Science
Scientific discoveries and research
Novel quantum refrigerator benefits from problematic noise
For quantum computers to function, they must be kept at extremely low temperatures. However, today's cooling systems also generate noise that interferes with th...
Hidden toxin risks during nutrient-starved algal blooms uncovered
Harmful algal blooms continue to threaten coastal ecosystems and seafood safety worldwide. Among the organisms involved, the benthic dinoflagellate Prorocentrum...
Biodegradable bark–plastic composite lets engineers predict product lifetime from tensile tests
Old trees are learning new tricks with the advent of composite materials. A "green composite" made from biodegradable polymers and the waste bark of the Yakushi...
Male or female? How one frog gene 'hijacked' sex determination about 20 million years ago
Early in development, many animals pick a team—male or female—based on their genetics, and, with time, acquire the characteristics to match. New research from t...
How mining legacy dust leaves a uranium fingerprint in children's hair
For decades, families in communities around Johannesburg have been living close to huge gold mining waste dumps. For many residents, the dust that is released t...
Welcome to the 'Homogenocene': How humans are making the world's wildlife dangerously samey
The age of humans is increasingly an age of sameness. Across the planet, distinctive plants and animals are disappearing, replaced by species that are lucky eno...
EPA's new way of evaluating pollution rules hands deregulators a license to ignore public health
When I worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in the 2010s as an Obama administration appointee, I helped write and review dozens of regulations under t...
Gravitational wave signal tests Einstein's theory of general relativity
For those who watch gravitational waves roll in from the universe, GW250114 is a big one. It's the clearest gravitational wave signal from a binary black hole m...
Weakening the soy moratorium in Brazil: A political choice that ignores the science
In the first days of 2026, the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE), which represents the largest soybean traders in Brazil, announced its...
Pubs are far more valuable to society than the tax they pay
English pubs will receive a 15% discount on their business rates from April this year. The government deal, which also applies to music venues, follows a backla...
King's Trough: How a shifting plate boundary and hot mantle material shaped an Atlantic mega-canyon
The King's Trough Complex is a several-hundred-kilometer-long, canyon-like system of trenches on the North Atlantic seafloor. Its formation was long thought to...
Crosstalk inside cells helps pathogens evade drugs, study finds
Biologists have uncovered a new mode of communication inside cells that helps bacterial pathogens learn how to evade drugs. Their findings, published in the jou...