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Small snakes called dwarf reedsnakes can escape danger by rolling rapidly along the ground. Researchers investigated how they perform this unusual form of locomotion using multi-angle video analyses. The results show that the snakes use precisely coordinated body movements that keep their heads facing the direction of travel and at a relatively stable height, even as the posterior body undergoes large rotational movements.

Groundwater in many areas of the U.S. and across the globe is being depleted as pumping for drinking water and agriculture outpaces nature's ability to refill aquifers. In the most severe cases, this could lead to a point of no return, where an aquifer's physical structure collapses and it cannot be refilled.

According to two new UNSW studies, researchers often choose research topics based on personal preferences and cultural attitudes, including exposure to films, TV shows and even zoos, rather than attempting to fill the most pressing gaps in knowledge. The studies are published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

Modern education is predominantly shaped by approaches that emphasize efficiency, measurable achievement, prediction and the ability to solve problems through rational intervention.

Researchers have used genome-wide DNA data to identify a new insect species on the Ogasawara Islands, a remote Japanese archipelago roughly 900 to 1,000 kilometers (560 to 620 miles) south of Tokyo. The findings suggest that evolution among island insects is more intricate than appearances imply. The study is published in ZooKeys.

The labeling of added sugar on food labels, which became mandatory in the U.S. by 2021, may reduce demand for and consumption of certain types of food, according to a study led by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

A brief period of heat and drought early in a corn plant's life can affect its growth and flowering months after the stress ends, according to new research from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the University of Minnesota. The findings could help guide efforts to develop crops better equipped to withstand hot, dry growing conditions.

James Cook University researchers are calling for greater attention to financial literacy in schools after a new study found that people with a strong understanding of personal insurance were more likely to engage with insurance products.

Mercury remains one of our solar system's most elusive and difficult planets to study. It's easier to send probes to the icy moons of Saturn or Jupiter, or even to Pluto, than to land on our innermost planet, Mercury.

What if the brain evolved to serve the gut? Scientists at Flinders University are challenging a cornerstone of biology, arguing that the gut's nervous system may be the body's original "brain," with the brain evolving later to support its needs.

New Curtin University research has found parents want to treat their children equally when helping them buy their first home.

OCD is a mental health disorder characterized by unwanted, recurring thoughts and repetitive behaviors that can severely interfere with everyday life. Exposure-based psychotherapy is one of the most effective treatments, but the biological mechanisms underlying treatment response remain poorly understood.

Quality of life for Americans 65 and older increased over the past decade, according to new research from Shatakshee Dhongde in Georgia Tech's School of Economics.

There are many ways to produce hydrogen, but not all of them are environmentally friendly. Water electrolysis is a promising method that uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen without producing carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Following Ukraine's recent drone strikes on Russian data centers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested there was "less hate, less division and fewer provocations" online because of fewer Kremlin-linked bot networks spreading misinformation and disinformation.

When describing someone running, most people would say exactly that: "The person is running." They probably wouldn't say the person is moving, even though both descriptions are technically correct. But what if that person were the only one moving in a room full of people standing still?

Viral infections can be difficult to treat because viruses evolve rapidly, allowing them to develop resistance to drugs designed to attack viral proteins directly.

Faba beans are rich in protein and can easily be grown in Denmark—yet they are more often used as animal feed than as food for people. One of the main reasons is that their flavor does not meet consumer expectations compared with beef, pork or chicken.

A joint research group led by Ryo Tanifuji and Hiroki Oguri from the University of Tokyo and Yoshikazu Tanaka from Tohoku University has visualized SacC, an enzyme that plays a key role in building the complex five-ring core of safracin B. This core structure is shared with trabectedin, a drug used to treat soft tissue sarcoma.

Humans throughout history have invented a variety of ways to fight back against troublesome bacteria. But bacteria live in a dangerous world too. The human body and other bacteria-rich environments abound with bacteriophages, or viruses that prey upon bacteria. Phages can sometimes outnumber bacteria a hundredfold, yet the bacteria endure and even thrive. What gives?

A research team led by senior researcher Minyoung Lee and principal researcher Sunggyu Park of the Advanced Bio and Healthcare Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), has developed a label-free surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) analysis technology that rapidly detects extremely low concentrations of viable bacteria by directly growing plasmonic metal nanostructures on and around bacterial cells.

Paired appendages—the pectoral and pelvic fins of fishes and the forelimbs and hindlimbs of tetrapods—were a major innovation in vertebrate evolution. Their emergence greatly expanded the ways vertebrates could move through their environments and ultimately provided the developmental foundation for the evolution of limbs. Yet how the genetic system responsible for building paired appendages was assembled during evolution remains an unresolved question.

The Cambrian explosion was a major diversification of animal life that unfolded early in the Cambrian period, which began around 538.8 million years ago. During this interval, marine animals became much more varied, building the foundations for current marine ecosystems.

The Terracotta Army near Xi'an, China, is a breathtaking sight: thousands of life-size terracotta figures created in the third century B.C. to guard the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang. They were discovered in 1974, and people have assumed they were built exclusively by men. But new research on this underground army and its chariots, horses and weapons suggests women and children lent a helping hand.

Fires in Indonesia that have caused a regional haze crisis burned through over 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) between January and the end of September this year, a monitor analyzing satellite imagery said on Monday.

The world's top climate scientists will reconvene at the earliest opportunity, the panel's chair said on Monday, after member states failed to agree when to release its crucial new findings on global heating.

Infecting a maize plant is no simple task for a fungal pathogen such as Ustilago maydis. A group of researchers led by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now uncovered how the fungus detects that it has successfully entered its host. This signal triggers changes in fungal growth, as the researchers report in Nature Communications.

Today's computer technology, based on silicon chips, is slowly reaching its physical limits. Components cannot be miniaturized indefinitely, and clock speeds cannot be increased indefinitely. At the same time, huge AI data centers are being built in many places, and these consume an immense amount of electricity. This is why scientists around the world are searching for novel materials that can replace or complement silicon technology and consume significantly less electricity.

Even when AI designs molecules with potential as medicines, drug development can be delayed if the process of producing them is slow. KAIST researchers have developed an "unmanned synthesis platform" that uses synthesis robots and light to automatically carry out the entire process from mixing raw materials to synthesis and analysis. The technology is expected to help secure a wider range of drug candidate compounds by reducing the burden of repetitive experiments.

In principle, artificial intelligence could make finding the right material for an application as simple as ordering dinner: Scientists would tell a large language model what they want, and it would serve them the perfect material for the job.

A bumblebee-like insect that was last seen in France 150 years ago was spotted again in the Paris region in 2025.

Nearly 200 nations kicked off crucial U.N. biodiversity talks in Armenia on Monday as governments face pressure to salvage a landmark nature pact whose goals are slipping out of reach.

Welcoming a new baby brings moments of joy, major milestones and significant expenses. And four in five parents say it costs too much to have a baby, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

A new study led by researchers at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) reveals that glaciers worldwide could lose ice faster than previously projected. Published in Nature Communications, the research shows that accounting for daily weather variability leads to more realistic simulations of glacier melt and results in greater projected ice loss by the end of the century. The findings highlight the importance of short-lived weather events, such as the exceptional

Ken Schreiber was 9 when Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon in 1969—a moment he would never forget. Like Armstrong, he became a military fighter pilot.

Britain's Met Office says this year's El Niño is "unprecedented." Japan's weather agency has called it the strongest ever observed. U.S. forecasters say it still trails the biggest events in its record books.

Juan Mayorga smiled as a stingray glided across his computer screen, moving gracefully over the seabed near Portugal's Desertas Islands, part of the Madeira archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.