Science & Technology

The dusty surface of the moon — immortalized in images of Apollo astronauts’ lunar footprints — formed as the result of asteroid impacts and the harsh environment of space breaking down rock over millions of years. An ancient layer of this material, …

Two new studies based in Seattle provide evidence that public policies to reduce consumption of added sugars through taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages are effective and sustainable.

Biologists have successfully traced a naturally-produced melanoma-fighting compound called ‘palmerolide A’ to its source: a microbe that resides within Synoicum adareanum, a species of ascidian common to the waters of Antarctica’s Anvers Island archipe…

Life is water, and water is life. This truism certainly applies to the Pacific coast, where streams and rivers function as the region’s arteries. The water they carry fosters plant life and wildlife in Southern California’s Mediterranean climate. They …

Researchers have identified the first non-coding RNA that controls formation of chromosome loops, which govern gene expression. Jpx RNA was previously thought to be involved only in X chromosome inactivation, a necessary step in development of female e…

Astronomers have discovered an unusually massive black hole at the heart of one of the Milky Way’s dwarf satellite galaxies, called Leo I. Almost as massive as the black hole in our own galaxy, the finding could redefine our understanding of how all ga…

Data collected by the Arecibo Radio Telescope before it collapsed late last year will help astronomers better understand how our local neighbourhood of galaxies formed. Arecibo was the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope until it was surpassed …

Unique molecular signals in the body sent to our brain and potentially our eyes immediately after we exercise could be key to helping scientists ‘bottle up’ the benefits of exercise in a pill for at-risk patients.

Researchers have mapped the timescale of the Tasmanian devils’ whiskers, showing that their whiskers can capture seasonal dietary changes over at least nine months and potentially up to a year.

A secondary analysis of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (Fragile Families) found a bi-directional relationship where a mother’s mental health symptoms impacted the child’s mental health symptoms and vice versa, according to researchers.

Researchers used the Frontera supercomputer to explore light-induced superconductivity a pulsed laser, which is believed to be a promising route to room-temperature superconductors. They found that d-wave superconductivity can be enhanced by a pulsed l…

The oldest unequivocal evidence of upright walking in the human lineage are footprints discovered at Laetoli, Tanzania in 1978, by paleontologist Mary Leakey and her team. The bipedal trackways date to 3.7 million years ago. Another set of mysterious f…

Coccolithophores are microscopic algae that form tiny limestone plates, called coccoliths, around their single cells. They are responsible for half of the limestone produced in the oceans and therefore play a major role in the carbon cycle and in deter…

Using artificial intelligence and deep learning, researchers have developed a neural network that ‘hallucinates’ the structures of new protein molecules. The scientists made up completely random protein sequences and introduced mutations into them unti…

Researchers have decoded for the first time the demographic history, genetic structure, and population connectivity of a deep-sea limpet widely distributed in vent and seep ecosystems in the Northwest Pacific. This study not only enhances our knowledge…

Mathematicians have partnered with artificial intelligence to suggest and prove new mathematical theorems.

A medication originally used for patients with diabetes is the first to help people with heart failure and could revolutionize treatment. Early research had shown that SGLT2 inhibitors could help around half of heart failure patients — those with a co…

In a mouse study, a team led by a biomedical scientist found a phthalate — a chemical used to make plastics more durable — led to increased plasma cholesterol levels.

In the first study of its kind to explore caffeine’s effects on dynamic visual skills, researchers concluded that caffeine increases alertness and detection accuracy for moving targets. Caffeine also improved participants’ reaction times.

Engineers invent ‘green’ method that combines quantum mechanics with machine learning to accurately predict oxide reactions at high temperatures when no experimental data is available; could be used to design clean carbon-neutral processes for steel pr…