One of the youngest planets ever found around a distant infant star has been discovered by an international team of scientists.

Genes aren't only inherited through birth. Bacteria have the ability to pass genes to each other, or pick them up from their environment, through a process called horizonal gene transfer, which is a major culprit in the spread of antibiotic resistance.

Scientists are probing topological insulators with circularly polarized light to reveal their many secrets. These exotic materials have potential for quantum computing and other technologies. They discovered that high harmonic generation produces a unique signature from the topological surface.

Thin structures made of black phosphorus can tune the properties of light, with implications for science and technology.

A new study reveals the specific molecular mechanism that controls the transition from acute to chronic pain, and identifies this mechanism as a critical target for disease-modifying medicines.

Protein intake is known to be vital for maintaining brain function in older individuals. Now, using a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, researchers have shown that the intake of a specific set of amino acids can inhibit the death of brain cells, protect the connections between them, and reduce inflammation, preserving brain function. Their research suggests that this amino acid combination...

Interleukin-12 -- a messenger molecule of immune cells -- was long considered to trigger the development of psoriasis. Now, researchers have shown that interleukin-12 does not actually cause the skin disease but protects against it. This also explains why common psoriasis drugs that block the messenger show insufficient treatment efficacy.

Researchers have harnessed the strength of bagworm silk to produce a strong conductive fiber. To obtain this novel fiber, the research team combined bagworm silk with polyaniline as a conducting polymer. The composite fibers act as an optical waveguide and are suitable for use in textile transistors. This production of a bagworm silk/polyaniline composite will enable the use of biocompatible...

Eight hundred years of settlement history with land reforms, epidemics and repeated wars are preserved in the sediments of Lake Czechowskie in Poland. The key role was played by the so-called Margrave's Road, the 'Via Marchionis', between the Prussian heartland and the Teutonic Order's castle Marienburg (today Malbork in Poland). The road remained significant for centuries.

CO2 emissions from electricity in the UK fell by two thirds in the last decade due to several factors working together, rather than a single panacea.

The field of attoscience has been kickstarted by new advances in laser technology. Research began with studies of three particular processes. First, 'above-threshold ionization' (ATI), describing atoms which are ionized by more than the required number of photons. Second, 'high harmonic generation' (HHG) occurs when a target is illuminated by an intense laser pulse, causing it to emit...

An analysis sheds new light on the motivations and methods of Roger Penrose, and explores their historical influence on the groundbreaking discovery of Hawking radiation.

Inspired by a concept for discovering exoplanets with a giant space telescope, a team of researchers is developing holographic lenses that render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum.

Using a novel technology, researchers uncovered shape-shifting properties of a common respiratory virus.

Limiting climate change to the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Climate Agreement will likely require coal and gas power use to decline at rates that are unprecedented for any large country, finds an analysis of decadal episodes of fossil fuel decline in 105 countries between 1960 and 2018. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the most rapid historical cases of fossil fuel decline occurred when...

In evolutionary biology, the 'Life History Theory,' first proposed in the 1950s, postulates that when the environment is favorable, the resources used by any organism are devoted for growth and reproduction. Conversely, in a hostile environment, resources are transferred to so-called maintenance programs, such as energy conservation and defense against external attacks. Scientists developed this...

Scientists have probed the molecular origins of recombination in RNA viruses. Hiccups during the copying process of viruses cause recombination to take place: the exchange of segments of viral RNA. While this can lead to the emergence of new virus variants, the mechanism can also be exploited to induce non-viable defective viruses

Scientists have reported encouraging early tests of a gene therapy strategy against Angelman syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder that features poor muscle control and balance, hard-to-treat epilepsy, and intellectual disabilities.

Scientists have successfully developed a super-strong, highly ductile and super-light titanium-based alloy using additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing. Their findings open up a new pathway to design alloys with unprecedented structures and properties for various structural applications.

In the past few years, suitably engineered stacks of two-dimensional materials have emerged as a powerful platform for studying quantum correlations between electronic states. Physicists now demonstrate how key properties of such systems can be conveniently tuned by changing an applied electrical field.

A new study provides deep insights into how the brain's hippocampus works, involving networks of millions of neurons. That knowledge could be an important step toward the development of treatments for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and epilepsy, all of which are related to dysfunction in the hippocampus.

Two tiny new species that inhabited part of what is now the American south some 100 million years ago have been discovered by paleontologists.

Just as humans may leave their home five minutes early to avoid a talkative neighbor or depart work late to avoid a rude coworker, carnivorous mammals may go out of their way to avoid other species. But they're not trying to navigate awkward social interactions; rather, they are negotiating space and resources for survival.

New research suggests that newborns who sleep longer and wake up less throughout the night are less likely to be overweight in infancy.