The Artificial Intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, appeared to improvise ideas and make mistakes like a student in a study that rebooted a 2,400-year-old mathematical challenge. [...]
Small but powerful: Ubiquitin controls the lifespan and distribution of proteins in the cell, but it can also determine their shape, function, or interactions with other cellular components. Ubiquitin ligases are key to this process because they reliably recognize the relevant proteins among tens of thousands of molecules and confer the correct instructions. Disruptions of this precise tagging routine can result in faulty cellular processes and diseases such as cancer. [...]
These days, institutions and companies love to announce what they're doing to tackle the climate crisis. Terms like "sustainable," "environmentally friendly," and "low-carbon" are often used to trumpet messages about production and consumption. But in reality, the claims are not always accompanied by real, effective action – a shady practice known as greenwashing. [...]
The official number of exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—tracked by NASA has reached 6,000. Confirmed planets are added to the count on a rolling basis by scientists from around the world, so no single planet is considered the 6,000th entry. The number is monitored by NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI), based at Caltech's IPAC in Pasadena, California. There are more than 8,000 additional candidate planets awaiting confirmation, with NASA leading the world in searching for life in the universe. [...]
A research paper authored by a researcher at Shedd Aquarium and published in Journal of Great Lakes Research assesses the fish species that spawn in the Chicago River to sustain and support resilient, biodiverse fish populations. Utilizing light traps at 10 locations in the Chicago River between the years 2020 and 2022, over 2,000 larval fish were collected, and their DNA revealed 24 different fish species present. [...]
Some asteroids are more dangerous than others, according to a report published in Nature Astronomy by an international team of researchers, led by astrophysicist Auriane Egal of the Montreal Planetarium in Canada. The team had presented their findings of an investigation into the impact of small asteroid 2023 CX1 over France in February 2023. This new paper revealed that small asteroids can explode on atmospheric entry. [...]
Researchers have revealed a previously unknown way plants shape their growth in response to light—a breakthrough that could better equip crops to handle environmental stress. [...]
The iron-rich core at the center of our planet has been a crucial part of Earth's evolution. The core not only powers the magnetic field which shields our atmosphere and oceans from solar radiation, it also influences plate tectonics which have continually reshaped the continents. [...]
Global shipping, sea currents and habitat factors are driving the spread of Indo-Pacific fish species in the Mediterranean Sea, according to a new study published in the journal NeoBiota. [...]
A study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology revealed when, where and how most songbirds migrate offshore over North American coastal waters. This data offers a baseline to help wind energy managers reduce fatal bird-wind turbine collisions while generating sustainable energy. [...]
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a new approach for using locked nucleic acids (LNAs)—a particularly stable type of RNA—to treat inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The researchers encapsulated selected LNA molecules, which silence a key gene in colitis, within lipid (fat) nanoparticles that serve as targeted drug carriers and injected the nanoparticles into colitis-model mice. [...]
Plasma, ionized gas and the fourth state of matter, makes up over 99% of the ordinary matter in the universe. Understanding its properties is critical for developing fusion energy sources, modeling astrophysical objects like stars and improving manufacturing techniques for semiconductors in modern cell phones. [...]
Research utilizing cellphone data from 100,000 people has identified where the social melting pots are in Italy's second-largest city. [...]
Microbes in water are like invisible travelers—and some carry disease with them. Keeping the water that flows through our treatment plants, rivers and taps healthy and safe from microbial infection is a challenge. [...]
Although older generations are traditionally considered more conservative, scientists at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) have proved that this is not always the case. One surprising outcome of their study was that, over the last decade, the young generation of Lithuanians has grown to value safety, stability, and tradition more than risk-taking or openness to change. [...]
When considering the unnamed major features of all the moons, asteroids, and comets in our solar system, there are still a lot of places out there that need proper names. That means the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the non-governmental body responsible for naming astronomical objects, has its work cut out for them. [...]
How did digits evolve? While it is clear that they derive from genetic programs already present in fish, their precise origin remains a matter of debate. An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) with EPFL, the Collège de France, and the universities of Harvard and Chicago has come up with an unexpected answer: Digits may have evolved from the reuse of an ancient region of the genome, initially active in the formation of the fish cloaca rather than their fins. [...]
Plastic pollution represents a global environmental challenge, and once in the environment, plastic can fragment into smaller and smaller pieces. [...]
Permafrost, ground frozen for at least two years underlying the cold Arctic and alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere, covers about 17% of the global land surface and stores an estimated one-third of the world's soil organic carbon. [...]
Grape and olive farming traditions have changed through time based on shifts in climate and the needs of the local culture, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS One by Simone Riehl of the University of Tübingen, Germany and colleagues. [...]
The first-ever measurements of the ethanol content of fruits available to chimpanzees in their native African habitat show that the animals could easily consume the equivalent of more than two standard alcoholic drinks each day, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. [...]
For many parents of babies and toddlers, there is one YouTube channel that is a household name. Ms Rachel and her Songs for Littles has attracted nearly 17 million subscribers, offering a colorful, playful space where music, movement and early learning meet. [...]
South Africa's Eastern Cape province has several million hectares of open land in rural areas, not privately owned but held in trust by the state on behalf of communities. The people who live there use it mainly for grazing livestock, subsistence farming, and sometimes hunting. A common misperception is that the grassy, rolling hills will take care of themselves. But these rangelands degrade for many reasons, making them unusable for the small-scale and landless farmers who need communal land for their animals. [...]
Billions of people regularly eat insects. In the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, chapulines—toasted grasshoppers—stand out as a beloved seasonal treat that follows the start of the rainy season, a period that runs from late May through September. [...]
Discriminatory views about maternity leave remain widespread, with some UK employers openly admitting they would avoid hiring pregnant women, according to new research from the University of Bath. [...]
Proteins perform their many different functions via physical interactions with other molecules, in particular, small molecules present in cells, such as metabolites. These interactions occur on distinct binding pockets on protein surfaces. [...]
Tiny tweaks in DNA folding can have big effects. A study from Umeå University shows that even the most subtle changes in DNA's shape have an important influence on gene activity and energy production. This discovery challenges the view of DNA as passive storage of information and points to its active role in cell behavior, offering new possibilities for understanding diseases like cancer and diabetes. [...]
A recent study by the University of Portsmouth has found that focusing on audio alone improves the performance of the interviewer during interviews, particularly in criminal investigations. [...]
A collaborative team has revealed new observational evidence that sheds light on the mystery of massive star formation. Researchers from Yunnan University, the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of Chile, along with other domestic and international institutions, have published their findings in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. [...]
Fish living in warm and arid climates are used to adversity. High temperatures and droughts can routinely cause the streams they call home to stop flowing or dry out altogether. [...]
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