When male sarcastic fringeheads get aggressive with each other — which they often do — they open their unusually wide jaws, revealing two rows of pointy teeth. New research delves deep into the meaning behind these big-mouth...

A newly described bacterium is shaking up what it means to be a complex organism. The bizarre microbe, found by Japanese ecologists seeking biodegradable plastics, starts out as a single cell. But instead of remaining a single cell like most microbes, it then develops an organized body comprised of hundreds of cells. When the time is right, the cellular conglomeration shoots out a new...

This week, Twitter exploded with outrage about a study that seemed to have created a Frankenstein COVID-19 virus: a version of SARS-CoV-2 that combines Omicron, the fast-spreading but relatively mild variant that’s now everywhere, and a deadlier strain from early in the pandemic. The labmade virus killed 80% of mice infected with it, compared with no deaths with the unmodified Omicron...

High up in a tree sits a bright red vermilion flycatcher. The males of this songbird species use their red feathers to attract females. Meanwhile, an Arizona mountain kingsnake slithers among the rocks below. Its vivid red, yellow and black coloring mimics that of the venomous coral snake to keep predators away. But why did these two species evolve similar colors to send completely different...

Brad Seibel still remembers the headlines from 20 years ago that sounded like a B-rated sci-fi movie: "Invasion of the jumbo squid in Monterey Bay" and the like. He was a postdoctoral scholar at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) at the time.

China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about what’s happening in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Welcome back to China Report!  I know this is going to be a long week for all of you China watchers. New stories seem to be coming out every minute about the 20th Party Congress…

Biohybrid micro/nanorobots that integrate biological entities with artificial nanomaterials have shown great potential in the field of biotechnology. However, commonly used physical hybridization approaches can lead to blockages and damage to biological interfaces, impeding the optimal exploitation of natural abilities.

Viruses are tiny packets of destruction and there are more of them than any other biological entity on the planet.

Who doesn't like to be noticed by their company for going above and beyond the call at work, especially if there's bonus pay? Yet, subjective performance evaluations can lead to feelings of unfairness when they're not in an employee's favor.

How can we best employ human rights education when it comes to working with youth?

Meteors may help astronomers devise a new way to locate dark matter—mysterious and invisible particles that have so far only been discerned by the effect they have on the natural world.

In an apparent attempt to distract investors, firms forced to disclose bad news via mandatory Securities and Exchange Commission filings are more likely to issue a press release touting unrelated news around the time of the filing.

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, for decades the home of the world’s largest radio telescope, will be an astronomical observatory no more. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) last week said it intends to transform the facility, which suffered fatal damage to its massive dish in 2020, into a center for education and outreach in science, technology, engineering, and math...

As municipal planning and design shifts away from the sprawling, car-centric model that dominated much of the 20th century, developers and local governments can disagree over how to grow cities sustainably. Transit-oriented development (TOD), which prioritizes population density, walkability, land-use diversity and parking around transit nodes, is a long-standing field. However, much of the...

Deep below the ocean's surface, the seafloor contains large quantities of naturally occurring, ice-like deposits made up of water and concentrated methane gas. For decades, climate scientists have wondered if this methane hydrate reservoir might "melt" and release massive amounts of methane to the ocean and the atmosphere as ocean temperatures warm.

Agriculture losses in Florida from Hurricane Ian's high winds and drenching rains could reach $1.56 billion, with citrus, cattle, vegetable and melon operations among the hardest hit, the University of Florida reported Tuesday in a preliminary estimate.

Gold mining in a Democratic Republic of Congo national park is threatening the okapi, a stripy-legged relative of the giraffe, civil society groups warned on Tuesday.

The types of ocean bacteria known to absorb carbon dioxide from the air require more energy—in the form of carbon—and other resources when they're simultaneously infected by viruses and face attack from nearby predators, new research has found.

Replete with tunneling particles, electron wells, charmed quarks and zombie cats, quantum mechanics takes everything Sir Isaac Newton taught about physics and throws it out the window.

Many of the drugs we utilize in modern medicine are naturally produced by microbes. Penicillin, an antibiotic derived from certain molds, is one of the most notable natural products due to its recognition as one of the biggest advances in medicine and human health. As DNA sequencing has become cheaper and faster, scientists now have access to hundreds of thousands of microbial genomes and the...

Portal origin URL: NASA Study Finds Evidence That Fuel Regulation Reduced Air Pollution from ShippingPortal origin nid: 483408Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 - 15:18Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: A global standard limiting sulfur in ship fuel reduced artificial “ship track” clouds to record-low levels in 2020. Pandemic-related disruptions...