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Continued warming of the climate would see a rise in the number and spread of potentially fatal infections caused by bacteria found along parts of the coast of the United States. Vibrio vulnificus bacteria grow in warm shallow coastal waters and can infect a cut or insect bite during contact with seawater. A new study […] More

UC Riverside scientists have significantly advanced the race to control plant responses to temperature on a rapidly warming planet. Key to this breakthrough is miRNA, a molecule nearly 200,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. With moderate increases in temperature, plants grow taller to avoid hotter ground and get fresher air. A […] More

Applying hydrostatic pressure as an external stimulus, Tokyo Tech and Keio University researchers demonstrate a new way to regulate singlet fission (SF), a process in which two electrons are generated from a single photon, in chromophores, opening doors to the design of SF-based materials with enhanced (photo)energy conversion. Their method overrides the strict requirements that […] More

Microplastic pollution reduces energy production in a microscopic creature found in freshwater worldwide, new research shows. Paramecium bursaria contain algae that live inside their cells and provide energy by photosynthesis. The new study, by the University of Exeter, tested whether severe microplastic contamination in the water affected this symbiotic relationship. The results showed a 50% […] More

A male fly approaches a flower, lands on top of what he thinks is a female fly, and jiggles around. He’s trying to mate, but it isn’t quite working. He has another go. Eventually he gives up and buzzes off, unsuccessful. The plant, meanwhile, has got what it wanted: pollen. A South African daisy, Gorteria […] More

Many people who have dieted are familiar with the yo-yo effect: after the diet, the kilos are quickly put back on. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research and Harvard Medical School have now shown in mice that communication in the brain changes during a diet: The nerve cells that mediate the feeling […] More

Nuclear physicists have found a new way to see details inside atomic nuclei. They do so by tracking interactions between particles of light and gluons — the gluelike particles that hold together the building blocks of protons and neutrons. The method relies on harnessing a new type of quantum interference between two dissimilar particles. Tracking […] More

Most climate models do not yet account for a new UC Riverside discovery: methane traps a great deal of heat in Earth’s atmosphere, but also creates cooling clouds that offset 30% of the heat. Greenhouse gases like methane create a kind of blanket in the atmosphere, trapping heat from Earth’s surface, called longwave energy, and […] More

People all around the world are drawn to creating and consuming art, and human emotions are often a central subject in visual artworks as well as in music and performance art. However, the mechanisms underlying the feelings that art evokes remain poorly characterised. A new study reveals how viewing visual art affects our emotions. The […] More

Near-infrared light, whose wavelength is longer than visible light, is invisible and can pass through many substances. Organic materials that efficiently absorb near-infrared light are essential for technological innovations that utilize near-infrared light, such as the dyes in the infrared blocking filters of smartphone cameras and security inks. These and many more technical applications make […] More

Squids and octopuses are masters of camouflage, blending into their environment to evade predators or surprise prey. Some aspects of how these cephalopods become reversibly transparent are still “unclear,” largely because researchers can’t culture cephalopod skin cells in the lab. Today, however, researchers report that they have replicated the tunable transparency of some squid skin […] More

If you’ve ever seen a shooting star, you might have actually seen a meteor on its way to Earth. Those that land here are called meteorites and can be used to peek back in time, into the far corners of outer space or at the earliest building blocks of life. Today, scientists report some of […] More

A University of Massachusetts Amherst nutrition scientist who has spent his career studying breast milk has demonstrated how beneficial microbes in the gut of infants use nitrogen from human milk to support pediatric nutrition and development. “The molecules in breast milk not only feed the baby but also feed the baby’s microbiome,” says David Sela, […] More

The Greenland Ice Sheet covers 1.7 million square kilometers (660,200 square miles) in the Arctic. If it melts entirely, global sea level would rise about 7 meters (23 feet), but scientists aren’t sure how quickly the ice sheet could melt. Modeling tipping points, which are critical thresholds where a system behavior irreversibly changes, helps researchers […] More

Female giant African pouched rats, used for sniffing out landmines and detecting tuberculosis, can undergo astounding reproductive organ transformations, according to a new study. The paper, “Extreme plasticity of reproductive state in a female rodent,” which published March 27 in Current Biology, explores how traits once considered “fixed” in adult animals may become variable under […] More

An international team of researchers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to measure the temperature of the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b. The measurement is based on the planet’s thermal emission: heat energy given off in the form of infrared light detected by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The result indicates that the planet’s dayside has […] More

Black women and others with curly or kinky hair encounter a vast and confusing array of haircare options. Advice on the best products to use for a certain type of hair is often contradictory, and the results can be highly variable. Now, scientists are bringing order to this chaos by identifying properties such as the […] More

The cold blast of an air conditioner can be a welcome relief as temperatures soar, but “A/C” units require large amounts of energy and can leak potent greenhouse gases. Today, scientists report an eco-friendly alternative — a plant-based film that gets cooler when exposed to sunlight and comes in a variety of textures and bright, […] More

A new discovery by scientists at the University of Bristol changes ideas about the origin of branching in plants. By studying the mechanisms responsible for branching, the team have determined what the first land plants are likely to have looked like millions of years ago. Despite fundamentally different patterns in growth, their research has identified […] More