Recycled polyester activewear and swimwear are now everywhere. Major global brands sell leggings, swimsuits and puffer jackets with labels that claim they're "made from recycled plastic bottles." Millions of people buy these products believing they're making a more sustainable choice. [...]
The COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to how central supply chains are to the global economy. It also exposed the human rights abuses that can occur up and down supply chains before goods arrive in our hands. [...]
Monitoring the sounds of an endangered dolphin species may provide clues to ensuring their survival, a new University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka study shows. Published in the New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, the research is the first to use acoustic monitoring to study Hector's dolphins in Porpoise Bay, Southland, an important habitat for the species. [...]
A University of Alberta study has whittled down climate-related reasons beavers are emerging earlier onto the ice from their lodges in the spring—a shift that helps them store more winter food but could also lead to more conflict with humans. [...]
Researchers have uncovered a counterintuitive phenomenon in collision dynamics: high-speed particles bounce back from wet walls much more strongly than expected. Integrating experimental observations with advanced numerical simulations revealed that increasing the impact speed induces a morphological transition in the post-collision liquid film, shifting it from a bridge to a dome shape. Further, it clarified the relevance of cavitation to such a dramatic change and to the stronger bounce. [...]
The bright whites of mountain snow, muted browns of the arid plains, and gem-like blues and teals of glacial lakes typically dominate the Patagonian color palette. But for a short time in the austral autumn, temperate deciduous forests add splashes of warm tones. On April 12, 2026, a break in the clouds allowed the Landsat 9 satellite to capture an image of reddish hillsides in the Magallanes region of southern Chile. [...]
The high stakes and intimidating reputation of physics classes can lead to plenty of stress for students new to the discipline. In fact, many students say it feels psychologically threatening, leading to worry and self-doubt. [...]
An international study led by Adelaide University has found bowhead whale populations are recovering only in stocks where large areas of hazardous sea ice conditions limited devastating hunting centuries ago. The research team analyzed historical logbooks from more than 700 whaling voyages, reconstructing their daily positions and hunting successes. [...]
Understanding the universe as a whole requires simulations on cosmic scales. An international team of astrophysicists, with a leading role for researchers at Leiden University, Netherlands, has now released one of the largest cosmological simulation datasets ever produced. The dataset contains more than 2.5 petabytes of simulation data—roughly equivalent to half a million HD movies. [...]
Tropical forests are among the world's most important carbon sinks. A new study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Vienna, and Brazil's National Institute for Amazonian Research suggests that even small understory trees can temporarily store more CO₂ as atmospheric CO₂ levels rise. However, their long-term capacity to sequester carbon may be constrained by nutrient limitations, potentially reducing this ability. [...]
An international team of astronomers has employed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to perform high-resolution observations of the Needle galaxy. Results of the new observational campaign, presented April 15 on the arXiv preprint server, provide more insights into the properties of molecular gas in this galaxy. [...]
From wearable technology to industrial heat recovery, thermoelectric generators which convert waste heat into electricity have an enormous range of potential applications. So far, however, designing high-performing versions of these devices has remained a painstaking task. [...]
People are known to implicitly create connections between different things or ideas in their mind, some of which can influence how they perceive others, themselves and the world at large. These implicit biases have been widely studied by behavioral scientists, who tried to detect and measure them using various tests. [...]
A rare dataset collected by instruments at the point where Antarctica's largest ice shelf begins to float reveals ocean processes that drive melting at this critical part of the continent. [...]
NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have captured two 360-degree landscapes that highlight how the missions are revealing details of the Red Planet's formation, watery past, and potential for life. Located 2,345 miles (3,775 kilometers) apart from each other on Mars—about the distance from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.—both rovers are exploring areas that are billions of years old. But as the nearly 15-year-old Curiosity reaches ever-younger terrain in the foothills of Mount Sharp, the 5-year-old Perseverance is venturing into some of the oldest landscapes in the entire solar system. By time-traveling in opposite directions, the rovers are filling in missing details about the planet's history. [...]
