An unusual team of astronomers used Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V (SDSS-V) data and observations on the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to discover the most pristine star in the known universe, called SDSS J0715-7334. Their work is published in Nature Astronomy. [...]
The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet's brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon. [...]
Gene drives—a genetic engineering approach that quickly spreads specific genetic changes throughout a population, whether to kill it off or add a new trait—may have potential for controlling weeds. But so far, gene drives have primarily been studied in mosquitoes, and have yet to be deployed in the real world. [...]
In an unusual perspective for an Earth-observing satellite, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this image of the moon, Earth's only natural satellite. The Sentinel-2 mission acquired this lunar image by rolling one of its satellites sideways to view the moon instead of Earth. This is part of a regular calibration process, whereby the stable intensity of the moon's light makes it possible to detect and correct even the smallest changes in the performance of Sentinel-2's instrument. This ensures data accuracy throughout the mission, which is critical for its applications. [...]
This month's NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month offers us a two-for-one on brand new stars—with some potential planets thrown in as well. This visual highlights Webb's views of the protoplanetary disks Tau 042021 (left) and Oph 163131 (right), otherwise known by the catalog numbers 2MASS J04202144+2813491 and 2MASS J16313124-2426281, respectively. Tau 042021 is situated around 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus, while Oph 163131 lies about 480 light-years away in Ophiuchus. [...]
Located off the coast of Culasawani, in the Fiji archipelago, is an island that is made up of materials that might be part of someone's dinner. A recent study took a closer look at the 3,000-square-meter island and discovered that it is almost entirely made of edible shellfish remains with fragments of pottery mixed in the deposit. [...]
Cells are not isolated units; they continuously exchange proteins, genetic material, and even entire organelles with their neighbors. Intercellular transfer influences how tissues develop, respond to stress, and repair damage. In certain cancers, for example, tumor cells can acquire mitochondria from nearby cells to sustain growth; similar exchanges are also linked to aging processes. However, despite massive advances in gene-editing and molecular-targeting technologies, we still lack the tools to directly and reliably manipulate the cytoplasmic composition of living cells. [...]
Plastic, once ingenious for its durability and versatility, has become a global environmental issue that is affecting every aspect of life. This, in turn, is fueling the development of degradable polymers as alternative solutions. Among contending the possibilities are poly(disulfide)s, which have garnered attention as redox-degradable polymers with various polymerization techniques that can break down in reductive environments, such as the seafloor. However, according to the specific objective, it is necessary to design and synthesize each monomer to control polymer properties and impart functionality. [...]
Solar-power photocatalysis—turning sunlight into energy—holds promise for sustainable and cost-efficient energy and chemical production. Advancing the technology, though, has been hindered by a lack of understanding of exactly how the process works. To that end, a team of Yale researchers has developed a technique that allows them to observe the sunlight-to-fuel conversion in real time, right down to the nanoscale. Specifically, they can see how the light-driven catalyst splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, and how electrons and holes move through the material. [...]
Collagen is an important protein that helps build the tissues of humans and animals. It is very strong because it is made of three protein strands twisted tightly together like a rope. Because of this sturdy structure, ordinary protein-cutting enzymes usually cannot break it down. [...]
Humans are creatures of rhythms. As far as we know, humans have always sung and always danced. We can recognize a song by its rhythm alone, regardless of whether it is played fast or slow. [...]
One of the greatest mysteries of modern physics, the "black hole information paradox," might have finally found an elegant solution, and the answer could also reveal the origins of the mass of fundamental particles. [...]
Quantum states are notoriously fragile, and can be destroyed simply through interactions, measurements, and exposure to their surrounding environments. In a new theoretical study published in Physical Review X, Rohan Mittal and colleagues at the University of Cologne have discovered a new way to protect quantum behavior on large scales within systems driven far from equilibrium. Their results could have promising implications for the design of more robust quantum devices. [...]
Every winter, storms wipe out swaths of the picturesque Spanish coast, undoing summer reconstruction work and threatening the foundations of the country's vital tourism industry. [...]
