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Over the past few decades, scientists have become increasingly interested in developing materials that do not simply withstand mechanical forces but instead respond to them in useful, detectable ways. For example, it is now possible to engineer materials that signal when they are under stress through changes in color or brightness. This growing domain, sometimes called mechanochromic or mechanoresponsive materials science, has found applications in structural sensors and advanced optical technol

Climate drives vegetation patterns across the Henan section of China's Yellow River Basin, research in the International Journal of Environmental Engineering shows. However, expanding agriculture and urbanization have a detrimental effect on plant diversity in heavily developed areas, according to the study. The findings are based on satellite observations and ecological modeling of the region.

Invasive alien species are driving human displacement, according to a new research paper published this month in Frontiers. In Kenya, Opuntia stricta has displaced pastoralist communities, while the invasive little fire ant has led to farm abandonment in New Caledonia, the Galápagos Islands and French Polynesia. Water hyacinth has disrupted fishing livelihoods in much of Africa.

A research team has, for the first time, demonstrated the crucial role that restoring transportation networks (such as roads and railways) plays in rebuilding regional economies and helping residents recover their livelihoods after a major disaster. The study was published in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.

The pulp and paper industry, which manufactures everything from tissue paper to cardboard, also generates a significant yet often overlooked byproduct—a complex polymer called lignin. Around 100 million tons of lignin are produced each year. Despite being the largest natural source of aromatic carbon on the planet, most of it is burned for energy. This is due to its complex structure, which is notoriously difficult to process. Researchers are exploring ways to leverage industrial lignin by devel

For lakes across the Northern Hemisphere, winter ice is more than a frozen surface. It is a seasonal regulator that shapes underwater ecosystems and energy balance. But as the planet warms, this frozen season is disappearing faster than expected.

Community energy projects, actively governed and managed by community members, play an essential role in advancing just energy transitions, for example, by providing energy in remote areas, facilitating the adoption of renewable technologies and building resilient electricity networks. However, their adoption remains limited. How does community energy work in practice, and how can it become more widespread?

Excavations at Hohle Fels Cave in the UNESCO World Heritage area of the Swabian Jura in southwestern Germany have again yielded two spectacular 40,000-year-old depictions of birds carved from mammoth ivory. The two figurines are the smallest discovered so far and are the size of a thumbnail, while still including many details. These remarkable finds come from the rich Aurignacian layers at Hohle Fels, which have produced some of the oldest figurative art known and date to the initial arrival of

In many animal tissues, stem cells continually divide to create new cells that replace old or damaged ones. However, this capacity requires strict regulation, as uncontrolled stem cell proliferation can disrupt tissue homeostasis and contribute to tumorigenesis.

For decades, a 30 million-year-old fossil sat entombed in rock in an Oregon museum collection. When it was first found, paleontologists thought it might be an early relative of sheep, camels and pigs, whose fossilized skeletons are, in the researchers' view, abundant.

In August 2023, the German research vessel METEOR set sail on Expedition M192 to the Greek island of Milos with Dr. Solveig Bühring as chief scientist. The mission was to locate and investigate previously unknown hydrothermal systems. Now, three years later, a new study highlights the surprising discoveries resulting from this expedition. At a newly discovered hydrothermal system at intermediate water depths of 100 to 250 meters (328 to 820 feet), researchers demonstrated how different intensiti

As the U.S. looks to expand domestic seafood production, a new University of Miami study argues that long-term competitiveness will depend on how well fisheries can withstand climate-driven disruptions. The study comes as NOAA advances new efforts to increase domestic seafood production and suggests that producing more seafood will require investments that reduce disruptions to the nation's fisheries and seafood supply chains.

A New York school district made global headlines this week for plans to trial a humanoid robot named "Sally" in high school classrooms.

Mechanical strain is one of the most common tools used to tailor the properties of materials. In piezoelectric materials, stretching or compressing a crystal generates an electrical polarization. In piezomagnetic materials, it induces magnetization. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) and the University of Oxford have now discovered that mechanical strain also induces chirality in non-chiral crystals, opening a new direction to control this pro

The creation of fully artificial organs is a sci-fi dream, and researchers in Japan may have brought it one step closer to reality by developing a new photofabrication technique (i.e., a light-controlled synthetic method) for constructing arteriole-scale tubular hydrogels. Their research is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

What happens after death? An international study led by the University of Granada (UGR), involving Ana Mateos and Jesús Rodríguez, researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), argues that this question, long overlooked by ecology, can help us understand a wide range of processes and offer new perspectives across different disciplines.

