Science & Technology

Fossilized feces preserve evidence of ancient parasites that infected an aquatic predator over 200 million years ago, according to a new study.

New research suggests that the US municipal bond market systemically misprices risk, as the pricing of municipal debt does not account for local physical climate risk, but does demand larger credit spreads from communities with a larger proportion of B…

While engaging in cell division research, researchers made a surprisingly quiet discovery. When cells express RNA, there is always some fluctuation, or noise, in how much RNA is produced. The scientists found several genes whose noise dips below a prev…

Pesticides are a leading source of chemical hazards in aquatic environments. Researchers have introduced a new tool to help evaluate toxicity at high resolution and suggests that targeting a small number of pesticides in a few watersheds could signific…

A study of 12 species of highly migratory fish predators — including sharks, tuna, and billfish such as marlin and swordfish — finds that most of them will encounter widespread losses of suitable habitat and redistribution from current habitats in th…

Neuroscientists find that key neurons in the front of the brain act as ‘traffic control’ to manage our attention to visual stimuli, and help us focus despite distractions.

Whether it’s work or play that prevents us from getting enough shut-eye during the week, assuming we can make up for it by sleeping in over the weekend is a mistake. New research led by Penn State reveals that cardiovascular health measures, including …

With an innovative approach, scientists are creating new standards for data security in the cache of electronic devices.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has followed up on observations by the Hubble Space Telescope of the farthest star ever detected in the very distant universe, within the first billion years after the big bang. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) ins…

Researchers have developed a technique for simultaneously measuring electrical signals from 128 areas of the brain in awake rats. They have then used the information to measure what happens to the neurons when the rats are given psychedelic drugs. The …

New research links chemical changes in seawater to volcanic activity and changes.

LIGO confirmed the existence of gravitational waves in 2015, detecting one-time perturbations of spacetime from the merger of large black holes. There should be a background of gravitational waves permeating space due to other cataclysmic events in the…

The first gene mapping study on human scalp hair whorls not only shows that hair whorl direction has a genetic basis, but also that it is affected by multiple genes. Four associated genetic variants that are likely to influence hair whorl direction are…

A classic movie was once promoted with the punchline: ‘In space, no one can hear you scream’. Physicists have now demonstrated, to the contrary, that in certain situations sound can be transmitted strongly across a vacuum region!

Dam constructions have flooded over 1.13 million acres of tribal land in the U.S., contributing to the historic and ongoing struggle against land dispossession for Indigenous peoples in the United States. New research has identified that a region of tr…

Innovative technology that creates ultra-thin layers of human cells in tube-like structures could spur development of lifelike blood vessels and intestines in the lab.

A new DNA study has nuanced the picture of how different groups intermingled during the European Stone Age, but also how certain groups of people were actually isolated. Researchers produced new genetic data from 56 Central and Eastern European individ…

Between 1990 and 2019, the total annual number of premature CVD deaths and years of disability attributable to particulate matter air pollution rose by 31% worldwide.

Scientists have shown that immunotherapy after stem cell transplantation effectively combats certain nerve tumors in children. Crucially, stem cells from a parent provide children with a new immune system that responds much better to immunotherapies.

A collaborative study provides compelling evidence that combining an investigational oral drug with standard-of-care medications reverts hormone resistance and increases Rx effectiveness in experimental models of estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) and tr…