A team of astronomers has discovered one of the biggest black holes ever found, taking advantage of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.

The fruit of the cocklebur plant, which grows worldwide and is often considered a noxious weed, has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory components that could make it useful as a skin protectant, according to new research.

New research has revealed important information about how aspirin works. Even though this drug has been available commercially since the late 1800s, scientists have not yet fully elucidated its detailed mechanism of action and cellular targets. The new findings could pave the way to safer aspirin alternatives and might also have implications for improving cancer immunotherapies.

A new study has revealed insights into how cells sense and respond to the weightlessness experienced in space. The information could be useful for keeping astronauts healthy on future space missions.

Matt Kaminski stood on a road scarcely higher than the floodplain, glassy pools on all sides stretched out like something from a dream. In the distance, a storm lumbered over the Coast Ranges.

To understand Earth's changing climate, scientists often turn to science-based computer simulations. Researchers strive to make these Earth system models as accurate as possible. Factors such as wind currents, air quality, and weather patterns all play a role. But current modeling has often overlooked one important activity: agriculture.

Bioactive compounds present mostly in fruit and vegetables perform different bodily functions relating to health and well-being. Their effects are considered antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiaging and anticancer, among others.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have developed a theoretical model for more efficient molecular-level simulations of cell membranes and their lipid-protein interactions, part of a multi-institutional effort to better understand the behavior of cancer-causing membrane proteins.

A DNA editing tool adapted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists makes engineering microbes for everything from bioenergy production to plastics recycling easier and faster.

The world's salty, tidal marshes are hotspots of carbon storage and productivity, building up sediments and plant material to stay above sea level. However, as sea level rises at an increasing rate, scientists debate whether it's possible for wetlands to win the race. New research reveals how salt marshes along the U.S. East Coast have responded to accelerating sea level rise by building elevation...

Free-range organic chicken or factory farming? Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have developed a new detection method that can reveal such differences in husbandry. The so-called epigenetic method is based on the analysis of the characteristic patterns of chemical markers on the genome of the animals.

Normally, we have to make a choice in physics: Either we deal with big things—such as a metal plate and its material properties, or with tiny things—such as individual atoms. But there is also a world in between: The world of small but not yet tiny things, in which both effects of the macroscopic world and effects of the microscopic world play a role.

How do clouds shape the planet's future? Clouds are not just fluffy white shapes in the sky. They are vital for regulating the Earth's climate, as they influence the water cycle, atmospheric dynamics and energy balance. However, studying clouds is not easy. One way to do so is to use spaceborne imagers, but these imagers still face challenges of efficiency and scalability.

Who do children prefer to learn from? Previous research has shown that even infants can identify the best informant. But would preschoolers prefer learning from a competent robot over an incompetent human?

Pads incorporated into fresh meat packaging, whose function is to absorb the moisture generated in it, and that can cause food spoilage, are generally composed of plastic polymers derived from petroleum by-products.

In two new studies, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have greatly improved the efficiency and power output of a series of chip-scale devices that generate laser light at different colors while all using the same input laser source.

Excessive cholesterol absorption from intestinal lumen contributes to the pathogenesis of hypercholesterolemia, which is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The absorption of intestinal cholesterol is primarily mediated by Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) protein, which is responsible for about 70% cholesterol absorption. NPC1L1-deficient mice are resistant to...

The magnitude and dynamics of the global biodiversity crisis are hard to quantify and require rapid, reliable and repeatable biodiversity monitoring data which decision makers can use to evaluate policy options. Such information—from local to global level and within timescales relevant to policy—calls for improved integration of data on biodiversity from different sources such as museums,...

Following a series of winter storms that eased drought conditions across the state, Southern Californians celebrated a sight nobody has seen for several punishing years: water rushing into Diamond Valley Lake.

Researchers from Xi'an Jiaotong University revealed the atomic flow behavior of nano-joints in AgNWs Interconnect Network. In order to further improve the joint quality, the thermal welding process and atomic evolution behavior of Ag nanowires were studied through a combination of in situ experimental and molecular dynamics simulations.

H2O2 is not only a green oxidant that is widely used in environmental remediation, industrial synthesis, and medical healthcare, etc., but also an emerging energy carrier with a high energy density comparable to compressed H2.

The Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), together with some 40 research institutions worldwide, has released their latest discoveries on the brightest gamma-ray burst (dubbed as GRB 221009A) ever detected by humans.

On October 9, 2022, an intense pulse of gamma-ray radiation swept through our solar system, overwhelming gamma-ray detectors on numerous orbiting satellites, and sending astronomers on a chase to study the event using the most powerful telescopes in the world.

Australian astronomers have provided vital information in the global effort to understand the brightest-ever detected gamma ray burst, which swept through our solar system on October 9 last year.