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Top Science News
October 12, 2020
Oct. 7, 2020 — Rising nitrous oxide emissions are jeopardizing the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, according to a major new study. The growing use of nitrogen fertilizers in the production of food worldwide ...
Oct. 7, 2020 — A research team has discovered that during memory consolidation, there are at least two distinct processes taking place in two different brain networks -- the excitatory and inhibitory networks. The ...
Oct. 7, 2020 — New research will help astrobiologists understand how much radiation planets experience during super flares and whether life could exist on worlds beyond our solar ...
Oct. 1, 2020 — Astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less than a billion years old. This is the first ...
Latest Top Headlines
updated 5:31pm EDT
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Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020: CRISPR/Cas9 Method for Genome Editing

Oct. 7, 2020 — This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry is being awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 method for ...
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Remote Control of Blood Sugar: Electromagnetic Fields Treat Diabetes in Animal Models

Oct. 6, 2020 — Researchers may have discovered a safe new way to manage blood sugar non-invasively. Exposing diabetic mice to a combination of static electric and magnetic fields for a few hours per day normalizes blood sugar and insulin resistance. The unexpected ...
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Previous Infection With Other Types of Coronaviruses May Lessen Severity of COVID-19

Oct. 6, 2020 — Being previously infected with a coronaviruses that cause the 'common cold' may decrease the severity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infections, according to a ...
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Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020: Discovery of Hepatitis C Virus

Oct. 5, 2020 — The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is being awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of Hepatitis ...
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ESO Telescopes Record Last Moments of Star Devoured by a Black Hole

Oct. 12, 2020 — Astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon, known as a tidal disruption event, is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years from Earth, and has been studied in ...
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Nobel Prize in Physics 2020: Discoveries About Black Holes

Oct. 6, 2020 — This year's Nobel Prize in Physics is being awarded to Roger Penrose 'for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity' and jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez 'for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of ...
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Astronomers using | (c) NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team;

Hubble Watches Exploding Star Fade Into Oblivion

Oct. 1, 2020 — When a star unleashes as much energy in a matter of days as our Sun does in several billion years, you know it's not going to remain visible for long. Like intergalactic paparazzi, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the quick, fading celebrity status of a supernova, the self-detonation of ...
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Validating the Physics Behind the New Fusion Experiment

Sep. 29, 2020 — SPARC is planned to be the first experimental device ever to achieve a 'burning plasma' -- a self-sustaining fusion reaction in which different isotopes of the element hydrogen fuse together to form helium, without the need for any further input ...
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Genomic Study Reveals Evolutionary Secrets of Banyan Tree

Oct. 8, 2020 — The banyan fig tree Ficus microcarpa is famous for its aerial roots, which sprout from branches and eventually reach the soil. The tree also has a unique relationship with a wasp that has coevolved with it and is the only insect that can pollinate it. In a new study, researchers identify regions in ...
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Dinosaur Feather Study Debunked

Sep. 30, 2020 — A new study provides substantial evidence that the first fossil feather ever to be discovered does belong to the iconic bird-like dinosaur, Archaeopteryx. This debunks a recent theory that the fossil feather originated from a ...
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Modern Humans Reached Westernmost Europe 5,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Known

Sep. 28, 2020 — Modern humans arrived in westernmost Europe 41,000 to 38,000 years ago, about 5,000 years earlier than previously known, according to an international team of researchers that discovered stone tools used by modern humans dated to the earlier time ...
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Plastic-Eating Enzyme 'Cocktail' Heralds New Hope for Plastic Waste

Sep. 28, 2020 — The same team who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme PETase have now created an enzyme 'cocktail' which can digest plastic up to six ...
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Health News
October 12, 2020
Oct. 2, 2020 — Though researchers have long known that adults build unconscious biases over a lifetime of making choices between things that are essentially the same, a new study finding that even babies engage in ...
Sep. 29, 2020 — A new study provides evidence that the seasonal colds you've had in the past could protect you from COVID-19. The study also suggests that immunity to COVID-19 is likely to last a long time -- maybe ...
Sep. 30, 2020 — Genetic variants that leave their carrier more susceptible to severe COVID-19 are inherited from Neanderthals, a new study ...
Sep. 24, 2020 — Two new studies offer an explanation for why COVID-19 cases can be so variable. A subset of patients has mutations in key immunity genes; other ...
Latest Health Headlines
updated 5:31pm EDT

