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What appears to be evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history is etched onto finger-length, clay cylinders excavated from a tomb in Syria by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers.
Researchers in the UK have developed a new spray coating for greenhouses that optimizes the wavelength of light shining onto the plants, improving their growth and yield. The technology could in the future help extend the growing seasons in less sunny countries like the UK in a more sustainable way. The study is published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies.
A NASA study using a series of supercomputer simulations reveals a potential new solution to a longstanding Martian mystery: How did Mars get its moons? The first step, the findings say, may have involved the destruction of an asteroid.
Researchers at Duke University School of Medicine have found that tapping into the nervous system could help reduce the gut inflammation that drives inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
A spoonful of sugar might actually help medicine go down, according to recent research from the University of Mississippi. And it could reduce the harmful side effects of cancer treatment. Instead of a literal spoonful of sugar, however, the researchers tried using glycopolymers—polymers made with natural sugars like glucose—to coat tiny particles that deliver cancer-fighting medication directly to tumors. They found that glycopolymers help keep proteins from sticking to the nanoparticles, reducing the body's immune response to the treatment.
Fungal contamination of cereal grains poses a substantial threat to food security and public health while causing hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses annually. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign evaluated far-ultraviolet C (far-UVC) light as a safe way to alleviate fungal contamination of corn and wheat and found this technology to be effective.
Tires are an indispensable part of daily life. Without them, our vehicles would just be a bunch of assembled parts—convenient to sit in, but not effective for getting where you are going.
The intestine maintains a delicate balance in the body, absorbing nutrients and water while maintaining a healthy relationship with the gut microbiome, but this equilibrium is disrupted in parts of the intestine in conditions such as celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease. Scientists don't fully understand how different regions of the organ resist or adapt to changes in the environment and how that is disrupted in disease.
People around the world associate a trilled R sound with a rough texture and a jagged shape, and an L sound with a smooth texture and a flat shape, according to the findings of a new study. Researchers believe this association may be more universal than the famous bouba/kiki effect.
A team of marine biologists, ecologists and evolutionary specialists from the University of Chicago, Stanford University and Duke University has found that heart cockles have windows in their shells to allow in light needed by the algae that live inside the shells.
Researchers from Seoul National University College of Engineering announced they have developed an optical design technology that dramatically reduces the volume of cameras with a folded lens system utilizing "metasurfaces," a next-generation nano-optical device.
Drug-drug interaction (DDI) is a phenomenon in which the efficacy of a drug is weakened or enhanced when multiple drugs are combined. The DI can cause serious health risks to patients.
Larger pay increases and better benefits could help keep K-12 teachers in the teacher workforce, finds a new, nationally representative RAND survey.
As cities around the world continue to face rapid urbanization and changing demographics, the need for innovative urban transportation solutions has become more urgent. Shared micromobility systems, including bicycle and scooter-sharing programs, are emerging as strong contenders in addressing these challenges. But what factors influence the growth and sustainability of these fleets?
A new technology that can generate electricity from vibrations or even small body movements means you could charge your laptop by typing or power your smartphone's battery on your morning run.
A new pathology tool created at Yale harnesses barcode technology and shows potential for use in cancer diagnoses. The technology, Patho-DBiT (pathology-compatible deterministic barcoding in tissue), was discussed in a new study published in the journal Cell.
Have you ever wondered why an airplane has a vertical tailfin? The plane needs it to stabilize its flight. Since flying without a vertical tail is much more energy-efficient, the aviation industry has worked hard to accomplish this—so far without much success. However, birds don't need a vertical fin, which raises the question: how do they do it?
Chimpanzees are more likely to engage in play or groom each other if they see others performing these social behaviors first, Georgia Sandars and colleagues at Durham University, U.K. report in a study published November 20, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
Individual motivation to act against climate change outweighs the impact of hyperlocal collective intentions, though both approaches are worth strengthening, according to a survey of nine European neighborhoods published Nov. 20, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Christian A. Klöckner from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and colleagues.
A team from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has introduced a new method for megapixel-scale fluorescence microscopy through complex scattering media. This approach resolves high-resolution images from several tens of widefield fluorescence-microscope frames without requiring specialized equipment such as spatial-light modulators or intensive computational processing.
Companies around the world are increasingly committed to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions to slow and ultimately reverse climate change.
The Canadian Space Agency announced a competition today to name Canada's first-ever rover mission to the moon. This unmanned mission will explore the south polar region of the moon to search for water ice and explore its unique geology.
Gastroenterologists who focus primarily on providing inpatient care, called GI Hospitalists, are becoming more common across the U.S. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital developed a survey to assess the effect of GI Hospitalists on fellowship education and found that GI Hospitalists improve education through superior endoscopy teaching and longitudinal feedback.
The detection of a giant planet that transits a very young star is reported in Nature. The findings indicate that this is the youngest transiting planet found to date.
On Sunday November 23, 1924, 100 years ago this month, readers perusing page six of the New York Times would have found an intriguing article, amid several large adverts for fur coats. The headline read: Finds Spiral Nebulae are Stellar Systems: "Dr. Hubbell Confirms View That They Are 'Island Universes'; Similar to Our Own."
Historical policies shaping educational attainment have enduring benefits for later life memory and risk of dementia, according to a study led by a Rutgers Health researcher.
