Artificial intelligence is rapidly making intellectual work and social interaction easier, but that ease may come at a substantial psychological cost, according to researchers from the University of Toronto. In an article published in Communications Psychology, the authors argue that AI's greatest strength, namely removing friction from work and relationships, is also a liability. [...]
A smooth, white stone dating from the Roman era and unearthed in the Netherlands has long baffled researchers. [...]
The types of glass that we encounter in everyday life, such as window glass or smartphone screens, are disordered solids. This means that they consist of particles locked in place, like those in solids, but arranged randomly, similarly to how they would be in a liquid. [...]
When ancient DNA studies began to gain attention, little more than a decade ago, the view took hold among geneticists that everything we thought we knew about the peopling of Europe by modern humans was wrong. The story was simpler than anyone was expecting: Europe was settled in just three massive migrations from the east. [...]
Animals of the same species don't always look the same. From birds with different beak shapes to mammals that vary in size or color, populations living in different places can often look very different. [...]
In this age of Mars rovers, questions about the planet's ancient past have shifted. A growing body of evidence supports the idea that Mars was once warm and wet. Now researchers are focused on the timeline of the red planet's watery past. Research efforts all come down to the ultimate question regarding the planet: Did it ever host life? [...]
During hibernation, brown bears spend up to six months lying almost completely still, without eating, drinking or exercising. When spring arrives, they leave their dens with their muscles largely intact. [...]
Many biological functions are regulated by the switching on and off of mechanisms triggered by the matching of a keyhole (receptor) formed by a protein's three-dimensional structure and a molecule (ligand) that fits perfectly into it. If this keyhole deforms (protein mutation) or if a false key is created, biological functions become disrupted, leading to disease. Drug discovery research involves a process called screening to find compounds that fit into these receptor lock-and-key sites. [...]
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed CellScope, a high-performance single-cell analysis framework that uses manifold fitting to analyze single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. This framework helps build detailed "cell atlases" that map different cell types and show how they further group into finer subtypes. [...]
How much will heat, flooding, drought and storms increase as a result of human-induced climate change? In a groundbreaking study, climate researcher Gottfried Kirchengast and his team at the University of Graz have developed a new method for computing the hazards from extreme events: it can compute all relevant hazard metrics for events such as heat waves, floods and droughts in any region worldwide with unprecedented information content. [...]
Most countries will not achieve climate neutrality through greenhouse gas emission reductions alone; carbon sinks are also needed to offset unavoidable emissions. Researchers are discussing technical solutions, such as applying silicate-rock powder to arable land. This process, known as enhanced rock weathering (ERW), can bind carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. [...]
Fruit flies, mice, zebrafish, yeast and the tiny worm C. elegans are model organisms that have carried modern biology on their backs. [...]
Where are you at most risk when a flood or bushfire strikes? You might think it's at home. But in reality, the most dangerous time is when you leave and jump in your car. Many flood and bushfire deaths are linked to vehicles, often driven by people evacuating late. [...]
Research on preventing type 1 diabetes often focuses on limiting the autoimmune response that destroys the body's ability to produce its own insulin. A new technology developed by scientists at the University of Chicago takes a different approach, centered on preserving insulin-producing beta cells by giving them the ability to protect themselves. [...]
During an archaeological survey conducted in February, researchers from the Maritime Encounters program at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, identified six previously unregistered Bronze Age mines in Extremadura, southwestern Spain. The discoveries may represent a crucial piece of the puzzle in understanding the origin of the metal used in Scandinavian Bronze Age artifacts. [...]
Even though farmers have been dealing with rice stink bugs as pests since the 1880s, entomologists are still getting to know them at the genetic level. A first-of-its-kind study published on the genetics of rice stink bugs offers clues that could shape the battlefront on insecticide resistance for a tiny creature that costs Arkansas farmers millions of dollars a year. Rice and grain sorghum are the main economic crops, yet the bug feeds on many kinds of plants. [...]
New research profiles mitochondrial circular RNAs in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) from young and old human cohorts and probes how mitochondrial circRNAs and the mitochondrial RNA-binding protein GRSF1 relate to mitochondrial metabolism and cellular senescence. The study was led by first author Hyejin Mun from the University of Oklahoma—with corresponding authors Je-Hyun Yoon from the University of Oklahoma and Young-Kook Kim from Chonnam National University Medical School— and is published in the journal Aging. [...]
A yellow disk with rays of white—an icon of childhood drawings and a flower with healing properties. We have picnics on it, play football on it and make daisy chains out of it. [...]
The extreme weather events and resulting destruction that have hit New Zealand this summer are not only signs of a changing climate. They also highlight the now indispensable role of remote sensing satellite technology. [...]
Decades of research has shown promise for using microbiome science to solve several problems facing agriculture, but these findings have not yet been translated to practical recommendations for growers, according to a team of scientists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. [...]
It is a double-edged sword. As the planet heats up, more of us are turning up and turning to air conditioning to keep us cool. The trouble is that, as well as consuming vast amounts of electricity, AC also leads to significant greenhouse gas emissions and worsens the climate change we are trying to combat. [...]
Researchers at the University of Granada have revealed that the Nutri-Score labeling system, commonly used in Europe to assess food quality, is unable to adequately reflect the nutritional and metabolic complexity of soluble cocoa sold in Spain. The study, which integrates non-targeted metabolomics techniques applied to the evaluation of nutritional labeling systems, analyzed 54 products from 19 different brands with Nutri-Score ratings between A and D. [...]
Scientists might have just found Earth's icy, distant cousin a few hundred million light-years away. HD 137010 b is one of thousands of exoplanets, or planets that orbit other stars, and is potentially the first Earth-like one that also orbits a sun-like star. Initially observed in 2017 with data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its Kepler Space Telescope, further details about HD 137010b came out this year. [...]
The Microbiology Society's Microbiology Outlooks, launched in 2025, has published its inaugural article: "When Theory Meets Genomics: Reconciling Game Dynamics and Within-Host Evolution." The new commentary explores how theoretical models and genomic data can be integrated to understand within-host evolution. [...]
Their icy hunting grounds are rapidly shrinking, but polar bears in Norway's remote Svalbard archipelago have defied the odds by bulking up instead of wasting away, a study said Thursday. [...]
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced uncertainty, fear, and an unparalleled economic shock, resulting in the most extensive government stimulus package—totaling $2.9 trillion—in U.S. history. According to a new study, those stimulus checks more often went to the corporations that engaged in politics the most. [...]
Ehime University investigators measured 34 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in 100 commercial dog and cat foods sold in Japan and detected PFAS across many products, with higher concentrations in fish-based foods and dry products, and higher estimated intake from wet products. [...]
Air travel is famously one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize, and the number of air passengers keeps increasing. Electric planes and "sustainable" aviation fuels are still a long way off making a dent in the industry's emissions—if they ever will. [...]
The amount of greenhouse gases produced by the wastewater sector may be higher than reports suggest. According to a paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change, countries are missing out on reporting a significant portion of their emissions. [...]
COVID-19 made remote work and remote learning a new norm for employees and students. But even as many have returned to offices and schools, one of the pandemic's quieter legacies is influencing both the workplace and the classroom: Online degrees are now held in higher regard by hiring professionals, according to new research from Virginia Commonwealth University. [...]