Explore the latest scientific discoveries, science news, breakthroughs and developments from around the world.
Researchers from Ruhr University Bochum have partnered with colleagues in Göttingen, Berlin, Paris and Essen to develop new optogenetic tools that can selectively inhibit cellular activity through light. These tools could help investigate diseases in which the balance between excitation and inhibition is disrupted, such as cardiac arrhythmias.
The Milky Way's supermassive black hole is surrounded by a surprising trove of heavy metals, according to new observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The metals may offer new clues about how Earth got its share of heavy elements — but it could also make one of the greatest mysteries about our local black hole even harder to solve.In astronomy, metals refer to any element heavier than hydrogen or helium, with common examples including oxygen, carbon, iron or gold. These elements are forged through nuclear fusion in the hearts of stars that are reaching the ends of their lives, before being sprayed into space and incorporated into new generations of stars. Scientists say the mat...
A rare silver coin minted during the reign of a famous Viking king has been discovered in a massive hoard in Norway that now comprises 5,500 coins and counting.The coin is inscribed with the name of the Norwegian king Olaf Haraldsson, who ruled from 1015 to 1028 and, as St. Olaf or "Olaf the Holy," is considered the national saint of Norway.Fewer than 20 coins minted during Olaf's reign have ever been discovered, and the newfound coin is a "national treasure," according to a statement from the University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History."Here we have a coin bearing the king's portrait and a cross, with another cross on the reverse," University of Oslo coin expert Svein Gullbekk said in t...
President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Stone, James O’Neill, has yet to have a confirmation hearing in the Senate, leaving the future leadership of the NSF unclear
Vultures were long thought to make few and fairly simple sounds. Yet no one had investigated in detail how the birds use sound to communicate. For his master's thesis in Jorg Massen's Vulture Cognition Lab, Connor Proudfoot studied the critically endangered Rüppell's vulture. He and his colleagues found that the birds produce a wide range of complex sounds, which they use in a range of social situations. The findings, published today in PLOS One, could help improve the success of captive breeding programs and shed light on the evolution of communication.
An international team led by Alexander Vorbrugg analyzed (online) media reporting on war-related land changes in Ukraine. The study asked: How is damage to land represented? What knowledge do these representations draw on? How does the war affect the symbolic meaning of land and visions of the future? How are material damage and destruction translated into the media discourse? What ideas of landscape does this create?
Despite being known for more mundane uses such as sticking notes to refrigerators or keeping bags shut, magnetization is one of the most fundamental and useful properties of a material. Indeed, it forms the physical basis for storing most of our digital information, encoding the bits used in hard drives, computer memories and credit cards.
A study of 500 Thai retailers has found that businesses with stronger big data analytics capabilities tend to be better at identifying market needs, innovating and executing effective marketing strategies. Moreover, large retailers report higher capability levels than smaller firms, according to research published in the International Journal of Services and Operations Management.
The old saying that one bad apple spoils the barrel suggests that an individual behaving badly can have a negative influence on the entire group. The idea now has some fresh scientific backing.
Natural gas leaks are a significant source of methane emissions in cities, but it can be hard to pinpoint exactly where and why they happen. And methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is the main chemical component of natural gas, has been historically undercounted or omitted in emissions estimates, according to a team of atmospheric and climate science researchers in the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
An international team of researchers, including members from the University of Michigan, has revealed surprising results that could rewrite our understanding of a key transition in the early universe.
More than 1 in 4 Detroiters cannot easily produce up-to-date documentation of their U.S. citizenship that matches their current name, according to a new survey from the University of Michigan's Detroit Metro Area Communities Study, in partnership with Outlier Media.