Asking children "What does a scientist look like?" now results in more illustrations of women and people of color than decades ago. But do generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools also depict the diversity among scientists? Researchers reporting in the Journal of Chemical Education prompted AI image generators for portraits of chemists. They found that none of the collections accurately represents the gender, racial or disability diversity among real chemists today.
A new study exploring the use of cranial accelerometry (CA) headsets for the prehospital detection of large-vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes has been published in Academic Emergency Medicine.
Understanding the middle ear is essential—not only for hearing but also for balance and quality of life. According to the National Institutes of Health, in the U.S., one in eight adults has hearing loss, and nearly 28% of those with moderate to severe loss face challenges in daily activities.
While camping is a great opportunity to unplug and connect with nature, it's hard not to rely on some sort of technology—cellphones, radios, lanterns, and portable chargers are all useful tools to bring along while exploring the wilderness. Research by Lixian Guo at the University of Canterbury may make it possible to keep all those devices powered with another piece of equipment you're likely to bring with you while exploring the great outdoors: camping stoves.
When it comes to early detection of silent but deadly diseases like pancreatic cancer, finding it early and predicting disease aggressiveness are critical for increasing long-term survival.
Monash University drug discovery researchers have found that a natural fat molecule called "lipoxin A4" (LXA4) could significantly reduce inflammation and improve function for diabetic hearts.
A new study by researchers from Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University and Purdue University presents their low cost, scalable methodology for the early identification of individuals at risk of developing dementia. While the condition remains incurable, there are a number of common risk factors that, if targeted and addressed, can potentially reduce the odds of developing dementia or slow the pace of cognitive decline.
A new University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study highlights the success of the largest-ever quality improvement initiative to focus on the critically important issue of smoking among cancer patients.
SUNY Poly Assistant Professor Dr. Mahmoud Badr and peers have published new research in Applied Sciences titled "XAI-Based Accurate Anomaly Detector That Is Robust Against Black-Box Evasion Attacks for the Smart Grid." This significant research introduces an advanced anomaly detection system specifically designed to protect smart grid networks from sophisticated cyber threats, which is a notable advancement in the use of XAI in cybersecurity for critical infrastructure.
Bones play a critical role in full-body health. The skeleton is the framework of the body—protecting your organs, enabling movement and housing the bone marrow that makes blood cells, to name a few functions. As we age, maintaining bone health becomes even more important.
An enzyme called EZH2 has an unexpected role in driving aggressive tumor growth in treatment-resistant prostate cancers, according to a new study by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine.
A new generation of lasers using ultrashort bursts of light is showing great potential for the sustainable manufacturing of precision parts.
The US government said Wednesday it has finalized a grant with chipmaker GlobalFoundries to support its semiconductor manufacturing investments, as President Joe Biden works to secure parts of his legacy before Donald Trump's White House return.
A small team of AI researchers at Adobe Inc., working with a colleague from Auburn University and another from Georgia Tech, has developed a small language model (SLM) that they claim can be run locally on a smart phone with no access to the cloud. The group has written a paper describing their new app, which they call SlimLM, and have posted it to the arXiv preprint server.
Trust between humans and robots is improved when the movement between both is harmonized, researchers have discovered.
Amid the global pursuit of next-generation secondary battery solutions to replace current lithium-ion technology, Korean researchers have pioneered a lithium composite material that dramatically enhances both safety and lifespan, achieving over three times longer durability compared to existing materials.
Federal funding for cognitive research in the late 1970s and early 1980s unexpectedly led to significant advancements in artificial intelligence. This research transformed our understanding of human cognition through computational models and also laid the groundwork for the deep learning systems driving today's AI technology.
General Motors Co. has developed a software-testing lab inside its Global Technical Center that it's replicating elsewhere, including in GM's Silicon Valley office, to prevent bugs from entering new vehicles and affecting customers.
The best-selling video game "Minecraft" is to become a real-life destination, as part of a multi-million-pound deal between theme park operator Merlin Entertainments and video game developer Mojang Studios.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told customers at a conference in Chicago on Tuesday that the company is teaching a new set of artificial intelligence tools how to "act on our behalf across our work and life."
Japan is readying a $65-billion push in microchips and artificial intelligence aimed at reclaiming its status as a global tech leader and meeting the urgent challenges of its aging, shrinking population.
Imagine having a live art class taught by Leonardo da Vinci, or having a fully interactive discussion about the meaning of life with Socrates. You can now do this in your living room with a laptop and headset through startups like Ireland's Engage XR and Sweden's Hello History, combining the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse.
The construction of photovoltaic plants on land traditionally put to agricultural use has been generating discussion and controversy for years. In a world that is increasingly demanding clean energy, but also food, the possibility has arisen of combining both activities so that, instead of competing, they might complement each other. This is "agrivoltaic" technology, which explores the possibilities of integrating solar collectors into agricultural plantations, thus generating energy without sacrificing crop production.
The more lottery tickets you buy, the higher your chances of winning, but spending more than you win is obviously not a wise strategy. Something similar happens in AI powered by deep learning: we know that the larger a neural network is (i.e., the more parameters it has), the better it can learn the task we set for it.
Under pressure from customers and investors, many U.S. companies have pledged to voluntarily reduce their impact on the climate. But that doesn't always mean they're cutting their own greenhouse gas emissions.