon capture more ...

AI Model Helps Atopic Dermatitis Patients Diagnose Complications and Malignant Diseases

Mar. 14, 2023 — Atopic dermatitis skin lesions and the lesions produced by infectious complications of the disease look so similar that it makes it impossible for patients to spot the difference and know when to visit their doctor for treatment. But an AI-powered mobile app developed by dermatologists now puts the power of diagnosis in the hands of ...

Researchers Develop Soft Robot That Shifts from Land to Sea With Ease

Mar. 14, 2023 — Most animals can quickly transition from walking to jumping to crawling to swimming if needed without reconfiguring or making major adjustments. Most robots cannot. But researchers have now created soft robots that can seamlessly shift from walking to swimming, for example, or crawling to rolling using a bistable actuator made of 3D-printed soft rubber containing shape-memory alloy springs that ...

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 ...

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Environment News

March 15, 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 ...

Latest Environment Headlines

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Mirror-Image Molecules Can Modify Signaling in Neurons

Mar. 14, 2023 — With the aid of some sea slugs, chemists have discovered that one of the smallest conceivable tweaks to a biomolecule can elicit one of the grandest conceivable consequences: directing the activation of neurons. The team has shown that the orientation of a single amino acid -- in this case, one of dozens found in the neuropeptide of a sea slug -- can dictate the likelihood that the peptide ...

The 'Rapunzel' Virus: An Evolutionary Oddity

Mar. 14, 2023 — Extremely long tail provides structural window into how bacteria-infecting viruses called phages ...

Microneedle-Based Drug Delivery Technique for Plants

Mar. 14, 2023 — The agriculture industry is under pressure to adopt sustainable and precise agricultural practices that enable more efficient use of resources due to worsening environmental conditions resulting from climate change, an ever-expanding human population, limited resources, and a shortage of arable land. As a result, developing delivery systems that efficiently distribute micronutrients, pesticides, ...

Tech Could Help BC Farmers Reach Customers, Mitigate Climate Change Impacts

Mar. 14, 2023 — Technology exists that the BC government could leverage to help small farmers connect directly with consumers and also mitigate climate change impacts, say new ...

New Study Finds Early Warning Signs Prior to 2002 Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse

Mar. 14, 2023 — In 2002, an area of ice about the size of Rhode Island dramatically broke away from Antarctica as the Larsen B ice shelf collapsed. A new study of the conditions that led to the collapse may reveal warning signs to watch for future Antarctic ice shelf retreat, according to a new ...

New Model Provides Improved Air-Quality Predictions in Fire-Prone Areas

Mar. 14, 2023 — Globally, wildfires are becoming more frequent and destructive, generating a significant amount of smoke that can be transported thousands of miles, driving the need for more accurate air pollution forecasts. Researchers have now developed a deep learning model that provides improved predictions of air quality in wildfire-prone areas and can differentiate between wildfires and ...

High Winds Can Worsen Pathogen Spread at Outdoor Chicken Farms

Mar. 14, 2023 — A study of chicken farms in the West found that high winds increased the prevalence of Campylobacter in outdoor flocks, a bacterial pathogen in poultry that is the largest single cause of foodborne illness in the U.S. Researchers found that about 26% of individual chickens had the pathogen at the 'open environment' farms in the study, which included organic and free-range chicken farms. High ...

Climate Change Alters a Human-Raptor Relationship

Mar. 14, 2023 — Bald Eagles and dairy farmers exist in a mutually beneficial relationship in parts of northwestern Washington State. According to a new study, this 'win-win' relationship has been a more recent development, driven by the impact of climate change on eagles' traditional winter diet of salmon carcasses, as well as by increased eagle abundance following decades of conservation ...

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 ...

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 ...

Latest Society/Education Headlines

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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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Looking for Risky Viruses Now to Get Ahead of Future Pandemics

Mar. 10, 2023 — Rather than let the next outbreak take the world by surprise, two virologists say that the scientific community should invest in a four-part research framework to proactively identify animal viruses that might infect ...

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 ...

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. ...

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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