- + Tech firms claim nuclear will solve AI's power needs – they're wrong—Some AI firms think nuclear power can help meet the electricity demand from Silicon Valley’s data centres, but building new nuclear power stations tak...
- + Fragile quantum entanglement may survive chaos of chemical reactions—Strange quantum characteristics of molecules can weather the chaos of chemical reactions, which may benefit quantum technologies or unveil hidden natu...
- + AI noise-cancelling headphones let you focus on just one voice—You can blank out certain types of background noise and focus on just one conversation using prototype noise-cancelling headphones
- + Some brain injury patients would recover if life support weren't ended—After comparing people with brain injuries whose life support was continued with those who had it turned off, scientists calculated that around 40 per...
- + A lost branch of the river Nile flowed past the pyramids of Egypt—Soil core samples show an ancient riverbed under the desert near many Egyptian pyramids, revealing an ancient waterway that dried up thousands of year...
- + Genetic mutation gives cats a 'salty liquorice' coat colour—Researchers have discovered the gene variant responsible for a distinctive colour pattern seen in cats in Finland, named salmiak after a variety of li...
- + Virtual power plants could ease growing strain on US electric grid—Energy-saving networks that link smart devices, solar panels and batteries could regulate power demand and help avoid fossil fuel use at peak times
- + Surgeons can use AI chatbot to tell robots to help with suturing—A virtual assistant for surgeons translates text prompts into commands for a robot, offering a simple way to instruct machines to carry out small task...
- + Einstein was right about the way matter plunges into black holes—For the first time, astronomers have observed the area right at the edge of a black hole where matter stops orbiting and plunges straight in at near l...
- + Cameras inspired by insect eyes could give robots a wider view—Artificial compound eyes made without the need for expensive and precise lenses could provide cheap visual sensors for robots and driverless cars
- + How the US used science to wage psychological war—The US has been honing its psychological warfare skills since the 19th century, when it started sending anthropologists onto battlefields, says Annale...
- + Why a new literary prize for climate fiction will make a difference—The new Climate Fiction prize aims to reward the best novels about climate change, because books can shift the narrative on global warming, says Tori ...
- + Why it's vital we fight prejudices about the elderly once and for all—Ageism is a widespread global prejudice. It's about time we started acknowledging our unconscious bias towards old age – not least because our own fut...
- + OpenAI overtakes Google in race to build the future, but who wants it?—With big announcements about the latest artificial intelligence models this week, tech firms are competing to have the most exciting products - but ge...
- + Quantum internet draws near thanks to entangled memory breakthroughs—Researchers aiming to create a secure quantum version of the internet need a device called a quantum repeater, which doesn't yet exist - but now two t...
- + Sunlight-trapping device can generate temperatures over 1000°C—A solar energy absorber that uses quartz to trap heat reached 1050°C in tests and could offer a way to decarbonise the production of steel and cement
- + Buildings that include weak points on purpose withstand more damage—If a building is hit with an earthquake or explosives, the entire thing can collapse – but a design balancing strong and weak structural connections l...
- + Will sucking carbon from air ever really help tackle climate change?—The direct air capture industry got a boost last week with the opening of Mammoth, the largest plant yet for sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosph...
- + Around half the world could lose easily accessible groundwater by 2050—In coming decades, major groundwater sources may become economically unfeasible — this could raise food prices and shift diets, among other impacts
- + Frozen human brain tissue can now be revived without damage—Using a new approach, scientists have successfully frozen and thawed brain organoids and cubes of brain tissue from someone with epilepsy, which could...
- + Why did hominins like us evolve at all?—Animal life on Earth existed for over half a billion years before hominins hit the scene – a complex combination of environmental changes, innovations...
- + Huge jellyfish invasion could disrupt Arctic ecosystems as waters warm—The Arctic could see a surge of jellyfish as climate change leads to warmer waters and less ice – a process known as “jellification”
- + One-day mental health workshop improves teenagers' mood for six months—The one-day courses were particularly beneficial to those pupils with worse mental health problems initially
- + Everything you need to know about semaglutide weight loss drugs—From how well they work to side effects such as hair loss, here’s the skinny on new weight loss injections that work by blocking a hormone that normal...
- + Flu vaccine for children linked to pneumonia risk for their relatives—The nasal flu vaccine may reduce cases of pneumonia illness in population over the whole flu season because flu infections are likely to lead to even ...
- + How could we give boring blobby galaxies a new, exciting shape?—Galaxies could do with a few more arms or some decorative designs – on this episode of Dead Planets Society, our hosts are using collisions, black hol...
- + Underwater data centres could be destroyed by loud noises—Underwater data centres being installed off the coasts of China, the US and Europe could be disrupted by sounds from military-grade sonar on ships and...
- + Mystery of 'impossible' star resolved by three-body solution—A white dwarf star orbiting a sun-like star was thought to be impossibly small, but now astronomers have found another star in the system that solves ...
- + Oldest known human viruses found hidden within Neanderthal bones—Genetic analysis of 50,000-year-old Neanderthal skeletons has uncovered the remnants of three viruses related to modern human pathogens, and the resea...
- + ChatGPT got an upgrade to make it seem more human—OpenAI's new ChatGPT model, called GPT-4o, provides more human-like interactions through a voice mode, and it is capable of conversations that incorpo...
- + Ultrasound therapy could treat lung condition linked to heart failure—Mice benefitted from ultrasound therapy for a rare lung condition – the treatment might work for common forms of high blood pressure, too
- + Sticky oil sprayed onto plants offers alternative to pesticides—A sticky liquid made from vegetable oil could be sprayed onto plants to catch small pests such as thrips without affecting larger insects such as bees
- + Edible gel prevents and treats alcohol intoxication in mice—Mice given unlimited access to alcohol recovered faster after consuming a gel based on a milk protein, with the same treatment also preventing intoxic...
