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Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are a highly effective and long-lasting form of birth control placed in the uterus. Research shows that many people who get IUDs experience moderate to intense pain during the insertion. But it wasn't until recently that providers began to acknowledge this and do something about it.
In a world increasingly affected by light pollution, we can take time during the shorter days and longer nights around Matariki to appreciate the superpowers of our nocturnal bugs.
With school out for the summer and temperatures rising across the country, many families will visit the beach, lake or local swimming pool. Now is the time to review safety tips to keep children safe around water.
If you've ever visited the fossil gallery of a natural history museum—or its gift shop, for that matter—you've probably seen the armored body remains (or exoskeletons) of an extinct group of animals called trilobites. These ancient marine arthropods lived in the world's oceans from 521 million to 252 million years ago.
People with higher intakes of calcium and zinc in the three months before they conceived were significantly less likely to suffer hypertensive disorders during their pregnancy compared with those who had lower intakes of these essential minerals, according to new research.
Findings from a new mouse study suggest that elenolic acid, a natural compound found in olives, can lower blood sugar levels and promote weight loss. The research could pave the way to the development of safe and inexpensive natural products for managing obesity and type 2 diabetes in people.
Researchers in South Africa have injected radioactive material into the horns of 20 rhinos as part of a research project aimed at reducing poaching.
A study performed in mice has uncovered a potential new tool to combat the escalating issue of childhood obesity. The research suggests that a simple dietary change, in the form of a fish oil supplement taken by fathers, might help address this pressing health concern.
An experimental monoclonal antibody has been engineered to target the deadly Nipah virus, an emerging zoonotic pathogen with a human mortality rate ranging as high as a staggering 90%.
As sunny summer days return in the northern hemisphere, you may be looking to refresh your wardrobe. The allure of a whole "new you" is pervasive, and the foundation of many a successful marketing campaign.
In 2020, astronomers discovered a large hourglass-shaped structure in or near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Dubbed "eROSITA bubbles," there have been a few different hypotheses proposed to explain their precise nature. Now, a research team of scientists from China and Europe has constructed a high-resolution map of the region and found evidence that two of the most prominent features are not independent.
The coolest news this week concerns anthropological research combining state-of-the-art imaging technology, medical diagnostics, genetics and sociology. We covered the implications of a black hole in an expanding universe and the eternal question researchers like to ask about children: Are they actually good people? We could go back and forth on that, but current research has landed on "yeah, pretty good, we guess." Also: Forget everything you ever knew about armadillos, the Abrams tank of mammals.
A new pill that slowly releases ketamine could treat people with severe depression without giving them the psychedelic side effects of the often-misused drug, early trial results suggested on Monday.
Giant spiky cacti tower over farmer Alcides Peixinho Nascimento, 70, one of the residents of Brazil's unique Caatinga biome who is on a mission to plant native vegetation in a bid to halt desertification.
So-called cannabis clubs will be allowed to sell the drug legally in Germany starting Monday, but in practice it will be some time before the associations get up and running.
Withanolides, a class of naturally occurring compounds found in plants, have long been a focus of cancer research due to their ability to inhibit cancer cell growth, induce cell death and prevent metastasis. These compounds are important in developing new cancer treatments. However, the difficulty of obtaining enough of these compounds from plants has hindered research and therapeutic development.
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and collaborating institutions have shown that serotonin 2C receptor in the brain regulates memory in people and animal models. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, not only provide new insights into the factors involved in healthy memory but also in conditions associated with memory loss, like Alzheimer's disease, and suggest novel avenues for treatment.
Most people, when they think about pythons, visualize the huge snake constricting and swallowing victims whole. But did you know that pythons initially hold onto their prey with their sharp, backward-curving teeth?
NASA's Mars InSight Lander may be resting on the Red Planet in retirement, but data from the robotic explorer is still leading to seismic discoveries on Earth.
A team of researchers led by an archaeologist at the University of Sydney are the first to suggest that eyed needles were a new technological innovation used to adorn clothing for social and cultural purposes, marking the major shift from clothes as protection to clothes as an expression of identity.
For hundreds of years, the clarity and magnification of microscopes were ultimately limited by the physical properties of their optical lenses. Microscope makers pushed those boundaries by making increasingly complicated and expensive stacks of lens elements. Still, scientists had to decide between high resolution and a small field of view on the one hand or low resolution and a large field of view on the other.