Using Robotic Assistance to Make Colonoscopy Kinder and Easier

Oct. 12, 2020 — Scientists have made a breakthrough in their work to develop semi-autonomous colonoscopy, using a robot to guide a medical device into the body. The milestone brings closer the prospect of an intelligent robotic system being able to guide instruments to precise locations in the body to take biopsies or allow internal tissues to be ...
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Chemists Create New Crystal Form of Insecticide, Boosting Its Ability to Fight Mosquitoes and Malaria

Oct. 12, 2020 — Through a simple process of heating and cooling, researchers have created a new crystal form of deltamethrin -- a common insecticide used to control malaria -- resulting in an insecticide that is up to 12 times more effective against mosquitoes than the existing ...
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Osteoarthritis Biomarker Could Help 300 Million People Worldwide

Oct. 12, 2020 — Researchers are a step closer to finding a new biomarker for osteoarthritis, a painful condition which affects more than 300 million people ...
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Risk of Dying from COVID-19 Greater for Men, Unmarried and Born in Low and Middle Income Countries, Swedish Study Finds

Oct. 9, 2020 — Being a man, having a lower income, having a lower level of education, not being married, and being born abroad in low- or middle-income countries -- these are factors that, independent of one another, are related to an elevated risk of dying from COVID-19 in ...
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More Young Adults Are Abstaining from Alcohol

Oct. 12, 2020 — Fewer college-age Americans drink alcohol, compared to nearly 20 years ago, according to a new ...
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To Protect Nature's Benefits, Focus on People

Oct. 12, 2020 — New paper calls for the consideration of people's diverse needs in order to develop effective nature-based policies and investments in ...
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Total Deaths Recorded During the Pandemic Far Exceed Those Attributed to COVID-19, New Data Show

Oct. 12, 2020 — For every two deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the U.S., a third American dies as a result of the pandemic, according to new data. The study shows that deaths between March 1 and Aug. 1 increased 20 percent compared to previous years -- maybe not surprising in a pandemic. But deaths attributed to COVID-19 only accounted for 67 percent of those ...
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Scientists Find Neurochemicals Have Unexpectedly Profound Roles in the Human Brain

Oct. 12, 2020 — In first-of-their-kind observations in the human brain, an international team of researchers has revealed two well-known neurochemicals -- dopamine and serotonin -- are at work at sub-second speeds to shape how people perceive the world and take action based on their ...
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Very Low Risk to Newborns from Moms With COVID-19, Finds Study

Oct. 12, 2020 — Moms with COVID-19 who take basic precautions rarely pass the virus to their newborns, even if breastfeeding and rooming together, a new study ...
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Feline Friendly? How to Build Rap-Paw With Your Cat

Oct. 7, 2020 — A team of psychologists have discovered a new way for humans to bond with ...
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Women's Expected Longevity Linked to Age at Birth of Last Child

Oct. 7, 2020 — No one knows for sure how long they will live. A new study, however, suggests that leukocyte telomere length may offer some key insights into a woman's longevity and further demonstrates how maternal age at birth of last child affects telomere length and long-term ...
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There's a Gene for Detecting That Fishy Smell, Olfactory GWAS Shows

Oct. 8, 2020 — Some people carry a mutation in a particular gene that makes the smell of fish less intense. The study, which is the largest genome-wide association study (GWAS) of olfactory genes in humans involving a sniff test and looked at over 9,000 people from Iceland, also shows that people vary in their ability to discern the smell of licorice and ...
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Physical/Tech News
October 12, 2020
Sep. 21, 2020 — Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has its own far-ultraviolet aurora, data reveal. It is the first time such electromagnetic emissions in the far-ultraviolet have been documented on a celestial object ...
Sep. 14, 2020 — Astronomers have discovered a rare molecule -- phosphine -- in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas is only made industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. Astronomers ...
Sep. 10, 2020 — Recent observations have found that something may be missing from the theories of how dark matter behaves. This missing ingredient may explain why ...
Sep. 2, 2020 — To the surprise of many planetary scientists, the oxidized iron mineral hematite has been discovered at high latitudes on the ...
Latest Physical/Tech Headlines
updated 5:31pm EDT

