Science
Scientific discoveries and research
Skies darken as solar eclipse heads south from Arctic to Spain
One of nature's greatest spectacles—a rare total solar eclipse—cast its shadow on Wednesday, briefly turning day into night in Russia's remote Arctic north and...
Chemical fingerprints reveal hidden binary pasts of massive stars
More than 70% of massive stars are born in close binary systems, where gravitational tugs and mass transfer between companions dramatically alter their evolutio...
Fertilizer made from local rocks could help feed hungry in Africa
Food insecurity is a major problem in many parts of the world, particularly Africa, where more than 300 million people regularly go hungry. Now, using the Canad...
Ancient penguin fossils offer new window into Antarctica's changing climate
A team of paleontologists from China University of Geosciences (Beijing) studying penguin fossils from Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula have demonstra...
New evidence helps solve how earliest birds took flight
The first bird to inhabit Earth used its robust hind legs to make two or three powerful leaps while flapping its way to flight, according to a study by the Univ...
Californians are twice as likely as Louisianans to be childfree—but demographics tell more of the story
Across the United States, the number of people who do not have and do not want to have children is growing. While they are twice as likely to live in California...
What if there's a star inside a black hole?
There is a question that often comes up at every public talk I do, and I have never had a good answer to it—well, not an entirely confident one. What's inside a...
Hybrid bioprinter creates capillary networks narrower than 10 micrometers
More than 100,000 people are awaiting an organ transplant in the United States, with a new candidate added to the list every 10 minutes. Even if the transplant...
Oxytocin nudges distrustful men to invest 15% more in anonymous trust game
In 2005, a research team led by University of Zurich economics professor Ernst Fehr published a study in the journal Nature that provided evidence for the first...
Engineered lipase could improve production of higher-value specialized lipids
Food and pharmaceutical manufacturers increasingly seek lipids with carefully controlled fatty-acid compositions. However, natural oils usually contain mixtures...
Light-controlled molecular switches offer exciting possibilities for future electronics, data storage
Whether it's neurons responding to electrical signals or plants stretching toward light, nature is filled with examples of biological materials that respond to...
New software tool Pixasonics turns biomedical images into sound
Modern biomedicine increasingly relies on enormous amounts of image data. Although computers can do part of the analysis work, biologists often still need to lo...