Science & Technology

Humble potatoes are a rich source not only of dietary carbohydrates for humans, but also of starches for numerous industrial applications. Scientists are learning how to alter the ratio of potatoes’ two starch molecules — amylose and amylopectin — to…

A gene called FMNL2 may explain why people with hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, or obesity have a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Men taking either of the two most common oral medications for advanced prostate cancer who had also undergone hormone therapy to treat their disease were at higher risk of serious metabolic or cardiovascular issues than patients who were only receiving…

A new study shows how the brains of Egyptian fruit bats are highly specialized for echolocation and flight, with motor areas of the cerebral cortex that are dedicated to sonar production and wing control.

Engineers have developed the smallest-ever remote-controlled walking robot — and it comes in the form of a tiny, adorable peekytoe crab. Just a half-millimeter wide, the tiny crabs can bend, twist, crawl, walk, turn and even jump. Although the researc…

Scientists have identified processes that control the development and composition of thymic tissue throughout life. Specifically, they were able to show that a certain growth factor can maintain progenitor cells even in the aging thymus and thus counte…

Immune response and the lymphatic system are central to cardiac repair after a heart attack, according to a new study. These insights into the basic mechanisms of cardiac repair are the first step towards developing novel therapeutic approaches to pres…

Researchers have now designed a micro-sized artificial cilial system using platinum-based components that can control the movement of fluids at such a scale. The technology could someday enable low-cost, portable diagnostic devices for testing blood sa…

In 2021, scientists discovered a new form of superconducting nickelate using computational methods. The discovery lets researchers explore similarities and differences between nickelates and cuprates — promising copper-based materials — and among nic…

DNA mutations are essential to the rapid development of an array of antibody-producing immune cells called B cells that collectively can recognize a vast number of specific targets. But this process can go awry in people with a mutation in a gene calle…

Researchers have succeeded in teleporting quantum information across a rudimentary network. This first of its kind is an important step towards a future quantum Internet. This breakthrough was made possible by a greatly improved quantum memory and enha…

Several hundred settlements from the time between 500 and 1400 AD lie in the Bolivian Llanos de Mojos savannah and have fascinated archaeologists for years. Researchers have now visualized the dimensions of the largest known settlement of the so-called…

Our brains lose the ability to link related memories as we age. Scientists genetically restored this brain function in middle-aged mice and identified an FDA-approved drug that achieves the same thing. The study suggests a new approach for combating mi…

Researchers took an all-terrain vehicle on wild rides through tall grass, loose gravel and mud to gather data about how the ATV interacted with a challenging, off-road environment. They drove the heavily instrumented ATV aggressively at speeds up to 30…

Norwegian mountains are full of time capsules. Thousands of years of human and ecological history are preserved in remnant patches of ice. Now this treasure trove of information threatens to melt away, unless we take action.

Residents of Belmont County in eastern Ohio have long suffered from health problems they suspected were the result of air pollution from fracking facilities, but regulators dismissed and downplayed their concerns. With technical assistance from volunte…

Researchers have used silicone wristbands to track firefighters’ exposures to 134 potentially carcinogenic chemicals. Analysis of the chemicals absorbed by the wristbands over a six-day shift show that while some exposures are linked to being at the sc…

A new study shows that a longer period of exclusive breastfeeding was associated with decreased odds of current asthma.

A technique used in chemical synthesis is called hydrogen atom transfer, or HAT. It’s a potentially powerful and versatile chemical tool, but technical constraints have limited its use. Now chemists have borrowed a technique from the chemistry of energ…

There’s a new method for determining whether dinosaurs were hot- or cold-blooded, using clues in their bones that indicated how much the individual animals breathed in their last hour of life. The study shows that the bird-hipped dinosaurs like T. rex …