Stay informed about scientific discoveries, research developments and new findings from around the world.
For devout leaf peepers, timing is everything. A new study led by researchers from Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment shows that leaf nutrient levels affect the onset of fall color. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could improve leaf drop forecasts and carbon cycle tracking.
How we feel about taking a break from our screens could tell us something important about the way we behave online, according to new research from the University of Bath and Goethe University Frankfurt. Researchers have developed the first validated scale specifically designed to measure people's attitudes toward temporarily reducing their digital consumption, finding considerable differences in how positively people view the prospect of switching off.
Around 450 million metric tons of plastics are produced worldwide each year. The major share of this sheer volume is used only once and then winds up in an incinerator or in landfills. This also applies to so-called polyolefins, which include polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). As packaging materials and films, they account for approximately half of our plastic consumption.
Listening to someone recount their visit to an amusement park can feel like being on an emotional roller coaster yourself. Even if the listeners have never set foot in the park, they can still empathize with the other person's feelings: the deep disappointment when it turns out that their favorite ride is closed. The joy—at having the best ice cream of their life. And the embarrassment—after that ice cream abruptly left their stomach on the Freefall Tower. Put simply: whatever the other person is feeling, we feel it with them.
People are often asked simple questions, such as the price of the cheapest flight to a particular destination. But the answers—and how they are perceived—can reveal far more than the cost of that trip itself. For example, whether a person believes that the response "It's $200" means $200 or assumes that the figure has been rounded up or down depends on their perception of the person giving the answer.
Investigating a scientific question is often a complex process. As an astrophysicist studying some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe, I know that finding answers requires much more than reading scientific papers or understanding existing theories. Astrophysical research involves collecting observations, analyzing data, building physical models and comparing their predictions with observations. These tasks require different scientific tools, databases and modeling software and can take considerable time even for experienced researchers.
Researchers at Tohoku University and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) have successfully controlled a unique quantum phenomenon—the quantum-geometric nonlinear Hall (QgNLH) state—using electric current for the first time. The breakthrough was achieved by revealing and exploiting the coupling between the spin structure and the QgNLH state in an electrically switchable chiral antiferromagnet.
A new biomechanical study has uncovered how elite volleyball players control ball spin during jump serves, offering fresh scientific insight into one of the sport's most decisive offensive skills.
Detecting a single photon is a challenge in itself. But what if you also want to know exactly how many photons arrive at a particular point at the same time? Physicist Erik Baalbergen is working on light detectors that can do just that. They form a key building block for the optical quantum computer of the future.
Climate change is affecting not only our weather but also the distribution of parasites and the diseases they can carry. One example is the growing presence of Hyalomma ticks in parts of Europe where they were previously uncommon. These ticks are of particular interest because they can transmit Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), a pathogen that can cause serious, sometimes life-threatening illness in humans. Hyalomma ticks are typically found in warm and dry regions of Africa, Asia and southern Europe. However, they have increasingly been reported farther north, including in Central Europe.
Antarctic blue whales appear to be creeping back from the brink of extinction after 50 years of protection. A new study estimates the total population at 4,018, up from 418 after the last reported whale catch in 1973.
Octopuses are extraordinarily versatile. From walking across the seabed on their eight arms to jetting through the water, manipulating tools and squeezing through unimaginably tight spaces, the flexibility of octopuses almost defies belief. "Octopuses can change their body shape to squeeze through tiny holes, almost like water flowing through a gap, so their size doesn't always limit where they can go," says Wenci Xin from the National University of Singapore.
A group of genes may give some fire ants an advantage, increasing their chances of growing larger and potentially becoming queens, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.
If you want to see how private schools in the U.K. can reinforce segregation between children of different social classes, the London Borough of Southwark provides a good example.
An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus that nearly wiped out an Illinois farmer's backyard flock also spread to a domestic cat and wild rats on the farm, an analysis of the animals by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory found.
A newly published study is changing our understanding of how the protein talin functions at sites where cells attach to their surroundings. The findings uncover a previously unknown mechanism by which mechanical force regulates talin, a key protein controlling cell adhesion and mechanosensing. The paper is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The clocks have gone back, and suddenly getting dressed feels more difficult. The coat you wore constantly last winter is still hanging in the closet, but it no longer looks quite how you remember. The boots you loved in February don't seem to go with anything, while a sweater that once felt like you somehow doesn't anymore.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image provides a lesson in galactic history. The sparkling collection of stars is named Messier 30 (M30) after the French astronomer Charles Messier, who cataloged M30 and other diffuse objects that might be mistaken for comets in the early telescopes of Messier's time. M30 lies about 27,500 light-years away in the constellation Capricornus.
How do cells respond to drugs? A new microscopy technique could provide more precise answers to this question in the future. Researchers from Bielefeld University and the University of Vienna have developed a method as part of the European CHEM-SCAN project that makes the smallest cellular structures visible while also showing how their molecular environment changes.
There is magic in the traditional songs of the Awajún, an Indigenous people of northern Peruvian Amazonia. Otago linguist Dr. Simon Overall has been visiting this area for over 20 years and explains what gives these songs their powers.
New findings from a Siberian tomb offer the earliest direct evidence for human marijuana use
Learn more about the scientific community coming into office in January
The ocean’s blue and green hues near the infamous zone of debris have gotten brighter over the past 20 years, satellite data show
As sea levels creep higher in the Pacific, salt leaches into the soil and reduces the land available to grow food. Ocean warming is damaging coral reefs, reducing fish stocks, and salinity has tainted freshwater supplies.