Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
Scientists have linked a gut bacterial compound called ImP to greater Alzheimer’s risk, harmful brain protein buildup, and faster cognitive decline. The finding raises the possibility that reducing ImP in the blood could one day help slow or prevent dementia.
Researchers have demonstrated that quantum fluctuations in supposedly empty space can strengthen superconductivity, raising the transition temperature of an ultrathin material by as much as 5.4%. The discovery opens the possibility of using specially engineered vacuum environments to control quantum materials without direct contact or external driving.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world's top public health threats. Often termed a silent pandemic, antimicrobial-resistant bacteria have caused millions of deaths annually. If left unchecked, the number of deaths attributed to antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is expected to increase to 10 million a year by 2050, according to estimates by the World Health Organization.
European deportation practices are governed by a complex web of European, national and human rights law, says the author of a paper published in the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies. Based on 100,000 French court cases, the study shows that national courts play a central role in determining whether individuals can be removed.
Vitamin C may do more than support the immune system. In a phase 2 trial of people with precancerous or low risk blood cancers, daily vitamin C did not slow abnormal cell growth, but it was linked to favorable changes in inflammation and fewer serious complications. An exploratory follow up also found fewer deaths among participants taking vitamin C than among those receiving placebo.
Physicists with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Grainger College of Engineering have identified a new form of superconducting behavior. Experiments on the metal uranium ditelluride reveal that Cooper pairs, the composite electron units responsible for superconductivity, can organize into nonuniform patterns that exist even when the main superconducting phase is absent.
Mammals first appeared on Earth over 200 million years ago, scuttling around alongside the dinosaurs as little mouse-sized creatures. But after the asteroid hit 66 million years ago, it was their time to shine — and the Age of Mammals began. But the path to understanding our own branch of the animal kingdom hasn't been straightforward. In this excerpt from "The Story of the Mammals in 25 Discoveries" (Columbia University Press, 2026), author Donald R. Prothero looks at a time when philosophers and early naturalists believed giants roamed the Earth and explores the idea that extinction was heresy. Many cultures around the world have a mythology that includes legends about gigantic races of ...
Philosopher and 2026 MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Felipe De Brigard explains how our brains use imagination to reconstruct the past
Sea levels in California are set to rise by as much as a foot (30 centimeters) in the coming days as an enormous wave washes up the U.S. West Coast.
Could a psychedelic drug help the brain recover from mild injuries? New research suggests that psilocybin, the mind-bending ingredient in magic mushrooms, might protect the brain from the damage caused by minor head impacts. Even mild head impacts that don't count as concussions can raise the risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), so finding an effective treatment for these blows could be useful for warding off debilitating conditions down the line.The new research, published in the journal Communications Biology, included only lab rats, so there's more work to be done to translate the findings to humans. But the early results hint at a new applic...
Pairing artificial intelligence with acoustic technology helped reveal an Erturian tomb in new light
The distance in the march from the American Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence is almost beyond comprehension. But leaders of the Smithsonian Institution are using AI to bridge the divide.
Investigators in Argentina are trying to solve the mystery of baby whales washing up dead in unusually high numbers along the country's Patagonian coast.
Among the many risks astronauts face during long-haul spaceflight, an extended stay in microgravity is one of the most consequential for long-term health, with effects on vision, bones, muscles and many other aspects of the body. One solution might be artificial gravity — some way to create forces similar to Earth's gravity on a spaceship, akin to the giant rotating ring from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." But is that technology ever coming, or will it remain science fiction? "There's really no reason it couldn't happen," Torin Clark, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, told Live Science. "From a technical perspective,...
One in three tenants who moved out of a municipal rental apartment in Gothenburg in connection with renovation said the renovation was a main reason for their decision, and many of them moved out even before construction began. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology shows that concerns about disruption, uncertainty and unclear information can be just as important as rent increases.
NASA has selected a Planetary Science Institute–led proposal to investigate whether a potentially large underground cave extends beyond the opening of a lunar pit. Such a cave may one day provide a safe haven for astronauts to escape the radiation and extreme temperature swings present at the lunar surface.
Researchers from the LIMNO laboratory at EPFL have uncovered how different halides modify the surface chemistry of organic semiconductor nanoparticle photocatalysts. By controlling these phenomena, they have significantly improved the solar hydrogen production efficiency of these materials.
America is a nation of local laws—millions of them. From noise ordinances and construction codes to rules about fishing licenses and roadside mango peddling, every town, city and county has its own set of regulations and unique way of doing things.
Nearly every morning when she was a doctoral student in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), Nicole Nakata, Ph.D. '23 (biology), would cross the street from the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) in Charleston, Ore., to the high-tide line of the Pacific Ocean. Her job was to catch microscopic brittle star plankton larvae from the incoming tidal current and bring them back to OIMB's labs to analyze under a microscope.
Roadsides may not look like wildlife habitat, but a few simple changes to how they are maintained could turn them into much better places for pollinators. A new uOttawa-led study found that reducing mowing and herbicide use along rural roadsides led to a 45% jump in pollinator numbers and a 23% increase in the number of species found there.