Science
First known 'disappearing planet' has a neighbor that makes it wobble like a top
UCLA-led astronomers have discovered the first known "disappearing planet" about 1,000 light-years away. The planet, TOI-2535 b, is a "hot Jupiter," a gas giant that orbits extrem…
CheMeleon model adapts to predict molecular properties from scant data
Discovering new molecules for specific uses is a major driver of progress in a wide variety of industries, whether it's pharmaceutical companies looking for new drugs or electroni…
New review maps a 'structure-to-physiology' roadmap for functional fruit packaging
Freshly harvested fruit remains metabolically active, respires vigorously and is highly sensitive to ethylene. It is therefore highly susceptible to softening, browning, water los…
Are the James Webb Space Telescope's mysterious Little Red Dots actually tiny black holes left over from the Big Bang era?
New research suggests that Little Red Dots, which have puzzled astronomers since the JWST began discovering them, could host primordial black holes born during the Big Bang.
3-million-year-old Taung Child once again shakes up our human family tree
A century after the Taung Child permanently altered our view of human origins, a new study published in npj Palaeoecosystems dates the famous fossil to between 2.96 and 3.03 milli…
Canines could help anthropological studies, answering questions about human evolution
Anthropologists seeking to understand human evolution often include primates such as chimps or apes in their studies. But a new review paper by Kyle Smith, a postdoctoral research…
Not a 'night owl' yet: Extraordinary bird fossil from Messel Pit suggests species still hunted by day
An exceptionally well-preserved, approximately 47-million-year-old owl fossil from the UNESCO World Heritage Site Messel provides new clues as to when owls became nocturnal. The n…
Our sun's undiscovered stellar nemesis is still out there, says physicist
Long-period, high-inclination comets of the sort that can cause extinction-level impacts here on Earth have long been thought to originate from a theoretical Oort cloud. That is, …
Tiny beetle trapped in 53-million-year-old amber is named after Twenty One Pilots
Preserved in amber for about 53 million years, a beetle has been described as a new species by researchers in Spain and France. Named Cnopus twentyonepilotorum, it is the first pu…
Chimpanzees blowing raspberries offer first evidence of learned vocal conventions in great ape communication
Chimpanzees may learn how to use some of their calls from the adults around them, in a surprising parallel with how human children learn words, finds a study from the CNRS Institu…
Atomic defects leave telltale optical fingerprints in quantum material
The tiny atomic defects so important for future quantum technologies can be difficult to spot. Fortunately, they leave behind some clues. The defects can alter how a material resp…
Giving wheat breeders hyper vision
Aswin Singaram Natarajan rolls a stem of wheat in his hands. It looks perfectly healthy, but the senior experimental scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, knows…
La NASA busca a la próxima generación de astronautas
Read this release in English here.La NASA busca a los exploradores que ayudarán a escribir el próximo capítulo de los vuelos espaciales tripulados. Ya está abierto el plazo de ins…
Long-lived mineral grains can be invaluable for reconstructing impact events, but the stories are complex
Reconstructing impact events on Earth and other planetary bodies, including the moon, is crucial for understanding how the solar system evolved and how planets develop.
Pollutants threaten rivers and streams even in protected areas
Organic pollutants such as pesticides and industrial chemicals commonly pose risks to aquatic ecosystems, even in protected rivers and streams, according to a new study by RPTU Un…
NYT bestseller ‘Robopocalypse’ is getting a TV series with Oscar winners Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman at the helm
Well, this should be a nice distraction from the real AI apocalypse.
NASA’s Chandra Finds Source of Star’s Mysterious Outbursts
Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have discovered what is triggering repeated outbursts from a giant, unstable star. A new study, published Monday in the latest …
High-pressure setup unlocks detailed measurements of organized structures in turbulent flows
Turbulent flows are ubiquitous: they are found in clouds, in the ocean and even on other planets. Yet despite their chaotic nature, they also form large-scale structures that can …
Knowing how plants stretch out when warm could help dial back their response
When they start to get too warm but before they're dangerously hot, most plants employ a similar playbook. They change their shape, a host of adaptations that includes growing lon…
Study reveals overcompensation in desert plant-weevil interactions
A research team led by professor Zhang Yuanming from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed that the outcomes of de…
Genetic hitchhikers make Aspergillus infections even harder to treat
Resistance to antifungal medicines in the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is proving more persistent than previously thought. Research by Wageningen University & Research …
Quantum interference keeps two atoms bound despite enough energy to break apart
How can something remain intact when it should naturally break apart? This question has been addressed by researchers at RPTU. Their work has led to the experimental observation o…
Starfish Space loses contact with 1st 'Otter' servicing spacecraft, ending NASA tech-demo mission
Starfish Space's first Otter servicing spacecraft suffered a glitch in orbit recently, ending its technology-demonstrating mission for NASA.
High fossil fuel prices spread inflation ‘like a cancer’, UN climate negotiator tells Cop31
Simon Stiell makes opening address at summit in Turkey, where talks are under way about speeding up shift to electrificationA global fossil fuel price crisis is “spreading inflati…