Nudibranchs are often referred to as the butterflies of the sea. Nudibranchs live worldwide, primarily in warm, shallow marine regions, and stand out for their flamboyant colors and diverse shapes. A team from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and the University of Cambridge has now discovered how they create their colorful patterns. According to their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the color is produced by nanostructures, each of which creates a specific color impression. [...]
Glittery sea worms and sea squirts fit for "The Lord of the Rings" universe might sound like pure fantasy, but they're very real creatures living in the deep sea. Some of these otherworldly ocean animals are even featured in the latest "Top 10 New Marine Species" list published by the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). [...]
A research team from the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), the Department of Environmental Process Engineering (UVT) at the University of Bremen and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has made significant progress toward a self-sufficient Mars mission: a fertilizer, which can be produced solely with Martian resources, has been successfully used to grow edible biomass. [...]
A new study has for the first time elucidated the gut-liver immune regulatory axis jointly maintained by intestinal commensal bacteria and the intestinal endocrine system, and uncovered the fundamental mechanism underlying the body's nonspecific clearance of drug delivery carriers. It provides a universal solution to the core problem plaguing the delivery field for decades, significantly improves the delivery efficiency and therapeutic effect of tumor-targeted therapy, mRNA therapy, gene editing and other treatments, and blazes a new trail for the clinical translation of biomedical delivery technologies. [...]
Scientists at the University of Warwick and University of Exeter have developed a fully fiber-coupled terahertz (THz) imaging system that significantly improves the speed, resolution, and clinical practicality of terahertz imaging. The study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates a high-throughput, compact platform that overcomes key barriers limiting current THz systems—bringing real-time, non-invasive tissue imaging closer to routine clinical use. [...]
New observations by a team of US astronomers have cast fresh doubt on whether the lunar surface could host abundant water ice. Publishing their results in Science Advances, a team led by Shuai Li at the University of Hawaii at Manoa has shown that relatively pure ice (making up more than about 20–30% of the surface material) is likely absent from the moon's permanently shadowed regions. [...]
"Project Hail Mary," the Ryan Gosling-led adaptation of the best-selling sci-fi novel from Andy Weir, is being praised for putting the science in science fiction. Although aliens, sun-draining microorganisms and galaxy-spanning spaceflight are all a part of the story of a scientist sent on a suicide mission to save Earth, the film and its source material are not afraid to delve into the kind of astrophysics that would make most people's heads spin. [...]
Tiny pieces of plastic, called microplastics, are showing up everywhere, even in the water in clouds, rain, and snow—and they may be affecting our weather and temperatures. A study published in Environmental Science & Technology and led by Hosein Foroutan, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, found that microbes living on microplastics dramatically boost their ability to trigger ice formation in clouds. [...]
Every time we do a load of laundry, tiny fibers of polyester escape from our clothes and slip down the drain. These microfibers, so small they can be invisible to the naked eye, are among the most common forms of microplastic in the ocean. Yet, new research published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans shows that most of them may not make it that far. [...]
Like the males of many animal species, male Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies, a commonly studied lab animal, are aggressive toward one another and even fight when competing for resources such as food and females. Researchers in the lab of David Anderson have been studying aggression in these insects for decades, elucidating the neural basis for heightened aggression in males, among other discoveries. [...]
For millennia, sling bullets served as a hand-thrown projectile that could be used to fend off enemies. At Hippos, 70 sling bullets made of lead have been recovered over the course of fieldwork and excavation. However, while many are bare or depict scorpions and thunderbolts, one recently recovered sling bullet is the first inscribed example ever recovered at Hippos and the only known sling bullet ever inscribed with the letters ΜΑΘΟΥ meaning "Learn your lesson!" [...]
When bacteria cells replicate, they do so a little differently than human cells do. They don't undergo mitosis, a splitting that involves construction of spindles to carefully separate the DNA after replication. Instead, they use a process called binary fission, which is faster and allows them to separate their circular chromosomes as they are replicated. But the end result is the same: One cell turns into two cells, each with its own copy of the DNA chromosomes. [...]
Despite polyethylene terephthalate (PET) being one of the most widely recycled plastics, only about 20% of used PET bottles are actually recovered as high-quality raw materials. The majority are transformed into lower-grade fibers or fillers before eventually being discarded. Addressing this gap, researchers at UNIST have developed a novel chemical recycling process that not only restores PET to its original high-grade form but also produces valuable chemicals and clean hydrogen, all under mild conditions. [...]
For her Ph.D. at VUB and KULeuven, Aarushi Caro created a kind of systematics for dendritic cells, a special group of immune cells in the fight against cancer. Until now, there was a lot of confusion about the different types of dendritic cells. "Scientists worldwide use different names for similar cells, which makes it difficult to compare them," Caro explains. To address that problem, she used advanced techniques to map a comprehensive overview of dendritic cells in both mice and humans and across multiple cancer types. [...]
