Science
Ancient climate shifts may explain why today's flowering plants are so diverse
The two warmest time periods on Earth in the past 140 million years drove both mass extinctions and explosions in plant diversity, according to researchers in Australia and Austri…
The Fire Retardant in the Seafood Chain
This story is part of an investigation conducted by an international team of journalists based at The Outlaw Ocean Project. Read the other stories here. In January 1966, a South A…
APOD: 2026 October 14 – Mars and the Beehive Under an Aurora
What a cosmic coincidence! In today’s image, Mars joins the Beehive cluster below an auroral curtain and above a horizon of happy little trees near Lansjärv, Sweden.
Hurricane Simon Lurks Off the Mexican Coast
Though it remained offshore, the storm lashed coastal areas with high winds and flooding—and produced remarkable rippling patterns in the upper atmosphere.
Wild bobwhite quail spotted after habitat restoration project
Multiple coveys of wild bobwhite quail were recently sighted at the University of Tennessee's Ames AgResearch and Education Center, marking an encouraging milestone in an ongoing …
Simple cleaning steps could curb deadly fungal disease risks for Australia's wild reptiles
With spring underway and the weather warming, reptiles are on the move in suburbs, parks and scrubland across Australia. Snake catchers and wildlife caregivers are responding to c…
Ultrashort laser pulses offer a new way to probe electrons' quantum geometry
Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Regensburg have developed a method for determining, using light, a quantum property of electrons that has h…
Scientists discover 'D-rex', a giant fungus from Chinese forests whose unique lineage dates back 65 million years
Deep in the forests of Yunnan, China, scientists have discovered a "fungal giant" that challenges our understanding of how large fungi can become. The newly described species, Dia…
Isle of Wight fossil Europe's first known long-clawed megaraptoran dinosaur
A new species of dinosaur—a long-clawed predator the size of a large tiger—has been discovered by a UCL-led team from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight. The dinosaur, described …
Stop making sense: focus on sounds to help learn a language, study suggests
Research shows that the best linguists process unfamiliar foreign speech sounds more like non-speech soundsIf you want to get really good at French, Arabic or Hungarian, don’t sta…
Momentum for Measuring Water Lost in Wyoming’s Portion of the Colorado River Dries Up
Wyoming has shelved a state-funded project to measure water use in the Green River and Little Snake River basins after it could not get enough data to create a basin-wide estimate…
Optical skyrmions can control the motion of magnetic skyrmions
Magnetic skyrmions (MSks) are swirling patterns of magnetization that form inside certain magnetic materials. They can behave like actual particles in many ways, exhibiting a stab…
Patterned X-rays map 3D chemical structures faster with fewer measurements
Seeing inside an object is one thing; seeing exactly what it is made of, in three dimensions, is far more difficult. Now, researchers at Bar-Ilan University and collaborating inst…
Computational model guides lighting design to improve color discrimination in aging eyes
Researchers have developed a new computational model that accounts for the effects of aging on our eyes' ability to discriminate color. It could help guide lighting designs that m…
Hawaiian coral tests reveal heat tolerance varies by species and location
As ocean temperatures rise, corals' ability to withstand and adapt to heat stress is critical for the future of coral reefs. Many reef-building corals already live near their uppe…
Could meditation reveal an SU(3) symmetry shared by the observer and the universe?
You sit down to meditate. A conversation returns, then thoughts. You bring your attention back to the breath. Sometimes, after many such returns, the effort eases. Thoughts lose t…
Drier Texas rivers support simpler food webs and higher animal productivity, study finds
Global warming is often treated as synonymous with climate change, but rising temperatures are only one consequence of the human-driven phenomenon. Changes in rainfall patterns ar…
'Carpet' growth method yields long-sought 2D quantum material
For decades, physicists have sought a practical two-dimensional topological insulator: an ultrathin material whose interior blocks electricity but whose edges conduct it. In ordin…
Faster molecular simulations identify promising diamond defects for quantum computers and sensors
A faster way of finding the best diamond-based materials for quantum computers has been developed by a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics…
New topological microscope tip reveals evidence of 2D altermagnetism
Researchers have fashioned a layered topological material into a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip that senses spin-related electronic states at atomic resolution.
DNA 'flight recorder' traces embryonic development cell by cell
For decades, scientists have been able to look at individual moments in the development of an embryo: a snapshot of a developing brain, a picture of how the heart takes shape or a…
New method helps researchers study proteins involved in plant health, disease
Plants—like people—come in all shapes and sizes. And just like scientists want to understand the components of the human body to treat disease and improve our lives, they also wan…
On this day in space! Oct. 13, 1773: Astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy before we ever knew it was a galaxy
On Oct. 13, 1773, a French astronomer named Charles Messier discovered the "Whirlpool Galaxy," also known as Messier 51, or M51. Here's why it mattered.
Humans and songbirds hear the same sounds, but organize them differently
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University have discovered that humans and songbirds use markedly different strategies to recognize sequences of complex so…