- + Did humans evolve to chase down prey over long distances?—Outrunning prey over long distances is an efficient method of hunting for humans, and it was widely used until recently, according to an analysis of e...
- + Having more children protects parents’ brains from age-related decline—The brains of adults who have raised children appear younger later in life. Child-rearing seemed to have this effect on both mothers and fathers, and ...
- + Watch a Möbius strip robot move and climb when hit by light—When light strikes a soft robot made from a twisted strip of hydrogel sheets, it moves in a predictable way and can climb a vertical rod or haul up a ...
- + Pigs seem less stressed if their barn is scented with lavender—If a lavender scent is sprayed into pig pens three times a day, the animals show less aggressive behaviour and appear more relaxed
- + Does using the internet make us happier or sadder?—A study of more than 2 million people in 168 countries suggests that having access to the internet is linked to higher life satisfaction, but many que...
- + Doughnut-shaped swirls of laser light can be used to transmit images—Ultra-fast pulses of laser light can be shaped into vortices similar to smoke rings – when chained together, they can carry enough information to tran...
- + How to see tonight's northern lights – the strongest in 20 years—A rare geomagnetic storm not seen for nearly 20 years could cause a stunning aurora borealis on 10 and 11 May
- + Dozens of stars show signs of hosting advanced alien civilisations—Sufficiently advanced aliens would be able to capture vast quantities of energy from their star using a massive structure called a Dyson sphere. Such ...
- + Heavy or painful menstrual periods are linked to worse exam results—Heavy, prolonged or painful menstrual periods are associated with more days off school and scoring worse on compulsory exams in a UK study
- + 500-year-old maths problem turns out to apply to coffee and clocks—A centuries-old maths problem asks what shape a circle traces out as it rolls along a line. The answer, dubbed a “cycloid”, turns out to have applicat...
- + Monkeys can learn to tap to the beat of the Backstreet Boys—With a bit of training, macaques can make rhythmic movements in time with music, an ability only shown before by a handful of animals
- + Extreme exercise may help you live longer without stressing your heart—People who can run a mile in less than 4 minutes generally live almost five years longer than would otherwise be expected, challenging the idea that t...
- + Invisible 'dark radiation' may explain a big problem with dark energy—Surprising recent measurements hint that the universe isn’t expanding in the way we had thought, and it could be explained by still-theoretical dark r...
- + Game theory shows we can never learn perfectly from our mistakes—An analysis of a mathematical economic game suggests that even learning from past mistakes will almost never help us optimise our decision-making – wi...
- + Mars is blasting plasma out of its atmosphere into space—The Red Planet launches large bursts of plasma into space from its upper atmosphere, much like the sun’s coronal mass ejections, despite not having a ...
- + Has the biggest problem in cosmology finally been solved?—For decades, cosmologists have been fighting over the Hubble constant, a number that represents the expansion rate of the universe – it may have final...
- + How to reconnect with long-lost friends, according to science—We are generally as reluctant to contact a long-lost friend as we are to talk to a stranger, but scientists have come up with an approach so it's easi...
- + DeepMind is experimenting with a nearly indestructible robot hand—A new robotic hand can withstand being smashed by pistons or walloped with a hammer. It was designed to survive the trial-and-error interactions requi...
- + Being in two places at once could make a quantum battery charge faster—The quantum principle of superposition – the idea of particles being in multiple places at once – could help make quantum batteries that charge within...
- + Why carbon offsetting your flight isn't the answer—I always add the carbon offset option when buying a flight, but I had a sneaking suspicion I was being greenwashed. Turns out I was right, says Graham...
- + Why criticisms of the proposed Anthropocene epoch miss the point—A proposal to define the Anthropocene as a geological epoch was rejected this March, but humanity's impact on Earth is real, whether formalised or not...
- + It's time to clean up 'forever chemicals' and companies should pay—Artificial compounds found in things like food packaging can be a risk to our health. We can clean them up, but who will foot the vast bill?
- + Global capacity to directly suck CO2 from air has just quadrupled—A new plant in Iceland operated by the firm Climeworks can remove up to 36,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per year, more than quadrupling e...
- + DeepMind AI can predict how drugs interact with proteins—The latest version of the AlphaFold AI can help biologists predict how proteins interact with each other and other molecules, which is a boon to pharm...
- + Psychedelic toxins from toads could treat depression and anxiety—A compound emitted by the Colorado river toad may reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in a similar way to LSD and psilocybin, according to a stu...
- + Ultrasonic coffee-maker produces the perfect cold brew in minutes—Cold-brewing coffee can reduce its bitter taste, but it normally takes up to 24 hours as the grounds slowly steep. A new method that involves pummelli...
- + Fusion reactors could create ingredients for a nuclear weapon in weeks—Concern over the risks of enabling nuclear weapons development is usually focused on nuclear fission reactors, but the potential harm from more advanc...
- + Can genetically modifying a rare marsupial save it from extinction?—Researchers are aiming to make the northern quoll resistant to the toxic cane toads wiping it out in Australia, but little progress has been made
- + Hottest April on record is the 11th record-breaking month in a row—Global temperatures in April 2024 were 1.6°C higher than the average for April during the pre-industrial era
- + Longest-living cat breeds revealed by life expectancy study—Birman and Burmese cats typically live for more than 14 years while sphynxes live less than half as long on average, finds a study of pet cats in the ...
