Reporting world updates to you
Natural gas is one of the most plentiful energy resources on Earth. It is made mostly of methane, along with ethane and propane. Today, it is primarily burned for heat and electricity, a process that releases greenhouse gases. For years, researchers and industry leaders have tried to find ways to…
Researchers at MIT have uncovered new chemical clues in extremely old rocks that suggest some of the earliest animals on Earth were likely ancestors of modern sea sponges. Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes the discovery of “chemical fossils” preserved in rocks more…
For many years, researchers believed that the DNA inside a newly fertilized egg started out as a structural ‘blank slate’ — a loose and disorganized bundle that would only gain order once the embryo began using its own genes. In that traditional view, the genome remained largely unstructured until it…
Heart disease in women is projected to rise sharply over the next 25 years. By 2050, nearly 60% of women in the United States could have high blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. That is up from about half of women in 2020, according to a new…
Imagine a baby Brachiosaurus no bigger than a golden retriever searching for plants alongside its siblings while trying to avoid predators eager for an easy meal. Far away, its parents, towering more than 40 feet tall, continue their lives with no direct involvement in the youngster’s daily survival. Thomas R.…
Engineers at the University of California, Davis have created a device that produces mechanical power at night by taking advantage of the temperature difference between the warmth of the Earth and the extreme cold of outer space. The system could eventually help ventilate greenhouses and other buildings without relying on…
Green hydrogen is widely seen as a key pillar of the global shift away from fossil fuels. Yet making it at scale remains both costly and environmentally complicated. One of the leading production methods, PEM (proton exchange membrane) electrolysis, works especially well when electricity from wind and solar power rises…
A recent study published in Aging-US explored how two common amino acids may influence how long people live. The paper, titled “The role of phenylalanine and tyrosine in longevity: a cohort and Mendelian randomization study,” examined whether levels of these nutrients in the blood are connected to lifespan. Led by…
A glacier on Antarctica’s Eastern Peninsula underwent the most rapid retreat seen in modern times. In only two months, nearly half of Hektoria Glacier broke apart and disappeared. New research led by the University of Colorado Boulder and published in Nature Geoscience explains what happened in 2023, when the glacier…
Physicists at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, together with colleagues from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, have shown how light at the quantum level can be deliberately shaped across space and time to produce high-dimensional and multidimensional quantum states. By carefully controlling a photon’s spatial pattern, timing,…
Scientists at the University of Oxford’s Department of Earth Sciences have settled a decades long argument over the strength of the Moon’s magnetic field. For years, researchers have questioned whether the Moon generated a powerful magnetic field or only a weak one during its early history (3.5 — 4 billion…
Cells organize many of their most important activities using structures known as biomolecular condensates. Unlike traditional compartments in the cell, these droplet-like clusters are not enclosed by membranes. They help control how genetic instructions in DNA are converted into proteins, assist in clearing away cellular waste that could otherwise become…
A new scientific study has found that the Old Irish Goat shares a genetic connection with goats that lived in Ireland about 3,000 years ago during the Late Bronze Age. The findings indicate that this rare native breed represents an unbroken Irish lineage that stretches back thousands of years. The…
Feeling anxious about getting older, especially worrying about declining health, may do more than weigh on the mind. New research from NYU School of Global Public Health suggests that these fears could be linked to faster aging at the cellular level in women. “Our research suggests that subjective experiences may…
Researchers in Brazil have found new evidence that extended use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may interfere with the body’s ability to absorb important nutrients. The study was conducted by scientists at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) and the ABC Medical School (FMABC). PPIs include widely used medications…
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called ‘forever chemicals’, include thousands of manmade compounds used in non-stick cookware, water-resistant clothing, fire-fighting foams, food packaging, cleaning supplies, and plastics. Their chemical structure is built on extremely strong molecular bonds, allowing them to resist breaking down in the environment. As a result,…
A recent study suggests that older adults who avoid meat may be somewhat less likely to reach age 100 than those who eat it. However, the findings are more complex than they first appear and should not be taken as a simple verdict against plant based diets. Researchers followed more…
A shingles vaccine may do more than prevent a painful rash. New research from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology suggests it could also be associated with slower biological aging in older adults. Scientists analyzed information from the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study, focusing on more than…
A sweeping (umbrella) systematic review and pooled analysis published in the open access journal RMD Open suggests that exercise therapy may provide only minimal and short lived relief from osteoarthritis symptoms. In some cases, the benefits may be little different from receiving no treatment at all. The researchers say these…
Eating mostly oatmeal for just two days may significantly reduce cholesterol, according to a clinical trial from the University of Bonn published in Nature Communications. The study focused on people with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that includes excess body weight, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and abnormal…
Researchers have uncovered a promising new treatment target for a severe autoimmune brain disorder. The finding could help drive the development of more precise therapies for a condition caused by the immune system attacking a critical brain receptor known as the NMDA receptor. It may also open the door to…
After analyzing 11 years of magnetic field data from the European Space Agency’s Swarm satellite constellation, researchers have found that a large weak zone in Earth’s magnetic field over the South Atlantic has grown dramatically. This region, called the South Atlantic Anomaly, has expanded since 2014 by an area nearly…
Future missions to Mars may want to dig into ice rather than rock. Scientists say ancient microbes, or traces of them, could be locked inside Martian ice deposits, preserved for tens of millions of years. Researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Penn State recreated Mars like conditions in…
Scientists have uncovered new details about how certain sugars help immune cells enter the skin during psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease. These sugars, known as glycans, appear to play a more active role in guiding immune cells than previously thought. The findings were published in Science Signaling in a paper…
Even the fastest supercomputers struggle with certain complex tasks, such as discovering new medicines or breaking advanced encryption. Quantum computers could one day handle these challenges, but they depend on rare materials known as topological superconductors that are extremely difficult to create and control. Researchers at the University of Chicago…
About 250 million years ago, a region that is now a harsh desert in remote northwestern Australia lay along the edge of a shallow bay connected to a vast prehistoric ocean. Fossils collected there more than six decades ago and largely overlooked in museum collections are now reshaping scientists’ understanding…
For many people living with depression, standard antidepressant medications do not bring enough relief. In those cases, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has become an important alternative. This noninvasive therapy uses magnetic pulses to activate targeted areas of the brain linked to mood. Traditionally, TMS requires patients to visit a clinic…
A horse’s whinny may sound like a single call, but it is actually a blend of both high and low frequencies. In a study published February 23 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology, researchers explained how horses manage to produce these very different sounds at the same time. They…
A new study has found tiny plastic particles in nine out of 10 men diagnosed with prostate cancer. Researchers also discovered that these microplastics were present at higher concentrations in cancerous tumors than in nearby noncancerous prostate tissue. The investigation was carried out at NYU Langone Health, including its Perlmutter…
More than 40,000 years ago, early humans were already engraving symbols onto tools, figurines, and other objects. A new study by linguist Christian Bentz of Saarland University and archaeologist Ewa Dutkiewicz of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Early History) in Berlin suggests these sequences of…
