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A research team led by Nanjing University has introduced a transparent, colorless, and unidirectional solar concentrator that can be directly coated onto standard window glass. Utilizing cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) multilayers with submicron lateral periodicities, this diffractive-type solar concentrator (CUSC) selectively guides sunlight toward the edge of the window where…
How can data be processed at lightning speed, or electricity conducted without loss? To achieve this, scientists and industry alike are turning to quantum materials, governed by the laws of the infinitesimal. Designing such materials requires a detailed understanding of atomic phenomena, much of which remains unexplored. A team from…
As coral reefs decline at unprecedented rates, new research has revealed that some coral species may be more resilient to warming temperatures than others. By studying how six months of elevated ocean temperatures would affect a species of coral from the northern Red Sea called Stylophora pistillata, scientists found that…
Seagrass has the potential to be one of the world’s most effective sponges at soaking up and storing carbon, but we don’t yet know how nutrient pollution affects its ability to sequester carbon. In a pair of studies, U-M researchers evaluated the impact of nitrogen and phosphorus on seagrass, short,…
An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, has uncovered microbial DNA preserved in woolly and steppe mammoth remains dating back more than one million years. The analyses reveal some of the world’s oldest microbial DNA ever recovered, as well as the identification of bacteria that possibly…
A toxic protein forms dynamic pores in the membranes of brain cells – and that may be the key to understanding how Parkinson’s disease develops. This is the conclusion of a new study from Aarhus University, where researchers have developed an advanced method to track molecular attacks in real time.…
A new study by researchers at the University of Oxford, University of Leeds, and University College London has identified a new constraint on the chemistry of Earth’s core, by showing how it was able to crystallize millions of years ago. The study was published today (September 4) in Nature Communications.…
As we age, what and how much we eat tends to change. However, how meal timing relates to our health remains less understood. Researchers at Mass General Brigham and their collaborators studied changes to meal timing in older adults and discovered people experience gradual shifts in when they eat meals…
An international team of astronomers has discovered a massive cloud of gas and dust located in a little-known region of our Milky Way galaxy. The Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) is about 60 parsecs — or 200 light years — long. In a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers…
The study followed 12,772 adults with an average age of 52 Researchers tracked seven artificial sweeteners typically found in ultra-processed foods like flavored water, soda, energy drinks, yogurt and low-calorie desserts People who consumed the highest total amounts of these sweeteners had faster decline in overall thinking and memory skills…
A simple brainwave test developed at the University of Bath has been shown to detect signs of memory impairment linked to Alzheimer’s disease years before clinical diagnosis is typically possible. Published in the journal Brain Communications the study by academics from the University of Bath and the University of Bristol,…
Researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have been able to see the magnetic nucleus of an atom switch back and forth in real time. They read out the nuclear ‘spin’ via the electrons in the same atom through the needle of a scanning tunneling microscope. To their…
Experts have uncovered the earliest known example of a fish with extra teeth deep inside its mouth – a 310-million-year-old fossilized ray-finned fish that evolved a unique way of devouring prey. Platysomus parvulus had a unique way of eating never seen in ray-finned fish from that time – a ‘tongue…
The PET-alternative PDCA is biodegradable and has superior physical properties. A Kobe University team of bioengineers engineered E. coli bacteria to produce the compound from glucose at unprecedented levels and without byproducts — and opened up a realm of possibilities for the future of bioengineering. The durability of plastics is…
Small fold – big role: A tissue fold known as the cephalic furrow, an evolutionary novelty that forms between the head and the trunk of fly embryos, plays a mechanical role in stabilizing embryonic tissues during the development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Combining theory and experiment: Researchers integrated…
The European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter mission has split the flood of energetic particles flung out into space from the Sun into two groups, tracing each back to a different kind of outburst from our star. The Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System. It whips…
The Earth supports the only known life in the universe, all of it depending heavily on the presence of liquid water to facilitate chemical reactions. While single-celled life has existed almost as long as the Earth itself, it took roughly three billion years for multicellular life to form. Human life…
Climate action is falling behind on the goals as stated in the Paris Agreement. To meet those goals, countries must act according to their ‘fair share’ targets. However, researchers from Utrecht University found a bias in how ambition and fairness assessments were calculated until now: “previous studies assessing countries climate…
The widely used diabetes drug metformin changes blood metal levels in humans. The Kobe University study is an important step in understanding the drug’s many actions and designing better ones in the future. Metformin is the most widely prescribed diabetes drug in the world. Apart from lowering blood sugar levels,…
Certain brain cells are responsible for coordinating smooth, controlled movements of the body. But when those cells are constantly overactivated for weeks on end, they degenerate and ultimately die. This new observation made by scientists at Gladstone Institutes may help explain what goes awry in the brains of people with…
You are mostly but not entirely human. If we crunch the numbers, 8 percent of your genome actually comes from viruses that got stranded there. This viral detritus is a souvenir from our evolutionary past, a reminder that viruses have been with us from the very beginning. Usually, this 8…
The future of plastic recycling may soon get much less complicated, frustrating and tedious. In a new study, Northwestern University chemists have introduced a new plastic upcycling process that can drastically reduce — or perhaps even fully bypass — the laborious chore of pre-sorting mixed plastic waste. The process harnesses…
Too little snowfall is now also shaking the foundations of some of the world’s most resilient ‘water towers’, a new study led by the Pellicciotti group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) shows. After establishing a monitoring network on a new benchmark glacier in central Tajikistan, the…
One of the first parts of the brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease is the entorhinal cortex — a region that plays a big role in memory, spatial navigation, and the brain’s internal mapping system. With support from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF), Fralin…
The textbook picture of how planets form – serene, flat discs of cosmic dust – has just received a significant cosmic twist. New research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is set to reshape this long-held view. An international team of scientists, wielding the formidable power of the Atacama Large…
Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their stars’ faces. The model builds on a technique researchers have used for decades to study star spots. By improving astronomers’ understanding of spotty stars, the new…
Science News from research organizations Date: September 2, 2025 Source: NASA Summary: NASA’s SPHEREx joined Webb and Hubble in studying interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, gathering data on its size, chemistry, and physical traits. While harmless to Earth, the comet provides scientists a rare opportunity to learn more about solar system wanderers.…
A first-of-its-kind, federally funded clinical trial has shown it’s possible to identify breast cancer survivors who are at higher risk of their cancer coming back due to the presence of dormant cancer cells and to effectively treat these cells with repurposed, existing drugs. The research, led by scientists from the…
Science News from research organizations Date: September 2, 2025 Source: NASA Summary: Webb, Hubble, and SPHEREx are joining forces to study the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, revealing details about its structure and chemistry. The comet isn’t dangerous, but it’s offering scientists a rare chance to explore material from outside our solar…
Insomnia patients taking cannabis-based medical products reported better quality sleep after up to 18 months of treatment, according to a study published August 27 in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Arushika Aggarwal from Imperial College London, U.K., and colleagues. About one out of every three people has some…
