Latest News

Smell rules fire ants

One gene controls whether a persistent pest serves one or many queens.

A protein that spots smell controls the power structure of fire ant colonies, Michael Krieger and Kenneth Ross of the University of Georgia, Athens, have discovered 1 . One form of the protein leads to nests with several queens living in harmony. The other leaves only one ruler.

Fire ants’ social life is of more than academic interest. The species (Solenopsis invicta) has spread from

Semiconductors get on our nerves

Nerve cells soldered to semiconductors cross computing with neuroscience

Scientists in the United States are soldering nerve cells to semiconductors. Christine Schmidt and colleagues from the University of Texas at Austin use a sliver of protein to connect neurons and tiny crystals of semiconductors called quantum dots 1 .

This cross between biology and electronics could have useful applications, including the manufacture of prosthetics operated directly by a

Gene may fend off prions

A gene may protect people against variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

People who lack a gene involved in immune responses may be three times more likely to suffer from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a new study suggests1. The result, if borne out in larger studies, could point researchers toward therapies for the incurable brain disease.

vCJD is thought to occur when people are exposed to misshapen prion proteins from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy – B

Study Shows Sheep Have Keen Memory for Faces

You would be forgiven for underestimating the intelligence of sheep, considering that their daily activities revolve around grazing. But research reported in the current issue of Nature indicates that, in fact, sheep possess more smarts than previously thought.

Keith Kendrick and colleagues at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England, investigated the sheep’s ability to distinguish and remember faces of both other sheep and humans. Presenting 20 sheep with pictures of 25 pairs of sheep

A little logic goes a long way

Ultra-minaturized electrical components could shrink supercomputers.

Researchers in the Netherlands and the United States have constructed simple computer circuits with electrical components many times smaller than those on commercial silicon chips 1 , 2 . These ultra-minaturized logic circuits hold out the prospect of hand-held computers as powerful as today’s state-of-the-art supercomputers.

Cees Dekker and co-workers at the Delft University

Ancient Bone Tools Suggest Modern Human Behavior Has African Roots

It’s an enduring enigma in paleoanthropology: when and where did modern human behavior arise? The fossil record suggests that anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa sometime between 150,000 and 100,000 years ago. Yet the earliest convincing indications of behavioral modernity in our species, archaeologists have argued, date to tens of thousands of years later and have turned up in Europe, not Africa. With that in mind, some theorists posited that modern behavior blossomed late and rather sudd

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Physics and Astronomy

NASA’s Hubble, Webb probe surprisingly smooth disk around Vega

In the 1997 movie “Contact,” adapted from Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Arroway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star…

NASA to launch innovative solar coronagraph to Space Station

NASA’s Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) is ready to launch to the International Space Station to reveal new details about the solar wind including its origin and its evolution. Launching in…

Faster space communication with record-sensitive receiver

In space exploration, long-distance optical links can now be used to transmit images, films and data from space probes to Earth using light. But in order for the signals to…

Life Sciences and Chemistry

Novel catalyst for charge separation in photocatalytic water splitting

A research team led by Prof. JIANG Hailong, Prof. LUO Yi, and Prof. JIANG Jun from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) discovered a metal-organic framework (MOF)…

Finding a missing piece for neurodegenerative disease research

Research led by the University of Michigan has provided compelling  evidence that could solve a fundamental mystery in the makeup of fibrils that play a role in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and…

Beta cells: New insights into the structure, interactions and neuronal networking of primary cilia

The beta cells of the pancreas are responsible for releasing the hormone insulin, which is vital for the absorption of glucose from the bloodstream. Various factors can impair the ability…

Materials Sciences

BESSY II: New procedure for better thermoplastics

Thermoplastic blends, produced by a new process, have better resilience. Now, experiments at the IRIS beamline show, why: nanocrystalline layers increase their performance. Bio-based thermoplastics are produced from renewable organic…

Off the clothesline, on the grid

MXene nanomaterials enable wireless charging in textiles. Researchers demonstrate printed textile-based energy grid using MXene ink. The next step for fully integrated textile-based electronics to make their way from the…

A paper-aluminum combo for strong, sustainable packaging

Takeout containers get your favorite noodles from the restaurant to your dining table (or couch) without incident, but they are nearly impossible to recycle if they are made from foil-lined…

Information Technology

Secure messaging through distributed messages

TU researchers enable better protection for sending sensitive information. In today’s digital landscape, ensuring the privacy of online communications is more critical than ever, especially in professions that rely on…

Breakthrough in magnetism that could transform quantum computing and superconductors

Researchers discover new magnetic and electronic properties in kagome magnet thin films. A discovery by Rice University physicists and collaborators is unlocking a new understanding of magnetism and electronic interactions…

How 6G Can Make Medical Prevention More Efficient

– Wireless Aggregation of Health Data. Health data, distributed across various applications, could be unified in a digital medical twin: This is how doctors could improve patient care with the…