Science
Scientific discoveries and research
The phantom lighthouse: New research explains one of Australia's strangest illusions
There are two lighthouses on Lady Elliot Island, at the southernmost tip of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The first was built in 1873, but was decommissioned...
Ultrathin metal layer boosts spin-related signals, opening a door to ultralow-power electronics
Researchers at Kyushu University have found that an ultrathin layer of iridium manganese (IrMn) can improve two spin-related signals in a structure made of a ma...
Atomic magnetism reveals why iron, but not chromium, can produce ammonia using sunlight
Two nearly identical materials have completely different chemical behavior. Research teams at the University of Vienna and TU Wien studied catalysts that use th...
Macromolecular crowding could help build artificial cell systems
Macromolecular crowding can serve as a design tool for controlling the formation and organization of synthetic DNA droplets, a study from Science Tokyo reveals....
Molecular architecture determines tomato plant resistance to its main pest
An international study investigating why wild tomatoes are more resistant to the tomato leafminer (Phthorimaea absoluta) than cultivated varieties revealed that...
Explaining the difference between brittle and ductile behavior in polymer glasses
Glasses are (mostly) brittle, metals can be ductile (plastic), and liquids flow easily. Polymers are interesting because they exhibit all three types of behavio...
Q&A: Decoding the cell—a conversation with a computational biologist
Computational biologist Christina Leslie, Ph.D., has spent nearly two decades at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) building computational tools that...
Chornobyl dog population shows genetic signatures of directional selection
The latest research on the wild population of dogs in Chornobyl reveals that the genetic differences between these dogs and other similarly isolated dog populat...
Could next-gen artificial intelligence help map out future space outposts?
Planning a successful trip can be challenging, especially when your destination is in outer space. Even before liftoff, space missions require extraordinary amo...
Same radical, different paths: X-ray snapshots reveal how neighboring molecules shape its movement
Chemical reactions have their own "impatient molecules." Unable to stay still even for a moment, they latch onto other molecules indiscriminately. Researchers h...
Schools increasingly affected by poor air quality as wildfire smoke becomes more common
American children are increasingly exposed to air pollution as wildfire smoke becomes more common, and some schools and child care centers struggle to keep indo...
Rarely seen deep-sea barreleye fish filmed in 4K
During a recent expedition aboard the research vessel David Packard, MBARI scientists encountered a rarely seen barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma). This sig...