For The Better

The atmosphere is a large-scale dissemination route for bacteria carrying antibiotic-resistance genes. A research team has shown that these genes can be transported by clouds.

A new study may help explain why people choose to include themselves in some photos — and it is not vanity. Researchers found that first-person photos (capturing the scene as it looks from one’s own eyes) best represent the physical experience of an e…

California sea lions have managed to maintain — and, in the case of males, increase — their average body size as their population grows and competition for food becomes fiercer. This is in contrast to other marine mammals, whose average body size ten…

Research found ChatGPT correctly answered 46 per cent of questions from a study resource commonly used by physicians when preparing for board certification in ophthalmology. When researchers conducted the same test one month later, ChatGPT scored more …

A new gripper robot grasps by reflex. Rather than start from scratch after a failed attempt, the bot adapts in the moment to reflexively roll, palm, or pinch an object to get a better hold.

Studies show that some species may require breeding in captivity within the next 200 years to avoid extinction. This reality places heavy importance on the reintroduction practices used to successfully transfer species from captivity to the wild. A new…

Most medical AI models in use today are trained to perform one or two specific tasks and have limited utility. Next-generation AI — called generalist medical AI — incorporates various types of data to perform a variety of complex tasks in a range of …

Landmark research by mathematicians sets out the definitive picture of biological adaptation at the level of intermolecular interactions.

Researchers have developed a new mining technique which uses microbes to recover metals and store carbon in the waste produced by mining. Adopting this technique of reusing mining waste, called tailings, could transform the mining industry and create a…

Researchers confirm the superiority of seawater batteries that use chelating agents.

A new study looked at a known binary star (two stars orbiting around a mutual center of gravity), analyzing starlight obtained from a range of ground- and space-based telescopes. The researchers found that the stars, located in a neighboring dwarf gala…

Researchers have developed the first transistor made of wood. Their study paves the way for further development of wood-based electronics and control of electronic plants.

Life in the ocean’s ‘twilight zone’ could decline dramatically due to climate change, new research suggests.

An interdisciplinary team has developed an algorithm that immediately checks its own calculations of merging black holes’ properties and corrects its result if necessary — inexpensively and rapidly. The machine learning method provides very accurate i…

A previously unknown form of hydrogel formation has been elucidated: chemists found unusual interactions between polymers.

How is ‘junk food’ defined for food policies like taxes? A combination of food category, processing, and nutrients can determine which foods should be subject to health-related policies, according to a new analysis examining three decades of U.S. food …