As natural climate archives, the deposits found in caves can play an important role in our ability to understand – and predict – climate change. Every family has those stories that are passed down from generation to generation. Some of them have to do with history, others about a particular individual. But many of them […]

Every piece of data that travels over the internet — from paragraphs in an email to 3D graphics in a virtual reality environment — can be altered by the noise it encounters along the way, such as electromagnetic interference from a microwave or Bluetooth device. The data are coded so that when they arrive at […]

(Apologies to Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello for the headline. Impossible to resist) Black holes are regions of space-time with huge amounts of gravity. Scientists originally thought that nothing could esca­­­­­pe the boundaries of these massive objects, including light. The precise nature of black holes has been challenged ever since Albert Einstein’s general theory of […]

In order to better understand the history and evolution of the Milky Way, astronomers are studying the composition of the gases and metals that make up an important part of our galaxy. Three main elements stand out: the initial gas coming from outside our galaxy, the gas between the stars inside our galaxy – enriched […]

You can’t squeeze water from a rock. But tree roots can — and they’re doing it more frequently than scientists previously thought, with a new study finding that bedrock is a regular source of water for trees across the United States, not just an emergency reserve during droughts. The discovery, led by researchers with The […]

By all appearances, the universe beyond Earth is a vast, lonely, and sterile space. Yet, wherever humans may travel, an abundance of microbial life will follow. In a first study of its kind, lead author Jiseon Yang at the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute, Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, and her colleagues characterized different bacterial populations isolated […]

An initiative that paired paid visitors with racially diverse older adults, many of whom lived alone and struggled with taking care of their basic needs, resulted in reduced loneliness and plunging rates of depression. In a study led by UC San Francisco, researchers matched the visitors with 74 participants, ages 59 to 96, from the […]

Certain racial and ethnic minorities develop type 2 diabetes at a younger age than white Americans, meaning current diabetes screening and prevention practices for them may be inadequate and inequitable, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. American adults are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at an average age of 50 years old, but the 3,022-participant […]

On July 2, a fluorescent vortex illuminated the water’s surface. At an offshore oil and gas rig, a corroded pipe likely leaked, causing gas to bubble to the surface and ignite. The initial leak is cause for concern, and the failure of underwater pipeline systems in offshore locations has been a topic of discussion among engineers […]

Xia-Gibbs Syndrome (XGS) is a rare genetic disorder that results in severe developmental delay, sleep apnea, delayed speech and upper body weakness. In 2014, a team led by Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center and Wofford Cain Chair and professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, discovered a genetic basis for this condition. There […]