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For more than 250 years, stories from early explorers described crocodiles as a common sight along the shores of the Seychelles. But after permanent settlers arrived in 1770, the island population disappeared rapidly. Within about 50 years, the crocodiles had been completely exterminated. Now, scientists have finally uncovered the true…
Scientists say climate change is driving a major and potentially permanent transformation in the Arctic Ocean, disrupting the marine food chain from the bottom up. According to a new study, the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice has sharply reduced levels of nitrate, a nutrient essential for the growth of…
Tiny wrens living on remote Scottish islands are giving scientists a rare look at evolution in action. A new study led by researchers at the University of Birmingham found that several isolated island populations of wrens are evolving independently, with some growing dramatically larger than their mainland relatives. The findings,…
Millions of Americans live with blurry vision, nearsightedness, or more severe sight problems. While glasses and contact lenses help many people, millions have turned to corrective procedures such as LASIK to sharpen their eyesight. But scientists are now exploring a very different approach that could someday reshape the eye without…
For generations, pianists and music teachers have insisted that a performer’s touch can change the character of a piano’s sound. Skeptics argued that once a piano hammer strikes a string, the resulting tone is determined almost entirely by the instrument itself. Now, a major scientific study has provided some of…
Rachel Fordyce used to save money by parking at Ithaca’s East Hill Plaza and walking through East Lawn Cemetery on her way to work at a Cornell University entomology lab. During one walk in the spring of 2022, she noticed something unusual. Bees were everywhere. She collected some in a…
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a brain immune protein that may play a major role in the progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Their findings, published in Neuron, suggest that blocking this protein with monoclonal antibodies could eventually lead to treatments that…
A new brain imaging study is raising questions about one of the most widely discussed explanations for long COVID. Researchers found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in people experiencing lingering symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, patients with more severe symptoms showed increased activity in brain regions linked to emotion,…
Immunotherapy may offer a completely new way to treat people with difficult-to-treat depression, according to a University of Bristol-led clinical trial published in JAMA Psychiatry on May 20. In the small pilot study, researchers tested whether tocilizumab, a drug commonly prescribed for inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, could ease…
Eating is about far more than simply getting enough calories. The body must also obtain the right balance of nutrients, especially essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein that the body cannot produce on its own. Now, researchers have uncovered a hidden communication system between the gut…
University of Houston researchers have achieved a major superconductivity breakthrough by setting a new temperature record for superconductors operating under ambient pressure conditions. The advance could eventually help create more efficient electrical grids, improved energy storage systems, faster electronics, and new technologies for fusion energy and medical imaging. Scientists from…
A tiny new species of sea slug, smaller than a grain of rice, has been discovered off the coast of Keelung in northern Taiwan. The translucent marine creature, covered in distinctive black and yellow markings, has officially been named Thecacera sesama by researchers from National Taiwan Ocean University, the National…
A drug designed to shut down fat production inside the liver could become a major new weapon against one of the world’s fastest-growing liver diseases. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine reported that an experimental treatment called ION224 produced significant improvements in people with metabolic dysfunction-associated…
A drug combination widely studied for its anti-aging potential may have a serious downside. Researchers at the University of Connecticut report that the treatment caused significant brain damage in mice, raising concerns about its growing use in longevity research and off-label anti-aging therapies. The findings, published in PNAS, showed that…
Age related macular degeneration (AMD) affects an enormous number of older adults. Around one third of people over 80 have AMD, and about 20 million Americans age 40 and older are living with the condition. Most cases are the dry form of AMD. It usually advances gradually, but over time…
Every morning on the giant exoplanet WASP-94A b, clouds made from rocky minerals gather across the sky. By evening, those clouds are gone. Using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers discovered this dramatic daily weather cycle on the distant world, located nearly 700 light years from Earth…
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope may have finally uncovered what powers some of the brightest stellar explosions ever observed. After studying years of data, an international research team found strong evidence that a rare superluminous supernova was energized by an extremely magnetic neutron star formed during the star’s collapse. The…
Regularly drinking guava juice could offer a simple and affordable way to help reduce anemia risk among women and teenage girls in low and middle income countries, according to a new review published in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health. Researchers found that combining guava juice with…
When audiences watched The Day After Tomorrow, they saw a fictional version of sudden and dramatic climate collapse. While the movie exaggerated the speed of those events, scientists know that Earth’s climate really can change abruptly. During the last Ice Age, temperatures in Greenland surged by as much as 16°C…
A new study warns that humanity is placing more pressure on Earth than the planet can sustainably handle, raising concerns about future food security, climate stability, and human well being. Researchers say the situation is serious, but they also believe that slowing population growth and changing patterns of consumption could…
Nearly every animal species, including humans, has blood cells. But blood is not the same across the animal kingdom. Different species have evolved different types of blood and immune cells, reflecting millions of years of adaptation against infection and disease. Scientists already understand a great deal about the makeup and…
We’ve all heard the advice: eat your fruit and vegetables, get your vitamins, and stay healthy. For the most part, that guidance holds up. But some nutrients have a more complicated story, and vitamin B12 is a fascinating example. Also known as cobalamin, B12 is essential for life. It helps…
Diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s slowly damage the brain by destroying neurons, the cells that carry messages through the nervous system. As these cells are lost, people can experience memory problems, cognitive decline, and movement difficulties that often become severe enough to require constant care. Current medicines can…
Researchers at Texas A&M University say they may have found a way to do just that using a simple nasal spray designed to reduce inflammation in the brain. In a new study, scientists reported that the treatment restored memory, reduced chronic inflammation, and improved brain cell function after just two…
Recent findings from research we have been carrying out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern in Geneva suggest that we might be closing in on signs of undiscovered physics. If confirmed, these hints would overturn the theory, called the Standard Model, that has dominated particle physics for 50…
For years, analyzing the chemical makeup of materials has required large and costly laboratory instruments known as spectrometers. These systems are used in everything from disease diagnosis and food inspection to pollution monitoring. Traditional spectrometers work by splitting light into its component colors using prisms or gratings, then measuring the…
Researchers have created a new global map showing where unusual volcanic rocks linked to rare earth elements are found, uncovering a striking connection to the oldest and thickest parts of Earth’s continents. The international team, led by scientists from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, found that these…
Losing a queen throws a tropical wasp colony into turmoil, triggering violent power struggles and social breakdowns. But new research led by UCL scientists found that some wasps quietly step in to keep the colony functioning during the chaos. The study, published in Animal Behaviour, examined tropical paper wasps (Polistes…
Snakes around the world are increasingly facing the threat of extinction, with disease emerging as a major concern alongside habitat loss. One of the most serious illnesses affecting snakes is ophidiomycosis, commonly called snake fungal disease, which is caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophidiicola (Oo). Since researchers first identified the…
The towering mountain ranges of Asia remain some of the least explored places on Earth when it comes to wildlife. Now, an international team of scientists has discovered that one of the region’s most mysterious venomous snakes is not a single species after all. Instead, the Himalayan pit viper group…