In a new study, scientists from the universities of Portsmouth and Manchester report that a specially engineered enzyme can significantly speed up the breakdown of PET—the plastic used in water bottles, food packaging and polyester clothing—when it is processed at high concentrations similar to those used in industry. The findings are published in the journal Bioresource Technology. [...]
More and more people are turning to AI chatbots as if they were close friends—venting about personal struggles, asking for advice, and even sharing their deepest secrets. These conversations can feel strikingly real, with some users saying they're indistinguishable from chatting with a human. However, while exchanges with AI can offer a quick emotional boost, it's still unclear whether they genuinely ease loneliness over time. In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers set out to ask a bigger question: can AI chatbots truly provide the kind of long-term emotional support we get from real human relationships? [...]
University of Phoenix announces the publication of "Harnessing AI, Virtual Landscapes, and Anthropomorphic Imaginaries to Enhance Environmental Science Education at Jökulsárlón Proglacial Lagoon, Iceland" in Glacies. [...]
Computer simulations can help people gain a better understanding of the situation faced by migrants. This is shown by a new study in which 148 teenagers were assigned random migration pathways, with different start and end points. Along the way, they encountered unforeseen events that affected their journey. Experiences from the game led to a partial shift in attitudes toward migration. [...]
For the second time this year, NASA moved its moon rocket from the hangar out toward the pad Friday in hopes of launching four astronauts on a lunar fly-around next month. [...]
In new research published in Physical Review X, scientists have designed quantum control protocols that generate processes more consistent with time flowing backward than forward. The protocols—techniques to control quantum systems—modify a quantum system's "arrow of time," the concept of time as moving in one forward direction. The work opens up possibilities for energy extraction from quantum systems and for quantum state preparation. [...]
A record early heat wave striking the west of the United States on Friday is a one-in-500-years type event and all but certainly the result of human-caused climate change, experts say. [...]
Plant immunity is largely initiated at the cellular level, with each cell capable of autonomous detection and response, while also coordinating systemic signaling across the organism—unlike the centralized, cell-based immune system of animals. One of the key mechanisms of plant immunity involves nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immunereceptors—intracellular receptors that detect pathogen invasion and activate a strong immune response. Unlike surface receptors, NLRs detect pathogen effector proteins that are injected by pathogens into plant cells to manipulate host biology. [...]
Scientists at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Australia have described two new species of fungi, Peziza austroechinospora and Peziza meridionalis with the assistance of DNA sequencing, highlighting how modern science is revealing vast, hidden biodiversity beneath our feet. [...]
Researchers at the University of Seville have demonstrated the effectiveness of active vertical garden systems in improving indoor air quality in buildings. To do so, they worked inside a closed glass chamber installed at the Higher Technical School of Agricultural Engineering, where they found that after 24 hours, 96% to 98% of the pollutants used in the various experiments had disappeared. The work is published in the journal Atmospheric Environment. [...]
Fake news can be tricky to spot, but spotting fake drugs just got a little easier. Researchers have devised a low-cost way to help distinguish legitimate medications from counterfeit ones. [...]
Chemists may soon have one less rigorous step to worry about when searching for the right molecules to accomplish their highly specific innovation needs. Scientists have now built a new machine learning model that can predict the electric dipole moments of diatomic molecules within seconds using nothing more than the atomic properties of the atoms involved. [...]
The ALICE Collaboration takes a step further in addressing the question of whether a quark–gluon plasma can be formed in proton–proton and proton–nucleus collisions. In the first few microseconds after the Big Bang, the universe was in an extremely hot and dense state of matter known as quark–gluon plasma (QGP), which can be reproduced with high-energy collisions between heavy ions such as lead nuclei. [...]
Researchers have known for decades that female mosquitoes—the ones responsible for the itchy and irritating bites that can also transmit disease—lose their desire to bite humans for several days after feeding, as they digest blood and convert it to yolk protein that they deposit in their eggs. [...]
Animals come in an extraordinary range of body shapes. A starfish looks nothing like an earthworm, a mouse, or a human. Yet even closely related species can appear radically different: corals, jellyfish, and sea anemones all belong to the same biological phylum, but their bodies take strikingly different forms. A new study by EMBL researchers and their collaborators at the University of Geneva, appearing in Cell, shows how such shape diversity is determined by variation in mechanical tissue properties—an idea they termed "mechanotypes." [...]
For ants, the ability to instantly distinguish nestmates from outsiders who might hijack the colony is crucial. Now, a new study shows that the system that ants use to determine who belongs in the colony is far more flexible than once thought. The findings, published in Current Biology, demonstrate how clonal raider ants update their sense of nestmate identity throughout adulthood through repeated exposure, while still retaining an intrinsic recognition of their kin. [...]