Science
Scientific discoveries and research
Digital platforms are making it more difficult to focus, read and even engage in democracy
Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year, "brain rot," refers to the loss of intelligence or critical thinking skills due to the overconsumption of specific types of cont...
Feeling poorer than peers linked to lower well-being, even when incomes are similar
New research is shedding light on how comparing ourselves to others affects happiness and life satisfaction. Led by McGill University researchers, the study sho...
Modern human skeletal biology needs to move beyond the strict male/female binary, scientists argue
Human skeletal biologists traditionally provide sex estimations as part of establishing biological profiles (skeletal sex, age-at-death, stature, ancestry/popul...
Deep Earth model traces 270 million years of seamount formation across oceans
Over 40,000 seamounts—undersea mountains that don't breach the ocean's surface—are scattered across the ocean floor. Some form linear chains, while others occur...
Onboarding support helps merchants adopt digital payment methods
Change can be hard—especially when you're used to receiving change. Switching from cash-based to digital payment methods can be a difficult sell, particularly i...
Benzene reaction may explain how DNA and RNA building blocks formed on early Earth
Caltech researchers have identified a novel chemical reaction that could explain the formation of the building blocks of DNA and RNA, the molecules that encode...
Why Arctic sea ice loss could reshape the Gulf Stream's future
The warm Gulf Stream is maintained by coldness. The Barents Sea is a cooling machine. To predict how ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean may develop, one needs...
Earthquakes can be destructive for distant cities built on top of basins—now we know why
Sedimentary basins—depressions in Earth's crust caused by tectonic activity—tend to be flat and are favored places to build cities. But during earthquakes, they...
Deep-sea crust uncovers steady plutonium rain from ancient kilonova debris
Debris is still raining down on Earth more than 100 million years after the giant cosmic explosion that created it. A study published this week in Nature Astron...
A waltz over evolutionary timescales: Why it's so hard for animals to invent a new mating dance
"Love makes fools of all of us," wrote 19th-century novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. A moment spent watching the pigeons at your local park suggests he was...
Do shark culls keep people safe in the ocean? Here's what the science says
A young mother remains in hospital after being bitten by a shark at Coogee Beach in Sydney on Saturday morning. Leah Stewart, 35, was swimming about 30 meters (...
Redefined conformity model beats averaging in five real-world tests of opinion dynamics
Imagine you poll your friends on how many minutes per pound to roast a turkey. Five respond with 15 minutes; one answers 33 minutes. The most popular model of c...