Science News

Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.

Rubin observatory peers deep into the famous COSMOS field
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Rubin observatory peers deep into the famous COSMOS field

The COSMOS field, or Cosmic Evolution Survey Deep Field, is one of the most famous patches of the universe observed by astronomers. Located in the constellation Sextans, this region was photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in segments from 2003 to 2005 using its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). With support from ground-based and other space-based telescopes, the resulting images were then stitched together to create a stunning picture of cosmic evolution.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 12:00:08    โ€ข    Phys.org
AI trained to 'think' like human pathologists may be better at spotting cancer
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AI trained to 'think' like human pathologists may be better at spotting cancer

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that hunt for cancer may do a better job when they approach the analysis as if they were a human pathologist, a new study suggests.Many AI systems analyze preselected regions of a tissue sample, or they split a whole pathology slide into patches of a fixed size. By contrast, a pathologist searches more dynamically, panning across the tissue, zooming in and out, and pausing over areas that raise red flags. A whole slide can contain billions of pixels, while the evidence of cancer may occupy only a tiny patch.Study co-author Zhi Huang, an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, compared the process to a...

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 12:00:00    โ€ข    Live Science
Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ review
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Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ review

The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a 5.1-inch (130mm) f/5 Newtonian reflector, one of many 130mm f/5 reflectors offered by Celestron. The DX 130AZ is also one of two 130mm StarSense Explorer variants, the other being a tabletop Dobsonian. The optical tube here rides on an alt-azimuth tripod instead and uses a 2-inch focuser, but otherwise, there are no major differences. The DX 130 AZ is certainly one of the better telescopes in the StarSense Explorer series; there are also several decent Dobsonians, a pair of decent Schmidt-Cassegrains, the merely acceptable DX 102 refractor, a 114mm Bird-Jones model and some small refractors that arenโ€™t of much use. The DX 130AZ is definitely on ...

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 11:00:00    โ€ข    Live Science
How AI can help with early schizophrenia diagnosis
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How AI can help with early schizophrenia diagnosis

The speech of people with schizophrenia sounds subtly different from their healthy counterparts. Can AI hear those differences better than human psychiatrists?

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 11:00:00    โ€ข    Scientific American
Why is Venus hotter than Mercury, when Mercury is closer to the sun?
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Why is Venus hotter than Mercury, when Mercury is closer to the sun?

Given that it's the closest planet to the sun, Mercury seems like it should be the hottest planet in our solar system.However, at a blistering 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480 degrees Celsius), Venus tops Mercury's 800 F (430 C) highest surface temperature, despite being an average of 31 million miles (50 million kilometers) farther from the sun. So how can the second planet from our star be hotter than the closest planet to it?It all comes down to reflectivity, atmospheric composition and geological history, experts told Live Science.Totally different atmospheresA planet's distance from its star is not the only factor that influences the planet's temperature."Distance tells us how much sunlight ...

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 09:00:00    โ€ข    Live Science
As antibiotic resistance grows, researchers turn to copper to fight infections
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As antibiotic resistance grows, researchers turn to copper to fight infections

When bacteria invade the urinary tract, the body has its own arsenal for fighting back. Among those weapons is an unlikely tool: copper. Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) are investigating how the body uses the essential trace mineral to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs), how bacteria manage to survive that attack and whether those discoveries could eventually lead to new ways of treating infections that are increasingly difficult to control with antibiotics.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 02:40:02    โ€ข    Phys.org
Scientists find a way to break pancreatic cancerโ€™s protective shield
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Scientists find a way to break pancreatic cancerโ€™s protective shield

Researchers found that blocking IL1RAP could disrupt a powerful inflammatory network that helps pancreatic cancer survive treatment. In preclinical experiments, the approach reduced tumor-protecting cells and fibrosis while boosting the activity of cancer-fighting T cells. That could make chemotherapy and immunotherapy more effective.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 02:34:24    โ€ข    ScienceDaily
Nepal flood disaster exposes cascading threats in Himalayas
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Nepal flood disaster exposes cascading threats in Himalayas

A catastrophic flood in Nepal that left thousands missing began with a collapse of ice and rock high in the mountainsโ€”a warning that disaster planning must prepare for chains of hazards, not isolated events, experts say.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 02:00:05    โ€ข    Phys.org
Mercuryโ€™s surface reveals a surprisingly fiery past
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Mercuryโ€™s surface reveals a surprisingly fiery past

