An international research team has discovered a new and well-preserved fossil stingray with an exceptional anatomy, which greatly differs from living species. The find provides new insights into the evolution of these animals and sheds light on the recovery of marine ecosystems after the mass extinction occurred 66 million years ago.

Researchers have uncovered sex-based differences in the development of the hippocampus and amygdala. These brain areas have been implicated in the biology of several mental disorders that impact males and females differently. The findings may help researchers better understand sex-based differences in the emergence of mental disorders during adolescence and early adulthood.

One of the worst symptoms associated with inflammation or cancer of the pancreas is severe chronic pain. Pancreatic pain is difficult to treat, because many painkillers prove ineffective in pancreatic patients. In a recent study, medical researchers discovered the cause of this phenomenon for the first time: a particular neuroenzyme in the body is present in the nerves of the organ in high...

Scientists have developed new technology, dubbed 'Knocker', which identifies objects and executes actions just by knocking on them with the smartphone. Software powered by machine learning of sounds, vibrations, and other reactions will follow the users' directions.

Topological insulators are quantum materials, which, due to their exotic electronic structure, on surfaces and edges conduct electric current like metal, while acting as an insulator in bulk. Scientists have now demonstrated how to tell apart topological materials from their regular -- trivial -- counterparts within a millionth of a billionth of a second by probing it with ultra-fast laser light.

We make food decisions several times a day - from what time we eat to how much - but a new study has found we are not very good at judging the energy-density of what we consume.

Scientists, inspired by the clingfish's suction power, set out to develop an artificial suction cup that borrows from nature's design. Their prototype actually performed better than the clingfish.

Researchers have developed a 'coloring-by-shrinking' method to print arbitrary 3D microscopic objects exhibiting structural colors. The design consisted of woodpile photonic crystals with varying lattice constants as the 3D building blocks. These structures remain colorless until they are heat treated, causing them to shrink and manifest color, a result of their lattice constants shrinking down...

White sharks are top predators in the marine environment, but unlike their terrestrial counterparts, very little is known about their predatory activity underwater, with current knowledge limited to surface predation events. Now, a team of international scientists has used video- and data-logging technology to shed new light on predator-prey interactions of these mighty sea creatures.

Researchers have developed a new and improved viral vector -- a virus-based vehicle that delivers therapeutic genes -- for use in gene therapy for sickle cell disease. In advanced lab tests using animal models, the new vector was up to 10 times more efficient at incorporating corrective genes into bone marrow stem cells than the conventional vectors currently used, and it had a carrying capacity...

Quantum physics is difficult and explaining it even more so. Researchers have now tried to solve one of the biggest puzzles in quantum physics: How to measure the quantum system without changing it?

Researchers assessed the ability of older adults with advanced dementia to participate in non-pharmacological interventions and compared chair yoga with chair-based exercise and music therapy. Results showed that participants with moderate-to-severe dementia could safely adhere to non-pharmacological interventions; more than 97 percent fully engaged in each session. The chair yoga group reported a...

'If you don't behave, I'll call the police,' is a lie that parents might use to get their young children to behave. Parents' lies elicit compliance in the short term, but a new psychology study suggests that they are associated with detrimental effects when the child becomes an adult.

A decades-long decline in the breast cancer death rate continues, but has begun to slow in recent years.

If 'Why?' is the first question in science, 'Why not?' must be a close second. Sometimes it's worth thinking about why something does not exist. Such as a truly three-legged animal. At least one researcher has been pondering the non-existence of tripeds.

Removing dead trees from the forests and reforesting on a large scale: this is the German Federal Government's strategy against 'Forest Dieback 2.0', researchers say. Ecologists call for other solutions.

According to quantum physics, energy can be 'borrowed' -- at least for some time. Energies lower than zero are possible, much like a bank account that can be overdrawn. There are, however, certain restrictions to that. Scientists have now shown that these restrictions are very fundamental properties of our universe and must be true for various possible quantum theories.

Middle-aged adults with high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke could be at increased risk for cancer and early death when sleeping less than 6 hours per day.

Researchers have analyzed remains from ten archaeological sites in England, France, Germany, Russia, and Switzerland to gain insight into the different stages of the second plague pandemic and the genetic diversity of Yersinia pestis during and after the Black Death. The researchers reconstructed 34 Y. pestis genomes, tracing the genetic history of the bacterium, which revealed key insights into...

Analysis of corruption cases among customs officers and Border Patrol agents reveals alarming trends depending on their years of service.

A lack of tree seedling establishment following recent wildfires represents a crucial bottleneck limiting coniferous forest recovery in the western US, new research finds.

A team of scientists characterized the predominant human noise sources in 66 national parks in the US, in an effort to help parks better manage the noise problem.

A unified approach may benefit water quality, environment more than piecemeal.

The quantum superposition principle has been tested on a scale as never before in a new study. Hot, complex molecules composed of nearly two thousand atoms were brought into a quantum superposition and made to interfere. By confirming this phenomenon -- 'the heart of quantum mechanics', in Richard Feynman's words -- on a new mass scale, improved constraints on alternative theories to quantum...