Stacking and Twisting Graphene Unlocks a Rare Form of Magnetism

Oct. 12, 2020 — A team of researchers has discovered that a variety of exotic electronic states, including a rare form of magnetism, can arise in a three-layer graphene ...
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Revealing the Reason Behind Jet Formation at the Tip of Laser Optical Fiber

Oct. 12, 2020 — When an optical fiber is immersed in liquid, a high temperature, high speed jet is discharged. Researchers expect this to be applied to medical treatment in the future. Now, a research team has explored this phenomenon further and revealed the reasons behind the jet ...
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Liquid Metals Come to the Rescue of Semiconductors

Oct. 12, 2020 — Two-dimensional semiconductors offer a possible solution to the limited potential for further shrinking of traditional silicon-based electronics: the long-predicted end of 'Moore's Law'. 2D-based electronics, which could eliminate wasted dissipation of heat and allow for very fast, ultra-low energy operation, could be enabled by a new liquid-metal deposition ...
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New Virtual Reality Software Allows Scientists to 'Walk' Inside Cells

Oct. 12, 2020 — Virtual reality software which allows researchers to 'walk' inside and analyze individual cells could be used to understand fundamental problems in biology and develop new treatments for ...
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Studying the Sun as a Star to Understand Stellar Flares and Exoplanets

Oct. 12, 2020 — New research shows that sunspots and other active regions can change the overall solar emissions. The sunspots cause some emissions to dim and others to brighten; the timing of the changes also varies between different types of emissions. This knowledge will help astronomers characterize the conditions of stars, which has important implications for finding exoplanets around those ...
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Astronomers Find X-Rays Lingering Years After Landmark Neutron Star Collision

Oct. 12, 2020 — It's been three years since the landmark detection of a neutron star merger from gravitational waves. Since that day, an international team of astronomers has been continuously monitoring the subsequent radiation emissions to provide the most complete picture of such an event. Their analysis provides possible explanations for X-rays that continued ...
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In the Eye of a Stellar Cyclone

Oct. 11, 2020 — While on COVID lockdown, a college student has written a research paper on a star system dubbed one of the 'exotic peacocks of the stellar ...
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Researchers Find 'Missing Link' Between Magnetars and Rotation-Powered Pulsars

Oct. 8, 2020 — Researchers have made observations of a new magnetar, called Swift J1818.0-1607, which challenges current knowledge about two types of extreme stars, known as magnetars and ...
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Multi-State Data Storage Leaving Binary Behind

Oct. 12, 2020 — Electronic data is being produced at a breath-taking rate. Around ten zettabytes (ten trillion gigabytes) of data is stored in global server farms, and that's doubling every two years. With computing already consuming 8% of global electricity, low-energy data-storage is a key priority. Next-generation 'multi-state' memory offers a highly energy efficient, low-cost, fast-access solution: stepping ...
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'Universal Law of Touch' Will Enable New Advances in Virtual Reality

Oct. 9, 2020 — Seismic waves, commonly associated with earthquakes, have been used by scientists to develop a universal scaling law for the sense of touch. A team used Rayleigh waves to create the first scaling law for touch ...
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New Project to Build Nano-Thermometers Could Revolutionize Temperature Imaging

Oct. 9, 2020 — Cheaper refrigerators? Stronger hip implants? A better understanding of human disease? All of these could be possible and more, someday, thanks to an ambitious new ...
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Researchers Use Artificial Intelligence Language Tools to Decode Molecular Movements

