When you walk into a bakery and smell fresh cookies, the enticing smell draws you in. After you eat a handful of cookies, though, the same smell likely doesn't send you back for more. Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at…
The universe may be trapped in its own comfort zone, and a researcher in the College of Engineering and Computer Science has helped explain why it cannot seem to leave. A new study suggests the universe could be locked into its current…
A new study finds that coastal forest loss in North Carolina's Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula began accelerating after 2010 and may still be speeding up. The study also found that North Carolina lost more than 20% of its coastal forest…
Some 99 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs, a tiny insect belonging to a species previously unknown to science became trapped in tree resin. The resin hardened and turned into amber, and the fossil preserved within it has…
Forest soils store an estimated 40% of the world's terrestrial carbon, but estimates suggest that around 15–30% of that soil carbon is lost when a forest is harvested. Tracking such losses can be tricky: wildfires, insects, disease and…
One of the unresolved mysteries about the history of the Americas is when the first people arrived. Despite extensive debate centering on genetic, archaeological and environmental evidence, there is still no consensus or conclusive proof.…
Like Earth, most planetary bodies circle their star in stable, detached orbits. These companionable systems can suddenly change when a planet comes too close to its star. In such a close encounter, a star can pull the planet in and swallow…
The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), a photoelectric effect that generates photocurrent without a p–n junction, can persist even when a material's average crystal structure remains centrosymmetric, a study from Institute of Science Tokyo…
Even the most chaotic quantum systems keep a permanent mark of their own past—a "quantum birthmark"—that never fades. Researchers from Tampere University, Harvard University and TU Dresden discovered the feature in their recent study.…
For more than 70 years, fusion energy researchers have used a particular equation to judge whether a plasma would stay hot and dense enough—for long enough—to reach a point where it could sustain itself without any more external power…
Building with nature is an important concept in our coastal defense. After all, by harnessing natural processes, we are more resilient to sea level rise. A good understanding of these processes is therefore indispensable. Ecologist Paul…
In 2014, members of a local museum found fragments of an ancient fossil dating to the end of the Pliocene or early Pleistocene epoch in a seaside cliff on the Argentine pampas. They belonged to a large predator, but the only group they fit…
A new study of shark anatomy suggests the shape of their inner ears is far more variable than expected, and this variation could have more to do with their evolutionary history than where they live or what they eat.
When a prairie river carries more water in one year than another, the obvious place to look for an explanation is the sky. A year with more snow and rain should have more water in rivers. That was also how I initially thought about year-to…
Scientists used machine learning and super-resolution microscopy to overcome a challenge that has stymied research into the natural history of grasses for decades. Their method allowed them to detect subtle differences among grass pollen…
Researchers have demonstrated a technique that uses a laser to produce a plasma beam antenna capable of transmitting radio waves. The article, "Laser-Induced-Plasma-Filament Antenna Transmitting 30 MHz VHF," is published in the IEEE…
Epithelial cells form the body's frontline barriers, helping keep microbes, toxins and other harmful substances out. Yet these protective cells are constantly exposed to threats, including microbial infections. Some bacteria produce pore…
Primordial black holes (PBHs) don't exist as far as we know. But if they did, these hypothetical objects would have formed in the early universe rather than from dying stars, and they may even make up dark matter. That's not the end of the…
One of the hardest challenges in wildlife conservation arises when the habitat of a species in need of protection overlaps with land used by humans. Wolves and bears can kill livestock, elephants can damage homes and other property and…
Water does not flow only through rivers on the ground. Vast quantities of water also move through the atmosphere, carried by winds from oceans and land before eventually falling as precipitation hundreds or even thousands of kilometers…
Zebras grazing in a UK park might sound like the stuff of a high-budget Hollywood blockbuster, but new research suggests it could one day be vital in the fight against climate change, and that the British public might not mind as much as…
Rutgers scientists have identified natural repellents against an invasive blueberry pest, a discovery made accidentally when fruit flies invaded their laboratory.
Astronomers have discovered the first example of a second-generation planet orbiting a white dwarf, a world that appears to have formed from the remains of the dead star it now orbits.
DNA analyses of ancient remains have revealed a previously unknown extinct bovine species that inhabited southern Siberia during and even before the last ice age. The extinct species was related to modern yaks but followed a separate…
For decades, scientists have regarded phosphorus as the main nutrient limiting biological production in the Gulf of Bothnia. Now, a new study led by researchers at Umeå University shows that a fundamental change is underway.
Scientists have developed a new way to make ceramic materials that can better withstand extreme heat and continue performing reliably in sensors and actuators. The approach creates tiny structures throughout the material that give it new…
A new study from EMBL Rome shows how embryos precisely coordinate gene activity during early development. The research is published in the journal Science Advances.
Contrast agents are compounds routinely used in clinical analysis to enhance differentiation between tissues or to increase the visibility of structures or fluids within the body, thus facilitating medical diagnosis. A study led by…
Researchers at the University of Galway in Ireland have found that venomous snakes are significantly more likely than nonvenomous species to have colors that stand out against their natural surroundings.