Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are thin materials (i.e., one-atom thick) with advantageous electronic properties. These materials have proved to be promising for the development of thinner, highly performing electronics, such as…
In a recent study, Ph.D. candidate Yasmine Flynn-Arajdal studied iconographic representations of children in the Classic (ca. 250–950 AD) and Post-classic (ca. 950–1539 AD) imagery, as well as in ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature,…
Despite the vast numbers of animal species already identified, the natural world is still capable of springing a few surprises. Deep in the cloud forests of the Serra do Quiriri mountain range in the southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest, an…
By analyzing the data from the PHANGS-MUSE survey, an international team of astronomers has inspected a nuclear star cluster of the nearby large spiral galaxy Messier 74. The new study presented Dec. 3 on the arXiv pre-print server,…
Over the past decades, engineers have introduced numerous technologies that rely on light and its underlying characteristics. These include photonic and quantum systems that could advance imaging, communication and information processing.
Plastics are made from crude oil and petroleum by-products, so a team of scientists decided to explore if they could turn waste cooking oil into a useful plastic material, and they succeeded.
Scientists have long been trying to reconstruct the appearance of dinosaurs. The tidbits they are able to piece together from fossils and other analysis are displayed in museums, educational materials, and media, lending to our idea of…
To boost our understanding of a little-known civilization that thrived more than 3,000 years ago, scientists have built an easy-to-use digital catalog of 483 Bronze Age sites in western Anatolia.
There were many ways in which the elites of ancient Roman society flaunted their wealth. They built vast villas, sponsored extravagant games and imported luxury goods. And military top brass, at least those stationed at an Egyptian port,…
Dark matter is an elusive type of matter that does not emit, reflect or absorb light, yet is estimated to account for most of the universe's mass. Over the past decades, many physicists worldwide have been trying to detect this type of…
Astronomers have employed NASA's Chandra spacecraft to perform X-ray observations of a massive galaxy cluster known as SPT-CL J0217-5014. Results of the observational campaign, published December 4 on the arXiv preprint server, yield…
Dragline silk or major ampullate (MA) silk, the part of a spider's web that forms the main frame and spokes, is one of the toughest materials known to science. That is, it can absorb massive amounts of energy from a sudden impact without…
Traveling-wave parametric amplifiers (TWPAs) are electronic devices that boost weak microwave signals (i.e., electromagnetic waves with frequencies typically ranging between 1 and 100 GHz). Recently, many engineers have been developing…
An international team of astronomers has investigated a short-lived optical flare designated AT2022zod. As a result, they found evidence indicating that this flare is an unusual tidal disruption event. The findings were presented in a…
There is no such thing as a society where everyone is equal. That is the key message of new research that challenges the romantic ideal of a perfectly egalitarian human society.
Reliably quantifying and characterizing the quantum states of various systems is highly advantageous for both quantum physics research and the development of quantum technologies. Quantifying these states typically entails performing…
The axolotl, a type of salamander that stays in the tadpole form throughout its life, is a master of regeneration. Axolotls have been observed to regrow several body parts, including limbs, eyes, and even parts of their brains.
In a recent study, Dr. Beth Scaffidi analyzed the images of a unique trophy head from southern Peru. The study diagnosed the individual as having had a cleft lip/palate (CLP), making him the first case of an Andean trophy head and one of…
Scientists from Turkey have designed a next-generation implantable biosensor using genetically engineered E. coli for molecular-level monitoring within the body that runs on its own, wirelessly, with no external batteries required.
Astronomers from the University of California (UC), Berkeley and elsewhere have performed spectroscopic and photometric study of a peculiar supernova designated SN 2021ukt, which underwent a transition from Type IIn to Type Ib. Results of…
The Amazon rainforest has yielded yet another new species, according to a recent study published in Zootaxa. Discovered in the mountains of the Serra do Divisor National Park (SDNP) in Brazil, this ground-dwelling bird has been identified…
This week, JPL scientists reported that glaciers speed up and slow down at predictable intervals. CERN's ATLAS experiment detected evidence for the decay of a Higgs boson into a muon-antimuon pair. And researchers discovered that exercise…
In a recent study, researcher Dr. Hui Zhou and his colleagues conducted a genetic analysis of the genomes of individuals associated with the ancient Hanging Coffin tradition in Southeast and Southern Asia. In addition, they sequenced the…
Billions of alkaline-loving microbes could offer a new way to protect nuclear waste buried deep underground. This approach overcomes the limitations of current cement barriers, which can crack or break down over time.
Neutron stars are ultra-dense star remnants made up primarily of nucleons (i.e., protons and neutrons). Over the course of millions of years, these stars progressively cool down, radiating heat into space.
Using NASA's Swift and Fermi space telescopes, Indian astronomers have conducted a long-term multiwavelength study of a nearby blazar designated TXS 0518+211. Results of the study, published Nov. 26 on the arXiv pre-print server, reveal…
Antibiotics are no longer able to treat infections as effectively as they once did because many pathogens have developed resistance to these drugs. This phenomenon, known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), claims over a million lives…
Although its existence had been theorized for decades, the Higgs boson was finally observed to exist in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Since then, it has continued to be heavily studied at the LHC. Now, a new study from…
The speed at which glaciers move changes predictably each year, according to the first-ever global map of how glacier and ice sheet speeds vary with the seasons. Knowing this yearly rhythm could help us better predict sea-level rise driven…
A new theory for the origins of dark matter suggests that fast-moving, neutrino-like dark particles could have decoupled from Standard Model particles far earlier than previous theories had suggested.