You might not often think about the molars of livestock, but everything from the grass they eat to the water they drink can tell a story about how people lived centuries ago. An international collaboration led by University of Michigan researchers examined herd management in medieval Kazakhstan using isotopes embedded in the enamel of sheep's molars. They found that people living in the arid region fine-tuned their animal-management strategies to succeed in a challenging environment.

Drought creates increasing challenges for agriculture. As well as affecting crop growth, it also affects interactions with pests. A research team at the University of Göttingen investigated how different levels of drought affect sugar beet's susceptibility to damage caused by the beet leaf miner (Pegomya cunicularia)—a fly whose larvae create visible tunnels inside leaves.

Deploying ocean iron fertilization—a strategy for carbon dioxide capture—in higher latitudes rather than near the equator could reduce environmental impacts while still achieving removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to a modeling study published in Nature. The findings offer insight into best practices for maximizing carbon dioxide removal while reducing potential ecological trade-offs typically associated with iron fertilization.

Summer can be lovely—until a wasp turns up. Whether they present as an irritating picnic visitor or an uninvited attic guest, common social wasps are as much a part of our summer as festivals, sunscreen and the growing despair of how to entertain children who've forgotten how to be bored.

Coho salmon released by recreational anglers are far more likely to survive when handled without a landing net, according to new research. In salmon fisheries where anglers may be required to release salmon that are undersized, wild or not the target species, post-release survival is critical to conservation efforts. The paper is published in the journal Fisheries Research.

The chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides (ONs) is central to modern molecular biology, diagnostics and nucleic acid therapeutics. While demand for high-quality ONs is increasing, the conventional synthetic method has long-standing efficiency challenges. Widely adopted P(III)-phosphoramidite-based ON synthesis requires an oxidation step after every nucleotide coupling cycle and uses moisture-sensitive building blocks, adding complexity to the workflow and slowing the process.

The Canadian government is proposing sweeping changes to accelerate industrial development and reduce environmental oversight. These proposed legislative, regulatory and policy reforms could significantly diminish the government's capacity to assess environmental impacts and weaken protections for fish habitats and species at risk.

Nanoplastics—plastic particles smaller than one micrometer—are generated through the degradation and abrasion of plastic products and are increasingly detected in food, drinking water, air and biological tissues. Although the presence of plastic particles in animals and humans is well-established, determining how nanoplastics are distributed within complex organs, such as the brain, remains challenging.

New research, led by the University of Glasgow reveals that adaptation to warmer waters causes fish to display a range of behavioral and biological differences, including obesity, overeating and lower metabolism.

A lack of data on prisoner characteristics is providing an incomplete picture of who dies in prison and why, which may be contributing to preventable deaths in custody, according to a new report.

Electrons zipping through transistors, powering the screens on our smartphones. Light zooming from distant stars to Earth, moving faster than anything else in the universe. Protons enabling MRI machines to analyze people's injuries.

Ports rank among the most disturbed marine environments. Pollutants like trash, oil and toxins from antifouling paints tend to accumulate in enclosed harbors. Invasive species arriving in ballast water may displace native wildlife, while ship propellers, sonars and dredging cause noise pollution that can interfere with animal communication. There is thus a great need for effective ways to clean up harbors. One promising method is renaturalization, in which hardy species that can survive under th

New research from the University of Cambridge offers an easy and readily available solution using AI and satellite data. In a paper published in the journal Science of Remote Sensing, researchers used embeddings by Tessera, a geospatial foundation model, to successfully map tree species across the Trentino region of the Italian Alps.

Assessing how climate change will affect different regions usually requires running a complex chain of models. While this approach provides valuable insights, it is expensive and can cover only a limited set of scenarios and model runs. Together with partners, IIASA researchers have developed a faster alternative that uses available projections from Earth system or climate impact models to generate new regional climate and impact projections while capturing the uncertainty essential for understa

New research conducted using airborne laser scanning reveals that a multicultural civilization that flourished in southwestern Amazonia between 600 BCE and 850 CE was home to millions of people. Spanning roughly 183,000 square kilometers (71,000 square miles), the Aquiry civilization built large centers for political and ritual purposes.

