It's a common sight: pelicans gliding along the waves, right by the shore. These birds make this kind of surfing look effortless, but actually the physics involved that give them a big boost are not simple. Researchers have recently developed a theoretical model that describes how the ocean, the wind and the birds in flight interact.

A new study is advancing scientists' understanding of magneto-chiral dichroism. The research focuses on light-matter interactions in chiral materials under a magnetic field.

Plenty of people struggle to make sense of a multitude of converging voices in a crowded room. Commonly known as the 'cocktail party effect,' people with hearing loss find it's especially difficult to understand speech in a noisy environment. New research suggests that, for some listeners, this may have less to do with actually discerning sounds. Instead, it may be a processing problem in which...

A new study finds that overconsumption, overpopulation and uncertainty about the future are among the top concerns of those who say climate change is affecting their reproductive decision-making.

The milestone, which the MOXIE instrument achieved by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, points the way to future human exploration of the Red Planet.

Using a new computer framework, scientists are able to project future floodwaters under a changing climate. The approach could help California water managers plan for and redirect floodwaters toward groundwater aquifers, alleviating both flood and drought risks.

Scientists detect small pockets of carbon dioxide-rich liquid water in a meteorite dating from the early solar system.

Researchers have captured an image showing the internal orbits, or spatial distribution, of particles in an exciton - a goal that had eluded scientists for almost a century.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered some seventy years ago, are famous for containing the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and many hitherto unknown ancient Jewish texts. But the individual people behind the scrolls have eluded scientists, because the scribes are anonymous. Now, by combining the sciences and the humanities, researchers have cracked the code, which enables them...

Researchers have developed a new, high-performance artificial muscle technology. The new technology enables more human-like motion due to its flexibility and adaptability, but outperforms human skeletal muscle in several metrics.

Researchers have found that artificial intelligence algorithms can influence people's preferences for fictitious political candidates or potential romantic partners, depending on whether recommendations were explicit or covert.

When air quality in China is poor, locally reported air pollution measurements diverge from U.S. embassy-reported measurements more than would be expected by random chance, finds an analysis of air pollution data from five large Chinese cities.

Researchers have found out that ultrafast switches in material properties can be prompted by laser pulses -- and why. This knowledge may enable new transistor concepts.

Decades-old aerial photos of Yudong District, Datong City in Shanxi Province, Northern China have helped researchers in their search for a fault hidden underneath the city's buildings and cement roads, researchers said.

New research shows 3D printers can be identified by thermodynamic properties, which could could aid intellectual property, security.

Scientists have provided the first evidence to show that eradicating rats from tropical islands effects not just the biodiversity on the islands, but also the fragile coral seas that surround them.

Using satellite photos of three cities and drawing upon methods used to manipulate video and audio files, a team of researchers set out to identify new ways of detecting fake satellite photos and warn of the dangers of falsified geospatial data.

Ever wondered why your virtual home assistant doesn't understand your questions? Or why your navigation app took you on the side street instead of the highway? Researchers have now designed a robot that 'thinks out loud' so that users can hear its thought process and better understand the robot's motivations and decisions.

Using a novel molecular-data-storage technique, researchers have encoded a quote from Jane Austen's classic novel Mansfield Park in a series of oligomers, which a third party could read back without prior knowledge of the structures that encoded the passage.

Categorization is the brain's tool to organize nearly everything we encounter in our daily lives. Grouping information into categories simplifies our complex world and helps us to react quickly and effectively to new experiences. Scientists have now shown that also mice categorize surprisingly well. The researchers identified neurons encoding learned categories and thereby demonstrated how...

An international study reveals the composition of the tropical forests of Central Africa and their vulnerability to the increased pressure from climate change and human activity expected in the coming decades. Thanks to an exceptional dataset - an inventory of over 6 million trees across five countries - the researchers have produced the first continuous maps of the floristic and functional...

The disastrous consequences of climate 'tipping points' could be averted if global warming was reversed quickly enough, new research suggests.

Praying mantises are bizarre insects, yet many aspects of their biology remain unknown. Meanwhile, scientists have discovered that females of a South American species protrude a Y-shaped organ on their backs to release pheromones and attract males.

Wildfire smoke can trigger a host of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, ranging from runny nose and cough to a potentially life-threatening heart attack or stroke. A new study suggests that the dangers posed by wildfire smoke may also extend to the largest organ in the human body, and our first line of defense against outside threat: the skin.