How nature can make urban dwellers healthier

A study has found “overwhelming” evidence that increasing biodiversity in cities—establishing parks, installing native plants and encouraging sustainable landscaping—can significantly improve human health.

Mathematical models reveal a ‘hidden order’ in dryland vegetation worldwide

Elegant design in nature can hide in plain sight–even in something as seemingly simple as dryland vegetation.

== yjc
How Europe’s largest bat catches and eats birds mid-air

After nearly 25 years of research, the mystery has finally been solved: Europe’s largest bat doesn’t just eat small birds—it hunts and captures them more than a kilometer above the ground.

Elucidated protein structures in the malaria parasite offer opportunities for new vaccines

Using millions of microscope images magnified up to 130,000 times, researchers have unraveled the structure of two key proteins in the malaria parasite.

Body illusion helps unlock memories, new study finds

New research has discovered that briefly altering how we perceive our own body can help unlock autobiographical memories—potentially even those from the early stages of childhood.

Nanoparticle vaccine prevents multiple cancers and stops metastasis in mice

Researchers demonstrate that their nanoparticle-based vaccine can effectively prevent melanoma, pancreatic and triple-negative breast cancer in mice.

Schizophrenia is linked to iron and myelin deficits in the brain, neuroimaging study finds

While schizophrenia has been the topic of numerous research studies, its biological and neural underpinnings have not yet been fully elucidated.

== a might less than informative, but an interesting idea
Simulations unveil the electrodynamic nature of black hole mergers and other spacetime collisions

Gravitational waves are energy-carrying waves produced by the acceleration or disturbance of massive objects. These waves are known to be produced during various cosmological phenomena.

‘Traffic controller’ protein that protects DNA discovered, and it may help kill cancer cells

When cells divide, DNA must be copied from one cell to the next—a process called replication. Cells also depend on another key process called transcription, where the cell decodes the DNA to create RNA.

== yjc, have always had a bit of fascination with orchids
Deadwood brings wild orchids to life

Orchid seeds are as small as dust and do not provide any nutrients for the young plant to grow. The adult plants are known to rely on a certain type of fungi that develop structures within the plant’s roots, but whether these same fungi also help with germination has not been established.

Lizard genetics provide new perspective on evolution

Some colorful lizards and a mathematical formula from the finance sector have been used to build a new framework to model evolution.

Satellites record 20-meter high wave, showing the power of ocean swell

During recent storms, satellites recorded ocean waves averaging nearly 20 meters high—as tall as the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and the largest ever measured from space.

Losing Nemo

New research has revealed that about 90% of marine aquarium fish sold by online retailers in the United States are sourced directly from wild populations, mostly in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Webb unveils doomed star that could help solve mystery of missing massive red supergiants

A team of astronomers has captured the most detailed glimpse yet of a doomed star before it exploded. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the team identified a supernova’s source star, or progenitor, at mid-infrared wavelengths for the first time.

== yjc
The human cost of healthy eating

Some recommended US diets carry higher risk of forced labor in food supply chains.

Magnetic ‘switchback’ detected near Earth for the first time

Among the Parker Solar Probe’s revelations is the presence of numerous kinks, or “switchbacks,” in magnetic field lines in the sun’s outer atmosphere.

Sinking balls of krill food could be good news for the planet

Antarctic krill, tiny shrimp-like creatures, are an important species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem and global carbon cycle, in part because of their poop.

Astronomers discover the most ‘pristine’ star in the known universe

Not all stars are created equally. Astronomers believe that the first stars to form after the Big Bang were mostly made of only hydrogen and helium with trace amounts of lithium, as the heavier elements formed later on by nuclear fusion inside the stars.

== yjc
Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst

Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee.

== yjc
The World’s Biggest Citizen Science Project

A life-list is the cumulative number of species seen by a birder in their lifetime. An H-score is an academic metric that combines the number of scientific publications with the status of the journal and the number of times the papers have been cited.

Blackwater photos suggest new symbiosis between fish and anemones

Some species of vulnerable larval or juvenile fish use invertebrate species apparently for defensive purposes. They’ll find something that’s noxious or stingy, and they just carry it around.

Yeast proteins reveal the secrets of drought resistance

The human body is made up mostly of water. If this water is removed, the body’s cells cannot survive, even when water is reintroduced. But some organisms can completely dry out yet return to life when rehydrated.

Gravitational lenses imaged by Webb during its first run

Gravitational lenses were first predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity (GR), which states that gravity is the result of massive objects altering the curvature of spacetime around them. When galaxies and galaxy clusters align with more distant objects, the lensing effect can cause light from these sources to become warped and amplified, allowing astronomers to study objects that would otherwise be very difficult to observe.

High-speed onion mist

Cutting technique and blade sharpness affect droplet spray, study shows

== yjc
Einstein’s violin sells for £860k at auction

He always said that if he hadn’t been a scientist, he’d have liked to have been a musician.

Friction-based landing gear enables drones to safely land on fast-moving vehicles

Drones have become a more common sight in our skies and are used for everything from consumer hobbies like aerial photography to industrial applications such as farming, surveillance and logistics. However, they are not without their shortcomings, and one of those is landings.

Easter Island’s statues actually ‘walked,’ and physics backs it up

For years, researchers have puzzled over how the ancient people of Rapa Nui did the seemingly impossible and moved their iconic moai statues. Using a combination of physics, 3D modeling and on-the-ground experiments, a team has confirmed that the statues actually walked.

Rare intersex spider among new species discovered in Thailand

An even more striking discovery was the gynandromorph specimen found in the set.

