Chemists have developed a light-driven method for producing a rare and highly strained molecular structure known as “housane.” Designing a new drug often starts with a basic but difficult task: making the exact molecular framework needed for a medicine to work. Some important drugs, including penicillin, depend on tiny ring-shaped structures made from three or […]
Hidden DNA in Plants Reveals a 400 Million Year Evolutionary Secret
Researchers uncovered millions of ancient plant DNA switches—some older than flowering plants themselves—revealing a hidden evolutionary blueprint stretching back 400 million years. Most people have heard the phrase deep space, but scientists also study something known as deep time. Modern genetics now allows researchers to trace biological history far deeper into the past than once […]
Hidden DNA in Plants Reveals a 400 Million Year Evolutionary Secret
Researchers uncovered millions of ancient plant DNA switches—some older than flowering plants themselves—revealing a hidden evolutionary blueprint stretching back 400 million years. Most people have heard the phrase deep space, but scientists also study something known as deep time. Modern genetics now allows researchers to trace biological history far deeper into the past than once […]
Scientists Discover Hidden Topological Universe Inside Entangled Light
A team of physicists has uncovered a hidden topological structure within one of the most widely used sources of quantum entanglement. Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, working together with scientists from Huzhou University, have identified an unexpected property in a widely used quantum optics technique. Experiments that routinely generate entangled […]
NASA’s Webb Telescope Reveals an Eerie Nebula That Looks Like a Giant Brain
Webb has captured the haunting “Exposed Cranium” nebula—an otherworldly cloud shaped by a dying star that looks remarkably like a brain inside a skull. New images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are shedding fresh light on a strange and little explored nebula surrounding a dying star. The detailed observations reveal complex structures within the […]
Researchers Find a Surprising Long COVID Clue in Major Vitamin D Trial
Vitamin D didn’t blunt COVID’s initial impact—but it may hold a surprising clue in the fight against long COVID. A large randomized study led by researchers at Mass General Brigham found that taking high doses of vitamin D3 did not lessen the severity of COVID-19 infections. However, the results suggest the supplement could play a […]
Fathers’ Nicotine Use May Affect Children’s Diabetes Risk
Nicotine exposure in fathers may quietly reshape their children’s metabolism, hinting at a hidden link to diabetes risk. New research published today (March 12) in the Journal of the Endocrine Society suggests that nicotine exposure in fathers may influence how their offspring process sugar. In a mouse study, scientists found that paternal nicotine intake altered […]
Fathers’ Nicotine Use May Affect Children’s Diabetes Risk
Nicotine exposure in fathers may quietly reshape their children’s metabolism, hinting at a hidden link to diabetes risk. New research published today (March 12) in the Journal of the Endocrine Society suggests that nicotine exposure in fathers may influence how their offspring process sugar. In a mouse study, scientists found that paternal nicotine intake altered […]
Scientists Discover Where Drug Residues End Up Inside Crops
Scientists discovered that crops exposed to trace pharmaceuticals in recycled water mostly stash the compounds in their leaves—not the parts we usually eat. In regions where freshwater supplies are limited, farmers sometimes rely on treated wastewater to irrigate crops. This practice helps conserve scarce water resources, but it also raises concerns among regulators and consumers. […]
Hidden Clues Challenge the Long-Held Theory Behind the Maya Civilization’s Collapse
New research suggests that explanations based only on climate may not fully account for the major decline of the lowland population in Central America and calls for a reassessment of those assumptions. Between 750 and 900 CE, the population of the Maya lowlands in Central America underwent a dramatic demographic and political decline. In many […]