Top Science News

Dec. 11, 2024 — Scientists' findings in mice could translate into a radical, needle-free vaccination approach that would also eliminate reactions including fever, swelling and ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — The city of Berkeley's first-in-the-nation soda tax a decade ago, along with more recent Bay Area tax increases on sugar-sweetened drinks, have not only led to reduced sales. They are also associated with significant changes in social norms and attitudes about the healthfulness of sweet ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new study highlights a hidden challenge of using AI in medical imaging research -- the phenomenon of highly accurate yet potentially misleading results known as 'shortcut learning.' The researchers analyzed thousands of knee X-rays and found that AI models can 'predict' unrelated and implausible traits such as whether patients abstained from eating refried beans or beer. While these predictions ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new class of magnetism called altermagnetism has been imaged for the first time in a new study. The findings could lead to the development of new magnetic memory devices with the potential to increase operation speeds of up to a thousand ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — New research suggests that these ultra-high energy rays derive their energy from magnetic ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — A groundbreaking piece of navigation technology that uses the ability to sense information through touch can help people with visual impairment perform a location task as well as sighted people, according to new ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Artificial intelligence provides new evidence that rapid decarbonization will not prevent warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius. The hottest years of this century are likely to shatter recent ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — A groundbreaking study has shed light on how lizards and snakes -- the most diverse group of land vertebrates with nearly 12,000 species -- have evolved remarkably varied jaw shapes, driving their extraordinary ecological ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — Recycling all the human and livestock feces and urine on the planet would contribute substantially to meeting the nutrient supply for all crops worldwide, thereby reducing the need to mine fertilizers such as phosphorus and dramatically reducing the dependency on fossil fuels, according to a global analysis of nutrient ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — Is it possible to pass on the effects of malnutrition? A new animal study found that a protein-deficient diet in one generation created related health risks -- lower birth-weight, smaller kidneys -- in offspring that lasted four ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — How can we explain the morphological diversity of living organisms? Although genetics is the answer that typically springs to mind, it is not the only explanation. By combining observations of embryonic development, advanced microscopy, and cutting-edge computer modelling, a multi-disciplinary team demonstrates that the crocodile head scales emerge from the mechanics of growing tissues, rather ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — Gut microbiome composition during pregnancy has long-term effects on offspring stem cell growth and development, researchers report. Treating pregnant mice with a common gut microbe resulted in offspring that had more active stem cells in both the brain and intestinal tract. As a result, the offspring were less anxious and recovered quicker from ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — Scientists have made a significant breakthrough in understanding how 'bad' cholesterol, known as low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol or LDL-C, builds up in the body. The researchers were able to show for the first time how the main structural protein of LDL binds to its receptor -- a process that starts the clearing of LDL from the blood -- and what happens when that process gets ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — A complete blood count (CBC) screening is a routine exam requested by most physicians for healthy adults. Currently, the results of CBC tests are analyzed using a one-size-fits-all reference interval, but a new study suggests that this approach can lead to overlooked deviations in health. In a retrospective analysis, researchers show that these ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — A team of neuroscientists investigates communication pathways in the brain and predicts intelligence. A new study approach uses machine learning to improve our conceptual understanding of ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — The black box of the human brain is starting to open. Although animal models are instrumental in shaping our understanding of the mammalian brain, scarce human data is uncovering important specificities. Neurosurgeons nowshed light on the human hippocampal CA3 region, central for memory ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — New research provides valuable insights into the brain-body immune connection identifying key communication hubs in the dural sinuses and skull bone marrow at the back of the ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — Online training that helps people recognize and understand new voices could be key to helping older adults improve communication in everyday environments, finds new ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — While good dogs never mean harm, they are often directed to remain on-lead in nature reserves to protect wildlife. Research has found that whether dog owners follow this rule is mostly driven by social ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Greenhouse gas emissions from tourism have been growing more than 2 times faster than those from the rest of the global economy. The study tracked international and domestic travel for 175 countries to find tourism's carbon footprint is 9% of the world's total ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — New research shows that mothers have twice the impact on language exposure, challenging traditional parenting advice. In a new study, researchers found that there wasn't a single strategy that could be singled out as 'best' to raise a child bilingually. But when they looked at parents' language use individually rather than the family's overall strategy, they had an unexpected and striking ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Psychologists looked at individuals with damage to different parts of the prefrontal cortex to reveal how the brain evaluates uncertainty and guides split-second ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — Industry -- particularly the pharmaceutical industry -- is deeply reliant on bacteria in their production. Now, researchers present a 'superman suit' to put on the bacteria, so that they can produce chemicals with less energy, fewer solvents, and reduced ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — With dual lasers, researchers have accelerated a high-quality beam of electrons to 10 billion electronvolts in just 30 centimeters. The experiment gives scientists a 'frame-by-frame' look at how a petawatt laser interacts with a long plasma channel, knowledge that's crucial for building future compact particle ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — Researchers have pioneered a new technique called X-ray linear dichroic orientation tomography, which probes the orientation of a material's building blocks at the nanoscale in three-dimensions. First applied to study a polycrystalline catalyst, the technique allows the visualization of crystal grains, grain boundaries and defects -- key factors determining catalyst performance. Beyond catalysis, ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — A NASA Hubble Space Telescope observation program called OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy) obtains long-term baseline observations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in order to understand their atmospheric dynamics and ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — Dust storms on Mars could one day pose dangers to human astronauts, damaging equipment and burying solar panels. New research gets closer to predicting when extreme weather might erupt on the Red ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — Could a decades-long debate about the mysterious movements of stars in Omega Centauri, the largest star cluster in the Milky Way, finally be ...

