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Noise-cancelling headphones prevent vomiting after surgery
Science News

Noise-cancelling headphones prevent vomiting after surgery

Headphones could be a simple way to ease vomiting after surgeryAnchiy/Getty Images Nausea and vomiting are common after surgery, but wearing noise-cancelling headphones during the procedure helps prevent these unpleasant side effects. This simple intervention also supports the idea that our brain processes sounds even when we’re not consciously aware of our surroundings. “That data is really encouraging and is actually in line with decades of research showing that anaesthesia is not simply an off switch,” says Vigi Katlowitz at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Read more Powerful new book explores how noise has taken over the world Nausea and vomiting are common side effects of anae...

📅 2026-10-17 18:30:00    •    New Scientist
Quantum magic state cleanup cuts errors 40-fold in first successful hardware test
Science News

Quantum magic state cleanup cuts errors 40-fold in first successful hardware test

Qubits, the quantum equivalent of digital bits, are fragile and prone to errors. That makes building reliable quantum computers extremely difficult. One fix has been to use traditional magic state distillation, which filters out flaws, but it is extremely resource-intensive.

📅 2026-10-17 18:00:02    •    Phys.org
Hand-cranked device tells blood type and red cell levels in 1 minute
Science News

Hand-cranked device tells blood type and red cell levels in 1 minute

When someone is badly injured, doctors urgently need two facts: the patient's blood type, so that a transfusion is safe, and their hematocrit, the share of the blood made up of red blood cells, which reveals blood loss or anemia. Hospitals measure both with large machines that need electricity and trained staff, which are often unavailable in ambulances, disaster zones or remote clinics.

📅 2026-10-17 16:00:01    •    Phys.org
Salt crystals could hold clues to life beneath Enceladus's ice
Science News

Salt crystals could hold clues to life beneath Enceladus's ice

The ocean beneath Saturn's moon Enceladus lies under kilometers of ice, but some of its contents do reach the surface. Jets near the south pole spray out water vapor and icy particles, offering a way to investigate the hidden ocean without drilling down to it.

📅 2026-10-17 15:40:01    •    Phys.org
The ambiguous costs of climate change
Science News

The ambiguous costs of climate change

As human activity has increased temperatures globally, determining the costs directly incurred by climate change is challenging. The effects of climate change on extreme weather events—such as hurricanes and heat waves—can be locally specific and variable, and observations and climate modeling might not accurately capture those effects.

📅 2026-10-17 14:20:01    •    Phys.org
New drug reverses severe fatty liver disease by repairing the gut
Science News

New drug reverses severe fatty liver disease by repairing the gut

Scientists have discovered that a potential new drug can reverse severe fatty liver disease in animal models by restoring gut health and blocking harmful substances from reaching the liver. The breakthrough could pave the way for new treatments for liver disease and potentially other serious conditions, including cardiovascular disease.

📅 2026-10-17 13:45:06    •    ScienceDaily
Lone, starless cloud may be a 'dark' galaxy
Science News

Lone, starless cloud may be a 'dark' galaxy

Astronomers using China's FAST radio telescope have discovered a compact cloud of hydrogen with no visible stars or galaxy around it. This could be one of the strongest candidates yet for an isolated "dark galaxy," containing nearly 500,000 times the sun's mass in neutral hydrogen. The discovery paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 24.

📅 2026-10-17 13:40:04    •    Phys.org
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope exceeds expectations by nearly 30%
Science News

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope exceeds expectations by nearly 30%

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has exceeded expectations after engineers made incredibly tiny adjustments to sharpen its view of the universe. By moving a mirror just one-sixteenth the width of a human hair, the team helped bring its powerful instruments into near-perfect alignment. Roman’s Wide Field Instrument now produces image quality nearly 30% better than predicted, promising exceptionally sharp cosmic surveys.

📅 2026-10-17 13:28:13    •    ScienceDaily
This bird flies thousands of miles, but its wings have a catch
Science News

This bird flies thousands of miles, but its wings have a catch

Scientists have uncovered an unexpected trade-off in the wings of the European nightjar, a bird that migrates thousands of kilometers but sacrifices high-speed flight efficiency to hunt insects with remarkable agility. Even more surprisingly, it generates thrust on the upward wingbeat, a technique that could inspire new flying technologies.

📅 2026-10-17 13:05:02    •    ScienceDaily
Red-sensitive pigments in mantis shrimp eyes act as reversible light switches
Science News

Red-sensitive pigments in mantis shrimp eyes act as reversible light switches

With about 30 visual pigments, compared to just three in humans, mantis shrimp possess a visual system that remains a mystery. Researchers from ULiège and Humboldt University in Berlin have, for the first time, analyzed these pigments one by one and discovered that some detect red light that very few animals can perceive. This finding, published in Science Advances, has potential applications in optogenetics.

📅 2026-10-17 13:00:01    •    Phys.org