Resolving a long-standing problem in semiconductor physics and optoelectronics, a team of researchers from Skoltech—a VEB.RF group institution—and their colleagues from ITMO University and HSE University have for the first time demonstrated direct electrical pumping of a polariton laser based on a solution-processed halide perovskite microcrystal. Published in Nature, this solution to a decades-long technological challenge ushers in inexpensive nonepitaxial laser diodes operating under continuou

Firefighters in France on Thursday were hopeful a massive forest fire was no longer spreading, as Spain said there were "almost no flames" left after a similar blaze near Madrid.

A simplified machine learning-based low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) equation provides results that are comparable to the original Martin-Hopkins equation, according to a study published online July 15 in JAMA Cardiology.

Amina Helmi's passion for the Milky Way is clear as soon as one steps into her small office at the University of Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands.

Corporate climate spending now steers trillions of dollars in transition finance worldwide. Does it drive genuine climate action? Research shows that accounting flexibility alone can make a company's reported emissions vary by roughly a factor of two—enough to appear either as a climate leader or a laggard. A new perspective in Nature Sustainability proposes developing industry-specific net-zero blueprints to close that gap.

Towering explosions, flowing bright red lava and heroic scientists battling to save communities at risk have become the defining image of volcanoes in popular culture, from disaster films to epic blockbusters. New University of Bristol–led research has found these cinematic portrayals create a distorted view of how volcanoes behave in the real world.

Since their discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, little red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of great interest to astronomers. Understanding the nature of these extremely distant, compact red sources has been a puzzling scientific endeavor.

Most electronic memory storage devices require the ability to trap large numbers of electrons for each bit of memory. In an ideal world, however, it would take only one electron. This would reduce space requirements and power consumption for devices. Now, a team in China has realized this goal with an ultrathin device capable of minimizing the stray capacitance that plagued earlier attempts. The new study, published in Science, describes how this novel device has overcome challenges in implement

Plants need nitrogen fertilizers, which are usually ammonia-based. Ammonia is therefore one of the most important chemical products. However, its production is currently extremely energy-intensive. An international team from TU Wien and Soochow University in China has developed a novel catalyst that can convert nitrate from wastewater into ammonia much more efficiently than before—powered by sunlight and about 1.5 volts.

For decades, court-ordered community service has been used as an alternative to incarceration. The intention is to reduce costs, provide restitution to the community and support individual rehabilitation. But does it actually work? A new report from the University of Georgia suggests it doesn't.

Despite the promise of rebounding green sea turtle numbers, many sea turtle populations continue to flounder under the pressures of changing climates, overfishing and urbanization.

With summer comes the warmth and sunshine that wine grapes need to thrive. It also comes with more vineyard-destroying rodents. To keep vermin at bay while reducing the need for harmful pesticides, California vineyards have been turning to an avian ally: barn owls.

As materials become thinner—now reaching the thickness of single atoms—it has become increasingly difficult to create sufficiently large sheets and transfer them without cracking them into tiny flakes. Recent work by a broad Amsterdam-based team of scientists, published in the journal ACS Nano, presents a new technique that solves this problem using an unexpected material found in any home kitchen.

Researchers at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and Florida State University's Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center have identified how hurricane flooding can affect health long after a storm. In research published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, the researchers identified the factors most likely to create hazardous respiratory conditions inside homes after flooding.

Scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Oxford have developed a promising new way to kill antibiotic-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea, using a targeted therapy that is activated at the bacterial surface while minimizing damage to human cells.

For communities across the Western Cape, cut-off low weather systems are a familiar threat. They can dump torrents of rain in a matter of hours, flooding roads, damaging homes and infrastructure, and, in the worst cases, causing loss of life. What scientists have long wanted to understand is why some of these storms become so destructive, and researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT) found that the answer lies far offshore, in the warm waters of the Agulhas Current.

He tramples things without intending to. He was created by us. He never permanently goes away. In recent years, metaphorical representations of Donald Trump as the Japanese kaiju Godzilla have become common. Now, a paper published in De Gruyter Brill's The Forum argues that the Showa period Godzilla films (1954–75) can be read as an allegory of Trump's political career from 2016–24.

Why do humans keep pets? A new international study suggests that some of the behavioral foundations of human-animal companionship may have much deeper evolutionary roots than previously thought.

Offshore Northwest reefs Rankin Bank and Glomar Shoal are remote and little known, but Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) researchers are using technology and people power to help us understand them better.