New research has identified and described a cellular process that, despite what textbooks say, has remained elusive to scientists until now—precisely how the copying of genetic material that, once started, is properly turned off.

Mongolia's semi-arid plateau may soon become as barren as parts of the American Southwest due to a "vicious cycle" of heatwaves—that exacerbates soil drying, and ultimately produces more heatwaves—according to an international group of climate scientists.

In Nevada's dry Ivanpah Valley, just southeast of Las Vegas, a massive unintended experiment in animal conservation has revealed an unexpected result.

Laser powder bed fusion is a dominant additive manufacturing technology that has yet to reach its potential. The problem facing industry is that tiny bubbles or pores sometimes form during the printing process, and these pores create weak spots in finished products.

New data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides further evidence for tidal disruption in the galaxy NGC 1052-DF4. This result explains a previous finding that this galaxy is missing most of its dark matter. By studying the galaxy's light and globular cluster distribution, astronomers have concluded that the gravity forces of the neighbouring galaxy NGC 1035 stripped the dark matter from...

Giant planets that developed early in a star system's life could solve a mystery of why spiral structures are not observed in young protoplanetary discs, according to a new study by University of Warwick astronomers.

The life-or-death journey made by mule deer during the second-longest big game migration in North America came down to their ability to squeeze through a fence—a discovery made by scientists using wildlife GPS tracking techniques to map animal migrations in the West in unprecedented detail.

The Museum of London on Thursday announced a project to collect the dreams of Londoners during the coronavirus pandemic as a way to document the impact of the crisis.

Neanderthal thumbs were better adapted to holding tools in the same way that we hold a hammer, according to a paper published in Scientific Reports. The findings suggest that Neanderthals may have found precision grips—where objects are held between the tip of the finger and thumb—more challenging than power 'squeeze' grips, where objects are held like a hammer, between the fingers and the...

Australians are a nation of creative expletive users who take pride in bad language as part of their cultural identity.

Melanin's high refractive index (RI) and broadband absorption capability contribute to the pigment's ability to protect against ultraviolet radiation (UV). These optical properties also contribute to the vibrant structural colors seen in birds and many other animals and plants.

QUT Professor Ken Ostrikov from the School of Chemistry and Physics and QUT Centre for Materials Science said the new material could be used to develop new transistor devices for electronics and photodetectors for such applications as fibre-optic communication systems and environmental sensing.

A new QUT-led study has found wild jaguars in the Amazon can cope with climate extremes in the short-term, but numbers will rapidly decline if weather events increase in frequency, diminishing sources of food.

Federal environment minister Sussan Ley this week announced A$2 million for a national audit of Australia's koalas, as part of an A$18 million package to protect the vulnerable species.

A dwindling tribe of chimpanzees in Guinea that leapt to prominence for uncanny abilities to use tools has a glimmer of hope after its last fertile female gave birth.

Destructive volcanic mudflows, huge clouds of volcanic ash that ground flights, and catastrophic floods when natural glacial lake dams fail—these are all examples of the dramatic interactions between volcanoes and glaciers. To help others study, and hopefully predict, dangerous glaciovolcanic activity, researchers have created a new database that combines existing global data.

The European Space Agency says it is signing a 86 million-euro ($102 million) contract with a Swiss start-up company to bring a large piece of orbital trash back to Earth.

Last week, a progress report from the New York Declaration on Forests announced that the world is not on track to meet the declaration's goals to reduce forest loss and promote sustainable and equitable development. The report identifies lack of transparency as one of the main barriers to progress, and calls for greater involvement of civil society and grassroots movements while planning and...

A new method for analyzing the structure of skin using a type of radiation known as T-rays could help improve the diagnosis and treatment of skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and skin cancer.

If you're an avid viewer of crime shows, you've probably come across cases in which an expert, often a psychologist, is called in to help solve a crime using their language analysis skills.

How do molecules involved in activating our immune system discriminate between our own DNA and foreign pathogens? Researchers from the Thomä group, in collaboration with the EPFL, deciphered the structural and functional basis of a DNA-sensing molecule when it comes in contact with the cell's own DNA, providing crucial insights into the recognition of self vs. non-self DNA.

A new study traces the neural circuit that makes a female fly receptive to a mating advance.

National reading and math tests long used to track what U.S. students know in those subjects are being postponed from next year to 2022 over concerns about whether testing would be feasible or produce valid results during the coronavirus pandemic, the National Center for Education Statistics announced Wednesday.

Demystifying traditional Chinese medicine for conservationists could be the key to better protecting endangered species like pangolins, tigers and rhino, according to University of Queensland-led researchers.