Fungi are fascinating lifeforms that defy conventional notions of animal intelligence. They don’t have brains, yet display clear signs of decision making and communication. But just how complex are these organisms and what can they tell us about other forms of awareness? To begin investigating these mysteries, researchers at Japan’s Tohoku University and Nagaoka College Read more about A simple experiment revealed the complex ‘thoughts’ of fungi – yes vegans and vegetarians: plants also really live and think.[…]

[…]A research team at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has created a novel advanced microscopy tool to “write” with atoms, placing those atoms exactly where they are needed to give a material new properties. “By working at the atomic scale, we also work at the scale where quantum properties naturally emerge and Read more about ‘Writing’ with atoms could transform materials fabrication for quantum devices[…]

An invisible, weak energy field wrapped around our planet Earth has finally been detected and measured. It’s called the ambipolar field, an electric field first hypothesized more than 60 years ago […] “Any planet with an atmosphere should have an ambipolar field,” says astronomer Glyn Collinson of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Now that we’ve Read more about Scientists Detect Invisible Electric Field Around Earth For First Time[…]

A doughnut-shaped region thousands of kilometers beneath our feet within Earth’s liquid core has been discovered by scientists from The Australian National University (ANU), providing new clues about the dynamics of our planet’s magnetic field. The structure within Earth’s liquid core is found only at low latitudes and sits parallel to the equator. According to Read more about Doughnut-shaped region found inside Earth’s core deepens understanding of planet’s magnetic field[…]

[…] most recently in January 2024, when physicists Arnab Priya Saha and Aninda Sinha of the Indian Institute of Science presented a completely new formula for calculating it, which they later published in Physical Review Letters. Saha and Sinha are not mathematicians. They were not even looking for a novel pi equation. Rather, these two Read more about String Theorists Accidentally Find a New Formula for Pi[…]

[…] Our communications and GPS networks all depend on keeping careful track of the precise timing of signals—including accounting for the effects of relativity. The deeper into a gravitational well you go, the slower time moves, and we’ve reached the point where we can detect differences in altitude of a single millimeter. Time literally flows Read more about Researchers figure out how to keep clocks on the Earth, Moon in sync[…]

A new antibiotic that works by disrupting two different cellular targets would make it 100 million times more difficult for bacteria to evolve resistance, according to new research from the University of Illinois Chicago. For a new paper in Nature Chemical Biology, researchers probed how a class of synthetic drugs called macrolones disrupt bacterial cell Read more about Dual action antibiotic could make bacterial resistance nearly impossible[…]

[…] in areas where water is more scarce it can be hard to grow crops and feed populations, so scientists are investigating ways to boost efficiency. Building on earlier work, the new study marks a good step in that direction. The soil gets its “smart” moniker thanks to the addition of a specially formulated hydrogel, Read more about “Smart soil” grows 138% bigger crops using 40% less water[…]

Deliberately exposing people to the coronavirus behind covid-19 in a so-called challenge study has helped us understand why some people seem to be immune to catching the infection. As part of the first such covid-19 study, carried out in 2021, a group of international researchers looked at 16 people with no known health conditions who Read more about We finally know why some people seem immune to catching covid-19[…]

The proliferation of microplastics (MPs) represents a burgeoning environmental and health crisis. Measuring less than 5 mm in diameter, MPs have infiltrated atmospheric, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, penetrating commonplace consumables like seafood, sea salt, and bottled beverages. Their size and surface area render them susceptible to chemical interactions with physiological fluids and tissues, raising bioaccumulation Read more about Seven types of microplastics found in the human penises, raises questions about sexual function[…]

Mathematicians have reinvented the wheel with the discovery of shapes that can roll smoothly when sandwiched between two surfaces, even in four, five or any higher number of spatial dimensions. The finding answers a question that researchers have been puzzling over for decades. Such objects are known as shapes of constant width, and the most Read more about Mathematicians find odd shapes that roll like a wheel in any dimension[…]

Nearly a third of U.S. adults have tattoos, so plenty of you listeners can probably rattle off the basic guidelines of tattoo safety: Make sure you go to a reputable tattoo artist who uses new, sterile needles. Stay out of the ocean while you’re healing so you don’t pick up a smidgen of flesh-eating bacteria. Read more about What’s Actually In Tattoo Ink? No One Really Knows[…]

When the Brazilian nutritional scientist Carlos Monteiro coined the term “ultra-processed foods” 15 years ago, he established what he calls a “new paradigm” for assessing the impact of diet on health. Monteiro had noticed that although Brazilian households were spending less on sugar and oil, obesity rates were going up. The paradox could be explained Read more about “Deny, denounce, delay”: ultra-processed food companies fighting using big tobacco type tactics[…]