Stay informed about scientific discoveries, research developments and new findings from around the world.
Vast quantities of plastic and fishing gear are washing up along the shores of the Seychelles, destroying fragile ecosystems and causing significant economic problems.
To enter cells, the COVID-19 virus fuses its surrounding membrane with the membrane of the target cell. This is where the fusion peptides of the spike protein come into play. These regions function as molecular keys that allow the virus to open the door to the target cell and initiate fusion between the two membranes.
Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University, Kyoto University, SOKENDAI and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences have revealed how CaMKIIα—a key brain protein involved in learning and memory—organizes itself into chain-like structures.
Somewhere between the microscopic realm of elementary particles and the macroscopic world of human beings, something strange happens: The rules of quantum physics, which work so exquisitely for tiny atoms, seem to lose their grip as objects grow larger. Pondering where and how this shift from small-scale quantum fuzziness to everyday sharp certainty happens gives rise to thought-experiment oddities like Schrödinger's famous dead-and-alive cat. The process by which quantum phenomena like superposition—the paradoxical affliction of Schrödinger's cat—fade into the classical reality we experience is known as decoherence.
In the late evening of Aug. 31, 2026, I missed a call from Jennifer, a seventh-generation cattle rancher in Georgia. She was one of more than 70 family farmers and ranchers across the rural U.S. South and Midwest whom I'd gotten to know through my research over the past five years. We still kept up from time to time, but a late-night call had me worried that something had gone awry on her farm.
The cat is smaller than a house cat but has the spots of a leopard
Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have teamed up to get a fresh look at the complex makeup of meteorites and glimpse into our solar system's past.
How do you measure the value of a relationship? One way is forbearance—what the involved parties would give up to stay together. That's the principle used by Stephen Karolyi, associate professor of finance at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, in his co-authored research on relationship lending in the banking industry.
Nearly 170 interns recently dispersed from MIT Lincoln Laboratory to return to their undergraduate or advanced degree programs. For Anna Raymaker and Vivek Jagadeesh, however, the work is just getting started. They are among more than two dozen interns staying on as student technical assistants, continuing to support the laboratory's national security research during the 2026-27 academic year."Our summer research program is a key pathway for developing talent to support defense-critical programs," says Robert Loynd, executive officer in the Director's Office. "Interns are embedded in R&D teams across nearly all mission areas, from missile defense and cyber operations to advanced communicatio...
A picture of a distant, shark-shaped cloud of gas in space has earned the top prize in a Royal Observatory Greenwich contest for amateur space photographers.Dubbed "The Quiet Predator," the image by skywatcher Ali Alobaidly shows off the Shark Nebula (LDN 1235), which is roughly 650 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus (the Whale). (For perspective, the nearest star system to our planet is only about 4 light-years away.) The stunning image was chosen as the overall winner of the Royal Observatory Greenwich's 18th ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest, whose honorees were announced Thursday (Sept. 17).Alobaidly took the prize-winning image from the Jahra governorate in...
The Quiet PredatorThe Quiet Predator © Ali Alobaidly (Kuwait) The astonishing diversity of the cosmos is on display in the 2026 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, organised by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. From our own solar system to distant nebulae, these images showcase the many wonders we can observe from the ground on Earth. The overall winner (above), The Quiet Predator, was taken by Ali Alobaidly in Kuwait. It shows a dense nebula 650 light years away, in the constellation Cepheus. This cloud of dust, called the Shark nebula, contains a few bright stars that make their surroundings glow blue. The nebula is so dark and distant that it took Alobaidly more than...
Scientists have identified an inherited genetic mutation that greatly increases the risk of lung cancer, even in people who have never smoked.The mutation involves the EGFR gene, which helps control cells' growth, division and survival. People who had never smoked and who had the genetic mutation — called EGFR T790M — were 62 times more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers without the mutation, according to the new study, published Thursday (Sept. 17) in the journal Science. By comparison, people who smoked but didn't carry the mutation were four times likelier to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers, so the mutation alone carried a higher risk of the disease.Among people in the stud...
