With 76% of adults now reporting stress levels that impede daily function, a new Cornell study points to a low-cost intervention hiding in plain sight: nature. The study, published in March 2026 in ScienceDirect, found that changes or improvements in workplace policy, culture and outdoor amenities could facilitate more time outdoors to aid well-being for staff at large organizations like universities. [...]
NASA's Artemis II mission plans to fly around the moon and back this April. Four astronauts will board the mammoth Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the test flight, spending 10 days off-Earth. They won't be touching down—this mission is intended to pave the way for humans to once again place their boots in the sticky, clumpy soil of our closest celestial neighbor. [...]
Hungry gulls do not only steal our chips and sandwiches. They learn our habits, and look for reliable sources of food. That includes waste treatment centers, landfill or anywhere food waste is concentrated. Many gull populations have moved inland from the coast to exploit these sources of food. [...]
Animal studies often fail to predict human tissue responses to new drugs or newly developed therapies. Besides generating tremendous costs for clinical studies, it also raises significant ethical concerns. Therefore, novel approaches to mimicking natural human environments like vascular system growth control, are broadly developed to deliver a reproducible model to test novel drugs. [...]
A newly identified disease affecting corn and sorghum can closely resemble iron deficiency, potentially leading farmers to apply costly nutrient treatments that do not address the underlying problem. New research published in Plant Health Progress documents the discovery and identification of a bacterial pathogen responsible for the symptoms. [...]
Researchers at UCLA have discovered a way to dramatically improve how electrical current enters perovskite semiconductors, an emerging class of materials with enormous potential for next-generation electronics. Their research is published in the journal Nature Materials. [...]
As an astrophysicist, my world revolves around the wonders of space and the mysteries of the universe. This means I can be a tough critic of science fiction books and films that explore these topics. [...]
The Nanomedicine and Nanotoxicology Group (GNano) at the University of São Paulo's São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC-USP) in Brazil has discovered a way to transform hydroxyapatite, a bioceramic material, into a nanoparticle with enhanced intrinsic luminescence. This paves the way for the use of biocompatible, low-cost nanomaterials in biomedical imaging techniques. [...]
Controlling light at the micro- and nanoscale opens up opportunities for a better understanding of the world and the development of technology. As modern electronics approaches the limits of its capabilities, photonics comes into play. Instead of manipulating relatively heavy and slow electrons, we can use light and fast photons to encode information. This will make it possible to create devices that are not only faster but also even smaller than those currently in use. [...]
People often seem to understand language before they have actually heard enough words to determine its structure. In everyday conversation, listeners react immediately, anticipate what others will say, and rarely wait for a sentence to finish. This raises the question of how the brain is able to keep up with such rapid communication. [...]
When the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus was discovered on a poultry farm in Asia in 1996, there was little indication that it would become so widespread and so destructive. Within 30 years, it reached every continental region except Oceania, infecting more than 400 million poultry, tens of thousands of elephant seals and sea lions, about 1,000 people and many other mammals and wild birds. [...]
After a wildfire, the flames may fade, but the danger does not. A new study by UBC researchers reveals that burned landscapes remain vulnerable for years, with large areas still bare and at risk of invasion by fast-growing, fire-prone grasses. The research, one of the largest vegetation trajectory studies in the world, monitored landscapes two years after major wildfires in interior British Columbia (BC). While some native plants returned, recovery was slower and more fragile than expected. [...]
Sang Won Han, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Sungkyunkwan University (co-first author), in collaboration with Shinjae Won, an Associate Professor of Management and Strategy at Ewha Womans University, has published a study in the Strategic Management Journal. The paper, titled "Hiring at the Tip of the Funnel: Externalizing the Work of Integrating and Coordinating Diverse Human Capital," introduces a new perspective on how firms can resolve a core challenge in talent recruitment. [...]
Imagine that plants could tell us exactly when they're stressed, infected, or being eaten by insects, by lighting up. A new study led by Dr. Karen Sarkisyan, Head of the Synthetic Biology group at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), has borrowed molecular machinery from mushrooms and inserted it into plants to do just that. In a paper published in Nature Communications, the scientists engineered plants that could glow in the dark whenever their natural immune systems switch on. [...]
