US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he believes NASA has a good chance of returning astronauts to the moon's surface before he leaves the White House at the start of 2029. [...]
Air quality in Europe is improving but more effort is needed to reach the European Union's 2030 targets, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its annual report on Thursday. [...]
Snow cover in the mountains of Greece—an important water source for communities, agriculture and natural ecosystems during the dry summer months—has more than halved over the past four decades, a study has found. [...]
Perched in a tower atop a hill, Matthew Douglas climbs a staircase and emerges from a hatch on the roof, where a heavy glass ball in a metal cradle has burned a thin streak into a strip of paper, recording the previous day's sunlight. [...]
A luminous swirl set against the deep black of space, the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glows with a soft, ethereal light in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image from April 13, 2026. [...]
Diving is physiologically challenging for marine animals. Long and deep dives can trigger "anaerobic" (oxygen-less) metabolism in organs other than the heart and brain that causes lactic acid to accumulate. Even though diving animals typically have evolved tricks to avoid "the bends," nitrogen bubbles may nevertheless build up in their blood. They tend to recover from these stresses while swimming at the surface for prolonged periods. [...]
There is a troubling contradiction at the heart of the global transition to a cleaner, greener, tech-driven future: Modern technologies—everything from AI to wind turbines, as well as cellphones, electric vehicles and defense systems—depend on critical minerals. But many of the communities where those minerals are mined end up with polluted water and poorer health because of the mining. [...]
Artificial intelligence is steadily becoming more embedded in journalism; part of how journalists write, edit, research and more. But little is known about how future journalists are learning about the technology. New research from the University of Kansas has found that journalism classes across the country are taking varying approaches, from considering its use in academic dishonesty to encouraging its use or discussing the matter philosophically. That scattershot approach can both shortchange and confuse students, while more consistency could better serve education and practice, according to the authors. [...]
Efficient and durable catalysts for the chlorine evolution reaction (CER) are critical for chlor-alkali and related brine electrolysis processes, but conventional anodic materials often struggle to balance catalytic activity, selectivity, cost, and stability under harsh operating conditions. Now, a research team led by Prof. Yin Huajie from the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a high-performance chlor-alkali electrode catalyst that combines outstanding activity with long-term stability. The study is published in Nature Communications. [...]
With the involvement of scientists from the Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics in Berlin and the Universities of Augsburg and Münster, international researchers have presented a new roadmap for surface acoustic waves. The study outlines how this technology will evolve over the next 10 years, spanning applications from signal processing to quantum technologies and the life sciences. [...]
A research team led by Prof. Zhang Jian at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. Xiao Chong from the University of Science and Technology of China and Prof. Zhang Yongsheng from Qufu Normal University, achieved a peak ZT value of 2.03 at 873 K in chalcopyrite-based thermoelectric materials using a novel dual antisite defect strategy. [...]
Most of the microlitter present in the South Atlantic Ocean originates from the West African coast and is particularly concentrated in areas near the equator and off the coast of Brazil, according to a study appearing in Environmental Pollution. [...]
Malignant tumor treatment remains a major challenge due to the limited precision and significant side effects. Copper-based single-atom nanozymes have shown promise for tumor microenvironment-responsive precision therapy, but their practical application is limited by weak substrate adsorption, difficulty in synthesizing low-coordination unsaturated structures, and limitations of conventional preparation methods. A research team has now successfully developed a coordination-unsaturated copper single-atom nanozyme. Their work is published in Advanced Functional Materials. [...]
Counterintuitively, despite the ongoing fuel crisis and the over two decades since the global phaseout of leaded gasoline, toxic lead still lingers in Metro Manila's air. By analyzing aerosol data from as far back as 2018 and 2019 using lead isotope fingerprinting, an international team including researchers from the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Physics and the Manila Observatory found that lead pollution has taken on new forms and quietly persists to this day. Their study, published in Atmospheric Environment, points to modern industrial activities, fossil fuel combustion, and legacy pollution as key sources of lead pollution in the nation's capital. [...]
New technology enables the insertion of a large segment of DNA into a genome, potentially expanding gene therapy treatment from cancellation of disease-causing mutations to replacement of an entire gene, scientists say. [...]