An asteroid will whiz harmlessly past Earth this weekend. With the right equipment and timing, you just might spot it.
Osteoarthritis (OA) represents the most prevalent form of chronic degenerative joint disease worldwide. The dynamic interplay between cartilage and subchondral bone is essential for preserving joint structural and functional integrity. In addition to cartilage degeneration, pathological alterations within the subchondral bone significantly contribute to OA progression. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new strategies that target not only cartilage but also subchondral bone for the efficient treatment of OA.
As the world gears up for another thrilling Wimbledon tournament, Dr. Elisabeth Blagrove, a psychologist at The University of Warwick, ponders why Wimbledon has long been considered posh and what it might mean if you prefer tennis over football, particularly during overlapping events like the Wimbledon Championships and the Euros.
Osteoporosis is so difficult to detect in early stage it's called the "silent disease." What if artificial intelligence could help predict a patient's chances of having the bone-loss disease before ever stepping into a doctor's office?
A recent discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirmed that luminous, very red objects previously detected in the early universe upend conventional thinking about the origins and evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes.
A group has proposed a new concept of mechanobiomaterials, which is inspired by the natural phenomenon that biomechanics mediate tissue repair and regeneration. The rationale behind this new concept is to program the biological functionalities of biomaterials by leveraging mechanics—geometry—biological function relationships.
Almost every morning Guillaume Ramstein walks through the university park in Aarhus on his way to work. At this time of the year the old oak trees teem with bright green colors and the grass is covered in dandelions and daisies.
When ultrafast electrons are deflected, they emit light—synchrotron radiation. This is used in so-called storage rings in which magnets force the particles onto a closed path. This light is longitudinally incoherent and consists of a broad spectrum of wavelengths.
In photocatalytic water splitting, a photocatalyst, typically a semiconductor material, is used to absorb light energy and initiate the water splitting reaction. When light is absorbed by the photocatalyst, it creates electron-hole pairs. The excited electrons can then reduce water, while the holes can oxidize water.
Single mothers are one of the most vulnerable groups in societies around the world. In Sweden, the number of women with these care responsibilities has nearly halved over the past two decades. What has caused this change? Are we seeing a dramatic reversal in the global trend of increasing separations and divorce?
High energy density is a crucial direction for future battery development. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, with their high theoretical energy density, have garnered significant attention. However, the slow solid-liquid-solid conversion of sulfur, especially the oxidation of lithium sulfide (Li2S) during charging, which requires overcoming large reaction barriers, leads to incomplete Li2S conversion and electrode passivation.
A team of researchers led by the University of California San Diego has developed a soft, stretchy electronic device capable of simulating the feeling of pressure or vibration when worn on the skin. This device, reported in a paper published in Science Robotics, represents a step towards creating haptic technologies that can reproduce a more varied and realistic range of touch sensations.
An updated model reconciles the gap between recent experiments and theory concerning polarization in wurtzite semiconductors—paving the way for the development of smaller, faster and more efficient electronic devices, according to a recent study by University of Michigan researchers.
Hydrothermal vents can be found around the world at the junctions of drifting tectonic plates. But there are many hydrothermal fields still to be discovered. During a 2022 expedition of the MARIA S. MERIAN, the first field of hydrothermal vents on the 500-kilometer-long Knipovich Ridge off the coast of Svalbard was discovered.
A study from Michigan Medicine's Kresge Hearing Research Institute was able to produce supranormal hearing in mice, while also supporting a hypothesis on the cause of hidden hearing loss in humans.
In countries with an aging population, neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are becoming more prevalent. These conditions, for which no definitive cure currently exists, are extremely difficult to diagnose accurately while the affected person is still alive. This has proved to be a major roadblock for researchers seeking to assess potential therapies, since they have no conclusive way to check whether their proposed treatment is truly working in either patients or animal models.
Material extrusion 3D printing technology is widely utilized in biofabrication/bioprinting, tissue engineering, flexible electronics, and soft robotics. However, the fixed printing parameters and constant filament diameter limit the design and fabrication of complex gradient porous structures.
When a cancer cell doesn't respond to traditional therapies, doctors may turn to a sort of viral biological warfare, by deploying "troops" in the form of viral agents that are specifically engineered to target and eliminate cancer cells. The mode of attack is to transform the tumor into an immunologically "hot" environment, making it more visible and recognizable to our immune system.
Air pollution is a severe risk to human health and the environment, particularly from fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3). Despite global efforts, many cities continue to face significant exposure risks from these pollutants.