- + Renewables supply 30 per cent of global electricity for the first time—The rapid growth of solar power led to a record-breaking year for clean energy generation in 2023, and the year is expected to mark the start of a lon...
- + Sperm whale clicks could be the closest thing to a human language yet—Analysis of thousands of exchanges between the intelligent cetaceans suggests they combine short click patterns – similar to letters of the alphabet -...
- + Hackers can steal data by messing with a computer's processor—Software that has been blocked from connecting to the internet should be secure from hacking attempts, but now researchers have found a way to sneak d...
- + Lack of US bird flu tracking in cows may raise risk of human infection—The strategy for tracking bird flu in US dairy cattle falls worryingly short of what is needed to prevent the outbreak from widening and potentially s...
- + Implantable heart pump could let children wait for transplants at home—An implantable heart pump could help children with heart failure awaiting transplants forego bulky devices that require long hospital stays
- + Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launch delayed due to rocket fault—Two astronauts will have to wait to set off for the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, following a problem with the Atlas ...
- + Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is about to make its first crewed flight—Two astronauts are about to set off for the International Space aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule. If all goes well, Starliner will join SpaceX’s Drag...
- + Ball-balancing robot could assist wheelchair users—A robot that moves around by balancing on a ball could prove a better assistant for wheelchair users than humanoid robots that walk on two legs
- + How Schrödinger's cat could make quantum computers work better—A quantum bit inspired by Schrödinger’s cat can resist making errors for an unprecedentedly long time, which makes it a candidate for building less er...
- + Black holes scramble information – but may not be the best at it—Information contained within quantum objects gets scrambled when they interact. Physicists have now derived a speed limit for this process, challengin...
- + Zebras bob their heads at each other to signal cooperation—Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilitie...
- + Swallowable sensor unfurls in stomach to monitor gut health—A ribbon of electrodes could nestle in the gut to help diagnose gastrointestinal diseases linked to Parkinson’s
- + Stink bugs grow a fungal garden on their legs to fight parasitic wasps—A surprise discovery has revealed that female stink bugs have a small indent on their hind legs that they use for cultivating fungi before spreading i...
- + Autoimmune conditions linked to reactivated X chromosome genes—The inactivation of one copy of the X chromosome in female mammals may start to fail as they get older, which may be why women have a higher risk of a...
- + Red squirrels were hosts for leprosy in medieval England—DNA analysis of remains found at medieval sites has identified closely related strains of leprosy-causing bacteria in the bones of humans and a red sq...
- + Protocells on early Earth may have been formed by squeezing geysers—Simulations of the crust of early Earth show that cycles of pressure caused by geysers or tidal forces could have generated cell-like structures and e...
- + Flies undertake epic migrations that may be vital for pollination—Migrating flies can carry pollen hundreds or thousands of kilometres, and this could help plants adapt to climate change
- + China is sending its Chang’e 6 spacecraft to the far side of the moon—If all goes well, the Chang’e 6 probe will be the first ever to land on the far side of the moon to take samples and bring them back to Earth
- + Mysterious space signals may come from a dead star with a planet—Strange bursts of radio waves called FRBs have long been mysterious, and one of the most famous sources of these flashes may have an unexpected planet
- + Seven surprising things you may not know about roots—Plants are often celebrated for the parts that are easy to see – flower, leaves, fruit – but scientists are uncovering the secrets of their more myste...
- + Indoor climbing wall users may be breathing in toxic rubber dust—The air and dust in climbing centres contain high levels of rubber particles from the soles of climbing shoes, some of which contain toxic additives
- + Rising temperatures are cooking bumblebee nests and killing larvae—Climate change could be fueling bumblebee population loss by making hives too hot to handle
- + Orangutan is first non-human seen treating wounds with medicinal plant—A male Sumatran orangutan chewed the leaves of a plant used in Indonesian traditional medicine and placed them on a wound on his face
- + MMR vaccines may not always give lifelong immunity against measles—Levels of protection measles provided by the MMR jab fall by a small amount every year, according to mathematical modelling
- + Politicians can use social media ads to buy votes for €4 per person—An analysis of the 2021 German federal elections has found that for every 200,000 times a politician's social media adverts were viewed, their vote sh...
- + Politicians can use social media ads to buy votes for just €4—An analysis of the 2021 German federal elections has found that for every 200,000 times a politician's social media adverts were viewed, their vote sh...
- + Is climate change accelerating after a record year of heat?—The record-breaking heat of 2023 has seen a rare disagreement break out between climate scientists, with some saying it shows Earth may have entered a...
- + Corals that recover from bleaching still struggle to breed—Corals can survive heat-related bleaching, but research from the Great Barrier Reef suggests a full recovery may take longer than we thought
- + GPS jamming traced to Russia after flights over Europe suspended—Finnair has cancelled flights to Tartu in Estonia this month because of an ongoing GPS jamming attack – and there is evidence that the attack is being...
- + European summers will be hotter than predicted because of cleaner air—By ignoring declining air pollution, regional climate models have greatly underestimated how hot Europe's summers and heatwaves will become
- + The shift to LED lighting is stopping us from seeing our night skies—From an energy perspective, the move away from sodium vapour lamps to LEDs is great, but the news isn't so good when it comes to light pollution. The ...
- + The unexpected effects of nostalgia on our health and at work—Nostalgia isn’t only about a rose-tinted view of the past. This emotion can also be put to use in surprising places, says Agnes Arnold-Forster
- + India's next leader will have the chance to lead the world on climate—The future prime minister of this increasingly powerful nation should be prepared to play a key role in global climate policy
- + Why warm drinks taste more alcoholic than cold ones—Chemists have found a link between the taste of a beverage and the shapes formed by its water and ethanol molecules, which explains why spirits like w...
