Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
During some days in August, science takes center stage. The experts are surveying the little-known diversity of fungi found in the alpine Dryas heath. They may even discover species that have never been described scientifically before.
One of the oldest known 3D fossils of an animal has been discovered in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first new major site of its kind anywhere in Europe in decades.
Every US$1 invested in tackling climate change and air pollution together can generate around US$15 in economic benefits, according to a report published today by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
The PISA study regularly assesses 15-year-olds' ability to understand and solve real-life problems in reading, mathematics and science toward the end of their compulsory education. It demonstrates the extent to which young people are prepared for the demands of a knowledge-based society and can participate in social life on their own terms.
Every cell relies on ribosomes, the molecular machines that read genetic instructions and use them to assemble proteins. A cell needs thousands of types of proteins at any one time, so ribosomes must be generalists, capable of using instructions to produce any protein.
As large-scale disasters—including earthquakes, torrential rains, typhoons and wildfires—become increasingly frequent, ensuring that pets as well as their owners can evacuate safely and receive appropriate care has become an important part of disaster preparedness.
Cyclopropanes are organic chemistry's smallest rings. Three carbon atoms are joined in a triangle, creating a compact and unusually strained structure. Despite—or partly because of—this unusual geometry, cyclopropanes are found in many biologically active natural products and have important applications in medicines and drug discovery, from antidepressants to antibiotics and antiviral research.
New research has revealed that ancient builders deliberately transported enormous 25-tonne stones across at least 18 kilometers (11 miles) to build Britain's tallest surviving prehistoric stone row—the iconic Devil's Arrows.
From repairing damaged tissues to developing better implants, many medical developments depend on materials that can mimic the complex properties of human tissue. Meta-biomaterials are among the most promising candidates. By tailoring their geometry, researchers can create materials with properties similar to those of natural tissues. But there is a catch: Changing one property often changes several others at the same time. TU Delft scientists have now developed a method to decouple these properties.
Halley's Comet captures the imagination in a way that few other astronomical objects do. When it last made its approach toward the sun (admittedly when this author, who is now middle-aged, was 1 year old in 1986), humanity responded with a fleet of spacecraft known informally as the "Halley Armada." Yet because of the comet's trajectory, those spacecraft were only able to visit their target for a fleeting few hours, leaving planetary scientists wanting more. Now, a new paper by researchers at Khalifa University and their co-authors, available on the arXiv preprint server, describes a mission plan that would allow a spacecraft to rendezvous with this best-known comet for the first time.
As Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's population ages at one of the fastest rates in the world, demand for family elder care increases daily. To understand the responsibilities and roles assumed by grandchildren in caring for their grandparents, the Asia-Pacific Institute of Aging Studies (APIAS) at Lingnan University conducted an in-depth interview study.
A new study suggests that a period of intense fires and landscape upheaval in the ancient southern Levant may have helped create the conditions that led Neolithic communities to discover how fire could transform clay.
Researchers have developed a method for extrapolating sea surface temperatures from sparse data that is significantly more accurate than other commonly used computational methods and slightly more accurate than the best-performing AI model, while taking a fraction of the time to train. The work has implications for both short-term weather forecasting and longer-term climate predictions.
Across southern Europe, increasingly extreme heat, wildfire and intense rainfall are forcing planners to consider how one event can alter the risk of the next. Portugal's exceptionally wet winter and another summer of wildfire risk are an example of this. As a professor of architecture and climate change adaptation who has been following the cyclical nature of weather extremes in the Pinhal Interior region since the deadly 2017 fires, I explain why prevention must connect forests, settlements, slopes and waterways.
The work break room can be a place of rest, gossip, fun or recovery. But it can also be a cause for complaint when yesterday's fish dinner becomes a smelly microwaved lunch. For most people, microwaving fish at work is a big no-no. It has even led to armed confrontations.
An international team of astronomers has discovered the most distant progenitor to a galaxy supercluster ever. The discovery supports existing theories of how galaxy clusters evolve and reveals how they are connected to the larger cosmic web. The study relies largely on data from the ODIN survey, conducted with the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile.
Radiation from space is constantly entering Earth's atmosphere, but how much of it reaches the altitudes used by commercial aircraft depends not only on height and location, but also on the activity of the sun. A new study based on high-altitude balloon measurements over southern Israel has mapped these changes through the atmosphere and found that radiation levels at aviation altitudes rise as solar activity falls.
Plants are home to a diverse array of microorganisms that support their growth and help them adapt to environmental stress—of which there has been an abundance lately. High temperatures and drought caused by human-induced climate change have led to reduced crop yields and the use of biofertilizers such as rhizosphere microorganisms, which help plants absorb nutrients and increase their resistance to disease and stress.
Melons produce many seeds, making the melon shape a traditional symbol of fertility and prosperity in Chinese culture. But the historical debate about how melons made their way to modern tables is as long and twisted as the vines they grow on.
High in the central tower of Angkor Wat, an ancient Cambodian temple, paintings depict horseback riders and a traditional musical ensemble. Thousands of visitors pass these images daily without noticing them because they are faded to the point of invisibility.