A new silicon-based coating could dramatically reduce the weight and environmental impact of conventional paints. A glossy, car-quality finish no longer has to depend on pigments. Researchers at Kobe University have developed a coating made from silicon nanoparticles that produces vivid, lasting color without the fading or angle-dependent shifts associated with many conventional coloring technologies. […]
New Treatment Strategy Makes Cancer Cells Run Out of Energy and Die
A promising new drug combination exploits a metabolic vulnerability in leukemia cells. Researchers have discovered a way to kill leukemia cells by forcing them to remain highly active even as their energy supply is disrupted. The experimental treatment has produced promising results in mice and patient-derived cancer cells, including a particularly aggressive form of the […]
A Promising Way To Reverse Cognitive Decline Just Failed a Major Clinical Test
Restoring blood flow to the brain seemed a promising way to protect thinking skills, but opening severely narrowed arteries did not deliver the cognitive boost researchers hoped for. A Columbia-led randomized trial found that people with severe carotid artery narrowing gained no additional cognitive benefit from stenting or surgery compared with medication alone over one […]
Scientists Challenge a Long-Held Belief About Artificial Sweeteners
New evidence challenges the idea that consuming more sweetness increases cravings or appetite. Replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners does not appear to increase hunger, intensify cravings for sweet foods, or interfere with weight management, according to a review of three major European clinical trials. The research also found little evidence that consuming a sweeter diet […]
These Tiny Magnetic Waves Could Unlock a New Era of Ultra-Efficient Computers
Scientists have discovered that tiny magnetic excitations can persist much longer than expected. Magnetic waves inside a quantum material can hold onto their energy far longer than scientists expected, potentially opening a path toward faster computers that consume less electricity. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) discovered that these microscopic excitations survive for an […]
Astronauts Just Installed a Powerful New Solar Array High Above Earth
NASA astronauts have completed another major step in upgrading the International Space Station’s power supply. During a spacewalk lasting more than seven hours, two crew members installed a new solar array that will help generate electricity for the orbiting laboratory, supporting everything from scientific experiments to the station’s eventual retirement. NASA astronaut Anil Menon and […]
Did Venus Eat Its Own Moon? Scientists Uncover a Shocking Possibility
Venus may have swallowed its own moon, according to computer simulations that point to the planet’s slow spin as the culprit. Venus is Earth’s near-twin in size, mass, and structure, but it has no moon. Scientists have long wondered whether the planet never experienced a moon-forming collision or whether a massive object smashed apart a […]
New Microscope Technology Captures the Hidden World Inside Living Cells Like Never Before
A new imaging technique allows scientists to capture fleeting cellular processes that conventional microscopes struggle to resolve. Living cells are constantly in motion, but capturing their smallest structures in sharp detail has long been a challenge. Traditional super-resolution microscopy often requires hundreds or thousands of images to reveal features too small for conventional light microscopes. […]
60,000-Year-Old Discovery in South Africa Reveals a Surprising Clue About Early Humans
Where ancient DNA rarely survives, antelope protein preserved with ochre pigment offers clues to the technical skills and possible symbolic practices of early humans. A 60,000-year-old ochre-rich surface in South Africa still holds traces of an antelope protein, preserving a clue to how early humans used the mineral pigment. Ochre is a naturally occurring, iron-rich […]
237-Million-Year-Old Fossils Reveal an Amphibian That Shouldn’t Have Existed
Two fossils from China point to the first known fully marine amphibian, revealing an ancient exception to the freshwater dependence of its living relatives. An armored amphibian nearly three feet long appears to have lived on the seafloor hundreds of miles from a large landmass. How did it survive in salt water when no known […]