- + Father's gut microbiome may affect infant health—Disrupted gut microbiomes in male mice increase their offspring’s risk of low birth weight, stunted growth and premature death
- + Being angry for just 8 minutes could increase risk of a heart attack—People who were asked to recall past events that made them angry experienced a change to their blood vessels that has been linked with heart attacks
- + Odd bump on praying mantis chest is actually world’s weirdest tongue—A bristly bump on some mantises’ chests is a never-before-seen “gustifolium”, which may have evolved to help the insects with their highly specialised...
- + Want to move fast? Look for these materials in your next running shoes—Spiked running shoes with a rubbery material between the inner and outer soles, and a stiff plate to improve stability, seem to help people move faste...
- + Running around a 'wall of death' could keep moon settlers fit—Lunar settlers could avoid health problems like muscle wasting by running on the inside of a circular wall to mimic the pull of Earth’s gravity on the...
- + Carbon-negative cement can be made with a mineral that helps catch CO2—A process to dissolve the mineral olivine in acid could provide a plentiful, energy-efficient material for carbon-negative cement
- + How could we make a solar eclipse happen every day?—Total solar eclipses are astonishing, but travelling to get to one is less so – this episode of Dead Planets Society is all about rearranging the sola...
- + Most brain monitors sold to consumers don't keep your data private—A report found data privacy problems with the vast majority of 30 companies that sell neurotechnology devices to consumers. New US state laws aim to c...
- + Australia places A$1 billion bet on quantum computing firm PsiQuantum—A joint investment by the Australian federal government and the government of Queensland makes PsiQuantum one of the largest dedicated quantum computi...
- + How India has slowly but surely become a major player in space—India’s space agency has been remarkably successful in recent years, growing the country’s prestige on the global stage – and the 2024 election is unl...
- + India is poised to become a climate leader, but is it up to the task?—As the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, climate policy decisions taken by India will shape the fate of the entire world. But can it ...
- + Plastic pollution treaty would be 'failure' without tackling emissions—Plastic production is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than flying – at a summit in Canada, countries were divided on how to deal with th...
- + Foxes' skulls are specially adapted for diving into snow—Red foxes and Arctic foxes dive headfirst into snow at up to 4 metres per second to catch small rodents, and the shape of their snouts reduces the imp...
- + English oaks can withstand warming – but other trees will struggle—Climate change means many tree species planted today in Europe won’t survive to the end of the century, but English oaks could thrive in many areas
- + Genetically modified golden rice may yet succeed in the Philippines—A court in the Philippines revoked the permit to grow rice genetically modified to boost vitamin A, but the government is expected to appeal against t...
- + Toxic chemicals from car tyres can get into soil and contaminate food—Governments need to take action to protect people from potentially toxic additives in tyre rubber, say researchers after finding they can get into foo...
- + AI that determines risk of death helps save lives in hospital trial—An AI trained on the heart's electrical activity alerted physicians about patients at high risk of dying, significantly reducing deaths in a clinical ...
- + Image-generating AI creates uncanny optical illusions—Generative AI models designed to create images from text can be adapted to construct complex optical illusions - pictures that look like different thi...
- + How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic—As the US grapples with an ongoing bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle, the country’s health agencies are ramping up surveillance efforts and working to...
- + Bowhead whales still harmed from whaling that ended a century ago—Commercial bowhead whaling ended in the early 20th century, but the industry’s lasting effects on the whales’ genetic diversity are leading to decline...
- + 5 extraordinary ideas about the mind and what it means to be conscious—To celebrate the launch of our new event series in the US, kicking off with a masterclass on the brain and consciousness, we have unlocked five incred...
- + Rare mutation that causes short stature may shed light on ageing—The genetic variant, which causes people to be insensitive to growth hormone, may also protect people from heart disease
- + Alpacas are the only mammals known to directly inseminate the uterus—When alpacas mate, males deposit sperm directly into the uterus, a reproductive strategy not confirmed in any other mammals
- + Asteroid that broke up over Berlin was fastest-spinning one ever seen—Before it shattered over Germany, the asteroid 2024 BX1 was clocked rotating once every 2.6 seconds – the fastest spin we have observed
- + Global warming could make tides higher as well as raising sea levels—In addition to the overall rise in sea level, the heights of tides are also changing as the oceans warm and separate into more distinct layers
- + Deepfake politicians may have a big influence on India’s elections—Political campaigns are deploying AI-generated deepfake versions of politicians to reach hundreds of millions of eligible voters in India’s 2024 elect...
- + Two medicines for opioid addiction also help with compulsive gambling—The medicines nalmefene and naltrexone helped compulsive gamblers reduce their betting activities, trials have shown
- + Swarm of nanorobots can remove tiny plastic fragments from water—In just 2 hours, small metal robots can capture most nanoscopic plastic particles from a sample of water
- + Wasps use face-recognition brain cells to identify each other—The neurons in wasp brains that help them recognise hive mates are similar to those in the brains of primates, including humans
- + Supermassive black holes may provide a nursery for mini ones to grow—The supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies may capture smaller black holes. Not only does this prove a place for the small black holes to...
- + Birthplace of red asteroid Kamo‘oalewa pinned to specific moon crater—The redness of asteroid 469219 Kamo‘oalewa marks it out as probably originating on the moon, and now we might know the exact impact crater it was laun...
- + Rat neuron injection lets mice that can’t smell sniff out cookies—Mice that had been genetically modified to lack the ability to smell could sniff out hidden cookies when sensory neurons from rats were grown in their...
