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In 1982, cartoonist Gary Larson introduced a famous Far Side comic called Cow Tools. The illustration showed a cow proudly standing next to a strange collection of useless objects labeled as tools. The humor relied on a widely accepted idea that cows lack the intelligence to create or use tools.…
Researchers have uncovered how a mysterious ion channel helps cells break down waste, opening new possibilities for treating Parkinson’s disease. Just like sinks and bathtubs have overflow drains to prevent spills, human cells appear to have a similar built-in safeguard. A new study by scientists from Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied…
By the time animals reach midlife, their everyday habits can offer clues about how long they are likely to live. This conclusion comes from a new study supported by the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Researchers continuously monitored dozens of short-lived fish throughout their…
After infection with SARS-CoV-2, up to 10 percent of people in Germany go on to develop Long COVID. Symptoms can include persistent fatigue, difficulty concentrating, breathing problems, and neurological issues, and they may last for months or even years. The condition does not look the same in every patient, making…
A new study published on March 24 in Radiology, the journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), shows that both radiologists and multimodal large language models (LLMs) have difficulty telling real X-rays apart from artificial intelligence (AI)-generated “deepfake” images. The findings raise concerns about the risks posed by…
Feeling like you had “a good night’s sleep” depends on more than just how long you slept. It also reflects how deeply and continuously you believe you slept. Scientists still do not fully understand what happens in the brain to create this sense of deep, refreshing rest. A new study…
Snow flies might seem like ordinary insects, but their survival strategy is anything but typical. In a new study, scientists at Northwestern University investigated how these small, wingless insects, which move across snowy surfaces to find mates and lay eggs, stay alive in freezing conditions. They discovered that snow flies…
Scientists from Australia and New Zealand have uncovered ancient animal remains inside a cave near Waitomo on Aotearoa’s North Island. The site contains a large collection of fossils dating back about 1 million years, including a previously unknown ancestor of the kākāpō, a large flightless parrot. The discovery includes fossils…
Mass spectrometry is a widely used technique that helps scientists determine what molecules are present in a sample and how much of each there is. However, most current instruments examine molecules one at a time or in very small groups. This approach can be slow, expensive, and prone to missing…
After one of the coldest winters in recent memory across much of the United States, new research is shedding light on a serious and often overlooked danger. Colder months are linked to significantly higher death rates from heart attacks, strokes, and coronary artery disease compared to milder periods. Findings presented…
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is among the most aggressive types of lung cancer, with a five-year survival rate of just five percent. Although it often responds well to chemotherapy at first, that success is usually short lived. Most patients experience a relapse, followed by rapid disease progression. Because of…
Scientists have identified 24 previously unknown deep-sea amphipod species — including one entirely new superfamily — in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the central Pacific Ocean. The findings, published March 24 in an open-access ZooKeys special issue, represent a major step forward in documenting life in the CCZ. This vast…
As bees and hummingbirds move from one flower to another, feeding on nectar while helping plants reproduce, they are also consuming something unexpected: small amounts of alcohol. In the first large survey of alcohol in floral nectar, biologists at the University of California, Berkeley detected ethanol in at least one…
For over 60 years, metformin has been a first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes, yet scientists have not fully understood how it works. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, along with international collaborators, have now identified an unexpected factor behind the drug’s effects: the brain. By uncovering a brain-based pathway…
The star γ Cas, visible to the naked eye in the constellation Cassiopeia, has confused astronomers for decades. It produces X-rays far more intense and hotter than what scientists expect from a typical massive star. New observations using the Resolve instrument aboard Japan’s XRISM space telescope now link these emissions…
Astronomers searching for extraterrestrial life have now identified the most promising places to look. Out of more than 6,000 known exoplanets, researchers have narrowed the list to just under 50 rocky worlds that may be capable of supporting life. The findings, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,…
Astronomers searching for extraterrestrial life have now identified the most promising places to look. Out of more than 6,000 known exoplanets, researchers have narrowed the list to just under 50 rocky worlds that may be capable of supporting life. The findings, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,…
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and a new poll from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Morning Consult highlights a major knowledge gap. Nearly half of Americans do not realize that eating processed meat is linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer. The survey, conducted among…
Lena Ting of Emory University and her team set out to understand how aging and Parkinson’s disease affect the way the brain and muscles respond when a person tries to regain balance. In earlier experiments, the researchers studied young adults by suddenly destabilizing them, essentially pulling a rug out from…
Scientists filmed atoms “roaming” before exploding — revealing a hidden driver of radiation damage. The process: The research centers on electron-transfer-mediated decay (ETMD), a radiation-driven process that can cause loosely bound atoms to break apart. This mechanism is especially important because it can generate highly reactive particles in water, making…
“Dance like nobody’s watching?” That idea does not apply to honey bees. Scientists have spent years decoding the honey bee “waggle dance,” a highly sophisticated form of communication. Researchers from the University of California San Diego and their international partners have now clarified how this behavior allows bees to share…
Fathers in Sweden are less likely to receive a psychiatric diagnosis during their partner’s pregnancy and in the months right after their child is born. But this pattern reverses over time. A new study published in JAMA Network Open reports that diagnoses of depression and stress-related conditions rise about a…
Researchers at Cornell University, working with collaborators, have created an extremely small neural implant that can sit on a grain of salt. Despite its size, the device can wirelessly transmit brain activity data from a living animal for more than a year. The advance, reported in Nature Electronics, shows that…
For memories to be useful, the brain must connect what happened with the situation in which it occurred. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now uncovered how the human brain handles this task. Their findings show that two distinct groups of neurons store content and context separately, then coordinate…
Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD) impacts roughly 30% of people globally and has long lacked effective, targeted therapies. Now, researchers have uncovered a key genetic factor that worsens the condition. Even more surprising, the most effective way to target this factor may be an already approved and widely available treatment:…
Recent advances in supercomputing have allowed scientists to tackle a long-standing question in astronomy. Researchers have been trying to understand why the chemical makeup at the surface of red giant stars changes as these stars evolve. For many years, scientists struggled to connect what happens deep inside a red giant…
Researchers from the Canadian Museum of Nature have identified a previously unknown species of extinct rhinoceros from the High Arctic. The remarkably well-preserved fossil skeleton was uncovered in ancient lakebed sediments at Haughton Crater on Devon Island in Nunavut. This find represents the northernmost rhino species ever documented. Rhinoceroses have…
Researchers from the University of Oslo (UiO), Akershus University Hospital (Ahus), and international collaborators have published a new expert review in Nature Aging. The paper brings together more than 25 scientists, including clinicians and leading experts in aging biology and metabolism, with a strong focus on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+).…
For more than 100 years, scientists have pursued the idea of insulin in pill form, often described as a “dream” treatment for diabetes. The challenge has been the body itself. Enzymes in the digestive system break down insulin before it can work, and the intestine lacks a natural way to…
As quantum computers grow more powerful, many current encryption methods could eventually become vulnerable. One promising solution is quantum cryptography, which relies on the laws of physics rather than mathematical complexity to keep data secure. However, making quantum communication practical requires small, dependable devices that can accurately read delicate quantum…
