Measuring milk's carbon footprint
Every product or service has a "carbon footprint," a measure of the environmental impact of creating or delivering it.
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Half-billion-year-old fossils rewrite the origin story of starfish
Scientists have discovered several 518-million-year-old fossils that reshape understanding of the origins of the animal group containing starfish. The fossils show that these animals ate using tentacles rather than passively using their gills, as previously thought.
Quantitative training overhaul needed in ecology
Ecologists are collecting more data than ever before, but many still lack confidence in the quantitative skills needed to make sense of it, according to a new paper.
Dual findings reveal how to control coherence in plasmonic nanolasers
Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have uncovered two complementary mechanisms that govern coherence in miniaturized lasers composed of metallic nanoparticle arrays incorporated into an optical gain material, also known as plasmonic lattice lasers.
Mathematician challenges a 2,000-year-old legend about the Parthenon's optical illusions
One of Athens' crowning jewels is the Parthenon, a classical temple on the Acropolis that overlooks the Greek capital. According to legend, many historians, textbooks and tour guides say the ancient Greek architects who designed it added subtle curves and other variations to correct optical illusions that would have disturbed the building's clean lines.
Double dip: Sampling contaminants of emerging concern two ways improves accuracy
Two are better than one when it comes to sampling methods for tracking the location and timing of toxic chemical contamination in waterways, according to researchers at Penn State. The team tested two typical sampling approaches and found that both are needed to accurately assess the variety and concentration of contaminants of emerging concern—pharmaceuticals, personal care products, livestock manure-borne hormones, veterinary antibiotics and pesticides—in a watershed.
New species of egg-eating snake discovered in Ethiopia's Harenna Forest
A new species of snake that feeds exclusively on birds' eggs has been discovered in the Harenna Forest in Ethiopia, one of the last substantial tracts of natural forest left in the Horn of Africa.
Growing up in poverty triples young people's likelihood of becoming NEET
Young people who grow up experiencing persistent poverty are more than three times as likely to be not in education, employment or training (NEET) at 17 or 23 (3.3 and 3.4 times, respectively), according to new analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study by the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Caffeine pollution could disrupt crustacean defenses against predators
While most people are aware of how plastic, arsenic and various industrial chemicals can pollute bodies of water, the effects of caffeine on freshwater environments remain largely unknown. Nonetheless, traces of caffeine, the stimulant contained in coffee and tea, often pass through wastewater treatment systems, entering rivers and streams.
Microbes can produce adhesive materials from glucose instead of petroleum
KAIST researchers have demonstrated the potential of using microorganisms to produce a bio-based alternative to petroleum-derived materials for hot-melt adhesives (HMAs). These heat-activated glues are widely used in packaging, furniture, electronics and automobiles. Using Escherichia coli, the team produced a new polymer from glucose and demonstrated adhesive performance and thermal properties that support its potential use as an HMA.
Three questions: Putting nuclear waste into perspective
For decades, one of the major complaints about nuclear power in the United States has been the argument that, after all this time, we still have not come up with a dependable strategy for sequestering high-level radioactive waste, including spent fuel from plant operation. This issue is of such importance that Haruko Wainwright has put it at the center of her research agenda as an Atlantic Richfield Career Development Professor in Energy Studies at MIT and an associate professor in the departments of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Heating mica to 200°C reveals friction independent of sliding speed
Through joint research with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Tokyo, NIMS for the first time experimentally demonstrated friction completely independent of sliding velocity—an ideal that had never been realized—by heating mica, a layered oxide also used as a lubricant material, to 200°C (392°F). NIMS also clarified that this is caused by the disappearance of defects within crystals at high temperatures.
How bacteria hijack viruses to shuffle their own DNA
When you think of viruses, you probably think of flu-like symptoms and quarantines. Humankind has suffered from viral diseases ranging from smallpox to COVID-19, hantavirus and Ebola since the dawn of recorded history.
Beach-burrowing beasties may shovel more sand than any other animal on Earth
At just an inch (2.5 centimeters) long, the sand hoppers skipping across California's Isla Vista Beach at dawn don't exactly look like a force of nature. But a new study reveals that these shrimp-like creatures might be doing more to shape the landscape in which they live than any other animal on Earth.
A 16-minute train delay shows how a solar storm disrupted Victorian technology
A 178-year-old mystery surrounding one of the earliest recorded examples of space weather affecting technology has been solved by an international team led by Lancaster University.
The Mediterranean is getting warmer and saltier at an ever-faster pace—even thousands of meters below the surface
Across its basins and thousands of meters down, the Mediterranean Sea is getting warmer and saltier. Now, a new study finds it is also doing so at an increasingly rapid pace. The speedup is largest in the central and eastern Mediterranean and strongest of all in the Adriatic, where it reaches all the way to the sea floor.
Is pasta a type of noodle? The surprisingly serious debate over two beloved carbs
Certain taxonomic debates resurface time and again.
Nearly 50 'ghost galaxies' emerge around three hosts, challenging dwarf galaxy counts
Dwarf galaxies—with a mass equal to about a billion suns, but often considerably less—are the most abundant in the universe. However, because of their low luminosity, they are very difficult to detect. They have mostly been discovered in the vicinity of the Milky Way, in what is called the Local Group, but also, and in large quantities, at greater distances, where current instrumentation cannot distinguish individual stars.
The hidden cost of pressure to be a perfect parent
The pressure to be the perfect parent can be overwhelming, but social media and perceived world threats are causing some to become overprotective parents, negatively affecting young people.
A third of Americans cannot name the three branches of government
Over a third of U.S. adults (35%) cannot name all three branches of the government, and under half can name four of the five rights protected by the First Amendment, according to the 2026 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. Of the five First Amendment rights, only freedom of speech is identified by more than half of survey respondents.