Science
AI struggles to decipher 'animal language' because sound doesn't equal meaning, experts say
In recent years, numerous attempts have been made to use artificial intelligence to decipher the communication of bats, whales, birds and other animals. However, a new study led b…
Iron, sulfur and purple light unlock greener carbon-carbon bond formation
Much of organic chemistry, including the type used to create and alter medicinal drugs, relies on modifying carbon bonds. Rice University's Julian West has been developing a less …
Bacterial invasion proteins could improve detection of live crop pathogens
Scientists, clinicians, seed companies and others may soon have a new tool in their toolkit for detecting bacterial pathogens, thanks to a new study by researchers in Penn State's…
Top Trump military adviser says US must prepare to fight around moon
Gen Dan Caine comments at Washington summit come after US revealed it has deployed weapons in spaceAmerican troops need to prepare for combat not only in Earth’s orbit but around …
Passion Meets Precision at NASA’s Flight Research Lab
Long before they helped shape NASA’s future aerospace breakthroughs, Derek Abramson, Justin Hall, and Justin Link were in their garages and homes building radio‑controlled aircraf…
Roll waves emerge as uniform water flow destabilizes on steep slopes, equations show
When it rains, traveling waves appear on steep asphalt pavement, slowly making their way down the slope. Because these so-called "roll waves" propagate without deforming and are t…
Spekboom is nutritious, water‑wise and edible—so why aren't more South Africans eating it?
Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) is an easy-to-grow succulent shrub, small tree or hedge. In the wild, it grows naturally as tall as five meters (16 feet) on steep slopes and rocky hi…
The battlefield now extends all the way to the moon, U.S. military's highest-ranking officer says
The battlefield that the U.S. military must prepare for and excel in now extends from the seafloor all the way out to the moon, according to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint …
Tendon cells can rebound from stiffness when returned to softer tissue-like surroundings
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London are closer to understanding tendinopathy, a common condition that can cause persistent pain and impaired movement in people and many…
Could genetically modified trees protect Florida's citrus industry?
Gene technology is giving hope to citrus farmers in Florida who are fighting greening disease, which has been killing their trees for two decades.
Fungi neutralize spruce defense mechanisms with sugar
A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology discovered a previously unknown strategy by which certain fungi neutralize spruce defense compounds. These fungi a…
Snow, monsoons and oceans shift Earth's center of mass each year, satellite tracking shows
Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet's center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientis…
Why you really shouldn't overcook your proteins
The development of cooking was a major milestone in the evolution of human civilization because it made food easier to digest and more energy-efficient. Heating food can also kill…
Newfound 'baby' planet smashes record for youngest known world
Astronomers have confirmed a world less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in …
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket-landing team gets 1st-ever Neil Armstrong Space Prize
The SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Landing Team received the first-ever Neil Armstrong Space Prize during a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night (Sept. 15).
Muon rings enable precise calibration of telescopes at the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory
Research initiated as part of a bachelor's thesis in physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has culminated in a new analytical description of the muon-based calibr…
Without bacteria or chemicals: How methanol and formaldehyde form abiotically in nature
The biopolymer lignin—one of the most important carbon reservoirs in plants and soils—not only decays through fungi or bacteria but can also be chemically attacked by iron linked …
Circular Rydberg atoms set three records, staying stable for 11 milliseconds
Rydberg atoms are considered promising building blocks for quantum computers and their precursors, quantum simulators. Researchers at the 5th Institute of Physics of the Universit…
Dog-guided cameras uncover weasels across Georgia, including regions unseen for 30 years
University of Georgia researchers recently located the mammal equivalent of a needle in a haystack: weasels. Weasels are extremely difficult to find, so not much is known about th…
Why do some chimpanzee mothers carry their dead infants for months?
Chimpanzee and bonobo mothers sometimes continue to carry their infants after they have died, a behavior known as infant corpse carrying (ICC). It is widely documented, and many e…
Sliding droplets point to charging mechanism beyond mobile ions
Whether on a windowpane at home or during the industrial cleaning of computer chips: droplets sliding over solid surfaces become electrically charged. Yet the physical mechanism b…
Dogs show human-like brain activity when they restrain themselves
When we tell a dog "no" and it resists temptation, what happens in its brain? New research from the Department of Ethology at ELTE and the HUN-REN Research Centre of Natural Scien…
NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, ‘Once-in-Century’ Moon Crater
It started as a routine data-quality check. But as Robert Wagner, a scientist with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scanned a giant Moon map on his computer screen, an u…
Bone strength study reveals new clues about human evolution
Bipedalism, or walking on two legs, is one of the key features that distinguishes humans from other apes. But when and why our ancestors transitioned from a life often spent in tr…