Dec. 5, 2024 — Colorful auroras appeared around Japan's Honshu and Hokkaido islands on May 11, 2024, sparked by an intense magnetic storm. Usually, auroras observed at low latitudes appear red due to the emission of oxygen atoms. But on this day, a salmon pink aurora was observed throughout the night, while an unusually tall, blue-dominant aurora appeared ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Mathematicians have applied statistical mechanics to climate change detection and attribution for first time. They have shown how to separate the 'signal' of human-made climate change from the 'noise' of natural climate fluctuations. This allows for a dramatic improvement in the ability to detect climate change and early warnings of climatic ...

Dec. 6, 2024 — With the help of a new experiment, researchers have succeeded in confirming a ten-year-old theoretical study, which connects one of the most fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics -- the complementarity principle -- with information theory. Their study provides a piece of the puzzle for understanding future quantum communication, metrology, and ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Researchers developed a system that converts AI explanations into narrative text that can be more easily understood by users. This system could help people determine when to trust a model's ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Researchers discovered that three-layer graphene can naturally self-organize into specific stacking patterns (ABA/ABC domains) during growth on silicon carbide, eliminating the need for manual manipulation. This breakthrough could enable scalable production of quantum ...

Dec. 11, 2024 — Investigators who previously found that a daily statin pill helps prevent heart attacks and strokes in people with HIV have now discovered a potential mechanism that may help to stabilize plaques and prevent their rupture in blood ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — A newer vaccine against hepatitis B virus was clearly superior to an older vaccine type in inducing a protective antibody response among people living with HIV who didn't respond to prior ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — Freshwater fish populations that dwell nearer the poles are outperforming their equatorial counterparts, researchers have ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Using a new calculation method, researchers found in an international comparative study that investors value corporate environmental performance more than mere information disclosure. In some developed countries, beyond sustainability efforts, companies can improve environmental efficiency to enhance economic ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — A team of scientists has solved a long-standing problem in thermal imaging, making it possible to capture clear images of objects through hot ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — As the demand for lithium-ion batteries escalates with the proliferation of mobile phone, electric vehicles and even pacemakers, key components in these powerhouses, like cobalt, face significant ethical and environmental concerns related to their extraction. Now, scientists have pioneered a safer, more sustainable solution to separate cobalt from ores or recycled materials via ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — A new biotechnological process shows how to break down and remove the matrix from carbon fiber reinforced polymers so that recovered carbon fiber plies exhibit mechanical properties comparable to those of virgin manufacturing ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Geoscientists have created a new climate record for early Antarctic ice ages. It reveals that the early Antarctic ice sheet melted more rapidly than previously ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — The Dutch East India Company ship, the Zuytdorp, likely crashed into the shore of Western Australia due to a storm and not bad navigation, new research has found. Archaeologists analyzed ship logs, contemporary cartographic and navigational knowledge and weather patterns at the time in a bid to understand how the ship went ...

Dec. 6, 2024 — A researcher has uncovered evidence of intestinal parasites in a 500-year-old latrine from Bruges, Belgium, and while the finding may induce queasiness in some, it is expected to provide important scientific evidence on how infectious diseases once spread through travel and ...

Dec. 6, 2024 — By decoding the DNA of the beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta), a native plant that thrives in British Columbia, a team of multidisciplinary scientists is providing new insight into how ancestral Indigenous peoples stewarded plants across the ...

Dec. 9, 2024 — To help improve punctuality by understanding how delays propagate and identifying critical trains, researchers have developed a new network-based ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Fast-growing and small-seeded tree species are dominating Brazilian forests in regions with high levels of deforestation and degradation, a new study shows. This has potential implications for the ecosystem services these forests provide, including the ability of these 'disturbed' forests to absorb and store carbon. This is because these 'winning' ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Higher incomes are often correlated with healthier pregnancies and babies, but is it really the money that matters? Sedimentary rocks that formed 390 million years ago, surprisingly, help provide the answer, at least for those who live above the Marcellus Shale formation, according to a ...

Dec. 10, 2024 — Life can be tricky. We have so many decisions to make. It's a good thing we have an orbitofrontal cortex and hippocampus to help us. These areas of the brain work together to help us sort through tasks that require resolving ambiguity, that is, situations in which the meaning of stimuli changes depending on ...

Dec. 8, 2024 — Bucking conventionality, boys in Norway are making early gains in reading English as a second language and even outperforming girls at age 10 and 13 -- a new a study of more than one million students ...

Dec. 6, 2024 — Exactly why do people remember what they remember? A recently published review paper sheds light on this fundamental question and the relationship between factors that influence human ...

Dec. 5, 2024 — Sleep is critical for all sorts of reasons, but a team of international scientists has discovered a new incentive for getting eight hours of sleep every night: it helps the brain to store and learn a new ...

Nov. 26, 2024 — A study offers a solution to water scarcity during droughts amid the tug of economic development, population growth and climate uncertainty for water users in Western U.S. states. The proposed two-way leasing contracts would coordinate agricultural-to-urban leasing during periods of drought and urban-to-agricultural leasing during wet periods, ...

Nov. 26, 2024 — A new article examines the convergence of physics, chemistry, and AI, highlighted by recent Nobel Prizes. It traces the historical development of neural networks, emphasizing the role of interdisciplinary research in advancing AI. The authors advocate for nurturing AI-enabled polymaths to bridge the gap between theoretical advancements and ...

Nov. 22, 2024 — A new study found that prolonged standing at work had a negative impact on the research participants' 24-hour blood pressure. In contrast, spending more time sitting at work was associated with better blood pressure. The study suggests that activity behavior during working hours may be more relevant to 24-hour blood pressure than recreational physical ...

Nov. 18, 2024 — It turns out gaming is good for you! New research indicates massive multiplayer online gamers learn by gaming and their skills in the workplace are enriched by those seemingly endless hours previously thought of as frittering away ...