Physicists have made an advancement in the study of excitons -- electrically neutral quasiparticles that exist in insulators, semi-conductors and some liquids. The researchers are announcing the creation of an 'excitonic' wire, or one-dimensional channel for excitons. This in turn could result in innovative devices that could one day replace certain tasks that are now performed by standard...

A researcher surveyed 645 Americans about their beliefs on climate change -- whether or not those beliefs are informed by fact or fiction -- to assess their communication behaviors about climate change.

A new study demonstrates that children who are exposed to a certain type of environmental air pollution are more likely to contract community acquired pneumonia, or CAP, and to be hospitalized for longer periods of time. Social factors, including race and socioeconomic status, were also found to be associated with living in high-risk areas for CAP.

Studying fruit flies, researchers ask how a single brain chemical can orchestrate diverse functions such as learning, motivation and movement.

Prior infections appear to shield enteric neurons, preventing these key components of the body's 'second brain' from dying off when future pathogens strike.

COVID vaccines are five times more effective at preventing COVID-related hospitalization than prior infection alone, according to new research. The study was conducted by CDC's VISION Network which gathered data from more than 201,000 hospitalizations in nine different states.

For the first time, researchers have used human data to quantify the speed of different processes that lead to Alzheimer's disease and found that it develops in a very different way than previously thought. Their results could have important implications for the development of potential treatments.

Many Dutch ships passed the West Australian coast while enroute to Southeast Asia in the 1600s -- and the national heritage listed shipwreck, Batavia, has revealed through its timbers the history of the shipbuilding materials that enabled Dutch East India Company (VOC) to flourish against major European rivals for the first time.

Honeybees increase social distancing when their hive is under threat from a parasite, finds a new study.

Unlike meerkats that take individual turns watching for predators while the rest forage, Barbary ground squirrels found off the coast of Africa stand sentry together -- a behavior called synchronous vigilance, according to a new study.

Researchers have demonstrated the first experimental cross-sectional medical image that doesn't require tomography, a mathematical process used to reconstruct images in CT and PET scans. The work could lead to cheaper, easier and more accurate medical imaging.

The loss of seagrass habitat caused a dramatic shift in fish species in Morro Bay. Areas once covered with lush seagrass meadows and unique fish species are now home to muddy-seafloor-loving flatfish. The research team saw decreasing numbers of seagrass-specialist fish species, and an increase in flatfishes like the speckled sanddab and staghorn sculpin. The loss of eelgrass habitat along the...

Quantum physicists are reporting an international achievement for Denmark in the field of quantum technology. By simultaneously operating multiple spin qubits on the same quantum chip, they surmounted a key obstacle on the road to the supercomputer of the future. The result bodes well for the use of semiconductor materials as a platform for solid-state quantum computers.

A new nationwide study suggests that living in neighborhoods with higher availability of fast-food outlets across all regions of the United States is associated with higher subsequent risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Researchers have investigated the performance capability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a communication platform with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for ocean and seafloor monitoring research. Studies suggest that UAVs exhibit suitable communication performance for underwater measurement up to approximately 1 km from the shore, owing to their operation speed, robust hovering control,...

Researchers used transcriptomics (a type of gene sequencing) calibrated using information from the fossil record to create the first phylogenetic reconstruction of the insect order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), covering 105 species. This reconstruction of the evolutionary history allowed robust estimations of the species divergence time (or first appearance, around 200 million years ago)...

The relatively narrow human birth canal presumably evolved as a 'compromise' between its abilities for parturition, support of the inner organs, and upright walking. But not only the size of the birth canal, also its complex, 'twisted' shape is an evolutionary puzzle. Researchers now present new insights into why the human birth canal evolved to have this complex shape. They suggest that the...

Researchers take advantage of quantum entanglement to generate an incredibly large bandwidth using a thin-film nanophotonic device that could lead to advances in metrology, sensing and quantum networks for information processing and communications.

Spiking neural networks, which mimic the structure and function of a natural nervous system, are powerful, fast, and energy-efficient. One key challenge is how to train such complex systems. An interdisciplinary research team has now developed and successfully implemented an algorithm that achieves such training. It can be used to train spiking neural networks to solve complex tasks with extreme...

River beds that can shift naturally are more efficient carbon sinks than straightened rivers.

A study finds that changing the biochemistry of parts of brain cells abolished the formation of amyloid beta plaques in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The finding might eventually lead to treatments that prevent the memory-robbing condition in humans.

Scientists suggest that reliance on modern irrigation technologies as a water-use efficiency strategy is a 'zombie idea' -- one that persists no matter how much evidence is thrown against it. Technology adoption as a water-saving method for improving irrigation efficiency is ineffective, and can actually worsen water scarcity, according to researchers.

Pioneering research shows that acinar cells in the pancreas form new cell types to mitigate injury but are then susceptible to cancerous mutations.

Researchers report that a recently discovered inflammatory mediator, interleukin-26, appears to have an important role in pneumonia and contribute to the killing of bacteria.