As dust from the Sahara blows thousands of kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean, it becomes progressively more nutritious for marine microbes, a new study suggests. Chemical reactions in the atmosphere chew on iron minerals in the dust, making them more water soluble and creating a crucial nutrient source for the iron-starved seas, researchers report September […]

An unexpected discovery about what made a tiny worm refuse to grow up has now led to the 2024 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.  Victor Ambros, now at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, and Gary Ruvkun, of Harvard Medical School, found that small snippets of RNA called microRNAs can help […]

It’s the rarest particle decay ever discovered. Scientists have clinched the case for a special type of decay of subatomic particles called kaons. Further study of the rare decay could reveal a potential flaw in the standard model, physicists’ stalwart theory of subatomic particles. The decay is known as a “golden channel” because its rate […]

Clostridioides difficile is a notoriously nasty intestinal bug, with few effective treatments and no approved vaccines. But the same technology that enabled the first COVID-19 vaccines has shown early promise, in mouse experiments, against this deadly infection, which kills 30,000 people in the United States each year. An mRNA vaccine designed to target C. difficile […]

A perfect storm of climate, geologic and geographic conditions have combined to make Hurricane Helene one of the most devastating storms to ever hit the United States. Days after it slammed into Florida’s Big Bend region on September 26 and traveled hundreds of kilometers inland, Helene’s destructive impact has continued to grow. Fueled by warm […]

Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse! The red supergiant that marks Orion’s left shoulder may have a tiny, unseen companion. Two independent studies found evidence of a star about the same mass as the sun, orbiting Betelgeuse about once every 2,100 days. “It was very surprising,” says astrophysicist Morgan MacLeod of the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in […]

The word “bionic” conjures sci-fi visions of humans enhanced to superhuman levels. It’s true that engineering advances such as better motors and batteries, together with modern computing, mean that the required mechanical and electronic systems are no longer a barrier to advanced prostheses. But the field has struggled to integrate these powerful machines with the […]

As artificial intelligence explodes in popularity, two of its pioneers have nabbed the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics. The prize goes to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm announced October 8. These computational tools, which […]

When the arm is on the lap or the side, a blood pressure reading can be erroneously high. But when the arm is supported and at heart height, a blood pressure reading is more likely to be right. In a clinical trial, researchers investigated the effect that different arm positions had on blood pressure readings, […]