A new study reveals that an important pollinator is rapidly losing genetic diversity in Britain. Moss carder bumblebees were once widespread across the UK, living in flower-rich meadows, marshes and heathlands, where they pollinated a wide variety of plants. However, the loss of these habitats has caused the species to retreat into strongholds along the country's coasts and islands.
A "baby" exoplanet, discovered emerging from its cosmic cocoon around a nearby star, is the youngest alien world ever seen, a new study reveals. The planetary infant is less than 1 million years old and could help researchers study how other planets, including our own, took shape. The juvenile world, dubbed Elias 2-24 b, orbits a newly formed star around 450 light-years from Earth. It is somewhere between two and four times as massive as Jupiter and almost twice as far from its home star as Neptune is from the sun. Astronomers spotted initial signs of the hefty exoplanet in 2017, when they noticed a small gap in the star's protoplanetary disk — the swirling ring of gas, dust and other stella...
Seismic activity has increased markedly at Mount Mantap, also known as Mantapsan, since the last test blast there in 2017
As human-caused climate warming destabilizes high mountain regions, the threat of rock-ice avalanches and other glacial hazards grows.
Earlier this month, the Ukrainian Navy used an uncrewed vessel to attack and sink an uncrewed naval robot operated by Russian forces
Science is helping to peel back the layers of how dogs process the world around them
International search begins for Dean with a radical vision to lead Rokos School of Government Craig Brierley Thu, 09/17/2026 - 16:42 The School – announced in March this year – aims to prepare future leaders to be able to navigate the ever-more-challenging demands of both domestic and international politics in a new and complex world of great structural change.Speaking at the time of the launch, Chris Rokos said that he wanted the School to be “a unique forum for radical and remarkable thinking, capturing the inspiration of the brightest minds from around the world and harnessing new technologies in order to meet the needs of modern government.”The University today launches its search for an...
HEIDELBERG, Germany — Often considered the slowest, most methodical and most abstract of the sciences, mathematics usually advances so incrementally and esoterically that it rarely troubles the mainstream media. It was therefore with some discomfort that a panel of elite mathematicians took to the stage Sept. 15 here at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, a conference that unites young researchers with award-winning mathematicians and computer scientists. The focus of the panel: to confront the rapid rise of AI, whose threat to their quiet discipline has thrust them into the limelight.In the past year alone, AI systems have made substantial contributions to the solutions of dozens of problems pos...
Major hormonal milestones in women’s lives are usually associated with changes in brain volume — but a new study shows menopause is an exception.
For the first time in a century, scientists have identified a new cat species, thanks to genetic analysis — and it's resolved a long-standing debate about the cat family tree. The newly identified species, Leopardus tilcayo, is a type of tiger cat — a small, spotted wild cat — that lives in the Yungas cloud forest region of Bolivia. The analysis also revealed a subspecies of another tiger cat species, named Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo, which lives in Peru.Previously thought to be a northern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus), L. tilcayo split off from other Leopardus species 1.4 million years ago, the study found. This makes it the first novel living cat species to be discovered in over a ce...
The tilcayo (Leopardus tilcayo) in an animal refuge in La Paz, BoliviaPaola Nogales-Ascarrunz A new cat species has been scientifically described – the diminutive, spotted tilcayo from Bolivia. Several species of small cat in the Leopardus genus live in South America, including the ocelot, margay, kodkod, Geoffroy’s cat and the tiger cat or oncilla. The similar appearance of these nocturnal and hard-to-spot cats has made separating them into distinct species difficult. This is particularly true of tiger cats, which are about the size of a house cat, and are found in Costa Rica in Central America, and across a vast swathe of South America including Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuado...
TOPIC:At CERN CERN’s new internal justice system is now in force The reform marks an important step towards a more modern, accessible, professional and independent system of internal justice — 17 September, 2026 CERN’s new internal justice system is now officially in force. Developed through close collaboration between the Management, the Staff Association and external experts, and through a process of concertation, this reform marks an important step towards a more modern, accessible, professional and independent system of internal justice. The new internal justice system aims to clarify the options available to personnel and strengthen the fair and consistent handling of disputes, reports ...