Access to abundant, clean, water for drinking, recreation and the environment is one of the 21st century's most pressing issues. Directly monitoring threats to the quality of fresh water is critically important, but because current methods are costly and not standardized, comprehensive water quality datasets are rare. In the United States, one of the most data-rich countries in the world, fewer...

Resembling an overgrown house cat with black-tipped ears and a stubby tail, the Canada lynx, a native of North America, teeters on the brink of extinction in the U.S. The few lynx that now roam parts of Washington and the mountainous Northwest survive largely because of a network of protected landscapes that crosses the U.S.-Canada border.

SpaceX has delayed its delivery to the International Space Station because of dangerous wind gusts.

Outbursts of energetic particles that hurtle out from the sun and can disrupt space communications may be even more varied and numerous than previously thought, according to results from the closest-ever flyby of the sun.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is just days away from selecting the site where the spacecraft will snag a sample from asteroid Bennu. After a lengthy and challenging process, the team is finally ready to down-select from the four candidate sites to a primary and backup site.

In August 2018, NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched to space, soon becoming the closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun. With cutting-edge scientific instruments to measure the environment around the spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe has completed three of 24 planned passes through never-before-explored parts of the Sun's atmosphere, the corona. On Dec. 4, 2019, four new papers in the journal Nature...

A researcher from Georgetown University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing, which examines how consumers approach sustainable buying decision making with on-demand production, where they are given power early in the development cycle.

The ancient Romans relied on long-distance timber trading to construct their empire, according to a study published December 4, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mauro Bernabei from the National Research Council, Italy, and colleagues.

An international team of scientists led by the University of Arizona used the latest technology in remote sensing to measure plant biodiversity from the Amazon basin to the Andes Mountains in Peru to better understand how tropical forests will respond to climate change.

The mammal tree of life is a real leaner. Some branches are weighed down with thousands of species—we're looking at you, rodents and bats—while others hold just a few species.

The moment when an immigrant becomes a citizen of his adopted country looks remarkably similar in ceremonies around the world: a hand raised, an oath taken, a flag waved, and a celebration with family and friends. But the road leading to that moment differs widely by country. Some are long and steep and others more walkable, depending on the country's policies.

With 2019 on pace as one of the warmest years on record, a major new study from the University of California, Davis, reveals how rapidly the Arctic is warming and examines global consequences of continued polar warming.

Atmospheric rivers pose a $1 billion-a-year flood risk in the West, according to a study released today.

A new University of Barcelona study reveals the first empirical genetic evidence of human self-domestication, a hypothesis that humans have evolved to be friendlier and more cooperative by selecting their companions depending on their behaviour. Researchers identified a genetic network involved in the unique evolutionary trajectory of the modern human face and prosociality, which is absent in the...

Sexually transmitted diseases are widespread among animals and humans. Humans, however, know a multitude of protective and hygienic measures to protect themselves from infection. An international research team led by scientists at the German Primate Center (DPZ)-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research has investigated whether primates change their sexual behavior to minimize the risk of contracting...

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the South China Sea and provided forecasters with a visible image of Tropical Storm Kammuri on Dec. 4.

The first satellite built by students in Mexico for launch from the International Space Station is smaller than a shoebox but represents a big step for its builders.

The bacterial pathogen Shigella, often spread through contaminated food or water, is a leading cause of mortality in both children and older adults in the developing world. Although scientists have been studying Shigella for decades, no effective vaccine has been developed, and the pathogen has acquired resistance to many antibiotics. The recent discovery of an early adherence step in the...

For the first time, researchers have used a chip-based sensor with an integrated laser to detect very low levels of a cancer protein biomarker in a urine sample. The new technology is more sensitive than other designs and could lead to non-invasive and inexpensive ways to detect molecules that indicate the presence or progression of a disease.

Their great taste and their health benefits have made them one of the most popular fruits. The world market for strawberries, rich in antioxidants and vitamin C, was greater than 9 millon tons in 2016. According to the latest report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Spain is the top producer of this food within the European Union, while China and the U.S. are the largest...

Silversword plants of Hawai'i—known by their Hawai'ian name 'ahinahina which translates to very grey—are unique to the Maui's Haleakalā volcano summit area and to the Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes on the Big Island. Each volcanic mountain has its own unique type of silversword. The Haleakalā species is highly threated and is considered by many to be the most beautiful. But they are...

It's hard to find a place in the U.S. that isn't impacted by wildfires and smoke.

Researchers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have, for the first time, found evidence of a giant planet associated with a white dwarf star. The planet orbits the hot white dwarf, the remnant of a Sun-like star, at close range, causing its atmosphere to be stripped away and form a disc of gas around the star. This unique system hints at what our own Solar System might look like in the distant...

A year ago, NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew closer to the sun than any satellite in history, collecting a spectacular trove of data from the very edge of the sun's million-degree corona.