Science & Technology

With an eye toward a possible return mission years in the future, Cornell University astronomers have shown how smooth terrains — a good place to land a spacecraft and to scoop up samples — evolve on the icy world of comets.

Two vaccine doses provide only limited and short-lived protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Omicron variant. A new study suggests that a third COVID-19 vaccine dose increased the level and duration of protection against Omicron infection an…

An insulin-suppressing protein may be the fountain of youth for ants and provides clues about aging in other species, according to a new study.

Researchers have developed a new method to identify people who are at greater genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, before any symptoms appear — which could help speed creation of novel treatments.

Scientists have tested the efficacy of GnRH injection therapy in order to improve the cognitive functions of a small group of patients with Down syndrome. First the scientists revealed a dysfunction of the GnRH neurons in an animal model of Down syndro…

A new study of more than 8 million children in Nordic countries suggests the possibility that children born after use of a fertility procedure known as frozen-thawed embryo transfer may have a higher risk of cancer than children born through other means.

A Policy Forum article calls for a new approach to regulating genetically engineered (GE) crops, arguing that current approaches for triggering safety testing vary dramatically among countries and generally lack scientific merit — particularly as adva…

Researchers quantify the risk to forests from climate change along three dimensions: carbon storage, biodiversity and forest loss from disturbance, such as fire or drought. The results show forests in some regions experiencing clear and consistent risk…

Robots can be better at detecting mental wellbeing issues in children than parent-reported or self-reported testing, a new study suggests.

Researchers have published results that show encouraging therapeutic options for patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma after first-line treatment with bispecific antibodies fails. Bispecific antibodies are a type of antibody that can bind to …

Estuaries are one of the most valuable biomes on Earth, and megafires — like Australia’s 2019/20 Black Summer fires — represent an emerging threat to estuarine and coastal ecosystems, with the extent and proximity of the wildfire influencing the impa…

New findings have demonstrated a molecular link between COVID-19 and serotonin cells in the gut. The research could help provide further clues to what could be driving COVID-19 infection and disease severity and supports previous evidence that antidepr…

A new study reveals how a rare genetic mutation leads to intellectual disability. The P212L mutation in an enzyme called CaMKIIalpha, which is important for learning and memory, is known to be linked to intellectual disability. However, the exact proce…

Global fish stocks will not be able to recover to sustainable levels without strong actions to mitigate climate change, a new study has projected. Researchers projected the impact that different global temperature increases and ranges of fishing activi…

In a new study, researchers report that they effectively eradicated glioblastoma, a highly lethal type of brain cancer. The researchers achieved the outcome using a method they developed based on their discovery of two critical mechanisms in the brain …

CO2 and methane can be turned into valuable products. But there is a problem with the catalysts required for this: They end up being covered in a layer of carbon, losing their effectivity. A new catalyst has now been developed which solves this problem…

As public health officials around the world contend with the latest surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have created a computer model that could help them be better prepared for the next one. Using machine learning algorithms, trained to identi…

Magnesium diboride superconductors show great promise for large-scale applications. However, its critical current density (the current density above which superconductivity vanishes), Jc , at high magnetic fields in bulk form is not sufficiently high. …

Mammals possess a novel gene that controls a novel structure in nerve cells.

As the world adapts to the post-COVID era, disinfectants have become an irreplaceable part of life. Foam disinfectants are excellent but suffer from foam destabilization when mixed with high ethanol concentrations. To address this issue, researchers fr…