- + Modern rose hybrids have a worrying lack of genetic diversity—Intensive breeding since the 19th century has created thousands of varieties of rose, but a reduction in genetic diversity could leave them vulnerable...
- + Brain activity seems to be more complex in baby girls than boys—When fetuses and babies were exposed to sound stimuli, their brains' subsequent activity appeared to be more complicated in the females than the males
- + India’s healthcare system falls short despite Modi’s improvements—More than 1.4 billion people live in India, giving its healthcare system a major role in planetary well-being. In the past 10 years, prime minister Na...
- + Can India build a world-leading computer chip industry from scratch?—India currently has a fairly small chip-manufacturing industry, but prime minister Narendra Modi wants the country to become a dominant player in the ...
- + Japan’s SLIM moon lander has shockingly survived a third lunar night—Almost all moon landers break down during the extraordinary cold of lunar night, but Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon has astonishingly sur...
- + Quantum forces used to automatically assemble tiny device—The very weak forces of attraction caused by the Casimir effect can now be used to manipulate microscopic gold flakes and turn them into a light-trapp...
- + Culling predatory starfish conserves coral on the Great Barrier Reef—Targeted culling of crown-of-thorns starfish has resulted in parts of the Great Barrier Reef maintaining and even increasing coral cover, leading rese...
- + Why curbing chatbots' worst exploits is a game of whack-a-mole—AI companies are trying to impose safety measures on their chatbots, while researchers are finding ways around them all the time. Where will this end,...
- + Why we need to modernise our emotional relationship with cancer—Cancer has been one of the world's most feared diseases for decades. But this "cancerphobia" no longer matches the evidence and is doing great harm, a...
- + Let's not trash recycling technologies that could end plastic waste—Some environmental campaigners claim that attempts to create a circular economy for plastics are doomed to fail – but the arguments can be disingenuou...
- + Huge genetic study redraws the tree of life for flowering plants—Using genomic data from more than 9500 species, biologists have mapped the evolutionary relationships between flowering plants
- + Nuclear fusion experiment overcomes two key operating hurdles—Two important barriers to a stable, powerful fusion reaction have been leapt by an experiment in a small tokamak reactor, but we don’t yet know if the...
- + Your diet may influence how effective vaccines are for you—Obese mice that lost weight on a low-fat diet before getting a flu shot had better immune responses than those that lost weight afterwards, suggesting...
- + Huge dinosaur footprints belonged to one of the largest raptors ever—A set of large, distinctive footprints suggest a raptor dinosaur that lived in East Asia 96 million years ago grew to a length of 5 metres
- + Exquisite fossils of Cretaceous shark solve mystery of how it hunted—Six full-body fossils of Ptychodus sharks have been formally analysed for the first time, revealing that they were fast swimmers that preyed on shelle...
- + Climate change could make it harder to detect submarines—Climate change’s effects on ocean water temperatures and salinity could shrink sonar detection ranges underwater and make it more challenging to spot ...
- + Will Amazon's robotic revolution spark a new wave of job losses?—Amazon says it will create new jobs to replace roles taken over by machines, but it isn’t clear whether this will happen quickly enough
- + Ships smuggling Russian oil spotted in satellite images by AI—AI can analyse satellite images to reveal the movements of dark ships in a shadow fleet that smuggles oil and other cargo from sanctioned countries su...
- + Should we tweak the atmosphere to counteract global warming?—With severe climate impacts becoming more and more apparent, many scientists think we should explore ways to block out solar radiation, but doing so w...
- + Glucose monitors may misclassify people as being at risk of diabetes—Our blood sugar levels vary a lot from day to day, so results from continuous glucose monitors need to be interpreted with caution
- + Some scientists say insects are conscious – it doesn't settle anything—A group of around 40 scientists signed a declaration calling for formal acknowledgement of consciousness in a range of animals, including insects and ...
- + Has the US finally figured out how to do high-speed rail?—As work begins on building the US’s first high-speed rail service – linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas – analysts say the project could serve as a bluep...
- + Single atoms captured morphing into quantum waves in startling image—In the 1920s, Erwin Schrödinger wrote an equation that predicts how particles-turned-waves should behave. Now, researchers are perfectly recreating th...
- + Deliberate fires are responsible for half of the land burned each year—The finding that managed fires burn a much greater area than thought means we may be underestimating the increase in wildfires due to global heating
- + Drug residue can be detected in fingerprints left at crime scenes—Forensic investigators can reliably measure drug and explosive residue using gels that lift fingerprint samples
- + Geoengineering could save the ice sheets – but only if we start soon—Shading the planet by spraying aerosols into the stratosphere might stave off ice sheet collapse, modelling studies suggest, but we are running out of...
- + Nocturnal ants use polarised moonlight to find their way home—An Australian bull ant is the first animal known to use the patterns produced by polarised moonlight to navigate its environment
- + How cannabis gets you high and alters your perception—20 April is weed's unofficial holiday. In honour of the special day, we collected our answers to all your cannabis questions. This is the science of 4...
- + Knot theory could help spacecraft navigate crowded solar systems—It can be difficult to figure out how to move a spacecraft from one orbit to another, but a trick from knot theory can help find spots where shifting ...
- + Animals may help ecosystems store 3 times more carbon than we thought—Carbon storage calculations don’t always take into account the effects of animals – when they eat, defecate and die, they help store lots of carbon
- + Songs that birds 'sing' in their dreams translated into sound—By measuring how birds’ vocal muscles move while they are asleep and using a physical model for how those muscles produce sound, researchers have pull...
