Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
Finding a single cancer cell in a tube of blood is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. As researchers seek to detect ever-smaller and rarer targets, from viruses to circulating tumor cells in blood, the demand for ultrasensitive, robust sensors that are practical for real-world samples continues to grow.
Localized pitting corrosion can cause sudden failure in aluminum components even when overall corrosion rates are low. Steam coating offers a water-vapor-based route to protective boehmite films, but processing simultaneously changes film thickness, surface morphology, crystallinity and substrate defects.
A strange chemical signature in old Hubble observations may point to a planet that formed after its star had already died. Astronomers found unusually high levels of niobium around the white dwarf HS 0209+0832, suggesting some of the star’s expelled material may have assembled into a new gas giant. TESS data also hints at a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting just 3.7 million miles from the star.
When a dying star runs out of fuel and sheds its outer layers, its remaining core can become an approximately Earth-sized, extremely dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf. For a white dwarf that is not strongly rotating or magnetized, there is a well-known upper mass limit of about 1.4 times the mass of the sun, known as the Chandrasekhar limit.
Feeling secure in a relationship is not only about how people connect with their partners today. It may also depend on how confident they are that the relationship will continue into the future. Feelings of closeness, trust and connection, together with a sense that the relationship is stable and has a future, can shape how people experience their romantic relationships.
The threat of cyberattacks against American agriculture and food systems is growing, and Washington State University researchers are helping to lead a call for a national consortium of land-grant universities to study and combat the threat.
For highly fragile quantum information systems, the ability to store quantum information is vital—but also challenging. Quantum information is transported in particles of light called photons, which often must be temporarily paused (or "stored") while other, slower quantum operations catch up. This storage must be performed on microchips as small as 1 centimeter (0.4 inches)—a distance covered by light in a few trillionths of a second. Storing photons for a microsecond would represent a massive leap forward for the capabilities of quantum chips.
Rocks in the asteroid belt rotating at ultra-fast speeds suggest our understanding of asteroid structure might be wrong
Episodic lava fountaining is a rare volcanic behavior in which repeated, hours-long bursts of molten lava and gas are spewed from volcanic vents, with quiet pauses lasting days to weeks between episodes. These lava fountains have been observed in active volcanoes in places like Hawaii, Iceland and Italy, but researchers still do not fully understand what starts, sustains or stops these individual fountain episodes.
Most covid-19 cases are caused by a particular type of variant, but do we need to worry every time a new one emerges?
Majestic African antelopes known as gemsbok have been roaming the U.S. Southwest since their introduction in the 1960s and 1970s. Brought to New Mexico as a game species for hunting, gemsbok quickly settled in, expanding more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from their introduction point. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers say that's due to their exceptional adaptations to arid conditions, which they predict will dramatically expand under climate change.
U.S. colleges and universities have long struggled to increase the racial diversity of their faculty.
Imagine you're road-tripping across the country 10 years from now. You spend a few minutes charging your electric vehicle and then set off — and your car's solar paint keeps it charged as you drive. Your eyes are on the stunning scenery, taking in the vistas along Route 66 or the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, or you're catching up on messages. Your hands barely touch the wheel, and your foot doesn't push a pedal. Your car communicates with others on the road, so there's no need to brake suddenly or swerve. That's because it knows a vehicle five cars up from you has done so, and all those in between are slowing at exactly the right pace to avoid dramatic changes in trajectory.And when you ...
Parts of Earth's climate system can change abruptly once warming pushes them beyond critical thresholds. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, coral reefs and major ocean currents are all among the systems containing potential climate tipping points.
You have probably noticed it on a hot summer day: A basement feels cool even when the air outside is baking. The ground does not heat up and cool down as fast as the air does. A few hundred feet down, it stays close to the local yearly average all year, which can be around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius).
The rise and fall of a continent-spanning cliff may help explain a mysterious 1-billion-year gap in Earth’s geologic history, a new study suggests.
Two people born on the exact same day can age in totally different ways — one in relative health and the other with chronic disease. Now, scientists have found a key difference in the immune systems of people who are more prone to age-related conditions, and it could help explain why some people remain healthier longer. In young people, the immune system contains many naive T cells, a type of white blood cell. Over time, exposure to pathogens and vaccinations transforms some of these T cells into memory cells, which can respond quickly to defend the body against germs. These memory cells make different types of characteristic proteins, called granzymes, which kill infected cells. They come...
The new tattoo ink is activated under UV light. (Image credit: Matter & Light, Bruns et al.)Researchers have developed a new type of tattoo ink that can be switched on and off with light, allowing colors and images embedded in the skin to be changed and even "erased" without having to go through the painful tattoo-removal process. The system, which is being commercialized under the name PhotoTat, could eventually give people a way to conceal or change permanent body art. It could also have more practical applications, including medical tattoos that are visible only when a doctor needs to see them, researchers reported in a study published Friday (Oct. 9) in the journal Matter & Light. "This ...
A new type of ink could overcome one of the main downsides of tattoos: the inability to make them invisible
The movie is based on the true story of how Facebook employee Frances Haugen blew the whistle on the company’s safety practices