Tampere University researchers developed a method to map mechanistic connections between diseases, revealing deeper associations beyond traditional classifications based on affected organs and symptoms. This multi-dimensional approach presents a paradigm shift in disease classification and drug discovery, potentially leading to more personalized and effective medical treatments.
Alpine habitats present extreme challenges, including low temperatures, high UV radiation, and limited oxygen levels, which demand unique adaptations from the plants that inhabit these regions. Despite their ecological importance, the genetic mechanisms behind these adaptations are not well understood.
Loosening local, state and federal regulations on cannabis and psychedelics has increased Americans' interest in microdosing, according to a study from researchers at the University of California San Diego.
3D reconstruction technology has become an integral part of our daily lives and various industries, and UNIST's research team has continued to advance its development. Known as DITTO (Dual and Integrated Latent Topologies), the precise 3D modeling technology developed by Professor Kyungdon Joo and his research team in the Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence at UNIST has opened up new possibilities for the restoration of cultural heritage properties.
The core technology of artificial intelligence (AI) lies in its ability to retain existing knowledge while learning new information. This capability is crucial for AI systems to function effectively in various applications, much like the human ability to recall past experiences while acquiring new ones.
In a breakthrough that brings to mind Lucky Luke—the man who shoots faster than his shadow—Rasmus Kyng and his team have developed a superfast algorithm that looks set to transform an entire field of research.
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death and injury for U.S. teens, and driver error is one of the main reasons for those crashes. Young driver training before granting them licenses can help lower crash rates, but according to a new paper, many U.S. states do not require sufficient preparation before allowing these drivers on the road.
A real-time, 3D temperature map of the inside of a nuclear microreactor for improved safety monitoring was reconstructed using a newly-established theoretical foundation to evaluate basis functions, which can be combined to describe fundamental trends in data, according to a new University of Michigan study.
From smart-enabled match balls and artificial intelligence to cryogenic recovery chambers, soccer is being transformed by the cutting-edge technology available to players, coaches and officials.
When most people think of artificial intelligence, they're probably thinking of—and worrying about—ChatGPT and deepfakes. AI-generated text and images dominate our social media feeds and the other websites we visit, sometimes without us knowing it, and are often used to spread unreliable and misleading information.
Using this new approach, researchers could develop drug compounds with unique pharmaceutical properties.
The growing prevalence of high-speed wireless communication devices, from 5G mobile phones to sensors for autonomous vehicles, is leading to increasingly crowded airwaves. This makes the ability to block interfering signals that can hamper device performance an even more important—and more challenging—problem.
The chief executive of drone delivery company Wing says 2024 is "the year of drone delivery." The company first went public in 2014 as a Google "moonshot" project and now operates in several cities in Australia, the United States and Finland, with plans to expand further.
The US military recently launched a groundbreaking initiative to strengthen ties with the commercial space industry. The aim is to integrate commercial equipment into military space operations, including satellites and other hardware. This would enhance cybersecurity for military satellites.
In April 2019, South Korea ambitiously launched the world's first 5G mobile communication service. While 5G in the 3.5 GHz band was commercialized, the communication quality did not meet consumer expectations. The installation of base stations in the 28 GHz band, which would provide true 5G service, was slow due to profitability concerns.
Known for building connections between the social sciences, data science, and computation, the political science professor will lead IDSS into its next chapter.
A new gene-silencing tool shows promise as a future therapy against prion diseases and paves the way for new approaches to treating disease.
This novel circuit architecture cancels out unwanted signals at the earliest opportunity.
As energy and environmental crises rampage, sustainable solutions like ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems gain traction. GSHP systems use consistent geothermal energy below the earth's surface to provide heating and cooling for buildings. So, they are an eco-friendly alternative to traditional heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning or HVAC systems. Specifically, in constructing smart cities, using energy piles—structures that support buildings and function as a part of GSHP systems—and analyzing the soil thermal dynamics is vital for sustainable urban development.
The desert city of Sedona, Arizona, is home to less than 10,000 people but welcomes nearly 3 million visitors every year. The city knows it needs a big boost to its electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure to support greater numbers of tourists rolling in on EVs and to support municipal fleet electrification.
Researchers at Princeton and UCLA have developed a passive mechanism to cool buildings in the summer and warm them in the winter.
