Reporting world updates to you
Researchers report that a newly uncovered fossil ape from northern Egypt is changing how scientists view early hominoid evolution. The discovery suggests that the closest ancestors of modern apes may have originated in northern Africa, rather than in East Africa, which has long been the main focus of fossil research.…
During midday Friday prayers on March 28, 2025, a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit central Myanmar along the Sagaing Fault. The epicenter was located near Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city. It was the strongest earthquake to strike Myanmar in more than a century and the second deadliest in its modern…
Antioxidants are often promoted as powerful supplements, credited with helping prevent chronic illnesses and cancer, treating conditions like COPD and dementia, and even slowing the aging process. However, new research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) suggests that taking high doses regularly may come…
One of the biggest challenges in cancer care is that the same therapy can be highly effective for some patients yet fail entirely for others. A new study published in Nature Communications, led by Dr. Louise Fets at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), takes a closer look at…
Scientists have uncovered a surprising way that gut bacteria interact with the human body. Certain microbes living in the digestive system can send proteins straight into human cells, actively influencing how the immune system behaves. The research, led by Helmholtz Munich with contributions from Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU), Aix Marseille…
Scientists have uncovered a surprising way that gut bacteria interact with the human body. Certain microbes living in the digestive system can send proteins straight into human cells, actively influencing how the immune system behaves. The research, led by Helmholtz Munich with contributions from Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU), Aix Marseille…
Species around the world are vanishing at an accelerating pace, driven by climate change, habitat destruction, and invasive species. Many lesser-known groups, including marine worms, are especially at risk, with some facing extinction before scientists have even identified them. To address this gap, researchers from the University of Göttingen, the…
Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have identified previously unseen oscillation patterns known as Floquet states inside extremely small magnetic vortices. In contrast to earlier studies that relied on powerful laser pulses to generate these states, the Dresden team found that gentle stimulation using magnetic waves is enough. This discovery…
Today, Mars is known as a cold, dry desert, but its surface tells a very different story. Ancient channels, water-altered minerals, and other geological features show that the planet once had abundant water and a far more dynamic environment. Understanding how this wetter world transformed into the barren landscape we…
How much does a star determine what its planets are like? And could that influence whether those worlds can support life? Carnegie’s Luke Bouma is investigating a new way to tackle this question by using naturally occurring “space weather stations” that appear around some young stars. His findings are being…
Sea ice is remaining attached to Alaska’s northern coastline for shorter periods each year, based on 27 years of data analyzed by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This type of ice, known as landfast ice because it stays fixed to the shore rather than drifting with winds and…
Researchers from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Brazil, working with University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom, found that having both excess abdominal fat and reduced muscle mass significantly raises the risk of death. People with this combination were 83% more likely to die than those…
A team of researchers led by the University of Oxford has developed a breakthrough food supplement that could help reverse the alarming decline of honeybees. Working with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the University of Greenwich, and the Technical University of Denmark, the scientists engineered a diet that mimics the key…
Some of the longest and most essential animal migrations on Earth take place beneath the surface of rivers. A major new report from the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), a United Nations environmental treaty, warns that many of these migrations are now rapidly breaking…
Anyone who has tried to use a smartphone or tablet with long nails knows it takes some adjustment. Instead of tapping naturally with your fingertips, you often have to angle your fingers awkwardly just to make contact with the screen. What if you could simply use your nails instead? Researchers…
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…
