University of Hawai'i at Mānoa oceanographers have identified PelV-1, a dinoflagellate-infecting giant virus whose micron-length tail reaches 2.3 µm, stretching current notions of viral architecture. [...]
Deep neural networks (DNNs), the machine learning algorithms underpinning the functioning of large language models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence (AI) models, learn to make accurate predictions by analyzing large amounts of data. These networks are structured in layers, each of which transforms input data into 'features' that guide the analysis of the next layer. [...]
Scientists say they have at last solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars off the Pacific coast of North America in a decade-long epidemic. [...]
Our ability to predict extreme weather from thunderstorms, like the recent catastrophic flash floods in Texas, is unsettlingly poor, even in the hours leading up to the event. Improvements in understanding, detecting and predicting extreme thunderstorms—and increasing community resilience to them—are badly needed. [...]
To our immune system, naked RNA is a sign of a viral or bacterial invasion and must be attacked. But our own cells also have RNA. To ward off trouble, our cells clothe their RNA in sugars, Vijay Rathinam and colleagues at the UConn School of Medicine and Ryan Flynn at Boston Children's Hospital report in Nature. [...]
It's August, which means Hot Science Summer is two-thirds over. This week, NASA released an exceptionally pretty photo of Mars, a sharp panorama color altered to make the sky blue (???). California health authorities are warning hunters and trappers about contaminated game after one trapper caught a wild pig with bright blue muscle tissue. The pigs and other wildlife may have been exposed to the anticoagulant rodenticide diphacinone. And an international team of astronomers identified the oldest known black hole ever confirmed—the object was present 500 million years after the Big Bang. [...]
The Great Barrier Reef has experienced its greatest annual loss of live coral across most of its expanse in four decades of record-keeping, Australian authorities say. [...]
US astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13 Moon mission which nearly ended in disaster in 1970 after a mid-flight explosion, has died at the age of 97, NASA announced Friday. [...]
New York is waging a war on multiple fronts to combat the near ubiquitous rats that plague city streets and the subways, leaving some residents afraid to let their children walk on sidewalks. [...]
After nearly five months onboard the International Space Station, an international crew of five astronauts began their descent back down to Earth on a SpaceX capsule Friday. [...]
Wildfires release vast amounts of visible pollutants into the atmosphere that darken skies and push people indoors to avoid unhealthy air. But a near-invisible threat to public health associated with wildfires is ozone, the reactive oxygen molecule O3 that harms the lungs and other sensitive tissues in the human body. [...]
Summer's most dazzling meteor shower, the Perseids, peaks soon. [...]
If Earthlings are ever going to colonize Mars, they won't be able to do so on an empty stomach—and Temidayo Oniosun thinks a helping of Egusi soup, a Nigerian staple, might just hit the spot. [...]
In the wake of a wildfire, there's often an assumption that burned landscapes will be more susceptible to landslides. But new research from the University of Oregon suggests it's not always that simple. [...]
How can quantum technologies be developed responsibly? In the journal Science, researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Cambridge, Harvard University and Stanford University argue that international standards should be established before laws are enacted. [...]
A new method, which uses synthetic datasets and transfer learning to overcome data scarcity and variability, significantly outperforms conventional techniques in multi-year field trials. [...]
By leveraging a vision foundation model called Depth Anything V2, the method can accurately segment crops across diverse environments—field, lab, and aerial—reducing both time and cost in agricultural data preparation. [...]
"Spill the Tea, Honey: Gossiping Predicts Well-Being in Same- and Different-Gender Couples" is the name of a new study from UC Riverside psychology researchers that found gossip within couples is associated with greater happiness and better relationships. The paper is published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. [...]
Greek doctor and philosopher Hippocrates once said (loosely translated), "life is short, and art is long." History is littered with quotes from great thinkers with the same idea: art endures. But limitations remain. Classic works get lost or changed as they pass through generations. Paper decomposes. [...]
By integrating large-kernel convolutional blocks and a novel loss function, LKNet effectively addresses challenges such as overlapping targets, annotation bias, and variability in panicle structure across growth stages. Tested on UAV imagery and multiple crop datasets, the model demonstrates superior performance and robustness, offering a high-throughput solution for precision agriculture and crop. [...]
A new study led by Dr. Duo Jia from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences unveils a novel and environmentally friendly approach to remediating saline-alkali soils using cotton straw, a by-product of agricultural practices. [...]
Researchers at Kyushu University have developed a novel organic molecule that simultaneously exhibits two highly sought-after properties: efficient light emission suitable for advanced displays and strong light absorption for deep-tissue bioimaging. This breakthrough addresses a long-standing challenge in molecular design, paving the way for next-generation multifunctional materials. [...]
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have upended assumptions about how water behaves when squeezed into atom-scale spaces. By applying spectroscopic tools together with the machine learning simulation technique to water confined in a space of only a few molecules thick, the team, led by Mischa Bonn, found that water's structure remains strikingly "normal" until confined to below a nanometer, far thinner than previously believed. [...]
Tropical cyclones, commonly known as typhoons or hurricanes, can form in clusters and impact coastal regions back-to-back. For example, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria hit the U.S. sequentially within one month in 2017. The Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to provide adequate support to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico when Maria struck because most rescue resources and specialized disaster staffers were deployed for the responses to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. [...]
To a hawk, an airport can look like the perfect place to settle down. The layout provides ample open space, perches, and nice habitat for a variety of prey species. However, congregations of birds, especially big birds, pose a safety issue for aircraft. [...]
A team of researchers from the Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems of the National Research Council of Italy (ISASI-CNR) and the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) has developed a method to observe lysosomes in live suspended cells—quantitatively, in 3D, and without the use of chemical labels. [...]
A key health indicator for the nation's most economically important estuary has delivered mixed news, with researchers from William & Mary's Batten School & VIMS reporting a 1%, or 641-acre, annual decline in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) coverage in the Chesapeake Bay. The estimated 82,778 acres of seagrass meadows included record-breaking gains in salty regions that were offset by mid-bay losses. [...]
In the past, chemists have used temperature, pressure, light, and other chemical ways to speed up or slow down chemical reactions. Now, researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a theory that explains a different way to control chemical reactions—one that doesn't rely on heat or light but instead on the quantum environment surrounding the molecules. [...]
With a suite of reimagined instruments at SLAC's LCLS facility, researchers see massive improvement in data quality and take up scientific inquiries that were out of reach just one year ago. [...]
The endangered South African cycad Encephalartos horridus may resemble a relic from the Jurassic age, but the species itself evolved long after dinosaurs disappeared. Still, it carries a biochemical legacy inherited from its distant ancestors—plants that once thrived alongside Jurassic fauna. A team led by Hiroshima University (HU) researchers found that its spiky, silvery-blue leaves owe their color not to pigment, but to a wax-based optical effect produced by a lipid compound that may date back to the dawn of land plants. [...]