Finding one’s way in the rainforest
Knowing which direction to go in order to reach food or home is important for many animal species, including humans. For human foragers who...
A torque on conventional magnetic wisdom
Physicists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have observed a magnetic phenomenon called the "anomalous spin-orbit torque" (ASOT) for the first time. Professor...
Archaeology student finds exceptionally rare fragment from Roman bottle
Peter Moore discovered a fragment from a 1,800 year-old glass fish at the National Trust's Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire.
The shard of intricately decorated glass is...
Privatization of public goods can cause population decline, research shows
Scientists have given a fascinating new insight into the way microbes adopt a 'co-operative' approach to securing the nutrients they need to thrive.
A team...
Imaging the chemical structure of individual molecules, atom by atom
For physicist Percy Zahl, optimizing and preparing a noncontact atomic force microscope (nc-AFM) to directly visualize the chemical structure of a single molecule is...
Molecular sensor scouts DNA damage and supervises repair
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, every cell in your body suffers some form of DNA damage. Without vigilant repair,...
Astronomers decode Milky Way’s violent birth
The Milky Way gobbled up a galaxy one quarter of its mass 10 billion years ago in a "violent collision" that didn't fully settle...
Scientists discover new chemistry that may help explain the origins of cellular life
Before life began on Earth, the environment likely contained a massive number of chemicals that reacted with each other more or less randomly, and...
Physicists create record-setting quantum motion
Showcasing precise control at the quantum level, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a method for making an...
Astronomers make first calculations of magnetic activity in ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanets
Gas-giant planets orbiting close to other stars have powerful magnetic fields, many times stronger than our own Jupiter, according to a new study by...
Parasitic plants use stolen genes to make them better parasites
Some parasitic plants steal genetic material from their host plants and use the stolen genes to more effectively siphon off the host's nutrients. A...
