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Scientists have made a surprising finding about how an asexually reproducing stick insect has evolved. Research led by Dr. Darren Parker, lecturer in evolutionary biology at Bangor University, studied the genes of several species of Timema (a type of stick insect), which have not engaged in sexual reproduction for 1 million years

How much ice is stored in the world

Oxygen provides the driving force for many vital chemical reactions. Two well-known examples include respiration, the process that allows living things to break down food to release its energy, and combustion, reactions that produce heat and light. But oxygen has an unusual electronic configuration that tends to slow reactions with organic matter, so reactions often need help to get started. In nature, specialized proteins called enzymes can activate oxygen on demand by first rearranging its ele

By rapidly twisting a microscopically small tip back and forth, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have unlocked a new way to detect subtle changes on the surface of a material flexing in response to infrared light.

The initiation of rain in clouds without ice remains one of the largest unsolved mysteries in atmospheric science.

For the first time, researchers have determined the shape of the actinide nucleus of fermium-255 and measured its structure with high precision and resolution.

In Goethe

Measuring faint magnetic fields is useful in a number of areas, including mapping brain activity, monitoring hearts and probing fundamental physics. Typically, picking up such weak signals requires expensive or bulky equipment, such as liquid-helium cooling tanks or specially shielded rooms that block out Earth

When most baby turtles hatch, their sex depends on the temperature of the sand or soil where their mother laid her eggs. Warm incubation produces females, while cool nests produce males.

As global temperatures rise, scientists have largely assumed that mountain tree species will move uphill in search of cooler conditions. A new study published in Nature Climate Change reveals a more complex reality: Some tree species are moving uphill, while others are shifting downhill, and the key to understanding these contrasting responses lies in how trees manage water.

Scientists in China predict that stacking two microscopic layers of boron could set a new record for superconductivity. Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with zero resistance. Traditional types need temperatures close to absolute zero to work, requiring complex and expensive cooling equipment.

Scientists at the Department of Energy

An international research team led by plant scientist Professor Dr. Bart Thomma of the Institute of Plant Sciences at the University of Cologne, the MiBiNet Collaborative Research Center and the CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence for Plant Sciences has identified the region of the genome in the pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae responsible for producing a specific protein that the pathogen secretes during infection.

A new genomic resource from the Texas A

You need to tread carefully among the leaf litter of the Indonesian scrubland and its tropical rainforests. The dead leaves might seem caught in a gentle breeze, but there

In the animal kingdom, only those that adapt to their environment survive. This adaptation takes a wide range of forms, from invisible internal shifts in gene expression to dramatic anatomical changes, such as tadpoles growing legs and transitioning to life on land as frogs.

An international team of researchers has uncovered a previously undetected structure in the birdsong of Bengalese finches that has the same statistical patterns found in human languages.

All living organisms need vitamin B12 to form red blood cells and DNA, as well as to build and support brain and nerve cells. But it

By making the Arctic less ice-covered, climate warming has increased both shipping traffic and the risk of oil spills in the region. Changing ice conditions may, however, affect the effectiveness of currently available oil spill response measures, according to a recent study by researchers from Estonia and Norway.

The origin of spin in spiral and elliptical galaxies has posed a long-standing puzzle for astronomers. One idea, known as tidal torque theory, proposes that galaxies

In an effort to develop more environmentally friendly alternatives to synthetic insecticides, researchers from Kyushu University have developed and tested a new insecticide made from compounds derived from garlic and spearmint.

Microbial communities are highly sensitive to environmental changes, yet their enormous diversity makes it difficult to identify ecological patterns. A research team from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnem

Some U.S. adults are using artificial intelligence for financial guidance, but it

A tall glass of ice water isn

One of the most important milestones in the early life of an organism is when the embryo breaks symmetry and arranges itself to form the head (anterior) at one end and tail (posterior) at the other end. Scientists have used the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) for decades as a model species to study the process of forming the anterior-posterior body axis, along with countless other early developmental and genetic processes.

A research team led by Koji Ishiya of Kanazawa University reconstructed exceptionally high-coverage genomes from two ancient individuals in Japan: IY1, a woman from the Initial Jomon period who lived about 8,300 years ago, and DO, a man from the Middle Yayoi period who lived about 2,300 years ago.

Using a detector filled with nearly 9 metric tons of liquid xenon, researchers have delivered some of the most sensitive dark matter results ever recorded. In the latest analysis from the XENON collaboration, working at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, researchers carried out a

Snails are particularly active after a rain shower. Even on the Max Planck Campus in Potsdam-Golm, common brown-lipped snails (Cepaea nemoralis) leave behind shiny trails of mucus. Researchers from the

Zooming from her office, Michigan State University researcher Kelly Kapsar showed satellite images from across the United States. In some, different colors revealed the precise heights of the forested ridges in the Sierra Nevada or the craggy peaks of the Rockies and the valleys between them. Others showed the pine flatwoods of southern Florida or the smooth, rolling grasslands of the Kansas prairie.

A research team has identified the transcription factor C/EBP

An eight-year international research effort has produced the most comprehensive review of Honduras

On Mother

Many parents have mixed feelings about the unrestricted use of artificial intelligence (AI) for schoolwork. They are concerned about the potential impact on their child

If you ask Vijay Parashar, associate professor of medical and molecular sciences (MMSC) at the University of Delaware College of Health Sciences, human bodies are bags of bacteria.

Supercontinuum light sources

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) has announced its 20th public data release (DR20), delivering a dramatic expansion of the Milky Way Mapper (MWM) scientific survey

Scientists have long known that ant colonies sometimes seem to move as one. A nest that appears quiet can suddenly erupt into activity, with workers throughout the colony springing into motion almost simultaneously before settling back into stillness.

A new study by ancient DNA researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, used paleogenomics to create a genetic roadmap to help guide the restoration of another iconic species once on the brink of extinction: the North American bison.

Researchers have demonstrated a solid-state organic laser microcavity fabricated entirely by solution processing. The device operates in the strong light

For the first time, scientists have observed a three-dimensional woven structure forming naturally inside a crystal, revealing a previously unknown way in which matter can organize itself.

Agriculture covers more than 40% of Earth

When Pepper the social robot was given the chance to try its hand as a teaching assistant, it showed that it can be even better than a human teacher at motivating pupils and helping them learn.

A KAIST research team led by professor Mooseok Jang from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering has developed a single-shot phase imaging technique that reconstructs a phase object

Three years after a team of Caltech scientists showed that pairs of entangled photons could double the resolution of a light microscope, the same lab has figured out a way to double down on that improvement. They have now achieved a fourfold resolution boost compared to a classical microscope, using a new optical design that sends one of the entangled photons through the microscope

A team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has captured a massive stream of gas

In this article, deaf is used as an umbrella term to include Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, hearing-impaired, deafened and people with hearing loss.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Europe

Understanding the formation and evolution of the centers of galaxies is one of the most intriguing challenges in astrophysics. The new study aims to unveil the physical processes that led to the formation of two striking features surrounding the black holes at the centers of most galaxies: nuclear star clusters and nuclear stellar disks. Only in the last decade have such galactic structures been observed in the Milky Way and extragalactic systems.

When UC Berkeley postdoctoral researchers Maya Zomer and Lucia Layritz first drove through burned portions of Mojave National Preserve in Southern California, the sight stunned them.

Heme, a bioactive form of iron, has numerous essential functions in the cell. As a key component of hemoglobin, it enables oxygen transport in the blood. In addition, it performs important functions in other proteins in processes ranging from energy conversion to signal transduction.