Oct. 9, 2020 — Researchers used language processing AI to turn molecular movements into stories that reveal what forms a protein can take and how and when it changes form -- key information for understanding disease and developing targeted ...
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Environment News
October 12, 2020
Sep. 28, 2020 — Experts have examined the evidence that prehistoric flying reptiles called pterosaurs had feathers and believe they were, in fact, ...
Sep. 8, 2020 — New research identifies a process that might have been key in producing the first organic molecules on Earth about 4 billion years ago, before the origin of life. The process, which is similar to ...
Sep. 14, 2020 — A new study of an ancient period that is considered the closest natural analog to the era of modern human carbon emissions has found that massive ...
Sep. 10, 2020 — Scientists have compiled a continuous, high-fidelity record of variations in Earth's climate extending 66 million years into the past. The record ...
Latest Environment Headlines
updated 5:31pm EDT

Mosquitoes' Taste for Blood Traced to Four Types of Neurons

Oct. 12, 2020 — The female mosquito has an amazing ability to detect blood using her syringe-like 'tongue.' Now scientists have identified the neurons that give her blood-seeking ...
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Ancient Tiny Teeth Reveal First Mammals Lived More Like Reptiles

Oct. 12, 2020 — Pioneering analysis of 200 million-year-old teeth belonging to the earliest mammals suggests they functioned like their cold-blooded counterparts - reptiles, leading less active but much longer ...
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Central Asian Horse Riders Played Ball Games 3,000 Years Ago

Oct. 12, 2020 — Researchers have investigated ancient leather balls discovered in the graves of horse riders in northwest China. According to the international research team, they are around 3,000 years old, making them the oldest balls in Eurasia. The find suggests amongst others that the mounted warriors of Central Asia played ball games to keep themselves ...
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Immune Evasion Strategy Used by Malaria-Causing Parasite

Oct. 9, 2020 — A team of researchers has found that the Plasmodium parasite, which transmits malaria to humans through infected mosquitos, triggers changes in human genes that alter the body's adaptive immune response to malarial ...
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The Colorado River's Water Supply Is Predictable Owing to Long-Term Ocean Memory

Oct. 9, 2020 — A team of scientists at Utah State University has developed a new tool to forecast drought and water flow in the Colorado River several years in advance. Although the river's headwaters are in landlocked Wyoming and Colorado, water levels are linked to sea surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the water's long-term ...
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Deep-Seabed Mining Lastingly Disrupts the Seafloor Food Web

Oct. 8, 2020 — Deep-seabed mining is considered a way to address the increasing need of rare metals. However, the environmental impacts are considered to be substantial but remain largely unknown and clear regulatory standards are lacking. Researchers now describe that mining-related disturbances have a long-term impact on carbon flow and the microbial loop at the deep ...
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Bacterial Cellulose Degradation System Could Give Boost to Biofuels Production

Oct. 8, 2020 — Researchers have uncovered details of how a certain type of bacteria breaks down cellulose -- a finding that could help reduce the cost and environmental impact of the use of biomass, including biofuel production. The bacteria's cellulose degradation system is in some way different from how a fungus is already widely used in industry, including to ...
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Pollinator Monitoring More Than Pays for Itself

Oct. 8, 2020 — Study found pollinator monitoring schemes, which often combine expert and volunteer observations, provide high-quality scientific data at a far lower cost than individual research ...
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Meltwater Lakes Are Accelerating Glacier Ice Loss

Oct. 9, 2020 — Meltwater lakes that form at glacier margins cause ice to recede much further and faster compared to glaciers that terminate on land, according to a new study. But the effects of these glacial lakes are not represented in current ice loss models, warn the study authors. Therefore, estimates of recession rates and ice mass loss from lake-terminating glaciers in the coming decades are likely to be ...
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Extinctions Linked to New Assemblages of Species

Oct. 8, 2020 — As the world undergoes profound environmental change, identifying and protecting 'novel' communities of species can help prevent extinctions within vulnerable ecosystems. Scientists outline a world first method to detect 'novel' communities of species across all ...
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Scientists Reconstruct Beetles from the Cretaceous

Oct. 8, 2020 — An international research team has examined four newly found specimens of the Mysteriomorphidae beetle using computer tomography and has been able to reconstruct them. The results allow to draw conclusions about the evolution of the species during the Cretaceous ...
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Disproportionate Extinction of South American Mammals When Americas Collided Evident Today

