For The Better

In a groundbreaking study an international team of scientists has investigated the evolutionary patterns behind the development of sabre teeth, with some unexpected results along the way.

Researchers have investigated how spiders listen to their environments through webs and found that the webs match the acoustic particle velocity for a wide range of sound frequencies. Playing sound ranging from 1 Hz to 50 kHz for the spiders and measur…

Sarcasm is notoriously tricky to convey through text, and the subtle changes in tone that convey sarcasm often confuse computer algorithms as well, limiting virtual assistants and content analysis tools. So researchers have now developed a multimodal a…

Many people are concerned about residues of chemicals, contaminants or microplastics in their food. However, it is less well known that many foods also contain toxins of completely natural origin. These are often chemical compounds that plants use to w…

What features does a robotic guide dog need? Ask the blind, say researchers. A new study identifies how to develop robot guide dogs with insights from guide dog users and trainers.

Singing rehabilitates speech production in post-stroke aphasia. Researchers investigated the rehabilitative effect of singing on the brain.

Researchers have found that persimmon tannin, known for its antioxidant properties, improves the growth of yeast in the presence of ethanol.

The treatment of animals rates higher than green issues when consumers choose meat and dairy products. That’s according to a new study, which suggests that while consumers consider sustainability important, other factors such as taste, quality, and ani…

Perceiving something — anything — in your surroundings is to become aware of what your senses are detecting. Today, neuroscientists identify, for the first time, brain-cell circuitry in fruit flies that converts raw sensory signals into color percept…

After spinning for under two years, a wind farm can offset the carbon emissions generated across its entire 30-year lifespan, when compared to thermal power plants.

Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune condition that occurs in around one per cent of the world’s population. It is triggered by the consumption of gluten proteins from wheat, barley, rye and some oats. A gluten-free diet protects celiac patients from…

AI-generated videos for short messages are only as well received as manually created ones if they are edited by humans.

Early identification of stroke type could be key to harnessing the benefits of very early in-ambulance blood pressure lowering treatment in patients with suspected acute stroke, according to new research.

Perovskite hydrides are promising materials for various emerging energy technologies, but measuring their intrinsic hydride-ion conductivity is difficult. In a recent study, researchers address this issue using a novel laser deposition technique in an …

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or ‘forever chemicals,’ have become persistent pollutants in the air, water and soil. Because they are so stable, they can be transported throughout the water cycle, making their way int…

Disc-related back pain may one day meet its therapeutic match: gene therapy delivered by naturally derived nanocarriers that, a new study shows, repairs damaged discs in the spine and lowers pain symptoms in mice.

If you tend to do other things or get distracted while eating dinner, you may be running the risk of over-consuming everyday pleasures later, possibly because the distraction caused you to enjoy yourself less, according to new research.

Vanilla, the most widely used flavoring compound in confectionaries and cosmetics, gets its sweet flavor and aroma from the chemical compound — ‘vanillin’. However, the large-scale production of natural vanillin is impeded by the lack of microbial pro…