Science

A commercial airplane crash can change how people behave long after the immediate tragedy. News outlets replay the images, people affected share their harrowing stories, and an extraordinarily rare event becomes easy to imagine. Some travelers cancel trips; others drive to their destination instead.

A biological methane filter on the seafloor can form much faster than scientists previously believed. An international research team including a University of Bremen researcher observed this over six years at a newly formed methane seep in the deep sea. Earlier models assumed this process would take several decades. The study appears in National Science Review.

The enzymes found in modern organisms are complex proteins, often with multiple folded substructures and specialized catalytic sites. Proteins are encoded by genes. Tracing the history of enzymes across all living organisms through gene comparisons leads to the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), a hypothetical organism that existed around 4 billion years ago and is believed to be the ancestor of life forms on Earth.

The animation industry is facing an existential threat in the form of generative AI. Entertainment execs remain adamant that the tech is the answer, allowing fewer workers to accomplish more in less time — a thinly-veiled attempt, critics charge, to pinch pennies and churn out lower quality content. Marketing teams are also frequently caving to the irresistible draw of text-to-video generators, a cutting of corners in ways that are both uninspired and easy to spot. And as the backlash to g

A broken rib from Scotty, the largest T. rex skeleton discovered, is helping scientists uncover new information about life on Earth 66 million years ago. Scotty's rib preserves something rarely seen in the fossil record: a healing injury frozen in time.

Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming integral to how retail investors research companies, with nearly half of those surveyed saying they have used it to process financial information or inform investment decisions.

In recent years, psychedelic drugs have attracted growing interest as potential treatments for conditions including depression, anxiety and addiction. Although these drugs are often considered one group, researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have now shown that they affect the brain in markedly different ways. The findings are based on brain scans in rats and suggest that the differences between psychedelic drugs may be greater than previously assumed.

The cells of our body are frequently exposed to hazards that can damage them, cause them to malfunction or kill them. Yet they have defense systems that can sometimes be strengthened by small doses of stress, a phenomenon known as hormesis. Scientists are investigating whether food compounds and medicines can harness these protective processes to benefit health.

Venus is one of the solar system's most unusual planets. It may sometimes be called "Earth's twin" because of its similar size and density, but it rotates on its axis in the opposite direction of most planets, has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead and lacks a moon.

Opposition mounts as at least 20 projects proposed, including one in Fife billed as second largest in worldKat Jones might be the closest thing Scotland has to Erin Brockovich in 2026. Standing in the shadow of Arthur’s seat outside Holyrood, the 52-year-old is revving up the crowd of protesters around her. “Who is here from Lammermuir? Ayrshire? What about Aberdeen?” she calls to the crowd.On Thursday, hundreds traveled to Edinburgh to call for an immediate moratorium on Scotland’s datacentre b

The Roscosmos Progress 92 cargo spacecraft is photographed in March 2026 from the International Space Station as it flies into an orbital sunset 267 miles above Earth’s surface.Credit: NASA NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Progress 96 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 12:15 p.m. EDT (9:15 p.m. Baikonur t

It's that time of year again, when we learn which lucky scientists are among the winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes. This year, the prizes honor research on designing the perfect splash-free urinal; using mosquito proboscises to "necroprint" tiny nozzles; studying composition rates of buried cotton underwear; and the aerodynamics of a healthy nose-blow, among other highlights. Established in 1991, the Ig Nobels are a good-natured parody of the Nobel Prizes; they honor “achievements that first make p

A solar farm is, underneath all the technology, just a field that refuses to stop being a field. Grass keeps growing between twenty thousand panels the same way laundry keeps piling up in a house with two small kids in it, not because anyone is careless, but because the job simply doesn’t have an off switch. For years the industry’s answer was gas mowers and weed trimmers, crews driving between rows of hardware every few weeks to keep the grass from shading the lower edge of a panel.

A large-scale study in Japan led by researchers from the University of Osaka and the Osaka Women's and Children's Hospital found that certain fertility treatments are associated with an increased risk of Kawasaki disease before age 5, although the association differed by treatment type. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

You finish a workout feeling pleased with yourself. But an hour later, your legs feel heavy, climbing the stairs seems impossible and all you want to do is sit down.

Researchers at Nagoya University have built a graphene nanoribbon that can switch the direction of its twist using a natural solvent. Graphene nanoribbons are thin, ribbon-shaped structures made of fused carbon rings. Twisted or helical versions of these ribbons show promise for advanced light and electronic devices. However, until now, no graphene nanoribbon could switch its twist on demand.

A University of Stirling study could pave the way for more efficient study of the secretions that salmon lice use to avoid fish defenses, potentially enabling the development of new strategies to protect salmon from infestations.

"Strange New Worlds"' fourth season has doubled down on the show's long-established penchant for seeking out new genres beyond "Trek"'s traditional frontiers. So far the Enterprise has encountered Martians, hangovers and Muppets, and now its latest mission, "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass", has made a detour into full-on soap opera territory. Thanks to the meddling of Q junior Trelane (Rhys Darby), the ship's lighting is slightly off, day-to-day operations are punctuated by ad breaks, and

Huge rollout of fish farms could harm ecosystems and threaten vulnerable communities’ food sources, say expertsNearly half of the world’s wild fish catch will be ground into animal feed for farmed fish if plans to expand aquaculture go ahead, a report has found.The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is aiming to increase aquaculture – where fish are farmed rather than caught in the wild – production by 75% by 2040. Continue reading...

Every now and then, life asks us a question with no easy answer. Which career should we pursue? Should we have children? Should we move to the coast or closer to our friends? We gather information, read testimonials, and exhaustively research both options. One path seems better in some ways, the other seems better in others, and we find ourselves stuck between them. The best answer eludes us. This is what the philosopher Ruth Chang calls a “hard choice.” What makes these kinds of choices hard, C