We expose ourselves to data manipulation every time we send information over the internet. A recent study led by researcher Tanya Koohpayeh Araghi from the Interdisciplinary Internet Institute (IN3) of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has developed a new tool to protect digital data in a secure and cost-effective way.
New findings could help engineers design materials for light and heat management.
The building will serve as a hub for research on the development of immunology-based treatments.
This technique could lead to safer autonomous vehicles, more efficient AR/VR headsets, or faster warehouse robots.
Three innovations by an MIT-based team enable high-resolution, high-throughput imaging of human brain tissue at a full range of scales, and mapping connectivity of neurons at single-cell resolution.
LLMs trained primarily on text can generate complex visual concepts through code with self-correction. Researchers used these illustrations to train an image-free computer vision system to recognize real photos.
The SPARROW algorithm automatically identifies the best molecules to test as potential new medicines, given the vast number of factors affecting each choice.
Combining natural language and programming, the method enables LLMs to solve numerical, analytical, and language-based tasks transparently.
New camera chip design allows for optimizing each pixel’s timing to maximize signal-to-noise ratio when tracking real-time visual indicator of neural voltage.
With their “T-REX” method, DNA embedded in the polymer could be used for long-term storage of genomes or digital data such as photos and music.
MIT neuroscientists have found that the brain uses the same cognitive representations whether navigating through space physically or mentally.
The method uses language-based inputs instead of costly visual data to direct a robot through a multistep navigation task.
A new downscaling method leverages machine learning to speed up climate model simulations at finer resolutions, making them usable on local levels.
DenseAV, developed at MIT, learns to parse and understand the meaning of language just by watching videos of people talking, with potential applications in multimedia search, language learning, and robotics.
The technique characterizes a material’s electronic properties 85 times faster than conventional methods.
Researchers created a water-soluble version of an important bacterial enzyme, which can now be used in drug screens to identify new antibiotics.
Smaller than a coin, this optical device could enable rapid prototyping on the go.
Discounting calculations are ubiquitous today — thanks partly to the English clergy who spread them amid turmoil in the 1600s, an MIT scholar shows.
MIT researchers show a promising plan for using clean-burning hydrogen in place of the diesel fuel now used in most freight-transport trucks.
The startup Augmental allows users to operate phones and other devices using their tongue, mouth, and head gestures.
During the MIT Science Policy Initiative’s Congressional Visit Days, PhD students and postdocs met with legislators to share expertise and advocate for science agency funding.
By capturing short-lived RNA molecules, scientists can map relationships between genes and the regulatory elements that control them.
MIT engineers’ implantable ImPULS device could become an alternative to the electrodes now used to treat Parkinson’s and other diseases.
The fellowships provide five years of funding to doctoral students in applied science, engineering, and mathematics who have “the extraordinary creativity and principled leadership necessary to tackle problems others can’t solve.”
With generative AI models, researchers combined robotics data from different sources to help robots learn better.
The findings should help scientists refine predictions of future sea-level rise.
SMART researchers find a cellular process called transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modification influences the malaria parasite’s ability to develop resistance.
Collaborative scholarship and research will draw on conservation, design, and technology.
A new quantum-system-on-chip enables the efficient control of a large array of qubits, moving toward practical quantum computing.
A new approach could streamline virtual training processes or aid clinicians in reviewing diagnostic videos.
Research surveys show warnings issued by world leaders are taken equally seriously whether issued on social media or through formal statements.
Letting people work with a “navigator” dramatically increases how often they move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods.
With support from The Marcus Foundation, an MIT neuroscientist and a Harvard Medical School immunologist will study the “fever effect” in an effort to devise therapies that mimic its beneficial effects.
Research sheds light on the properties of novel materials that could be used in electronics operating in extremely hot environments.
A new study suggests optogenetics can drive muscle contraction with greater control and less fatigue than electrical stimulation.
The results offer a new way to probe supermassive black holes and their evolution across the universe.
New adhesive hydrogel coatings could prolong the lifespan of pacemakers, drug delivery depots, and other medical devices.
The unexpected finding could be important for designing spacecraft shielding or in high-speed machining applications.
MIT CSAIL researchers enhance robotic precision with sophisticated tactile sensors in the palm and agile fingers, setting the stage for improvements in human-robot interaction and prosthetic technology.
The material could be made as a thin coating to analyze air quality in industrial or home settings over time.
The Trustnet browser extension lets individuals assess the accuracy of any content on any website.
A new technique that can automatically classify phases of physical systems could help scientists investigate novel materials.