For The Better

Power often boosts an employee’s creativity because being powerful liberates the individual from constraints, such as worrying that their ideas will be rejected. However, new research shows that employees who are not in positions of power can become mo…

What shapes the structure of languages? In a new study, an international team of researchers reports that grammatical structure is highly flexible across languages, shaped by common ancestry, constraints on cognition and usage, and language contact. Th…

Researchers have identified neurons in the brain that may contribute to some of the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, making it a good target for potential new drugs to treat the disease.

Researchers have identified the cause of an inherited metabolic disease common among people with Lumbee and other Native American heritage, overturning decades of settled science and pointing to new, more effective therapies.

Researchers find that when immunostimulatory drugs called imidazoquinolines are delivered using specialized bottlebrush nanoparticles, the drugs provoke the immune system to attack tumors while eliminating the side effects that occur when the drugs are…

Today, foldable phones are ubiquitous. Now, using models that predict how well a flexible electronic device will conform to spherical surfaces, engineers could usher in a new era in which these bendy devices can integrate seamlessly with parts of the h…

A new study in Science Advances adds weight to a growing body of evidence that iron dysregulation may play an important role in Alzheimer’s disease and therefore might provide a better target for treatments than amyloid beta plaques.

A team of researchers has identified a single-celled organism called a ciliate as the cause of a massive die-off event to a marine animal vital to coral reef health.

As climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise, one of Greenland’s previously most stable glaciers is now retreating at an unprecedented rate, according to a new study.

What if, by adding a couple of cell layers inside a corn kernel, the grain could become significantly richer in essential nutrients like iron, zinc, and protein? Such an improvement could benefit people who rely on corn for a large portion of their die…

During the early days of the pandemic, consumers faced shortages and abrupt price increases on common goods ranging from toilet paper and coffee to bicycles and lumber. While the complexity of supply chains may contribute to the problem in some cases, …

Fabrics that resist knife cuts can help prevent injuries and save lives. But a sharp enough knife or a very forceful jab can get through some of these materials. Now, researchers report that carbon nanotubes and polyacrylate strengthen conventional ara…

Earthquakes and volcanism occur as a result of plate tectonics. The movement of tectonic plates themselves is largely driven by the process known as subduction. The question of how new active subduction zones come into being, however, is still under de…

Scientists have designed a new type of oral capsule that could mean pain-free delivery of insulin and other protein drugs. Protein drugs had proven challenging to deliver orally as the drugs degrade very quickly in the stomach — until now.

Scientists have pinpointed a key driver of low bone density, a discovery that may lead to improved treatments with fewer side effects for women with osteoporosis. The findings reveal that loss of an epigenetic modulator, KDM5C, preserves bone mass in m…

An interdisciplinary group of researchers is proposing a new way to think of some interactions between species, classifying a variety of plants, animals and fungi as ‘nature’s chefs.’ Specifically, nature’s chefs are organisms that provide food — or t…

The bone density of astronauts — of both the human and rodent variety — decreases in space. Researchers report that changes to the gut microbiomes of space travelers might be associated with this bone loss. Rodents that spent a month or more on the I…

Certain stem cells have a unique ability to move between growth compartments in hair follicles, but get stuck as people age and so lose their ability to mature and maintain hair color, a new study shows.

A new study reveals that a connection between the body and mind is built into the structure of the brain. The study shows that parts of the brain area that controls movement are plugged into networks involved in thinking and planning, and in control of…

Two protein complexes carry the major responsibility for the spatial organization of chromosomes in our cell nuclei. DNA tension plays a surprising role in this. Nanoscientists now publish how they have visualized this.