Right whales forage near the water's surface at night, putting them at greater risk of potentially fatal collisions with boats, Jay Kirkham at Dalhousie University, Canada, and colleagues report Sept. 16, 2026, in the journal PLOS ONE.
X-ray technology and artificial intelligence—along with the discovery of lead in the ink of fragments from a collection of ancient Roman scrolls—could soon help scientists read long-lost texts buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, according to a study published Sept. 16, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Douglas Seiler, an affiliate of the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.; Jacob Michael LaManna of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S.; David Kreimer of the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.; and colleagues.
Washington State University researchers have discovered how a group of coronaviruses circulating in hedgehogs invades host cells, a key to understanding their potential to jump between species and their risk of causing a pandemic in humans.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope hasn't yet reached its Sun–Earth L2 orbit, and it already has some good news. NASA has announced that the mission has enough fuel to potentially double its mission length. Though initially scheduled for five years of observations, followed by a five-year extended mission, the entire mission could now reach 22 years.
A pellet that dissolves in the toilet, turning the water blue and masking odor after urinating, could help us all save water, according to a first-of-its-kind study from the University of Surrey.
Genomic editing holds great potential yet continues to have limitations. Current methods either rely on untargeted gene delivery or short DNA edits that need to be individualized for each patient. A new paper published today in Nature describes a novel genome engineering method called prime assembly that allows long DNA fragments to be stitched into precise, programmable target positions within living cells. This approach may allow for the development of universal gene therapies that can be used for many patients.
Anyone who has ever damaged a friendship over a supposedly friendly game of Monopoly knows the allure of board games.
From social media to the streets of Washington, D.C., the organized white nationalist movement has become more visible in the United States over the past few decades. But the extent of this extremist movement's appeal to the broader public is less certain.
Common, wide-ranging vertebrate species, such as foxes, may be finding more suitable habitat in towns and cities than in the wider landscape, while rarer species—which live in smaller areas—appear to favor different habitats, according to new research into species across Europe.
Intricate designs engraved across the surface of 18,000-year-old female figurines carved from mammoth ivory were inspired by the distinctive growth patterns visible in the tusks, a new study published in the journal npj Heritage Science has revealed.
Crystals are usually imagined as rigid objects with flat faces and straight edges. A research team led by the University of Osaka has recently created a porous crystal that grows into a spring-like helix. The team also found that the crystal can change shape as solvent molecules move in and out of its internal spaces. Their findings are published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
It's annual property tax collection season, and with it may come questions about how those property taxes are used and, if there's a tax increase, why.
Put a drop of water into a very hot pan, and it can skitter across the surface on a cushion of vapor. This is known as the Leidenfrost effect. Now, scientists have observed a related phenomenon involving ice and an extremely hot surface—on a length scale of billionths of a meter (nanometers) and within billionths of a second (nanoseconds).
This year, the European summer has been sweltering. It is unprecedented in many ways, marked by extreme heat, drought and record-breaking fires. Across the continent, fires have consumed hundreds of homes and prompted the evacuation of thousands of people.
A healthy, green lawn can be the envy of any neighborhood, but how does someone cultivate a yard like that? Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Science Amber Churchill has been getting her hands dirty and digging into the science behind it.
Lichens colonize trees and rocks all over the world. They are symbiotic communities between fungi and photosynthetically active green algae or cyanobacteria, in which both partners benefit from each other: The fungal partner relies on the algae for a supply of carbohydrates and, in return, it protects the algae from UV radiation and other environmental influences. The contact zone where the fungal cells and algal cells touch is crucial for transferring nutrients between the two symbiotic partners. Detailed investigations, particularly a three-dimensional understanding of this area between the cells, have been lacking until now.
As the climate warms, people are more exposed to heat stress, which depresses productivity and the global economy. A study from the University of California, Davis, quantifies the cost of heat stress on global labor.
Our sense of taste is critical for survival, alerting us to substances that provide vital nutrients and those that might poison us. Now, a team led by researchers from the University of Osaka has discovered how one such taste receptor in pufferfish can detect a surprisingly wide range of flavors at once. Their study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Online crowdfunding platforms have enabled teachers in great need of classroom supplies to reach potential donors far beyond their school communities. Yet access to more donors does not automatically eliminate the disparities that shape which projects receive funding.
Some track cyclists appear to break the rules of physics, but a new study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, has created a model explaining the illusion. The results suggest that a quick succession of well-timed moves can help cyclists get a head start without actually breaking the rules of the race or the rules of physics.