- + Your genes may influence how much you enjoy listening to music—Identical twins seem to experience more similar levels of pleasure when listening to music than non-identical twins, which suggests it has a genetic e...
- + Wind turbines based on condor wings could capture more energy—Curved wing tips inspired by the world's heaviest flying bird could enhance the efficiency of wind turbines by of 10 per cent, according to simulation...
- + Early humans spread as far north as Siberia 400,000 years ago—A site in Siberia has evidence of human presence 417,000 years ago, raising the possibility that hominins could have reached North America much earlie...
- + Autonomous e-scooters could ride themselves back to charging points—Teams of staff usually return e-scooters to where they will be needed, but adapted scooters that can balance and stop themselves, and be controlled re...
- + Extreme heat in 2023 linked to drastic slump in growth of marine life—Last year’s marine heatwaves saw an unprecedented decline in the growth of phytoplankton and algae, which many animals in the oceans depend on for foo...
- + Dietary changes relieve irritable bowel syndrome better than medicine—Both a special diet that excludes “FODMAP” compounds and a low-carb high-fibre diet were effective
- + Cocaine seems to hijack brain pathways that prioritise food and water—Cocaine and morphine hijacked neural responses in the brains of mice, which resulted in them consuming less food and water
- + Fossil snake discovered in India may have been the largest ever—The vertebrae of Vasuki indicus, a snake that lived 47 million years ago, suggest it could have been as long as 15 metres
- + Jupiter's moon Io has been a volcanic inferno for billions of years—Measurements of sulphur isotopes in Io’s atmosphere show that the moon may have been volcanically active for its entire lifetime
- + Quantum-proof encryption may not actually stop quantum hackers—Cryptographers are scrambling to understand an algorithm that could undermine the mathematics behind next-generation encryption methods, which are int...
- + Particles move in beautiful patterns when they have ‘spatial memory’—A mathematical model of a particle that remembers its past so that it never travels the same path twice produces stunningly complex patterns
- + Ancient Maya burned their dead rulers to mark a new dynasty—In the foundations of a Maya temple, researchers found the charred bones of royal individuals – possibly evidence of a fiery ritual to mark the end of...
- + What is cloud seeding and did it cause the floods in Dubai?—Cloud seeding almost certainly did not play a significant role in the flooding on the Arabian peninsula this week – but the heavy rains may have been ...
- + Ancient marine reptile found on UK beach may be the largest ever—The jawbone of an ichthyosaur uncovered in south-west England has been identified as a new species, and researchers estimate that the whole animal was...
- + Ancient humans lived inside a lava tube in the Arabian desert—Underground tunnels created by lava flows provided humans with shelter for thousands of years beneath the hot desert landscape of Saudi Arabia
- + Why we need to change the way we think about exhaustion—One in five adults worldwide is living with fatigue. The general advice is to “do more” - but this isn’t the only solution to our exhaustion epidemic,...
- + Old-fashioned pessimism might actually help us fight climate change—Negative thinking is unpopular but it could drive more realistic efforts to limit harm from global warming
- + Skin-deep wounds can damage gut health in mice—We know there is some connection between skin and gut health, but many assumed the gut was the one calling the shots. A new study suggests that the in...
- + Intel reveals world's biggest 'brain-inspired' neuromorphic computer—A computer intended to mimic the way the brain processes and stores data could potentially improve the efficiency and capabilities of artificial intel...
- + Turning plants blue with gene editing could make robot weeding easier—Weeding robots can sometimes struggle to tell weeds from crops, but genetically modifying the plants we want to keep to make them brightly coloured wo...
- + A cicada double brood is coming – it's less rare than you think—Up to 17 US states could be peppered with more than a trillion cicadas this spring, and though it has been a while since these two specific broods eme...
- + Dusting farms with waste concrete could boost yields and lock up CO2—Ground-up concrete can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a similar way to ground-up rocks, according to a field study in Ireland
- + Colonies of single-celled creatures could explain how embryos evolved—We know little about how embryonic development in animals evolved from single-celled ancestors, but simple organisms with a multicellular life stage o...
- + Sleeping bumblebees can survive underwater for a week—A serendipitous lab accident revealed that hibernating bumblebee queens can make it through days of flooding, revealing that they are less vulnerable ...
- + Starfish have hundreds of feet but no brain – here's how they move—Starfish feet are coordinated purely through mechanical loading, enabling the animals to bounce rhythmically along the seabed without a central nervou...
- + Our plans to tackle climate change with carbon storage don't add up—Modelling that shows how the world can remain below 1.5°C of warming assumes we can store vast amounts of carbon dioxide underground, but a new analys...
- + How to destroy a black hole—A black hole would be tough to destroy, but in the season two premiere of Dead Planets Society our hosts are willing to go to extremes, from faster-th...
- + Watch a swarm of cyborg cockroaches controlled by computers—Remote-controlled cockroaches with computers mounted on their backs can move as a swarm towards a target location, and could be used for search missio...
- + A surprisingly enormous black hole has been found in our galaxy—A black hole 33 times the mass of the sun is the largest stellar black hole ever spotted, and its strange companion star could help explain how it got...
- + Tiny nematode worms can grow enormous mouths and become cannibals—One species of nematode worm turns into a kin-devouring nightmare if it grows up in a crowded environment with a poor diet
- + Geoscientists are using telecom 'dark fibres' to map Earth’s innards—The networks of fibre optic cables that criss-cross the planet could be used to better understand what’s happening inside it
- + Parkinson's disease progression slowed by antibody infusions—Monthly infusions with the drug prasinezumab appeared to slow the progression of motor symptoms in people with advanced Parkinson's disease
- + Deadly upwellings of cold water pose threat to migratory sharks—Climate change is making extreme cold upwellings more common in certain regions of the world, and these events can be catastrophic for animals such as...
