Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
A research team led by Jiyoung Lee, a professor in the Department of Media and Communication, has worked with international researchers to uncover how visual contrast across social media feeds influences how quickly users spot visual misinformation.
As ocean temperatures rise, corals' ability to withstand and adapt to heat stress is critical for the future of coral reefs. Many reef-building corals already live near their upper thermal limits, making them vulnerable to bleaching and, with prolonged stress, mortality.
Rats are on the ballot in Canadian municipal elections this fall, with several political parties promising to tackle city rat problems. While rats may seem like a niche election issue, they can point to broader societal concerns about housing, public services and civic engagement.
A new ice sheet model developed by glaciologists at the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory projects that the melting of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica will contribute up to 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) of sea level rise by 2100—twice previous estimates—even without additional climate warming.
You sit down to meditate. A conversation returns, then thoughts. You bring your attention back to the breath. Sometimes, after many such returns, the effort eases. Thoughts lose their urgency, while awareness remains clear. Less occupies the mind, yet the moment still feels whole.
Global warming is often treated as synonymous with climate change, but rising temperatures are only one consequence of the human-driven phenomenon. Changes in rainfall patterns are another, but their effects on ecosystems are less understood.
For decades, physicists have sought a practical two-dimensional topological insulator: an ultrathin material whose interior blocks electricity but whose edges conduct it. In ordinary wires, electrons constantly bounce off imperfections, losing energy. But along the edges of a 2D topological insulator, electrons with opposite spins travel in opposite directions, like cars in one-way lanes, so they rarely scatter and lose energy.
Silicon carbide (SiC) is a ceramic known for its excellent heat resistance and chemical stability, which makes it attractive for a wide range of applications like electronics, catalysts and energy-related materials. However, SiC generally requires high-temperature processing, and simultaneously forming and controlling porous structures at the nanometer scale remains challenging.
A faster way of finding the best diamond-based materials for quantum computers has been developed by a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The new approach has already identified promising materials for practical quantum sensors and computers that could one day transform scientific research as a whole. The research was recently published in the journal ACS Central Science and has already garnered attention from other experts in the field.
The warrior was buried with the remains of his weapons and his horse near the center of the ancient necropolis in the Kuban region near the Russian city of Krasnodar. (Image credit: Abramzon et al. 2015)Archaeologists in southern Russia have unearthed the 2,000-year-old grave of an elite warrior who was buried with his weapons, horse — and a human sacrifice. The grave and sacrifices were found with other lavish goods, including two gold coins featuring Alexander the Great.A team found the elite grave in Russia's Kuban region east of the Crimean Peninsula, in a necropolis of more than 150 ancient graves arranged around it. This central placement indicates the man had been a member of the soci...
Researchers have fashioned a layered topological material into a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip that senses spin-related electronic states at atomic resolution.
For decades, scientists have been able to look at individual moments in the development of an embryo: a snapshot of a developing brain, a picture of how the heart takes shape or a glimpse of cells beginning to form the nervous system.
Plants—like people—come in all shapes and sizes. And just like scientists want to understand the components of the human body to treat disease and improve our lives, they also want to understand how plants thrive, develop disease, succumb or survive.
The Category 2 storm spawned tornadoes, flooding and extreme rain when it made landfall
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University have discovered that humans and songbirds use markedly different strategies to recognize sequences of complex sounds. The findings shed new light on how biology and experience shape the way we perceive complex sounds, with implications for music and speech.
Scientists are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to measure people's biological ages. Unlike chronological age, or the number of years a person has been living, biological age should reflect how well a person's bodily systems are working. Someone with a higher biological age has a higher risk for age-related diseases, such as cancer or dementia, than a person with a younger biological age. While some AI clocks look at epigenetic markers, others focus on other features, like the pitch and pace of people's voices, to calculate a biological age. We recently asked our readers if they would trust such AI tools to measure their biological age. Over 170 people responded, with 44%...
When the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 turned our world upside down, mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 brought a breakthrough. Their success established modified mRNA as a powerful foundation for vaccines and opened the way for new mRNA-based technologies, with potential applications ranging from vaccines against other infectious diseases to cancer immunotherapy.
The white-tipped feathers found in many chicken breeds may look like variations of the same decorative pattern, but new research shows that they do not all share the same genetic origin.
A concept from the field of quantum mechanics, spin is a property of particles that has no direct counterpart in everyday experience. Since the early 20th century, researchers have learned to manipulate it deliberately by means of precisely shaped electromagnetic pulses. This has resulted in two technologies that are widespread today: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonplace in hospitals, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is used to determine the structures of proteins and to develop new drugs. The mathematical framework of optimal control theory can be used to improve these technologies.
Researchers at the Oregon State University College of Science have developed a new electrochemical sensor for rapidly and accurately detecting a naturally occurring compound widely used in the food, beverage and fragrance industries.