Researchers from Skoltech, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, the Research Center for Cereal and Industrial Crops in Italy, and other international organizations have developed new durum wheat lines capable of surviving freezing temperatures while maintaining the grain quality required for premium pasta production. The study, published in Frontiers in Plant Science, presents a new breeding framework that could help make durum wheat production more resilient to climate variability. [...]
It's been six years since the COVID pandemic swept the world, and by now we are all familiar with the pros and cons of remote working. As the protracted battle over return-to-office (RTO) mandates suggests, a number of personal and professional factors—including your standing in the organizational hierarchy—can determine whether your overall experience of telework is positive or negative. And the Big Four accounting firms are no different, according to Steven Maex, assistant professor of accounting at Costello College of Business at George Mason University. [...]
Rendering a drug effective or ineffective in a flash at the appropriate location—this is the focus of research in photopharmacology. The goal is to develop drugs that can be switched on and off with light of a specific wavelength. Orally administered medications could then be selectively activated by irradiating only a specific part of the body with light; the medication would remain ineffective in the rest of the body—thus reducing side effects. For example, a drug intended to lower blood pressure in the heart could then be activated only there; other organs with identical binding sites for the active ingredient would remain unaffected. [...]
Researchers at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) have developed a revolutionary new method to improve compact gene-editing tools known as base editors, which enable smaller, more precise DNA correction tools that may be safer for future gene therapies. [...]
Since the 1960s, boron–dipyrromethene dyes, commonly called BODIPY dyes, have been widely used for their strong fluorescence, especially in bioimaging, molecular and ion sensing, and as photosensitizers. Researchers especially like how, with simple modifications to BODIPY molecules, their emission color can be tuned—an indispensable quality for multicolor imaging applications. [...]
Milkweed has found a new strategy in its epic evolutionary battle with monarch butterflies: upgrading its toxins to outmaneuver the monarch's resistance. In a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers find that adding a small structural element containing nitrogen and sulfur to milkweed's toxins circumvents monarchs' ability to block them. The research sheds light on an underappreciated evolutionary tactic for plants: that not only can they increase their levels of toxicity, they can also structurally innovate to create new classes or subclasses of toxins. [...]
The ancient city of Pompeii is one of those archaeological sites that keeps on giving with one discovery after another. While much of what we know about the Roman settlement comes from the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, another significant event from nearly a century earlier is also yielding fresh insights into its past. [...]
A multinational research team led by researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo, RIKEN, and the University of Toronto has revealed how a tryptophan-rich allosteric communication network regulates receptor dynamics and activation of the human adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR), a major G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) drug target. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [...]
Air quality is expected to deteriorate across parts of Europe in the coming days, driven by an increase in microscopic polluting particles, the EU's Earth observation program said on Thursday. [...]
Plowing, or tilling, is an age-old agricultural practice that readies the soil for planting by turning over the top layer to expose fresh earth. The method—intended to improve water and nutrient circulation—remains popular today, but concerns about soil degradation have prompted some to return to regenerative methods that disturb the soil less. [...]
New research led by a University of Wyoming archaeologist near an ancient encampment in South America challenges a relatively new but widely accepted theory that the people who made and used Clovis points in North America were not the first inhabitants of the Americas south of the continental ice sheets. [...]
Human genes are written in long strings of three-letter units composed of four different nucleotides. These units—or codons—specify one of many amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Multiple codons can encode the same amino acid, which seems to point to some redundancy in our genetic code. [...]
The bright colors of butterfly wings, the sweet aromas of flowers, and the euphonious melodies of songbirds all evolved as signals that help individuals propagate, yet humans also find these very same signals pleasing to their own senses. [...]
The history of Earth is written on the great tablets of tectonic plates. The motions of plates shaped land masses, formed oceans, and created the varied climates and habitats that set the stage for evolution and the diversity of life. But this grand drama begins with a deep mystery: just when did the continental and oceanic plates begin to drift? Did the lithosphere begin to move soon after the formation of Earth 4.5 billion years ago or only in the last billion years? [...]
Swedish old-growth forests store 83% more carbon than managed forests, according to a new study from Lund University. The difference is substantially larger than previous estimates and is mainly due to large carbon stocks in the soil. [...]
The European Space Agency announced Thursday it has re-established communication with a spacecraft that is part of its Proba-3 mission, after losing contact with the satellite a month ago. [...]