- + Are panda sex lives being sabotaged by the wrong gut microbes?—Conservationists think tweaking pandas’ diets might shift their gut microbiomes in a way that could encourage them to mate
- + See inside an endangered California condor egg just before it hatches—The hatching of the 250th California condor chick at the San Diego Zoo marks a notable milestone for a species that narrowly evaded extinction
- + ‘Peaceful’ male bonobos may actually be more aggressive than chimps—Bonobos have long been regarded as the peaceful ape, in sharp contrast with violent chimpanzees, but a study based on thousands of hours of observatio...
- + Arctic permafrost is now a net source of major greenhouse gases—An Arctic-wide survey has found that the permafrost region is emitting more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs, causing the planet to heat eve...
- + Chatbots can persuade conspiracy theorists their view might be wrong—After a short conversation with an artificial intelligence, people’s belief in a conspiracy theory dropped by about 20 per cent
- + Untangling the enigmatic origins of the human family’s newest species—Five years ago, a fossil found in the Philippines was determined to be from a new species of hominin called Homo luzonensis. Since then, we’ve learned...
- + Water purifier is powered by static electricity from your body—A 10-minute walk can build up enough static electricity to power a battery-free water purifier, which could be especially helpful during disasters or ...
- + Embryos pause development when nutrients are low — and now we know how—Embryos seem to have a sensor that picks up when nutrients are scarce, prompting them to pause their development until resources become more abundant ...
- + A bacterium has evolved into a new cellular structure inside algae—A once-independent bacterium has evolved into an organelle that provides nitrogen to algal cells – an event so rare that there are only three other kn...
- + AI can spot parasites in stool samples to help diagnose infections—About 1.5 billion people worldwide carry a risk of conditions including malnutrition because of parasitic infection, and AI could help identify those ...
- + Quantum 'supersolid' matter stirred using magnets—We can’t stir ordinary solids, but one research team now claims to have stirred an extraordinary quantum “supersolid”, generating tiny vortices
- + How Peter Higgs revealed the forces that hold the universe together—The physicist Peter Higgs quietly revolutionised quantum field theory, then lived long enough to see the discovery of the Higgs boson he theorised. De...
- + Testing drugs on mini-cancers in the lab may reveal best treatment—A small early-stage trial of the approach, which involves testing dozens of drug combinations on thousands of dishes of cells, may help people with ca...
- + Air pollution can make insects mate with the wrong species—Ground-level ozone, a product of pollution from cars, degrades insect pheromones, and this can result in mismatched mating and sterile offspring
- + Planets that look alike might be a sign of spacefaring aliens—We don’t know what alien life might look like, but if other civilisations can colonise multiple worlds, we might see planets that look unusually simil...
- + Watch mini humanoid robots showing off their football skills—These soccer-playing robots can respond faster than ones trained in a standard way because they improved their skills via an artificial intelligence-b...
- + Some of our favourite songs make us sad, which may be why we like them—Our favourite sad songs seem to become less enjoyable when we try to take the emotion out of them
- + Post-surgery infections may mainly be caused by skin bacteria—The skin microbiome may be a bigger cause of post-operative wound infections than bacteria contaminating hospital equipment
- + Why AIs that tackle complex maths could be the next big breakthrough—Research-level mathematics might seem an unlikely proving ground for artificial intelligence, but recent developments suggest it offers a route to aut...
- + We can't get to net zero without tackling inequality—Inequality is a major obstacle to sustainability. The super-rich are an environmental horror story that we can't ignore, says Graham Lawton
- + Why nutrition needs to be on the educational agenda—Nutrition must be as essential as maths or science at our educational institutions to solve the US obesity crisis, says Aman Majmudar
- + Bizarre crystal made only of electrons revealed in astonishing detail—To capture the clearest and most direct images of a “Wigner crystal”, a structure made entirely of electrons, researchers used a special kind of micro...
- + Fractal pattern identified at molecular scale in nature for first time—An enzyme in a cyanobacterium can take the unusual form a triangle containing ever-smaller triangular gaps, making a fractal pattern
- + Treating gum disease may ward off an irregular heartbeat—Inflamed gum tissue may allow bacteria in the mouth to enter the bloodstream, which could affect the heart
- + Mathematician wins Turing award for harnessing randomness—Avi Wigderson has won the 2023 Turing award for his work on understanding how randomness can shape and improve computer algorithms
- + Phone batteries could last 50% longer if more 5G towers are built—Adding more masts could reduce the overall energy use of phone networks by two-thirds and boost handset battery life by 50 per cent
- + Peter Higgs, physicist who theorised the Higgs boson, has died aged 94—Nobel prizewinning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs has died aged 94. He proposed the particle that gives other particles mass – now named the Higgs ...
- + Oral vaccine prevents recurring UTIs for nine years—An oral vaccine in the form of a pineapple-flavoured spray prevented recurrent urinary tract infections in 53.9 per cent of clinical trial participant...
- + Australia’s Indigenous people were making pottery over 2000 years ago—An excavation on an island in the Coral Sea shows that Indigenous Australians were producing ceramics long before the arrival of Europeans
- + One of the biggest mysteries of cosmology may finally be solved—The expansion rate of the universe, measured by the Hubble constant, has been one of the most controversial numbers in cosmology for years, and we see...
