Carbon-13 could act as an MRI probe to reveal new insights into gene regulation in the brain. The technique has so far only been demonstrated in pig brains, but the researchers hope that it could soon be tested in living humans, where it could help understand brain development and function, and conditions such as Alzheimer’s […]

As Covid-19’s initial wave crested around the world, travel restrictions and a drop in passengers led to a record number of grounded flights in 2020. The air travel reduction cleared the skies of not just jets but also the fluffy white contrails they produce high in the atmosphere. MIT engineers have mapped the contrails that […]

Note: This is the first in a four-part interview series that will highlight the work of the Climate Grand Challenges finalists, ahead of the April announcement of several multiyear, flagship projects. The finalists in MIT’s first-ever Climate Grand Challenges competition each received $100,000 to develop bold, interdisciplinary research and innovation plans designed to attack some of […]

Over a three-month period, the average car in the U.S. produces one metric ton of carbon dioxide. Multiply that by all the gasoline-powered cars on Earth, and what does that look like? An insurmountable problem. But new research efforts say there’s hope if we commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and replace gas-guzzling vehicles […]

Large-scale insecticide application is a primary weapon in the control of insect pests in agriculture but we know that around the world, insect populations are decreasing in size by about 1% each year; this decrease is largely in insects that are not pests. Spinosad is a popular organic insecticide commonly used to control insect pests, […]

Those who have tried to pry a mussel from anything from wood to rock know how stubborn the underwater mollusks are — and their gluey secret has long captivated scientists. For years, researchers have attempted to replicate the extraordinary adhesive and its properties in the lab, targeting some of the eight proteins that mussels secrete and […]

Astronomers may have detected a “sonic boom” from a powerful blast known as a kilonova. This event — called GW170817 — is a result of a merger of two neutron stars and is the first object for which both gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation, or light, have been detected form Earth. Continued detections of this […]

To understand what causes Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of brain degeneration, scientists may need to look beyond the brain’s computational units, the neurons and synapses, and explore the vast infrastructure that supports them. Scientists have recognized for decades that the brains of people who die from advanced Alzheimer’s disease often exhibit severe damage to […]

Eating wild-caught fish instead of using it as feed in salmon farming would allow nearly four million tonnes of fish to be left in the sea, while providing an extra six million tonnes of seafood for human consumption, a study finds. Scientists studying the Scottish salmon farming industry say that using only fish by-products – […]

The tiny minority of state-educated students who take Ancient History at GCSE worry that the subject’s exclusive reputation will brand them ‘elitist’ in the eyes of friends and relatives, research suggests. Their perspectives are documented in a newly-published study, which argues that Ancient History’s position as a minority subject in the curriculum is reinforcing its […]