Nonconsensual condom removal by an intimate partner falls into a gray area of sexual violence, a traumatic experience that exposes survivors to health risks, which they are often expected to manage alone without medical assistance or legal recourse, a new study says. Published in the journal Communication Monographs, the findings shed light on a commonplace sexual violation and the social and institutional practices that silence victims and fail to provide needed resources. [...]
Deep below the surface of the Mediterranean off the French coast, the pincer of a remotely guided underwater robot delicately closes around a centuries-old jug lying near a 16th-century shipwreck. [...]
A research team from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) has developed a machine-learning classifier capable of analyzing the genomes of influenza A viruses (IAVs) to accurately predict their potential risk of transmission among mammals. The team has successfully identified the key clues that may explain cross-species transmission of influenza A viruses from birds to mammals, and even to humans. [...]
A new study led by University of British Columbia researchers has found that pet cats allowed to roam outside unsupervised carry infectious diseases at rates comparable to feral cats, even when they receive veterinary care, regular meals, and shelter. [...]
Birds sing the most about an hour before dawn, when the air is at its stillest. Theoretically, this enables sounds to travel farther, making song up to 20 times more effective than if sung at midday. [...]
For the first time, a research team has demonstrated, in a metal-wall environment, a plasma regime that simultaneously achieves partial divertor detachment, an edge-localized-mode (ELM)-free high-confinement mode (H-mode), and high pedestal performance. This integrated regime was sustained on a minute scale and the work is published in Physical Review Letters. [...]
A major analysis led by the University of Cambridge has found that many REDD+ projects achieved meaningful reductions in forest loss—offering real environmental benefits. This is despite the study confirming that almost 11 times more carbon credits were issued from the REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) voluntary carbon market than was justified. [...]
New research from the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford suggests that the death of a parent in adulthood can have effects that reach far beyond the immediate shock of bereavement. Published in the May issue of the American Economic Review, the study finds that parental loss is associated with persistent declines in earnings, alongside signs of worsening mental health. Women with young children experience a comparatively larger earnings decline, likely due to the loss of informal childcare. [...]
If you suffer from information overload, or are unsure what to trust online, you're not alone. Australians are increasingly disengaging from traditional news, turning instead to social media, influencers and—more recently—generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and summaries. [...]
Understanding how to explore hidden glaciers on Mars begins not in a laboratory, but in remote field camps across Alaska and Wyoming. [...]
Research conducted at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil revealed that hops (Humulus lupulus L.) industrial waste from the brewing industry is a viable option for sunscreen formulation production. The multidisciplinary study, which involved researchers from USP's School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCF), was inspired by the large amount of waste generated and discarded during beer production. The study brought together complementary expertise in natural products and bioactive photoprotection. [...]
Justin Scholten '22 knows the plants growing on the forest floor around the Finger Lakes. There's the white baneberry, Actaea pachypoda and the red baneberry, Actaea rubra. Both are about 30–70 centimeters tall, herbaceous and extremely toxic to humans. But in 2023 as he hiked through Summer Hill State Forest, less than 30 miles northeast of Ithaca, he noticed an oddity: a pink baneberry. [...]
Researchers have developed tiny flexible lasers that can be used to measure forces inside living cells. The new lasers could help illuminate various biological processes, including those involved in early development and tumor progression. [...]
In the increasingly digital world, the demand for faster, more efficient and miniaturized optical devices is ever-growing. From high-speed internet and secure quantum communications to advanced medical imaging and precision manufacturing, the backbone of these technologies is light, specifically how we can control and manipulate it at the nanoscale. [...]
Spintronic devices enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. They are based on the interaction between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Now, a team from Freie Universität Berlin, HZB and Uppsala University has succeeded in tracking—separately for each layer—how the magnetic order changes after a short laser pulse has excited the system. The researchers were also able to identify the main cause of the loss of antiferromagnetic order in the oxide layer: The excitation is transported from the hot electrons in the ferromagnetic metal to the spins in the antiferromagnet. The findings are published in the journal Physical Review Letters. [...]