General relativity could make life possible on planets orbiting white dwarfs

A white dwarf is what is left when a star like our sun runs out of fuel and sheds its outer layers.

Ancient Patagonian hunter-gatherers took care of their injured and disabled, study finds

Their aim was to determine the social implications of traumatic injuries experienced in non-sedentary hunter-gatherers. To do this, 3,179 skeletal elements from 25 archaeological sites were analyzed.

New calculator can help physicians better predict stroke risk in atrial fibrillation patients

Atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) is the most common arrhythmia that makes the top chambers of the heart quiver instead of pumping normally. The blood inside the heart moves more slowly, and this pooling of blood can lead to blood clots.

Researchers unearth origins of Ancient Egypt’s Karnak Temple

Karnak temple is located 500 meters east of the present-day River Nile near Luxor, at the Ancient Egyptian religious capital of Thebes.

Map of bacterial gene interactions uncovers targets for future antibiotics

Despite rapid advances in reading the genetic code of living organisms, scientists still face a major challenge today—knowing a gene’s sequence does not automatically reveal what it does.

Smart cutting system used by female sawflies could transform surgery and reduce patient harm

The breakthrough research reveals how these tiny insects use a completely passive cutting system that automatically knows which materials to slice through and which to leave untouched, all without any sensors or computerized controls.

3I/ATLAS’s coma proves another cometary formation theory

Interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS has been constantly changing as it makes its way through our solar system. That’s to be expected, as, for the first time in potentially billions of years, it’s getting close to the energy put out by a star.

Take a flight over the Martian surface with the Mars Express orbiter

For more than twenty years, the Mars Express orbiter has studied the Red Planet and remains the European Space Agency’s (ESA) only operational mission.

How black holes produce powerful relativistic jets

A hundred years before the release of the first image of a black hole in 2019—located at the heart of the galaxy M87—astronomer Heber Curtis had already discovered a strange jet protruding from the galaxy’s center.

Rocket test proves bacteria survive space launch and re-entry unharmed

Now a study has found the spores of Bacilus subtilis, a bacterium essential for human health, can survive rapid acceleration, short-duration microgravity and rapid deceleration.

Virtual particles: How physicists’ clever bookkeeping trick could underlie reality

A clever mathematical tool known as virtual particles unlocks the strange and mysterious inner workings of subatomic particles. What happens to these particles within atoms would stay unexplained without this tool.

‘Toothpick grooves’ in ancient fossil human teeth may not be from toothpicks after all

For decades, small grooves on ancient human teeth were thought to be evidence of deliberate tool use—people cleaning their teeth with sticks or fibers, or easing gum pain with makeshift “toothpicks.”

Clam shells sound alarm over unstable North Atlantic currents

Bivalves, such as clams, oysters and mussels, record seasonal environmental changes in their shells, making them living chronicles of climate history.

Black Holes Might Hold the Key To a 60-Year Cosmic Mystery

Scientists may have finally uncovered the mystery behind ultra-high-energy cosmic rays — the most powerful particles known in the universe.

Venom from stonefish species may yield new medications

Researchers have discovered that venoms from two species of stonefish possess powerful immunosuppressive properties and could pave the way for the development of new drugs.

Scientists create natural plastics for everyday packaging

Researchers have transformed food waste sugars into natural plastic films that could one day replace petroleum-based packaging, offering compostable alternatives to commonly used plastics for food and agricultural films like silage wrap.

Cascadia megathrust earthquake could trigger San Andreas fault

When the tectonic subduction zone beneath the Pacific Northwest moves, it does so in dramatic fashion. Not only is ground shaking from a magnitude 9+ earthquake incredibly destructive, the event triggers tsunamis and landslides to compound the damage.

Novel antibiotic targets IBD—and AI predicted how it would work before scientists could prove it

Researchers discovered a brand-new antibiotic that targets inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), but also successfully used a new type of AI to predict exactly how the drug works.

Enzyme technology clears first human test toward universal donor organs for transplantation

The first successful human transplant of a kidney converted from blood type A to universal type O used special enzymes developed at the University of British Columbia to help prevent a mismatch and rejection of the organ.

New approach to gravitational wave detection opens the milli-Hz frontier

the new detector concept uses cutting-edge optical cavity and atomic clock technologies to sense gravitational waves in the elusive milli-Hertz frequency band (10?5–1 Hz).

Birds’ vocal warnings provide new insight into the origins of language

Birds separated by vast geographic distances and millions of years of evolution share a remarkably similar learned vocal warning to identify parasitic enemies near their nests.

== yjc
Sharpie Found a Way To Make Pens More Cheaply - By Manufacturing Them in the US

.Pen barrels whirl along automated assembly lines that rapidly fill them with ink. At least half a billion Sharpie markers are churned out here every year, each one made of six parts. Only the felt tip is imported, from Japan.

Removing 50 Objects from Orbit Would Cut Danger From Space Junk in Half

An impact with even a modestly sized object at orbital velocity would create countless pieces of debris, potentially triggering a cascading series of additional collisions clogging LEO with more and more space junk, a scenario called the Kessler Syndrome.

Mouse Sensors Can Pick Up Speech From Surface Vibrations, Researchers Show

Mic-E-Mouse technique harnesses mouse sensors, converts acoustic vibrations into speech.

== yjc, lengthy
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Amazon is ‘Way Past Its Prime’

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist explains what’s gone wrong with the internet.

Why Do Women Outlive Men? A Study of 1,176 Species Points to an Answer

The team found that most other mammals are like humans, with the females of nearly three-fourths of mammal species outliving their male counterparts. But in birds, 68 percent of species studied showed a bias toward male longevity.