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Researchers from Stockholm University have — for the first time ever — managed to successfully isolate and sequence RNA molecules from Ice Age woolly mammoths. These RNA sequences are the oldest ever recovered and come from mammoth tissue preserved in the Siberian permafrost for nearly 40,000 years. The study, published…
Intense flooding has significantly reduced rice harvests around the world in recent decades, putting at risk the food supply of billions of people who rely on the grain as a dietary staple. Between 1980 and 2015, annual losses averaged about 4.3%, or roughly 18 million tons of rice each year,…
People who use both cannabis and tobacco show measurable differences in brain activity compared to those who rely solely on cannabis, according to new findings from a McGill University team at the Douglas Research Centre. These results may help clarify why people who combine the two substances more often experience…
Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have turned to concepts from polymer physics to better understand a central feature of Alzheimer’s disease: the formation of tau protein fibrils. Their work revealed that these fibrils do not appear suddenly. Instead, they emerge after large clusters of tau proteins begin to gather in…
Raindrops are more than a source of fresh water. They also carry mechanical energy that reaches the ground for free, and scientists have been exploring how to turn that energy into electricity for years. Traditional droplet electricity generators, however, often struggle with low efficiency, heavy components, and limited potential for…
An experimental compound has been found to limit cell death, reduce inflammation, and lessen organ damage associated with diabetes. A research team at NYU Langone Health reported that, in mouse studies, a drug candidate successfully prevented two proteins from interacting: RAGE and DIAPH1. When these proteins come together, they contribute…
Tombs found throughout China, built from the time of the 4,000-year old Xia Dynasty to the present day, offer insight into long-term social and political trends. This conclusion comes from a study published October 29, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Quanbao Ma of the Beijing University of…
The oldest known crocodile eggshells ever identified in Australia are giving UNSW researchers fresh insight into long vanished animals and the environments they depended on. These remains come from creatures that lived millions of years before the continent separated from the landmasses that became Antarctica and South America. In the…
Gout is one of the oldest documented human illnesses. It develops when sharp crystals form inside joints, triggering intense swelling and pain, and is considered a type of arthritis. Researchers at Georgia State University believe they may have uncovered a surprisingly ancient way to address it. A study in Scientific…
Serious injury to short-term kidney function, known as acute kidney injury (AKI), can be life-threatening and also raise the likelihood of developing permanent chronic kidney disease. AKI can occur after major stressors such as sepsis or heart surgery, and more than half of all intensive care patients experience it. No…
An international team led by Hungarian scholars has successfully confirmed that skeletal remains discovered in Budapest belong to Duke Béla, the Ban of Macsó, who descended from both the Árpád and Rurik dynasties. This finding resolves a long-standing archaeological mystery that has lingered for more than a century. The project…
If it ever becomes achievable, hypersonic flight could dramatically reshape international travel. What currently requires an entire day could become a short trip lasting no more than a feature length movie. A route such as Sydney to Los Angeles, which now takes about 15 hours, might be reduced to only…
A recently uncovered and unusually intact impact crater is offering scientists new insights into how objects from space have struck Earth throughout its history. Researchers from Shanghai and Guangzhou, China, describe their findings in the journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes (AIP Publishing). They identified the feature as the Jinlin…
Astronomers working with the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton observatory and the LOFAR radio telescope have obtained clear evidence of a violent burst of material hurled into space by a distant star. The outflow was strong enough that any nearby planet in its path would likely have its atmosphere stripped away.…
Researchers at Rice University have found that certain atom-thin semiconductors, known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), can physically shift their atomic lattice when exposed to light. This newly observed response offers a controllable way to tune the behavior and properties of these ultrathin materials. The phenomenon appears in a subtype…
Many familiar items, from plastic squeeze bottles to outdoor furniture, rely on a process that converts propane into propylene. In 2021, a study in Science showed that chemists could use tandem nanoscale catalysts to merge several steps of this conversion into a single reaction — an approach that increases yield…
Iceberg calving happens when large pieces of ice split from the front of a glacier and fall into the ocean. This natural event is a major contributor to the rapid reduction of ice on the Greenland ice sheet. For the first time, an international team led by the University of…
A glacier on the Eastern Antarctic Peninsula has undergone the quickest ice loss documented in modern times, according to a major international study co-authored by Swansea University. Published in Nature Geoscience, the research reports that Hektoria Glacier shortened by nearly half its length in only two months during 2023. The…
An international group of mathematicians led by Lehigh University statistician Taeho Kim has developed a new way to generate predictions that line up more closely with real-world results. Their method is aimed at improving forecasting across many areas of science, particularly in health research, biology and the social sciences. The…
A new study in the journal Cell from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University explains how exercise helps the body stay youthful. The researchers also highlight betaine — a metabolite produced in the kidney — as an oral compound that can imitate many of the…
When ultra-runners prepare for races that span hundreds of miles and last for days, they are not only challenging their determination and physical power. They are also exploring how far human physiology can be pushed. In a study published October 20 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology, researchers reported…
A possible “super-Earth” located less than 20 light-years from Earth is giving researchers renewed optimism in the search for planets that might host life. The newly identified world, GJ 251 c, earned its “super-Earth” label because current data indicate it is almost four times the mass of Earth and is…
Researchers are exploring a new generation of computers that operate using light, or photons, instead of electrical currents. Systems that rely on light to store and process information could one day run far more efficiently and complete calculations much faster than conventional machines. Light-driven computing is still at an early…
When bumble bees come up against invasive Argentine ants at feeding sites, they may win a direct confrontation but still return to the colony with less food. These encounters can leave bees with fewer resources even when they appear to come out ahead in a fight. Bumble bees already deal…
Anxiety disorders affect roughly one in five people in the United States, making them among the most widespread mental health challenges. Although common, scientists still have many questions about how anxiety begins and is controlled within the brain. New research from the University of Utah has now pinpointed two unexpected…
New research from the University of Georgia reports that people who use e-cigarettes, traditional cigarettes or both are more likely to develop diabetes. According to the study, smokers showed a notably higher rate of prediabetes and diabetes diagnoses compared with nonsmokers. “In an era when e-cigarettes are marketed as a…
Curiosity about extending human life may be especially visible among certain tech enthusiasts today, but people have been fascinated by the idea of a lasting fountain of youth, or even immortality, for thousands of years. Some of the approaches most strongly supported by scientific evidence, such as strict dieting for…
An international team of researchers has identified a previously unknown Neanderthal site on the southern edge of the Iberian Peninsula, located along Portugal’s Algarve coast. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports by Nature Publishing Group, describe the earliest evidence of Neanderthal hominids in Portugal. This discovery marks an…
Quantum computers can perform certain calculations at remarkable speeds, yet connecting them over long distances has been one of the major obstacles to building large, reliable quantum networks. Until recently, two quantum computers could only link through a fiber cable over a span of a few kilometers. This limitation meant…
New research from Rice University indicates that Jupiter dramatically reshaped the early solar system. According to the study, the giant planet created rings and wide gaps in the protoplanetary disk, helping to solve a long-standing mystery: why many primitive meteorites formed several million years after the very first solid materials.…