- + Northern white rhino could be saved from extinction using frozen skin—We have enough genetic material to bring back the northern white rhino, but doing so won’t be easy
- + Prosthetic hands are easier to control using unrelated muscles—Random-seeming hand gestures seem to help people control prosthetic hands better than ones that mimic their ordinary muscle movements
- + The multiverse could be much, much bigger than we ever imagined—A new way of interpreting the elusive mathematics of quantum mechanics could fundamentally change our understanding of reality
- + Physicists created an imaginary magnetic field in real life—Researchers have used quantum light to create a magnetic field with a strength that is measured in imaginary numbers
- + Dumping green sand in shallow seas could let them absorb more CO2—Releasing 1 gigatonne of ground-up olivine on coastal shelves each year could help lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, find researchers, but ques...
- + March 2024 is the 10th consecutive month to break temperature records—Every month since April 2023 has been the hottest on record, as climate continues its record-breaking streak
- + Eclipse 2024: 5 of the best pictures of the total solar eclipse—On 8 April, a total solar eclipse passed over Mexico, the US and Canada – here are some of the most stunning images
- + AI pop-ups can help you stop doomscrolling on your phone—An AI program can learn from smartphone users' behaviours in order to send timely pop-up reminders about when to close attention-grabbing apps. The sy...
- + Long covid linked to signs of ongoing inflammatory responses in blood—People with long covid after a serious covid-19 infection have raised levels of many immune molecules in their blood. Better understanding how these m...
- + Stone Age blades could have been used for butchery, not just hunting—A modern butchery experiment using replicas of Stone Age tools raises new questions about how often prehistoric peoples hunted large animals such as b...
- + When is the next total solar eclipse visible from the UK?—The next time a total solar eclipse will be visible from the UK is decades away, but there are other places nearby that will experience one sooner
- + Cannabis use in pregnancy may raise children’s risk of ADHD and autism—A study of more than 220,000 people found that cannabis use during pregnancy was associated with their children having roughly twice the risk of ADHD,...
- + 5 solar eclipse activities to do with children—From building an eclipse viewer to using the sun to pop balloons, here's a child-friendly activity guide for April's eclipse
- + We finally know why Stephen Hawking's black hole equation works—Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein calculated the entropy of a black hole in the 1970s, but it took physicists until now to figure out the quantum e...
- + Suppressing wildfires is harming California’s giant sequoia trees—California’s rare sequoias rely on high heat to disperse their seeds, and efforts to reduce the size of wildfires may be damaging their ability to rep...
- + How a total solar eclipse in 1919 left physicists 'more or less agog'—One total solar eclipse changed physics forever – and even to this day these celestial phenomena are astonishing viewers and teaching us crucial lesso...
- + Left-handed monkeys prompt rethink about evolution of right-handedness—A popular idea links primates living on the ground with a tendency for right-handedness, but findings from urban langurs in India cast doubt on the id...
- + The mathematician who worked out how to time travel—Mathematics suggested that time travel is physically possible – and Kurt Gödel proved it. Mathematician Karl Sigmund explains how the polymath did it
- + How mass bleaching has pushed the Great Barrier Reef to the brink—Diving at One Tree Island in one of the most highly protected parts of the Great Barrier Reef reveals the shocking extent of the latest mass bleaching...
- + Eclipse 2024: When is it and where can I see it?—North America will have a total solar eclipse on 8 April – here is where, when and how to view it safely
- + Could an MRI scan make prostate cancer screening more accurate?—Combining PSA blood tests with MRI scans is making the screening less harmful, but it still should be targeted only at high-risk groups, such as men w...
- + Should we be worried about a bird flu pandemic in the US?—One person in the US has contracted bird flu after being exposed to dairy cows that have the virus, but experts say there is no immediate threat of a ...
- + There are hints that dark energy may be getting weaker—The standard model of cosmology says that the strength of dark energy should be constant, but tentative hints are emerging that it may have weakened r...
- + What is Disease X and do we need to worry about it?—The term “Disease X” means a new infection, or an existing pathogen that has mutated to become more dangerous, with the potential to cause a global pa...
- + Why some songs make our heart swell and others give us butterflies—Where in our body we feel the physical sensation of hearing music seems to depend on how surprising the piece's chords are
- + Bisexual women expect to have an orgasm with women more than with men—When asked to imagine a hypothetical sexual encounter, bisexual women anticipated that they would be more likely to orgasm with another woman than wit...
- + Electric vehicles have lowered San Francisco's carbon footprint—A network of sensors stretching from San Francisco to Sonoma county’s vineyards shows that electric vehicles have helped lower carbon emissions by alm...
- + Marine protected areas aren't helping fish populations recover—Protected zones are meant to let adult fish populations recover from overfishing, but an analysis of 111 sites in the Caribbean finds that this is not...
- + Banning smartphones is tempting but it won't solve anxiety in children—Anxiety is on the rise in young people but we need to follow the science - and the causes aren't clearly linked to social media
- + I might be an astrophysicist, but I'm still learning about stargazing—I have two degrees in astronomy, so you'd think I would know what I'm doing when it comes to looking at the sky. I don't, but I'm trying to change tha...
- + Why it is time for a longevity revolution—With global life expectancy now exceeding 70 years old, we need to change how we age, not how long we age, says Andrew Scott
- + Microsoft and Quantinuum’s quantum computer may be most reliable yet—A quantum computer built by Quantinuum uses “logical quantum bits” designed by Microsoft to run simple computational routines with an unprecedented le...
- + The ambitious plans to study the sun during April's solar eclipse—Solar scientists have been preparing for years for a 4-minute window, during the total solar eclipse on 8 April, in which they will study the sun's co...
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