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Contrary to widespread belief, yoga may be less effective than conventional forms of exercise in enhancing vascular health, according to a new study published in Advances in Integrative Medicine. The study systematically reviews existing literature, including randomized controlled trials, crossover trials, and non-randomized studies, comparing yoga and other exercise interventions…
A breakthrough study at The University of Queensland has discovered a hidden dangerous feature in the Black Mamba one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Professor Bryan Fry from UQ’s School of the Environment said the study revealed the venoms of three species of mamba were far more…
A honeybee hive, with its large stores of pollen, wax, and honey, is like a fortress guarding treasure: with strong defenses, but a bonanza for enemies that can overcome those. More than 30 parasites of honeybees are known, spanning protists, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and arthropods – and this number keeps…
One-third of our lives is spent sleeping, yet 30 to 40 percent of adults are reported to experience some form of insomnia. Japan in particular has the lowest sleep duration among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, falling at one hour below average. Public health research has…
University at Albany chemists have created a new high-energy compound that could revolutionize rocket fuel and make space flights more efficient. Upon ignition, the compound releases more energy relative to its weight and volume compared to current fuels. In a rocket, this would mean less fuel required to power the…
Understanding what happens inside a material when it is hit by ultrashort light pulses is one of the great challenges of matter physics and modern photonics. A new study published in Nature Photonics and led by Politecnico di Milano reveals a hitherto neglected but essential aspect, precisely the contribution of…
For millennia, astronomers thought Uranus was no more than a distant star. It wasn’t until the late 18th century that Uranus was universally accepted as a planet. To this day, the ringed, blue world subverts scientists’ expectations, but new NASA research helps puzzle out some of the world’s mystique. em>…
A powder based on morin, a natural compound extracted from plants such as guava leaves, apple and fig peels, certain teas, and almonds, has shown antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects against bacteria that cause periodontal disease. It is expected that the substance, released in a controlled manner through polymers, will…
Shortly before his death in August 2025, A. James Hudspeth and his team in the Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University achieved a groundbreaking technological advancement: the ability to keep a tiny sliver of the cochlea alive and functional outside of the body for the first time. Their…
The Atlas blue butterfly, also known as Polyommatus atlantica, has been genetically confirmed as having the highest number of chromosomes out of all multicellular animals in the world. This insect boasts 229 pairs of chromosomes, while many of its close relatives have only 23 or 24 pairs. Researchers at the…
A UCLA study has found that “morning sickness” symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and aversions to certain foods and smells, are linked to the body’s natural, but complex, immune response during pregnancy. In the early stages of pregnancy, a unique mix of inflammatory responses alongside behavioral mechanisms that researchers believe are…
Researchers at Duke University have shown that blocking an enzyme involved in iron regulation not only kills multiple myeloma cancer cells, but also increases the effectiveness of current therapies against the disease. The research appeared September 12 in the journal Blood. Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable cancer of plasma,…
Strong Northern Lights-like activity is the standout feature of today’s weather report, which is coming at you from a strange, extrasolar world, instead of a standard TV studio. That is thanks to astronomers from Trinity College Dublin, who used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to take a close look…
They were the first generation of Americans to grow up with ultra-processed foods all around them – products typically loaded with extra fat, salt, sugar and flavorings. They were children and young adults at a time when such products, designed to maximize their appeal, proliferated. Now, a study shows, 21%…
A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the scientific journal The BMJ, shows how a simple blood analysis can predict the risk of developing severe liver disease. The method may already start to be applied in primary care to enable the earlier detection of cirrhosis and cancer of the…
A team led by UCL (University College London) and Imperial College London researchers has shown for the first time how life-saving antibiotics called polymyxins pierce the armor of harmful bacteria. The findings, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, could lead to new treatments for bacterial infections – especially urgent since…
Diet impacts the brain a lot more than we think. A new study from UNC School of Medicine researchers, published in Neuron, reveals a unique look at how junk food rewires the brain’s memory hub – leading to risk of cognitive dysfunction. This new research opens the door to early interventions…
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a galaxy that’s hard to categorize. The galaxy in question is NGC 2775, which lies 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (The Crab). NGC 2775 sports a smooth, featureless center that is devoid of gas, resembling an…
After the formation of the Solar System, it took a maximum of three million years for the chemical composition of the Earth’s precursor to be completed. This is shown by a new study by the Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of Bern. At this time, however, there were…
A decade ago, scientists first detected ripples in the fabric of space-time, called gravitational waves, from the collision of two black holes. Now, thanks to improved technology and a bit of luck, a newly detected black hole merger is providing the clearest evidence yet of how black holes work —…
An international research team from Switzerland and Germany, led by Gaël Spicher (JURASSICA Museum, Porrentruy, Switzerland), has described a new ichthyosaur species based on fossils curated at the Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken (Bayreuth, Germany). The study was published in Museum für Naturkunde Berlin’s open-access journal Fossil Record. The new species was named…
Physicists in Australia and Britain have reshaped quantum uncertainty to sidestep the restriction imposed by the famous Heisenberg uncertainty principle – a result that could underpin future ultra-precise sensor technology used in navigation, medicine and astronomy. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, introduced in 1927, says that you can’t know certain pairs…
When a woman becomes pregnant, the outcome of that pregnancy depends on many things — including a crucial event that happened while she was still growing inside her own mother’s womb. It depends on the quality of the egg cells that were already forming inside her fetal ovaries. The DNA-containing…
A widely available and affordable drug has been shown to be effective in treating seriously ill COVID-19 patients, according to a new international study led by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) in collaboration with King’s College London. The study analyzed data from almost 500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19…
Eating fruit may reduce the effects of air pollution on lung function, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The study was presented by Pimpika Kaewsri, a PhD student from the Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability at the University of Leicester, UK.…
Findings from a trial comparing the real-world effectiveness of asthma inhalers could reshape how children with asthma are treated. In the first randomized controlled trial to investigate the use of a 2-in-1 inhaler as the sole reliever therapy for children aged 5 to 15, an international team found the combined…
Research from Cranfield University sheds new light onto the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, showing how experimentation with iron-rich rocks by copper smelters may have sparked the invention of iron. The work reanalyzed metallurgical remains from a site in southern Georgia: a 3000-year-old smelting workshop called…
A common problem with oil wells is that they can run dry even when sound-based measurements say there’s still oil there. A team from Penn State University used PSC’s flagship Bridges-2 supercomputer to add a time dimension to these seismic measurements, as well as to analyze how oil damps down…
UNSW Sydney nano-tech startup Diraq has shown its quantum chips aren’t just lab-perfect prototypes – they also hold up in real-world production, maintaining the 99% accuracy needed to make quantum computers viable. Diraq, a pioneer of silicon-based quantum computing, achieved this feat by teaming up with European nanoelectronics institute Interuniversity…
Research into Blue Zones — regions of the world where people tend to live longer — shows that having a sense of purpose in life may help people live longer. Now, new research from UC Davis shows that having a sense of purpose in life may have another benefit as…
