Science
Scientific discoveries and research
New research shows habitat restoration projects have paid off for Forest Park in St. Louis
Over the past few decades, a collaboration of St. Louis regional groups have partnered to be good stewards of Forest Park, one of the largest urban parks and wi...
With drones, geophysics and artificial intelligence, researchers prepare to do battle against land mines
When Jasper Baur was a freshman at New York's Binghamton University, his interests centered on earth sciences. Then he got involved in a seemingly unrelated pur...
Nicotine's last biosynthesis steps mapped in wild tobacco, ending a long mystery
Nicotine, a potent insecticidal alkaloid unique to the nightshade family, has been employed in agriculture as a pesticide since 1690. It also has therapeutic po...
Underwater architects: Nest-building in cichlids reveals more than hardwired instinct
We associate nests with shelter, warmth, and a safe retreat—and usually picture a bird's nest made out of twigs, grass and feathers. Yet many other animals take...
Chang'e mission samples reveal how exogenous organic matter evolves on the moon
Elements essential to life, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, were "delivered" to Earth and the moon during the early stages of the sola...
Universal surface-growth law confirmed in two dimensions after 40 years
Crystals, bacterial colonies, flame fronts: the growth of surfaces was first described in the 1980s by the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation. Since then, it has been...
Highway widening may be heating cities faster; here's what could curb it
U.S. cities are rapidly becoming urban heat islands, where these cities are significantly warmer than their surrounding area. Vast expanses of asphalt and concr...
How bromoform wrecks ozone: Ultrafast 'roaming' step captured in 150 femtoseconds
The halomethane compound bromoform (CHBr3) has devastating effects on the ozone layer. In the upper layers of the atmosphere, bromoform reacts with UV radiation...
Camera-tagged Adélie penguins caught eating sea snails in East Antarctica
There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link betwee...
Scientists discover f-block metals yield new oxygen-binding chemistry
Iron and oxygen bind together throughout the body. Most famously, iron binds dioxygen, or two oxygens paired with each other, in hemoglobin that transports oxyg...
Subaru Telescope sheds light on Jupiter Trojan asteroids' color mystery
Observations conducted with the Subaru Telescope and its first-generation wide-field camera, Suprime-Cam, have revealed new insights into the relationship betwe...
From teeth to thorns: Coincidences shape the universal form of nature's pointed tips
We thought it was evolution, but an experiment with pencils shows that tips like teeth and thorns may owe their rounded shape to mechanical wear. Most of us hav...