Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
Researchers have developed a practical strategy for recovering biosynthetic information from fragmented metagenomic data. Through this work, the researchers identified and prioritized promising natural-product candidates with potential antibacterial or anticancer activity.
A small protein known as p11 may play a much broader role in cellular signaling than previously thought. Researchers at Karolinska institutet have now shown that p11 interacts with numerous receptors targeted by commonly used medicines, opening new possibilities for treating conditions such as pain, inflammation and depression. The research is published in the journal Science Advances.
Human activity and climate change are putting growing pressure on water resources, disrupting the predictability of the water cycle and changing the availability and quality of freshwater. IIASA researchers and partners have developed a new framework for guiding water management and planning at the river basin level, derived from the existing Global Water Planetary Boundary.
In the early history of our solar system, scientists theorize that a Mars-sized object called Theia smashed into the infant Earth, vaporizing massive amounts of rock and blasting it into space. Some of that material coalesced into the moon, where NASA's Artemis program is returning humans, preparing for Mars and shaping the future of space exploration.
Working in close collaboration, researchers from Paderborn University, the University of Basel and Ruhr University Bochum have made a breakthrough in quantum communication. In their recently published paper in the journal Physical Review Letters, they demonstrate how special semiconductor nanostructures can be used to generate individual photons and pairs of photons that are almost perfectly identical. These "indistinguishable" particles form the basis for quantum entanglement and quantum interference.
Corporate uniforms, advertising banners and industrial technical fabrics almost always end up in landfills at the end of their "life cycles," even when they are still in good condition. To address this issue, Ciclou, a startup based in São Paulo, Brazil, has developed a system that transforms environmental liabilities into economic opportunities. The system connects major waste generators, such as industries and corporations in sectors like events and infrastructure, with artisans from the outskirts of the city.
UCLA biologists have found the hiding place of a silent killer stalking threatened Yosemite toads: their own burrows. The Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) fungus decimating amphibian populations around the world has long been thought to live in and infect the toads through their skin when they are in the water.
Whether in drug discovery, environmental analysis or metabolomics: anyone analyzing complex biological samples often needs to identify the small molecules they contain. Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, in collaboration with partners from the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich, have developed a method that addresses a problem in analytical chemistry that has persisted for decades.
A research team led by professor Inyoung Chae of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), together with professor Beth L. Fossen of Indiana University and professor Philip Kim of Texas Christian University in the United States, has demonstrated that ultrashort "micro ads" lasting 10 seconds or less are significantly more effective than longer, more elaborate advertisements at driving immediate online visits and consumer engagement.
On July 29, 2025, at 23:24 Universal Time, a long stretch of seafloor off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula was thrust upward. The magnitude 8.8 earthquake was the largest on Earth since the Tohoku earthquake of 2011, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and within minutes a tsunami was spreading across the Pacific. Warnings went out from Japan to Chile. On Shumshu, in the Kuril Islands, the water splashed up to about 19 meters (62 feet) high.
An international study led by researchers from Charles University in Prague (CUNI) and the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (BC CAS) has mapped how closely flowering plants and their pollinators depend on each other.
Extreme dry mouth, caused by radiation used to treat cancer and by autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's disease, radically affects quality of life for sufferers. It can hamper speaking, swallowing and eating, and for years has seemed an intractable problem.
Farshid Alambeigi refers to one of his most ambitious research efforts as "the sci-fi project." The idea lives up to the name. He is developing robotic technology that could one day help manufacture living tissue—potentially even functioning organs—for transplantation.
The circadian clock is an internal biological system that regulates sleep-wake cycles, as well as many physiological functions such as body temperature and hormone production. In many animals, this clock relies on a network of neurons that generates rhythms of approximately 24 hours.
Project Suncatcher is aimed at testing Google's AI chips in the harsh environment of space
A new AI tool that analyzes speech could give users a glimpse of how they are aging and whether they're at risk of dementia, a new study suggests.The tool analyzes hundreds of speech and language patterns to estimate the user's chronological age from the way they talk. In a study involving nearly 3,000 Spanish-speaking adults, those whose estimated age was higher than their actual age were more likely to have cognitive problems, dementia and signs of accelerated biological aging, researchers reported Wednesday (Sept. 30) in the journal Science Advances. They were also more likely to have less favorable social and economic circumstances than other study participants.This voice-analyzing tool ...
The geographic poles can shift at surprisingly high ratesPlanet Observer/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The Earth’s geographic poles – the points where the imaginary axis of the planet’s rotation is located – may be far less immutable than previously known, with a new study finding that ancient sea-level changes provide a clue to their movement. Earth has two main pairs of poles: its magnetic poles, resulting from its magnetic field, and its geographic poles based on its rotation. The magnetic poles are constantly in movement and are often hundreds of kilometres away from the geographic north and south poles. They can even flip altogether. The geographic poles are much more stable. ...
An analysis of ancient sea-level changes reveals that the whole solid Earth has shifted multiple times
Scientists have created the most accurate atomic clock ever made — and it could literally redefine the second. Researchers recently unveiled the record-breaking device, which uses the vibration of atoms of an element called lutetium to precisely measure each microsecond. It is accurate up to 19 decimal places — a 41% improvement over the previous record holder. The results were published Sept. 23 in the journal Nature.Atomic clocks have been around since the 1950s. The first atomic clocks were made with the radioactive isotopes of the element cesium, a silvery metal that quickly became the gold standard for timekeeping. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) revised its de...
The world's smallest crocodiles use a sneak attack to hunt bats in hellish underground caves filled with poop, a new video reveals. The footage of the never-before-seen behavior was captured for the upcoming National Geographic series "Africa: Earth's Wild Home" and offers a rare glimpse into the lives of Gabon's mysterious cave-dwelling dwarf crocodiles. Dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus tetraspis), which grow to only around 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, live across West and Central Africa and are typically found in forests, rivers, swamps and similar surface habitats. However, the cave population filmed in the new series is unique. Discovered in 2008, these subterranean explorers spend their days ...