Science & Technology

A new study adds to an emerging, radically new picture of how bacterial cells continually repair faulty sections of their DNA.

Research shows that the numbers of butterflies in meadows and pastures of Europe are in a continuous decline. Grassland butterflies will soon play an even greater role in EU nature conservation legislation. Based on the occurrences and population trend…

A team of physicists has discovered a new role for a specific type of turbulence — a finding that sheds light on fluid flows ranging from the Earth’s liquid core to boiling water.

New research shows the number of farms globally will shrink from 616 million in 2020 to 272 million in 2100, posing significant risks to the world’s food systems.

Two years of heavy exposure to TCE, a liquid chemical that lingers in the air, water and soil, may increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease by 70%.

Researchers investigated how the jaw shape of sharks has changed over the course of evolution. Their conclusion: in the most widespread shark species, the jaws show relatively little variation in shape over millions of years; most variable jaws were fo…

Under certain circumstances, a rare tropical plant develops into a carnivore. A research team has now deciphered the mechanism responsible for this.

Up to two-thirds of the soot above the central Amazon rainforest originates in Africa. Researchers differentiate soot particles using their relative properties and attribute them to their respective points of origin. They found that bush fires and burn…

About 13,000 years ago, a climate crisis caused a global drop in temperatures in the northern hemisphere. This episode of intense cold, known as the Younger Dryas, also caused severe aridity across the Mediterranean basin, which had a major impact on t…

Approximately 700,000 years ago, a ‘warm ice age’ permanently changed the climate cycles on Earth. During this exceptionally warm and moist period, the polar glaciers greatly expanded. A research team identified this seemingly paradoxical connection. T…

Watching the clock while trying to fall asleep exacerbates insomnia and the use of sleep aids, according to new research — and a small change could help people sleep better.

The latest version of ChatGPT passed a radiology board-style exam, highlighting the potential of large language models but also revealing limitations that hinder reliability, according to two new research studies.

Chemists have taken a big step toward splitting hydrogen and oxygen molecules to make pure hydrogen — without using fossil fuels. Results from pulse radiolysis experiments have laid bare the complete reaction mechanism for an important group of ‘water…

Despite their intimidating appearance, the giant yellow and blue-black spiders spreading across the Southeastern U.S. owe their survival to a surprising trait: They’re rather timid. The Joro spider may be the shyest spider ever documented.

Lining the Cape of South Africa and its southern coast are long chains of caves that nearly 200,000 years ago were surrounded by a lush landscape and plentiful food.