No "human era" in Earth"s geological history, scientists say
A top panel of geologists has decided not to grant the 'human age' its own distinct place in Earth's geological timeline after disagreeing over when exactly our era might have begun......»»
What can early Earth teach us about the search for life?
Earth is the only life-supporting planet we know of, so it's tempting to use it as a standard in the search for life elsewhere. But the modern Earth can't serve as a basis for evaluating exoplanets and their potential to support life. Earth's atmosph.....»»
Advanced experimental setup expands the hunt for hidden dark matter particles
Scientific evidence for dark matter comes from observing how it influences the motion of stars and galaxies. Scientists believe that dark matter may consist of particles. To search for these particles and their billiard ball-like collisions, research.....»»
Using algorithms to decode the complex phonetic alphabet of sperm whales
The allure of whales has stoked human consciousness for millennia, casting these ocean giants as enigmatic residents of the deep seas. From the biblical Leviathan to Herman Melville's formidable Moby Dick, whales have been central to mythologies and.....»»
What are nanoplastics? An engineer explains concerns about particles too small to see
It's become common to read that microplastics—little bits of plastic, smaller than a pencil eraser—are turning up everywhere and in everything, including the ocean, farmland, food and human bodies. Now a new term is gaining attention: nanoplastic.....»»
Number of religious "nones" has soared, but not number of atheists—social scientists want to know why
The number of individuals in the United States who do not identify as being part of any religion has grown dramatically in recent years, and "the nones" are now larger than any single religious group. According to the General Social Survey, religious.....»»
Researchers show that slow-moving earthquakes are controlled by rock permeability
Earthquakes are the most dramatic and noteworthy results of tectonic plate movement. They are often destructive and deadly, or at the very least physically felt—they're literally groundbreaking geological events. However not all tectonic movement r.....»»
Study identifies early warning signals for the end of the African humid period
The transition from the African humid period (AHP) to dry conditions in North Africa is the clearest example of climate tipping points in recent geological history. They occur when small perturbations trigger a large, non-linear response in the syste.....»»
Materials scientists reveal pathway for designing optical materials with specialized properties
While we usually think of disorder as a bad thing, a team of materials science researchers led by Rohan Mishra, from Washington University in St. Louis, and Jayakanth Ravichandran, from the University of Southern California, have revealed that—when.....»»
Computer models show heat waves in north Pacific may be due to China reducing aerosols
A team of oceanographers and planetary scientists at the Ocean University of China, working with a pair of colleagues from the U.S. and one in Germany, has found via computer modeling, that recent heat waves in the north Pacific may be due to a large.....»»
Laboratory and natural strains of intestinal bacterium turn out to have similar mutational profiles
Understanding mutational processes in a cell offers clues to the evolution of a genome. Most actively, mutation processes are studied in human cancer cells, while other genomes are often neglected......»»
Why parrots sometimes adopt—or kill—each other"s babies
Infanticide and adoption in the animal kingdom have long puzzled scientists. While both males and females of many species are known to kill the babies of their rivals to secure sexual or social advantage, other animals have been observed caring for t.....»»
Scientists cook pancakes, Brussels sprouts and stir fry to detect an oxidant indoors for the first time
A feast cooked up by UBC researchers has revealed singlet oxygen indoors for the first time. The work is published in the journal Environmental Science: Atmospheres......»»
Self-adaptive system for temperature control: A dynamically controllable strategy for healing wound tissue
Skin functions as a sophisticated sensorial system in the human body, capable not only of detecting environmental stimuli—such as temperature, pressure, strain, and vibration—but also of actively responding to these changes. Among these, the temp.....»»
Geologists, biologists unearth the atomic fingerprints of cancer
Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and Princeton University have, for the first time, employed a tool often used in geology to detect the atomic fingerprints of cancer......»»
Boeing"s first Starliner mission with humans set for historic Space Coast launch tonight
The stage is set for some space history to be made tonight as two veteran NASA astronauts aim to launch in a spacecraft that has never flown with humans before......»»
Earthquakes are moving northeast in Midland Basin of Texas, scientists find
After analyzing seven years of earthquake data from the Midland Basin, a team of scientists at The University of Texas at Austin has found that seismic activity is probably on the move northeast toward the community of Big Spring......»»
Listening to giants: The search for the elusive Antarctic blue whale
Blue whales are the largest animals on Earth, measuring up to 30 meters long and weighing up to 200 tons—as much as a Boeing 787. Yet it's the sound they make, not their size, which gives their location away......»»
Study of new method used to preserve privacy with US census data suggests accuracy has suffered
A small team of political scientists, statisticians and data scientists from Harvard University, New York University, and Yale University, has found that by switching to a new method to better protect privacy, the U.S. Census Department has introduce.....»»
Variety in building block softness makes for softer amorphous materials
Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a new model for disordered materials to study how amorphous materials resist stress. They treated groups of atoms and molecules as squishy spheres with varying softness......»»
Scientists use high pressure NMR spectroscopy to study structure of dynamic proteins
A pressure of 3,000 bar is applied to the cold shock protein B of Bacillus subtilis in a small tube in the NMR spectroscopy laboratory at the University of Konstanz. This is roughly three times the water pressure at the deepest point of the ocean. Th.....»»