Scientists have discovered that Mercuryโ€™s surface contains far less silicon dioxide than previously thought, pointing to an unexpectedly hot volcanic past. The finding suggests ancient lava may have originated from deeper, more extensively melted parts of the planetโ€™s mantle.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 01:28:22    โ€ข    ScienceDaily
Q&A: The origin of 'OnlyMarms' and what made it a roaring success
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Q&A: The origin of 'OnlyMarms' and what made it a roaring success

The story of Dan Blumstein's decision to share videos of marmots from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory field study on an OnlyFans account called OnlyMarms has captured attention around the world over the past few weeks.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 01:00:02    โ€ข    Phys.org
The secret to longer life may be hidden in bat DNA
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The secret to longer life may be hidden in bat DNA

Long-lived bats appear to combine powerful immune defenses with unusual strategies for eliminating damaged cells, potentially helping them avoid cancer and disease for decades. Researchers hope these genetic tricks could eventually reveal new ways to protect human health during aging.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 00:25:05    โ€ข    ScienceDaily
Bridging interfacial water structure and reactivity in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution at TiOโ‚‚ interfaces
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Bridging interfacial water structure and reactivity in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution at TiOโ‚‚ interfaces

Hydrogen (H2) evolution via photocatalytic water splitting is an environmentally friendly and sustainable technology for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. Although interfacial interactions are recognized as key determinants of photocatalytic performance, systematic experimental studies explicitly targeting the structure and reactivity of the water-catalyst interface remain limited. A major challenge lies in probing the molecular structure of interfacial water, especially under hydrogen-evolving conditions.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 00:20:01    โ€ข    Phys.org
How one RNA nucleotide switch activates fluorescent dyes
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How one RNA nucleotide switch activates fluorescent dyes

RhoBAST is a tiny RNA molecule that activates fluorescent dyes, enabling researchers to track RNA molecules in living cells with super-resolution. An international collaboration, which includes Ronald Micura and his team from the Institute of Organic Chemistry, has now shown that a small, local "nucleotide flip" within the RNA controls this fluorescence activation.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-12 00:00:04    โ€ข    Phys.org
66-million-year-old feather in dinosaur poop may reveal why birds survived the asteroid
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66-million-year-old feather in dinosaur poop may reveal why birds survived the asteroid

A feather discovered inside 66-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur poop may help explain why modern birds survived the asteroid catastrophe. The extinct bird it came from had more primitive insulating feathers, suggesting superior plumage may have helped the ancestors of living birds endure the deadly impact winter.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-11 23:47:16    โ€ข    ScienceDaily
How big can the universe's first starbursts get?
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How big can the universe's first starbursts get?

As our telescopes have improved and we've been able to peer farther back in time, we've begun finding more fascinating features of the universe. But one thing we haven't found for sure is Population III (Pop III) stars. These were the earliest stars in the universe, formed completely from pristine hydrogen and helium, with no "metals" (i.e., elements heavier than those two) polluting their processes.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-11 23:20:01    โ€ข    Phys.org
Smart, self-healing packaging uses AI to detect food spoilage in real time
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Smart, self-healing packaging uses AI to detect food spoilage in real time

Packaging already tells us where food comes from, when it was made, what's in it and how many calories it contains. But researchers see a future where packaging can "see," in real time, what's happening inside and translate that into information that producers and consumers can act on.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-11 22:20:05    โ€ข    Phys.org
Single nanostructure enables independent control of two light resonance modes
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Single nanostructure enables independent control of two light resonance modes

Metallic nanostructures are exceptionally effective at concentrating light into tiny volumes, while dielectric nanostructures excel at storing light with minimal energy loss. Combining these complementary properties has traditionally required complicated hybrid structures in which the two optical modes become mixed, making them difficult to control independently.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-11 22:20:01    โ€ข    Phys.org
New genome study rewrites the early history of grasses, the world's most important plant family
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New genome study rewrites the early history of grasses, the world's most important plant family

An international team of scientists, including Donald Danforth Plant Science Center member emerita Elizabeth "Toby" Kellogg, Ph.D., has produced a chromosome-level genome assembly that offers a new view of the earliest evolution of grasses, the plant family that includes many of the world's most important food crops.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-11 22:00:01    โ€ข    Phys.org
AI helps find hidden human proteins and reveals what they do
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AI helps find hidden human proteins and reveals what they do

New research shows how artificial intelligence, combined with advanced experimental science, can help find "hidden" and unexplored proteins in the human body and reveal what they actually do, according to a new study published in Nature.

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-11 21:40:05    โ€ข    Phys.org