Out-of-Sync ‘Loners’ May Secretly Protect Orderly Swarms

Studies of collective behavior usually focus on how crowds of organisms coordinate their actions. But what if the individuals that don’t participate have just as much to tell us?

Genome engineering using the CRISPR-Cas9 system

Targeted nucleases are powerful tools for mediating genome alteration with high precision. The RNA-guided Cas9 nuclease from the microbial clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) adaptive immune system can be used to facilitate efficient genome engineering in eukaryotic cells by simply specifying a 20-nt targeting sequence within its guide RNA.

Graduate Student Solves Decades-Old Conway Knot Problem

It took Lisa Piccirillo less than a week to answer a long-standing question about a strange knot discovered over half a century ago by the legendary John Conway.

Dinosaur Footprints on a Cave Ceiling

The footprints of sauropods, thirty-metre-long herbivorous dinosaurs, have been found on the roof of a cave located beneath the Causse Méjean plateau...

Moths have 'secret role' as crucial pollinators

Fluttering creatures of the night are also vital pollinators of plants and flowers, say scientists.

"Quantum radar" uses entangled photons to detect objects

The weird world of quantum physics is being harnessed for some fascinating use cases. In the latest example, physicists have developed and demonstrated a “quantum radar” prototype that uses the quantum entanglement phenomenon to detect objects, a system which could eventually outperform…

You’re eating, drinking, and breathing microplastics. Now what?

What are the health implications of eating 250 pieces of microplastic per day?

Higgs boson examined as source of dark matter at the LHC

It’s been calculated that dark matter is around five times more common than regular matter – and yet, we still haven’t directly detected it. Many different types of experiments are trying to find it, and now CERN has joined the hunt, testing whether the famous Higgs boson could decay into dark…

'Artificial leaf' concept inspires research into solar-powered fuel production

Rice University researchers have created an efficient, low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel.

Malaria 'completely stopped' by microbe

Scientists say the microbe - found in the wild near Lake Victoria - has enormous potential.

Abundant element to power small devices | The University of Tokyo

Tracking the course of the pandemic in wastewater

The novel coronavirus has been successfully detected in wastewater – even at low concentrations, in samples collected at an early stage of the outbreak. Researchers at EPFL and Eawag are now working to optimise the method. The aim is to develop a system which could warn of a resurgence of cases earlier than clinical diagnostic tests.

Is space-time smooth or chunky?

A new study tried to find out.

Scientists create glowing plants using mushroom genes

New technique could help shed light on plants’ workings – and lead to unusual home decor

Here’s why “baking” damaged reel-to-reel tapes renders them playable again

Baking at 130°F is the sweet spot to reverse "sticky shed syndrome."

BCI system gives paralyzed man back his sense of touch with haptic feedback

Long-term goal is to develop system that works as well at home as in the laboratory.

Insect numbers down 25% since 1990, global study finds

Scientists say insects are vital and the losses worrying, with accelerating declines in Europe called ‘shocking’

The Florida Aquarium just made a breakthrough that will help save the third largest coral reef in the world

Ridged cactus coral are just one of a variety of species rescued from Florida's waters after coral reefs in the state began undergoing a major disease outbreak that started in 2014. The aquarium has successfully reproduced them in human care.

Quantum Computing Milestone: Researchers Compute With ‘Hot’ Silicon Qubits

Two teams report silicon spin qubit devices that operate at temperatures above 1 Kelvin

Remembering Freeman Dyson

In our conversations, he ventured far and wide across science, literature and politics, offering unorthodox ideas with a bracing self-confidence