As universities increasingly adopt digital tools and automated analytics systems, attention often centers on these tools' gains in accuracy and efficiency. Far less visible, however, is another critical dimension: the additional work students must do to produce, organize, and interpret their own data within these systems. [...]
A study led by the University of Barcelona and published in the journal Nature Communications shows that climate change has profoundly altered extreme episodes of melting in the Greenland ice sheet by making them more frequent, more extensive and more intense. Since 1990, the area affected by extreme melting episodes has increased at a rate of 2.8 million km² per decade. Additionally, the production of water from ice melt has increased more than sixfold, rising from 12.7 gigatons per decade to 82.4 gigatons per decade. [...]
Drawing together leading experts from across the field, an international collaboration of cosmologists has created a unified approach for measuring the value of the Hubble constant. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the milestone could bring us a step closer to understanding why the universe appears to be expanding faster than our standard cosmological model predicts. [...]
In present day Kazakhstan, both local folklore and genetic evidence found buried in royal tombs have shone a light on the region's ties to Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. New DNA analysis of ruling elites from the Golden Horde—the northwestern extension of the Mongol Empire—reveals implications for the genetic ancestry of the broader Mongolian Empire. The findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [...]
The moon crossed the sun's path on February 17, causing what is known as an annular solar eclipse. The sun was not covered completely, but the moon blocked enough of its light to leave a fiery ring. Unless you're deep in the southern hemisphere, you won't have noticed. [...]
There are many ways to communicate with prospective romantic partners. If you are a Japanese scarab beetle, it's a matter of distinguishing left from right. New work from U.S. and Chinese scientists, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how these beetles use mirror-image pheromones to find a mate. The work could lead to better monitoring and control of significant agricultural pests. [...]
A research team led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Maner from Koç University's Department of Archaeology and History of Art has uncovered remarkable textile fragments at Beycesultan Höyük that rewrite our understanding of Bronze Age craftsmanship in Anatolia. Published in the journal Antiquity, the study presents the earliest evidence of indigo-dyed textiles and a sophisticated single-needle knitting technique previously unknown in the region. [...]
This week in the scientific process: researchers reported the first-ever shark sighted in Antarctic waters. Penguins beware! Biologists report that honey bees navigate more precisely than previously thought. And not all humans scare wildlife, it turns out. [...]
Central goals of the circular economy include closing material cycles, reducing waste, and permanently keeping raw materials in the economic system. Achieving this requires innovative technologies that open up new avenues for recycling. Gas fermentation is a promising technology; however, some aspects are still in the research phase. The biotechnological process uses exhaust gases such as carbon dioxide as feedstocks to produce valuable products and enable a new approach to industrial emissions. [...]
Scientists have developed a new imaging technique that uses a novel contrast mechanism in bioimaging to merge the strengths of two powerful microscopy methods, allowing researchers to see both the intricate architecture of cells and the specific locations of proteins—all in vivid color and at nanometer resolution. [...]
When you step outside on a winter morning or pop a mint into your mouth, a tiny molecular sensor in your body springs into action, alerting your brain to the sensation of cold. Scientists have now captured the first detailed images of this sensor at work, revealing exactly how it detects both actual cold and the perceived cool of menthol, a compound derived from mint plants. [...]
The tiny fatty capsules that deliver COVID-19 mRNA vaccines into billions of arms may work better when they're a little disorganized. That's the surprising finding from researchers who developed a new way to examine these drug-delivery vehicles one particle at a time—revealing that cramming in more medicine doesn't always mean better results. [...]
As space agencies prepare for human missions to the moon and Mars, scientists need to understand how the absence of gravity affects living cells. Now, a team of researchers has built a rugged, affordable microscope that can image cells in real time during the chaotic conditions of zero-gravity flight—and they're making the design available to the broader scientific community. [...]
Scientists have uncovered an elegant biophysical trick that tuberculosis-causing bacteria use to survive inside human cells, a discovery that could lead to new strategies for fighting one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases. [...]
Proteins long known to be essential for hearing have been hiding a talent: they also act as gatekeepers that shuffle fatty molecules across cell membranes. When this newly discovered function goes haywire—due to genetic mutations, noise-induced damage, or certain medications—it may be what kills the delicate sensory cells in our ears, causing permanent hearing loss. [...]
