Saving the Asian ‘Unicorn’ — If it Still Exists
Is it extinct, or does it still roam somewhere deep in the misty highland forests of Vietnam and Laos? It has been nicknamed the Asian unicorn due to its almost…
Mathematician Solves Algebra’s Oldest Problem Using Intriguing New Number Sequences
A UNSW Sydney mathematician has discovered a new method to tackle algebra’s oldest challenge — solving higher polynomial equations. Polynomials are equations involving a variable raised to powers, such as…
Scientists Observe How Blobs Form Crystals and Discover a New Crystal Type
Meet “Zangenite,” a hollow crystal structure named after the NYU grad student who found it Crystals—from sugar and table salt to snowflakes and diamonds—don’t always grow in a straightforward way.…
A Vast Molecular Cloud, Long Invisible, is Discovered Near Solar System
An international team of scientists led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick astrophysicist has discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and…
Flying Robots Unlock New Horizons in Construction
Robotic arms and 3D printing gantries can already be found on construction sites — albeit mostly as heavy, permanently installed systems on the ground. They quickly reach their limits on…
Did it Rain or Snow on Ancient Mars? New Study Suggests It Did
Visit ancient Mars — a surprisingly temperate planet where snow or rain falls from the sky, and rivers rush down valleys to feed hundreds of lakes. A new study from…
Hints of Possible Biological Activity Outside the Solar System Observed with JWST
The latest development in the search for life elsewhere – Professor Nikku Madhusudhan from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge explains recent observations with the James Webb…
On Jupiter, it’s Mushballs All the Way Down
Imagine a Slushee™ composed of ammonia and water encased in a hard shell of water ice. Now picture these ice-encrusted slushballs, dubbed “mushballs,” raining down like hailstones during a thunderstorm,…
Sophisticated Pyrotechnology in the Ice Age: This is How Humans Made Fire Tens of Thousands of Years Ago
Whether for cooking, heating, as a light source or for making tools — it is assumed that fire was essential for the survival of people in the Ice Age. However,…
From Boring to Bursting: Giant Black Hole Awakens
Although we know that supermassive black holes (millions of times the mass of our Sun) lurk at the centre of most galaxies, their very nature makes them difficult to spot…
Scientists Complete Largest Wiring Diagram and Functional Map of the Brain to Date
The MICrONS Project is considered the most complicated neuroscience experiment ever attempted From a tiny sample of tissue no larger than a grain of sand, scientists have come within reach…
Mediterranean Hunter Gatherers Navigated Long-Distance Sea Journeys Well Before the First Farmers
Small, remote islands were long thought to have been the last frontiers of pristine natural systems. Humans are not thought to have been able to reach or inhabit these environments…
Saturn’s Moon Titan Could Harbor Life, but Only a Tiny Amount, Study Finds
Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is a strange, alien world. Covered in rivers and lakes of liquid methane, icy boulders and dunes of soot-like “sand,” its topography has long fascinated scientists…
World’s Smallest Pacemaker is Activated by Light
Tiny device can be inserted with a syringe, then dissolves after it’s no longer needed Northwestern University engineers have developed a pacemaker so tiny that it can fit inside the…
Physicists Use Quantum Entanglement to Crack Mystery of Strange Metals
Discovery has potential to transform energy use by improving superconductors Scientists have long sought to unravel the mysteries of strange metals — materials that defy conventional rules of electricity and…
These Electronics-Free Robots Can Walk Right Off the 3D-Printer
Imagine a robot that can walk, without electronics, and only with the addition of a cartridge of compressed gas, right off the 3D-printer. It can also be printed in one…
Chimpanzees Act as ‘Engineers’, Choosing Materials to Make Tools Based on Structural and Mechanical Properties
A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Jane Goodall Institute in…
New Eye Drops Slow Vision Loss in Animals
Treatment shows potential to slow the progression of human degenerative eye diseases, including retinitis pigmentosa Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed eye drops that extend vision…
Squirrel-Inspired Leaping Robot Can Stick a Landing on a Branch
Engineers have designed robots that crawl, swim, fly and even slither like a snake, but no robot can hold a candle to a squirrel, which can parkour through a thicket…
Black Holes: Not Endings, but Beginnings? New Research Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of the Universe
New research suggests black holes may transition into ‘white holes’, ejecting matter and potentially even time back into the universe, defying our current understanding of these cosmic giants. The study…
QIA Researchers Create First Operating System for Quantum Networks
Breakthrough achievement paves the way for practical quantum internet applications Delft, The Netherlands: Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA) researchers at TU Delft, QuTech, University of Innsbruck, INRIA and CNRS recently announced…
Mysterious Phenomenon at Center of Galaxy Could Reveal New Kind of Dark Matter
A mysterious phenomenon at the centre of our galaxy could be the result of a different type of dark matter. Dark matter, the mysterious form of unobserved matter which could…
Paralyzed Man Moves Robotic Arm with His Thoughts
Researchers at UC San Francisco have enabled a man who is paralyzed to control a robotic arm through a device that relays signals from his brain to a computer. He…
ChatGPT on the Couch? How to Calm a Stressed-Out AI
Research shows that AI language models, such as ChatGPT, are sensitive to emotional content. Especially if it is negative, such as stories of trauma or statements about depression. When people…
Comprehensive Resource Describes Functions of More than 20,000 Human Genes
A new resource from the Gene Ontology Consortium, a comprehensive encyclopedia of the known functions of all protein-coding human genes, has just been completed and released on a new website.…