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A decades-old puzzle in nuclear physics has centered on a strange question: why do some atomic nuclei release more low-energy gamma rays than scientists expect? A new study led by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), with researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), may provide the answer. Published…
Scientists have uncovered evidence that an enormous ancient cliff system may have helped expose the deepest rocks of the Grand Canyon nearly a billion years before the Colorado River began carving the landscape seen today. Led by researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK, the new study suggests…
More than 450 million years ago, long before dinosaurs appeared and before animals or plants had spread widely across dry land, crinoids were already thriving in some of Earth’s earliest coral reefs. These ancient relatives of starfish looked somewhat like flowers growing on stalks beneath the sea. Crinoid fossils give…
New Northwestern Medicine research published in Nature Communications suggests that a substance produced when gut bacteria digest dietary fiber may leave a durable molecular mark on cells lining the intestine. That imprint appears to promote immune tolerance and may help protect against inflammatory bowel disease-like conditions even after exposure to…
For decades, medications for obesity typically delivered only modest reductions in body weight. That changed with the arrival of Ozempic and other GLP-1 therapies, which can produce sustained weight loss of 10 to 15% or more. Yet despite their remarkable effectiveness, scientists still do not fully understand what these medications…
Knee pain is a familiar problem for many people, particularly as they get older. Although persistent knee discomfort can have many causes, osteoarthritis is one of the most common. Knee osteoarthritis develops as the cartilage that cushions the bones in the joint gradually breaks down. Healthy cartilage allows the knee…
Researchers, including a Rutgers professor, have gained a clearer view of the biological changes associated with schizophrenia by directly measuring synaptic connections in the living human brain. The team used specialized positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to examine these crucial points of communication between brain cells. The study, published in…
New research from Monash University suggests that recent discoveries about human evolution are challenging the traditional system scientists use to name and classify our ancestors. The research, published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, calls for a major reconsideration of human taxonomy. It proposes placing all human species and…
Groundwater reserves beneath High Mountain Asia (HMA), often called the “Asian Water Tower,” are shrinking at an alarming pace, according to a new satellite-based study. The region provides water that supports farming, cities, and ecosystems across more than a dozen downstream countries, making it a critical resource for hundreds of…
Diamond is famous for its beauty, but its value extends far beyond jewelry. This exceptionally hard form of carbon is used to make the tiny capsules that hold fuel in inertial confinement fusion experiments. Scientists also think diamonds may form and fall like rain far beneath the surfaces of ice…
Between Aug. 11 and 12, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) photographed a newly formed crater on the Moon. The crater appeared after a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the lunar surface on Aug. 5. The rocket stage had previously launched in January 2025 as part of the Firefly Blue…
Last week’s total solar eclipse offered more than a spectacular view. It also produced an unusual atmospheric effect that gave the Sun’s outer atmosphere a striking golden appearance. During a total solar eclipse, the Moon completely blocks the bright disk of the Sun, making the much fainter solar corona visible.…
Women are diagnosed with autoimmune diseases far more often than men, and new research from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Sydney may help explain why. Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly targets the body’s own healthy tissues. Lupus, for example, can affect as many as…
Researchers at the University of Essex have developed microscopic medicines that could pave the way for new approaches to treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and motor neurone disease (MND). Working with an international team, the scientists used artificial intelligence to create extremely small antibody fragments that can be…
A glass of ice water offers a familiar example of two phases existing at the same time. The same substance can appear as both liquid water and solid ice. In certain quantum materials, different phases can also coexist, although the underlying behavior is far more complex. MIT physicists have now…
The human brain is continuously processing enormous amounts of information. Even something as familiar as driving requires several mental tasks at once. The brain must remember the route, recall how to control the vehicle, and respond to unexpected developments such as a road closure or shifting traffic conditions. A brain…
A mother’s age can influence the physical traits and behavior of her offspring in humans and across many other animal species. Researchers refer to these changes as maternal age effects. Although the phenomenon is common throughout the animal kingdom, scientists are still working to understand the biological processes underlying it…
Coffee is consumed around the world every day, and earlier research has associated coffee drinking with a reduced risk of conditions including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Scientists still do not fully understand the biological processes that might explain those connections. Now, new research from Finland suggests that regular…
Cancer immunotherapy has dramatically changed how doctors treat many forms of cancer, yet pancreatic cancer has remained particularly resistant to these advances. A major obstacle is the environment that develops around pancreatic tumors. These tumors often create a “cold” tumor microenvironment that blocks immune cells from launching an effective attack.…
What counts as heat, and what qualifies as useful work when a machine is made from only an atom and particles of light? In emerging quantum technologies, questions like this bring together two branches of physics that were developed for very different purposes. Researchers at the University of Basel in…
New research led by the University of Oxford has uncovered an unexpected ability in bees. They can change how much they eat depending on the balance of essential amino acids in their food. This feeding behavior may protect them from consuming excessive amounts of certain amino acids when pollen does…
More than 10 million years ago, South America was home to an ecosystem filled with enormous animals and formidable predators. During the Miocene, a geological period that lasted for millions of years, a vast lake covered a large portion of the continent. Its waters supported giant turtles and crocodylians, while…
The Theban Necropolis, located across the Nile from Luxor, contains more than 400 tombs. In a new study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, researchers in Spain took a closer look at chamber three inside tomb TT 209 to understand how the burial space changed over time. The tomb was…
A new UC San Francisco-led study has identified a sharp increase in invasive breast cancer among Asian American women over the past two decades. Breast cancer rates have climbed across nearly every Asian American ethnic group at a pace that exceeds increases seen in any other U.S. ethnic group. The…
DNA consists of long molecular chains that carry the genetic instructions needed for life. In genetic engineering, researchers cut DNA at carefully chosen locations and connect those pieces with other DNA sequences. This process supports a wide range of applications, including improved crop breeding, treatments for genetic diseases, and the…
New findings presented at the 63rd ERA Congress suggest that a commonly prescribed group of blood pressure drugs may be linked to worse kidney outcomes in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D), including patients already taking newer medications designed to protect kidney function. The medications, known as dihydropyridine calcium-channel blockers…
Robots small enough to operate in the microbial world could give scientists a new way to directly handle objects that are impossible to manipulate by hand. These tiny machines are around 50 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, bringing researchers closer to the long-pursued goal of interacting…
Scientists have identified a previously unknown natural process in the Arctic that can cause the number of cloud-forming particles in the atmosphere to surge. The discovery could have important implications for cloud cover, how much sunlight is reflected back into space, and how the Arctic responds to future climate change.…
Your brain and the ocean share an unexpected feature: waves. Electrical activity can move across the brain’s surface in patterns known as traveling brain waves or neural traveling waves. Like waves in the ocean, these patterns can arise from different sources, including activity generated within the brain and signals coming…
Astronomers may have found some of the strongest evidence yet for one of quantum mechanics’ strangest predictions: even apparently empty space can influence the way light travels. Known as ‘vacuum birefringence’, the phenomenon was predicted nearly 90 years ago by Werner Heisenberg, one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics. His…