Travel and dating apps like Grindr are reshaping how some queer men in relationships negotiate sex and intimacy—often through careful discussion and agreed boundaries rather than secrecy, challenging assumptions that such encounters are reckless, according to new research from the University of Surrey. [...]
Minnesota is struggling to achieve its climate goals despite decades of falling greenhouse gas emissions, newly released state data shows. State law requires Minnesota's electric utilities to reduce their carbon emissions to zero by 2040. [...]
At least 1,100 dead or sick birds, mostly Canada geese, have been reported across New Jersey in an outbreak that started on Valentine's Day, according to state officials. [...]
Passing on fundamental life lessons from parent to offspring is not unique to humans and animals. Ferns do it too. Not with words, but through pressure. By applying force at precisely the right locations, a fern tells its embryo what is up and what is down, and therefore where roots and leaves should develop. This phenomenon was discovered by Ph.D. candidate Sjoerd Woudenberg in his research on the fern Ceratopteris richardii. He defended his doctoral thesis at Wageningen University & Research. [...]
An Ybor business owner closed her yoga studio repeatedly from worries over moldy, waterlogged walls. A Pinellas woman's home flooded in one hurricane, and a tree crushed her car in another. A Tampa student feared her insulin would become ineffective in extreme, hot temperatures. [...]
Fake news generated by AI is often perceived as more credible than texts written by humans. That worries linguist Silje Susanne Alvestad. In 2017, "fake news" was chosen as the new word of the year by the Language Council of Norway. But what are the linguistic features of fake news, and can fake news be uncovered on the basis of linguistic traits? Linguist Silje Susanne Alvestad has examined this in the project "Fakespeak—the language of fake news." She and her research colleagues have investigated the language of fake news in English, Russian and Norwegian. [...]
Along with cricket, thongs and backyard barbecues, the arrival of the annual Australian Lamb ad has become synonymous with an Australian summer. What began back in 2005 as a pitch to get Australians eating more lamb has since become a yearly cultural icon that tackles an issue that resonates with the moment—from border closures during COVID to the generation gap. [...]
When Paul Reillo learned the endangered mountain bongo antelopes that he had cared for since birth were stranded in a cargo plane on an airport tarmac ahead of their journey to a new home in Kenya, he took matters into his own hands. [...]
Persistent concerns about poor behavior in UK secondary schools have led to the widespread implementation of disciplinary behavior management strategies. These include the use of isolation rooms, where children are sent to work alone. [...]
New research from Adelaide University is questioning the widespread use of the term "resilience" in Australian agriculture, arguing that its overuse can place unfair pressure on individual farmers and obscure the need for systemic support. Published in the Journal of Rural Studies, the study explores the perspectives of women involved in farming businesses across Australia, examining how resilience is understood, experienced, and talked about within the sector. [...]
In an era of rising grocery costs, eggs remain one of the most accessible and complete protein sources for families. New research from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR) is investigating how chickens age to help keep that high-quality protein on dinner tables. [...]
Inspired by the simple mechanism of a seesaw—when one side goes up, the other side goes down—researchers asked an intriguing question: Could a single molecule switch between two different roles like a seesaw? This idea led to the creation of a new type of artificial protein called the "seesaw protein." [...]
Antarctica plays a crucial role in Earth's climate system by reflecting solar radiation back into space. The large white ice surfaces and clouds play a decisive role in this process. However, how clouds actually form in Antarctica, how they interact with the atmosphere and what role aerosols play in this process has not been sufficiently researched to date. Engaging in the SANAT flight campaign, the Alfred Wegener Institute, the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry aim to help close this knowledge gap. The flight-based aerosol measurements conducted in Antarctica are the first of their kind in 20 years and also the first to extend deep into the interior. [...]
Advances in supercomputing have made solving a long‐standing astronomical conundrum possible: How can we explain the changes in the chemical composition at the surface of red giant stars as they evolve? [...]
Hundreds of thousands of marine animals are killed every year after becoming accidentally caught in commercial fishing nets. Sharks, skates and rays are at particular risk, alongside turtles, seals, whales and dolphins, many of which are endangered. [...]
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