Ever since physicist Freeman Dyson first proposed the concept in 1960, the "Dyson sphere" has been the holy grail of techno-signature hunters. A highly advanced civilization could build a "sphere" (or, in our more modern understanding, a "swarm" of smaller components) around their host star to harvest its entire energy output. We know, in theory at least, that such a swarm could exist—but what would it actually look like if we were able to observe one? A new paper, available on the arXiv pre-print server and soon to be published in Universe from Amirnezam Amiri of the University of Arkansas, digs into that question—and in the process discloses the types of stars that are the most likely to find them around. [...]
Honeybees collecting nectar from a "buffet" of Australian native plants made honey with anti-microbial abilities that is more potent than "single origin" honey made from only one source of plant or flower, a University of Sydney-led study has found. The findings could help develop new treatments for drug-resistant infections while supporting bushfire recovery and sustainable beekeeping practices across Australia. They also place native Australian honey as a strong competitor on the global landscape. [...]
A research team from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed an innovative model to accurately assess the carbon sequestration capacity of global salt marshes, addressing a long-standing gap in blue carbon accounting. [...]
Italian astronomers have performed extensive spectroscopic monitoring of a recently discovered nova known as Vulpeculae 2024, also known as V615 Vul. Results of the new observations, presented in a paper published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal, shed more light on the nature of Vulpeculae 2024, suggesting that it represents a rare class of hybrid novae. [...]
What we learned this week: Left-handed people may have a psychological edge in competition. Humanoid robots can now do creepy parkour through the uncanny valley. And if you've ever cared for an elderly cat, a new study highlights a biological quirk that could explain why they're so prone to kidney disease. [...]
Every time we feel a gentle tap on the skin, specialized nerve cells convert that physical force into an electrical signal the brain can interpret as touch. While scientists have long known that a protein called PIEZO2 acts as a key sensor for touch, it remained unclear why PIEZO2 is specialized for the localized mechanical forces experienced by sensory neurons, whereas its close relative PIEZO1 responds to broader mechanical stresses such as those generated when cells stretch, as occurs in blood vessels. [...]
Millions of birds invisibly migrate through the night sky each autumn, most flying in near silence toward their wintering grounds. Now, scientists have developed a way to see and identify many of those birds for the first time. [...]
Four years ago, NASA purposely smashed a spacecraft into a small asteroid to see if they could deflect it—a test to prove humanity could protect Earth from threatening space rocks. [...]
Choosing a Tinder profile picture may feel like a free, personal and creative act. But how true is that? A new study from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) shows that, far from being unique, most users follow one of a small number of visual strategies. The research, led by Alejandro García Alamán, a member of the CIRCLE Lab and instructor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, identifies nine standardized profile types that recur systematically on these platforms. [...]
A clean energy future hinges on minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements. But the race to secure them puts pressure on the places where they are mined. With some supply and processing concentrated in just a few countries, these critical raw materials (CRMs) have also become a geopolitical flashpoint. [...]
In storytelling, even small visual details can become unforgettable. In the globally popular anime "Demon Slayer," one such detail is the short bamboo muzzle worn by a central character. It looks simple and believable, just a piece of green bamboo tied across the mouth. But a new study suggests that this familiar object could not exist in nature as shown in the anime. [...]
Temporary overshoot of global temperature targets—particularly the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement—is no longer just a modeling concept. New research, published in Nature Climate Change and led by the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change (CMCC) in collaboration with 14 research institutions from 10 countries, traces how overshoot has evolved over the past three decades, from a scenario tool used to explore ambitious targets to a structural feature of climate scenarios, reflecting the tension between more ambitious temperature targets and continued emissions growth. What began as a modeling tool to explore climate goals has become an almost inevitable outcome in pathways compatible with the Paris Agreement. [...]
Coan says practicing kindness, be it big or small, is a one-two punch for your health and for those around you. That includes "weak ties," the casual, micro-relationships people form. "People often deride small talk as shallow," he said. "Well, it's not. Small talk and weak ties are really important. These are the connections we have with people in our community—like the person who runs the coffee shop we visit. Small acts of kindness become more likely when we engage with people at all, and engaging often means making small talk." [...]
Our planet plunged into one of the most dramatic climate states in its long history, approximately 720–635 million years ago. During a period geologists call Snowball Earth, ice sheets crept from the poles all the way to the tropics, covering the oceans and continents in a nearly global freeze. [...]
Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have conducted the most detailed simulation of the interior of stars and disproved a theory scientists have believed for 45 years: that stars switch their rotation patterns as they age, with poles rotating faster than the equator in older stars. Scientists have now found that this switch may not occur. Stars maintain solar-type rotation, spinning fast at the equator and slow at the poles throughout their lifetime. The findings are published in Nature Astronomy. [...]
