Reporting world updates to you
Researchers from MIT and collaborating institutions have uncovered exceptionally rare traces of “proto Earth,” the ancient precursor to our planet that existed about 4.5 billion years ago. This primitive world took shape before a massive collision forever changed its chemistry and gave rise to the Earth we inhabit today. The…
All-solid-state batteries offer a safer and more powerful way to run electric vehicles, power electronics, and store renewable energy from the grid. However, their key ingredient, lithium, is both costly and scarce, and mining it often causes serious environmental harm. Sodium presents a much cheaper and more abundant alternative, and…
Scientists from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and NASA have made a surprising discovery that challenges one of chemistry’s fundamental principles, while also offering new insight into Saturn’s mysterious moon Titan. In Titan’s intensely cold environment, substances that normally cannot mix are able to combine. This finding expands our…
For the first time, scientists have observed a tidal disruption event (TDE) — a phenomenon in which a black hole rips apart a passing star — taking place outside the central region of a galaxy. This unusual discovery revealed powerful and rapidly changing radio waves, showing that supermassive black holes…
What made the modern human brain so different from that of our extinct relatives, such as Neanderthals? Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, along with an international team, have discovered that ancient hominids, including early humans and great apes, came into contact with lead far…
A group of scientists, including researchers from the University of Tokyo, has found evidence that liquid water once moved through the asteroid that eventually gave rise to the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu. Remarkably, this activity took place more than a billion years after the asteroid first formed. The discovery, which relies…
“These glasses are unique to Australia and have recorded an ancient impact event we did not even know about,” Professor Jourdan said. in a crater but in tiny glass fragments found only in Australia. The discovery focuses on rare natural glass called tektites, which form when a meteorite hits Earth…
When it comes to teeth, most vertebrates share the same basic blueprint. Regardless of their size, shape, or sharpness, teeth typically have the same genetic roots, similar physical makeup, and, almost always, a place in the jaw. That assumption, however, may no longer hold true. Scientists studying the spotted ratfish,…
For billions of years, Earth’s continents have remained remarkably steady, providing the groundwork for mountains, ecosystems, and human civilization. Yet the reason behind their long-term stability has puzzled scientists for more than a century. Now, researchers from Penn State and Columbia University have uncovered strong evidence explaining how the continents…
Picture a future where factories can create materials and chemical compounds more quickly, at lower cost, and with fewer production steps. Imagine your laptop processing complex data in seconds or a supercomputer learning and adapting as efficiently as the human brain. These possibilities depend on one fundamental factor: how electrons…
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine report that they have identified how mammalian brains build intricate networks of tiny tubes that move toxins in and out of brain cells, much like pneumatic tubes send items through systems in factories and stores. Their experiments, which used genetically modified mice and advanced imaging…
Could Mars have once supported life? Scientists still don’t have proof. Yet some of the planet’s strange surface features might seem to hint at it. Earth scientist Dr. Lonneke Roelofs of Utrecht University set out to study the origin of mysterious gullies carved into Martian dunes. In her laboratory experiments,…
In a series of experiments using mouse models of breast, pancreatic, and muscle cancers, scientists at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital uncovered new evidence that strengthening the body’s natural immune defenses can both prevent cancer from returning and improve survival rates. The research, published recently in Nature Immunology and funded…
A minuscule parasitic worm capable of springing into the air up to 25 times its own body length can latch onto flying insects with the help of static electricity, according to new research. The findings, published in PNAS, focus on the nematode Steinernema carpocapsae and come from a collaboration between…
A new study examined how muscles respond to weight training when people eat different types of pork afterward. Researchers compared high-fat and lean ground pork burgers that contained the same amount of protein to see how each affected short-term muscle growth. The results surprised the team and added to growing…
A new randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial suggests that a single round of low-dose radiation therapy could offer a safe and effective alternative for people suffering from painful knee osteoarthritis. Participants with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis experienced notable pain reduction and improved mobility within four months of receiving the treatment.…
Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland have found that certain nutrients can cause a mild stress reaction in nematodes. Surprisingly, this reaction doesn’t harm the worms — it actually helps them remain healthier as they grow older. Human lifespans are longer than ever, but longevity alone doesn’t guarantee…
Nature follows countless rhythms: the changing of the seasons comes from Earth’s orbit around the Sun, and the steady tick of a clock arises from the back-and-forth swing of its pendulum. These patterns can be described with simple mathematical laws. Yet, order can also appear in a far more surprising…
It rains on the Sun, and scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have finally uncovered the reason why. Unlike the water that falls from clouds on Earth, solar rain takes place in the Sun’s corona, the outermost layer made of intensely hot plasma. This phenomenon involves…
What do you do when you encounter a strange astronomical event, a collection of data from planets thousands of light-years away, and models that can’t quite explain what you’re seeing? For one astronomer at Northern Arizona University’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, the answer is simple: start building better…
Pulsars may be revealing that extremely low-frequency gravitational waves are moving through the universe. Observations reported in 2023 by international pulsar timing array collaborations could be caused by either a background of overlapping gravitational waves from countless distant sources or a single pair of nearby supermassive black holes orbiting each…
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, working in partnership with Roche, have created a next-generation human liver organoid microarray platform designed to predict which medications might trigger harmful immune responses in certain individuals. The findings, published online on Sept. 26, 2025, in Advanced Science, describe a fully human, miniaturized…
An international group of researchers led by the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) has identified a previously unknown species of fossilized insect from the Jurassic period in Australia, estimated to be about 151 million years old. This discovery marks the oldest known member of the Chironomidae family found in the Southern…
In a breakthrough that connects modern science with ideas first explored a century ago, researchers have witnessed a surprising phenomenon once thought possible only in inorganic metal oxides appearing inside a glowing organic semiconductor molecule. Led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, the discovery reveals a new and efficient…
For years, scientists have known that tiny chemical patterns can form inside metal alloys, but most assumed these patterns were insignificant or disappeared during manufacturing. Recent experiments have shown that in controlled lab conditions, such patterns can actually influence how metals behave — affecting their strength, durability, heat resistance, and…
Regular physical activity does more than improve muscle strength and cardiovascular health — it also enhances immune function. This conclusion comes from a study of older adults with a long history of endurance training, which includes sustained forms of exercise such as long-distance running, cycling, swimming, rowing, and walking. An…
Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease occur when neurons gradually deteriorate and die. This progressive loss of brain cells leads to severe symptoms including memory decline, cognitive impairment, and difficulty with movement. Over time, these conditions can greatly diminish quality of life and often leave patients dependent…
Scientists at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have created a pioneering brain imaging method that captures how the brain’s smallest blood vessels pulse in time with each heartbeat. These subtle movements may offer vital insights into…
Changes in eyesight are one of the most familiar effects of getting older. Sit in a dim restaurant with someone over 60, and you might hear, “Hold on — let me pull out my cell phone. I need more light to read the menu!” But what if declining vision with…
In a new interview published today (October 14) by Genomic Press in Genomic Psychiatry, Dr. Bruce M. Cohen shares research findings that are reshaping how scientists around the world understand and treat neuropsychiatric disorders. As the Robertson-Steele Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Program for…