As female leaders continue to face heightened scrutiny in politics and public life, new research from Monash University reveals female candidates face distinct constraints in how they communicate with voters. The study is published in The Journal of Politics. [...]
Social media posts are a double-edged sword for public agencies that respond to emergencies such as wildfires. New research from the University of Waterloo shows that while posts by citizens who see emergencies in the making can help first responders spring into action faster, they may also result in costly overreaction. [...]
Atmospheric dust plays a dual role in Earth's climate: it reflects some sunlight back into space while also absorbing and retaining the planet's heat like an insulating blanket. But while dust likely cools the planet overall, that's not the whole story. New UCLA research shows that the heat-trapping effect of airborne desert dust in the atmosphere is about twice as big as previously believed. [...]
A new decades-long study of oceanographic data provides the first evidence that deep-ocean heat has moved closer to Antarctica, threatening the fragile ice shelves that fringe the continent. [...]
More than 50 governments meet in Colombia on Tuesday against the backdrop of the Iran war and a global energy crunch for the first international talks on phasing out planet-heating fossil fuels. [...]
It might be a divided lobster, but it has united New Englanders in fascination. [...]
A paper in Genome Biology and Evolution discovers that the endangered Mediterranean fin whale is not completely isolated from Atlantic groups. Both Atlantic and Mediterranean populations have declined for the past 200,000 years. Considering more recent threats to the whales, this finding has important implications for conservation, particularly considering increasing anthropogenic pressures. [...]
Researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), in collaboration with international experts, have published a scientific study on how to ensure that the selection of committees and expert groups is mathematically fair and proportional, preventing significant minorities from being excluded. These findings could find applications in the political sphere, the commercial sector, or group activity planning to ensure all group members feel represented. [...]
You may have seen black garlic appear more frequently in grocery stores, restaurants, and online recipes over the past few years. Many chefs and food writers describe it as a unique and deeply flavored ingredient. So what is black garlic, and how is it made? [...]
The rapidly declining marriage and fertility rates across developed East Asian societies strain pension and health care systems, threaten economic growth, and reshape entire societies. To tackle this issue, governments in Japan and across East Asia have invested heavily in pronatalist measures, but often with limited success. For instance, Japan's government has repeatedly expanded childcare subsidies and parental leave provisions, yet the total fertility rate hit a record low of 1.20 in 2024. [...]
The moon has played a huge role in the development of Earth. It stabilizes the planet, tempers dramatic climate swings, and possibly even provides the tidal heating that might have led to the first life forms. So it's natural we would want to find a similar Earth/Luna system somewhere else in the cosmos. But astronomers have been searching for one for years at this point to no avail. And a new paper, available on the arXiv preprint server, from Emily Pass and her colleagues at MIT, Harvard, and the University of Chicago describes using the James Webb Space Telescope to track some of the most promising exomoon candidates—only to be foiled by the star they were orbiting. [...]
In the middle of the Antarctic winter, during months of darkness when temperatures often dip below −30°C, the continent warmed dramatically. In July and August 2024, temperatures in parts of East Antarctica rose by up to 28°C above average and stayed high for more than two weeks. To put that in perspective, a similar anomaly in the UK would push January temperatures into the mid-30°Cs. [...]
Graphic warning: This story contains images of realistic-looking fake open-heart surgery. [...]
Researchers have demonstrated a new technique for creating 2D materials that runs at room temperature and increases production rates tenfold over current methods, without using toxic solvents. Scientists led by Dr. Jason Stafford from the Department of Mechanical Engineering demonstrated the method can produce nanosheets of conductors, semiconductors and insulators, which are the building blocks of all digital devices and technologies produced today. The research is published in the journal Small. [...]
Researchers at McGill University have developed a novel device that generates sound-like particles known as phonons at extremely cold temperatures. The technology could be used to create phonon lasers, with possible applications in communications and medical diagnostics. [...]