A Stanford Law report reveals California's inadequate monitoring of dairies and feedlots, highlighting the need for stronger regulatory enforcement to protect groundwater quality and community health. [...]
In a study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, researchers Dr. Giovanna M. X. Paixão and her colleagues analyzed the fossilized remains of three Upper Cretaceous egg clutches. One of these clutches, totaling 47 eggs, is the largest known Mesozoic crocodyliform egg clutch ever found. The discovery indicates new evolutionary implications for one of the most diverse fossil crocodylomorph faunas, providing insight into their complex and successful reproductive habits and adaptations. [...]
Neutron stars harbor some of the most extreme environments in the universe: their densities soar to several times those of atomic nuclei, and they possess some of the strongest gravitational fields of any known objects, surpassed only by black holes. First observed in the 1960s, much of the internal composition of neutron stars is still unknown. Scientists are beginning to look to gravitational waves emitted by binary neutron‐star inspirals—pairs of mutually orbiting neutron stars—as possible sources of information about their interiors. [...]
When it comes to research on habitats for pollinating insects, villages have so far received relatively little attention. The project Summende Dörfer (Buzzing Villages), based at the Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology (Zoology III) at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), aims to change that. In the Würzburg region and the Rhön, researchers examined a total of 40 villages to investigate which habitats within village environments are particularly insect-friendly and species-rich—and where improvements could be made. The results have now been published in the journal Ecological Applications. [...]
Magnetic materials in a quantum spin liquid phase are of great interest in the pursuit of exotic state of matter and quantum computation. But in the quantum realm, things are not always what they seem. A study, published in Science Advances and co-led by Rice University's Pengcheng Dai, found that the material cerium magnesium hexalluminate (CeMgAl11O19) was not actually in a quantum spin liquid phase despite evidence suggesting it was. [...]
When scientists employ generative AI tools like ChatGPT to help with tasks such as editing and translation for their academic writing, many journals now ask them to disclose this assistance. The rules are intended to maintain transparency in scientific publishing. But many researchers are failing to acknowledge their reliance on these programs, according to a new report published in the journal PNAS. Yongyuan He and Yi Bu at the Department of Information Management, Peking University, analyzed more than 5.2 million papers published in 5,114 journals between 2021 and 2025. [...]
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have found a new way to produce X-rays with wavelengths in what is called the "water window." This new method holds promise in making bioimaging X-ray machines smaller and more flexible to use. [...]
Scientists at the University of Manchester have discovered that placing magnetic films on atomically thin molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) fundamentally changes how they lose energy, a finding that could bring 2D‑material spintronics a step closer to real devices. The team found that growing a widely used magnetic alloy, permalloy, on ultra‑thin MoS₂ alters the film's internal crystal structure, changing how and where energy is lost as magnetic spins move. By separating energy losses that occur at the surface of the film from those arising within its internal structure, the researchers provide new design insights for devices that use two‑dimensional (2D) materials to control magnetism more efficiently. [...]
Trust in others and prior experience with feral hogs were significant factors in whether landowners would commit effort and dollars to controlling the destructive animals, two studies have found. [...]
The origin of many diseases begins at the cellular level and involves multiple molecular interactions. However, previous methods have struggled to accurately observe changes in individual cells. Analyzing average values across thousands of cells made it challenging to detect the early signals of disease. [...]
Many proteins have a complex architecture that enables biological functions. Molecules can bind to specific sites on a protein and alter its function. A team at HZB has now investigated the Nsp1 protein, which plays a role in infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They analyzed protein crystals, previously mixed with molecules from a fragment library, and discovered a total of 21 candidates as starting points for drug development. At the same time, they also decoded the 5000th structure at BESSY II. The study is published in the journal Acta Crystallographica Section D Structural Biology. [...]
Finding Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars and identifying signs of life such as oxygen or water is a major goal in astronomy and a key interest for the public. Addressing this challenge speaks directly to one of humanity's most fundamental questions: Are we alone in the universe? However, these planets are about 10 billion times dimmer than their stars in visible light, making direct detection extremely challenging. [...]
A research team affiliated with UNIST has engineered a microbial strain capable of rapidly growing in high concentrations of methanol, marking a significant step forward in biorefinery technology. This breakthrough provides a foundational platform for sustainable biomanufacturing using microbial processes. [...]
Innate immune sensors—known as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs)—detect specific molecular components of bacterial or viral intruders. The PRRs forward the signals which results in the production of interferons, which in turn guide the immune cells. However, until now the precise mechanism of how these signals are forwarded has remained enigmatic. [...]
A new study published in Nature Astronomy indicates that the dense, star- and dark-matter–rich environments around supermassive black hole binaries pack on the order of a million solar masses into each cubic parsec. The team used gravitational-wave data from pulsar timing arrays to probe galactic centers that are otherwise impossible to observe directly. [...]