Science
Scientific discoveries and research
Spekboom is nutritious, water‑wise and edible—so why aren't more South Africans eating it?
Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) is an easy-to-grow succulent shrub, small tree or hedge. In the wild, it grows naturally as tall as five meters (16 feet) on steep...
How online platforms are misaligned with late-career workers
The wonders of internet technology and the advent of the gig economy have given hope to many highly skilled workers that their reputations, built up over many y...
Fungi neutralize spruce defense mechanisms with sugar
A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology discovered a previously unknown strategy by which certain fungi neutralize spruce defense compo...
Snow, monsoons and oceans shift Earth's center of mass each year, satellite tracking shows
Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet's center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric ce...
Lockdown or active shooter drill? The distinction matters for children's safety and well-being
School shooting preparedness drills have been a routine, though uncomfortable, part of the back-to-school experience. Since the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine...
Light lets microswimmers switch between bacteria-like and algae-like propulsion
Physicists at Leipzig University and Charles University in Prague have developed a method for changing the swimming style of tiny artificial microswimmers in re...
Why you really shouldn't overcook your proteins
The development of cooking was a major milestone in the evolution of human civilization because it made food easier to digest and more energy-efficient. Heating...
Even if you're not talking politics at work, it's coming to the office with you
Most employees aren't discussing the latest political polls during meetings or debating hot-button issues around the coffee maker. But that doesn't mean politic...
Newfound 'baby' planet smashes record for youngest known world
Astronomers have confirmed a world less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is...
Muon rings enable precise calibration of telescopes at the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory
Research initiated as part of a bachelor's thesis in physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has culminated in a new analytical description of th...
Engineers solve puzzle of Arctic sea ice movement
Arctic sea ice moves and spreads in ways that wind alone cannot explain. A new UC Riverside-led study finds that collisions between individual pieces of ice pro...
Without bacteria or chemicals: How methanol and formaldehyde form abiotically in nature
The biopolymer lignin—one of the most important carbon reservoirs in plants and soils—not only decays through fungi or bacteria but can also be chemically attac...