After hours spent in the thick pollution-choking parts of northern Thailand, Pon Doikam gets home and blows her burning nose to find blood clots spattered across the tissue. [...]
NASA's Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo. [...]
Although neighborhood cats may seem like a fun, charming presence, unowned cat populations have been criticized for causing harm to a community and its environment. Without proper management, stray cat populations can rise rapidly, leading to concerns about predation, disease, and public nuisance. [...]
University of Queensland researchers are urging governments to use newly created national data to protect the country's last remaining ecosystems free of human pressures. The two new datasets map the extent of ecosystem disturbance across the country and show that while about 30% of Australia is still free or almost free of human pressures, many landscapes are becoming increasingly fragmented. [...]
Sexually transmitted infections in Otago's gold rush era were less common than popular culture books portray, University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka research has found. The first-of-its-kind study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, explored hospital records and newspaper articles from 1864 to 1869 in Otago to reveal the prevalence of syphilis and gonorrhea infections and societal attitudes about those with them. [...]
As winter comes to a close, many people look forward to warmer temperatures and spring blooms, but for land managers working to preserve or restore oak-dominated forests, it is prescribed burn season. Fire brings more light into forests, which is crucial for young oak tree growth, but many land managers are concerned about how non-native plants affect fire intensity and young tree survival rates. [...]
Marketers need to pay more attention to how marketing practices normalize the consumption of products that are known to be harmful to public health and social well-being, University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka researchers argue. A new paper led by Associate Professor Leah Watkins and Professor Rob Aitken, of the Otago Business School, shows how industries such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and ultra-processed food have invested heavily in marketing strategies, including digital and social media channels, that increase the consumption of products associated with disease, addiction, and social harm. These strategies also disproportionately affect disadvantaged consumers and undermine traditional regulatory safeguards. [...]
Accelerator programs are supposed to give entrepreneurs the mentorship, training and skills boost that will help launch them toward success. But in countries where the gender playing field still steeply tilts toward male advantage, women-led businesses that participated in accelerators showed no financial improvement, or even did worse, compared to ventures that applied but weren't accepted. [...]
Scientists at Florida International University have identified a promising way to safely ship fish long distances without losing vital vitamin D, using a method already widely applied to preserve other foods—gamma irradiation. [...]
August Weismann's germ plasm theory of the late 19th century posited that only germ cells, e.g., sperm and egg cells in animals or pollen and ovule cells in plants, transmit genetic information to the next generation, and that somatic mutations represent an evolutionary dead end. This theory has been highly validated in animals, whose germ cells are formed and segregated early in the organism's development. [...]
For the first time since the Apollo era, humans are preparing not just to visit the moon, but to live and work there for weeks, months—and eventually years. [...]
As part of the FED-tWIN Face-to-Face project, a multidisciplinary team bringing together the European Centre of Archaeometry (University of Liège, ULiège), the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB), CNRS-Sorbonne University and Ca' Foscari University of Venice has published a study on the conservation condition of "The Temptation of St Anthony" (1946) by Salvador Dalí, a major work held by the RMFAB since 1965. [...]
Stepping away from its billions-of-years-old role as a genetic blueprint, DNA is now embarking on a new journey as an active field agent within cells. This research by a team led by Professor Jongmin Kim and Ph.D. candidate Geonhu Lee from the Department of Life Sciences at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) was published in Nature Chemistry. [...]
Chocolate prices have jumped again this Easter, and it has a lot of people concerned about how much higher they can go—and why they are so high in the first place. [...]
Take a typical fish out of the water and it won't live long. It gets the oxygen it needs from the water it swims in. In a similar way, scientists are exploring dependency as a method of controlling what microbes can do and where they can do it. [...]
Polarization has always been a core property of light that is essential for a broad range of everyday applications, including displays (LED, LCD, 3D Cinematics), photography, as well as satellite and antenna technologies. The ability to tune light polarization empowers us with enhanced communication signals, improved image quality, and access to hidden image details and non-conventional imaging modes (e.g. 3D imaging). [...]