Oct. 5, 2020 — North American mammals were the winners when the North and South American continents collided millions of years ago. New research shows that South American mammals went extinct at a disproportionately high rate once the Panama Isthmus connected the continents, allowing migration in either ...
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Society/Education News
October 12, 2020
Sep. 10, 2020 — Early interventions were effective at stamping out coronavirus infections before they spread, according to a new study. Combining virus genomics with epidemiologic simulations and travel records, the ...
Sep. 10, 2020 — Using public transportation, visiting a place of worship, or otherwise traveling from the home is associated with a significantly higher likelihood ...
Sep. 9, 2020 — Individuals who can unconsciously predict complex patterns, an ability called implicit pattern learning, are likely to hold stronger beliefs that there is a god who creates patterns of events in the ...
Aug. 31, 2020 — Researchers have identified specific sub-populations of brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, a key part of the brain that regulates social behavior, ...
Latest Society/Education Headlines
updated 5:31pm EDT

Effects of Poverty on Childhood Development Seen in Children as Young as 5

Oct. 9, 2020 — Researchers have found that health inequities can be measured in children as young as 5 years old. The research contributes to a growing body of literature finding that children of color who are also poor face greater health inequities than their white ...
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Cannabis Ads and Store Location Influence Youth Marijuana Use

Oct. 8, 2020 — States may want to consider the proximity of cannabis retailers and cannabis advertising to neighborhoods to prevent underage use of the drug, according to new ...
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Shack Fires Move With Devastating Speed, Large-Scale Experiment Shows

Oct. 8, 2020 — An experiment showed that a fire spreading through an informal settlement can destroy twenty shacks (informal houses) in five ...
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Unusually Shallow Earthquake Ruptures in Chinese Fracking Field

Oct. 7, 2020 — An unusually shallow earthquake triggered by hydraulic fracturing in a Chinese shale gas field could change how experts view the risks of fracking for faults that lie very near the Earth's ...
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School Absences Correlate to Impaired Air Quality

Oct. 9, 2020 — In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality worsens, and it's not just in times of high pollution or 'red' air quality days -- even days following lower levels of pollutants saw increased ...
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Children Use Make-Believe Aggression and Violence to Manage Bad-Tempered Peers

Oct. 6, 2020 — Children are more likely to introduce violent themes into their pretend play, such as imaginary fighting or killing, if they are with playmates whom peers consider bad-tempered, new research suggests. Academics believe that the tendency for children to introduce aggressive themes in these situations - which seems to happen whether or not they are ...
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How Long Does the Preschool Advantage Last?

Oct. 5, 2020 — Children who attend preschool enter kindergarten with greater skills than those who don't, but that advantage is nearly halved by the end of the year as their counterparts quickly begin to catch up, according to new ...
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Screen Time Can Change Visual Perception -- And That's Not Necessarily Bad

Sep. 30, 2020 — The coronavirus pandemic has shifted many of our interactions online, with Zoom video calls replacing in-person classes, work meetings, conferences and other events. Will all that screen time damage our vision? Maybe not. It turns out that our visual perception is highly adaptable, according to new ...
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Children Will Wait to Impress Others -- Another Twist on the Classic Marshmallow Test

Sep. 10, 2020 — When it comes to self-control, young children are better able to resist temptation and wait for greater rewards if they take into consideration the opinions of ...
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Being a Selfish Jerk Doesn't Get You Ahead: Study

Aug. 31, 2020 — Two studies provide empirical evidence to settle the question of whether being aggressively Machiavellian helps people get ahead. The studies concluded that being a jerk provides no advantage in career advancement. Any power boost disagreeable people get from being intimidating is offset by their poor interpersonal relationships, the studies ...
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Winning the Digital Transformation Race: Three Emerging Approaches for Leading Transition

July 28, 2020 — New research has outlined three new approaches that digital innovators can take to reduce the risk of failure and seize competitive advantage in the ...
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When Power Is Toxic: Dominance Reduces Influence in Groups

July 16, 2020 — A new study finds that groups led by subordinate males outperform those led by dominant and aggressive ...
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