Science

New research finds that hostile attitudes toward women are a leading predictor of extremist sympathies among young Australians. The pattern held across ideological categories. Researchers say prevention programs should address the attitudes directly.

New laboratory measurements of a key nuclear reaction are sharpening models of how stellar explosions unfold. The data reduce a longstanding source of uncertainty in predicted element production. Astronomers can now test the models against observed spectra.

A study in Science Advances found that AI agents shift their choices toward the majority view of other agents, and that more advanced models conform more strongly. The effect persisted even when the peer opinions were meaningless. The authors warn about cascading errors in multi-agent systems.

Astronomers describe GJ 523b, a mega-Earth with 23 times the mass of our planet packed into a body only 2.5 times as wide. The density implies an unusually large rocky or metallic interior. The find tests models of how such planets form.

Research finds that what people expect from their own aging influences how socially connected they remain later in life. Negative expectations correlate with withdrawal. The authors say expectations may be a modifiable target.

A bone feature in a 236-million-year-old mammal ancestor suggests the newborn was relatively large, more consistent with live birth than hatching from an egg. The evidence is indirect but would push the trait back further than previously documented. Researchers say more specimens are needed.

Analysis of trace elements is giving veterinary researchers new leads on the cause of dark eye lesions seen in cats. The condition can progress to serious disease. The findings point toward a metabolic rather than infectious origin.

A company is pursuing what it calls a moonshot replacement for wood pulp in paper products using a hardy desert plant. The crop grows on land unsuitable for timber and needs little water. Scaling production remains the main obstacle.

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, has fallen to a record-low elevation of 3,519.8 feet, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The Colorado River system has been under sustained drought stress. The level raises new questions about hydropower generation at Glen Canyon Dam.

About 270,000 square miles of ocean around Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, will become a marine reserve managed by the island's Indigenous community. Residents depend heavily on local fisheries. The arrangement gives Rapa Nui authority over enforcement and use.

Satellite operators say a worsening shortage of launch capacity is leaving spacecraft grounded and business plans in doubt. Delays have cascaded across providers. Operators warn some constellations may miss regulatory deadlines.

Conservation researchers are using inexpensive picnic coolers to transport and preserve genetic samples from some of the world's most endangered animals. The improvised approach works where specialized equipment is unavailable. It has expanded biobanking to remote field sites.

El Nino conditions combined with Saharan dust have suppressed this year's Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasters caution that a quiet season can still produce a single dangerous storm. Conditions could shift before the season closes.

Researchers are studying whether tadalafil, sold as Cialis, has effects on longevity beyond its approved use. Observational data hint at cardiovascular and cognitive benefits. Scientists caution that no trial has yet tested the claim directly.

As wildfires grow more destructive, several states are failing to enact building and defensible-space rules meant to protect homes. Builders and homeowners have resisted the added cost. Fire officials say the rules save structures and lives.

Researchers found that a metabolite produced by gut bacteria can weaken the blood-brain barrier and promote changes associated with Alzheimer's disease. The finding strengthens a suspected gut-brain link in cognitive decline. Follow-up work will test whether altering the microbiome changes outcomes.

Researchers report restoring roughly two hours of sleep in brains affected by Alzheimer's disease by targeting an overactive response that disrupts rest. The team compares the mechanism to sprinklers flooding a house over a small kitchen fire. The work is early but points to a treatable pathway.

Researchers say early experiences shape a child's development even though almost no one retains explicit memories from infancy. Stress and caregiving in the first years leave measurable marks. The findings argue against dismissing the period as forgettable.

New research finds wildfire smoke now poses a greater prenatal risk than human-generated sources of air pollution. Smoke exposure has grown as fire seasons lengthen. Researchers link it to lower birth weights and preterm delivery.

The orbits of Neptune's small inner moons appear to record the violence of the day Triton was captured, wrecking the system that existed before. Simulations now match what telescopes see.

Researchers report that a thin coating derived from seaweed kept strawberries edible for days at room temperature. The approach could cut spoilage in places where cold chains are unreliable.

A plant-by-plant review of new U.S. generating capacity this year shows solar and storage accounting for the overwhelming majority of additions. Gas and wind trail far behind on both count and megawatts.

Doctors have developed a lung imaging technique that uses no ionizing radiation and detects disease earlier than existing scans. It is aimed first at children, who are most vulnerable to repeated radiation exposure.

New research indicates a Covid-19 infection can rouse viruses already sleeping in the body, which may worsen symptoms and prolong recovery. The finding offers a possible mechanism behind some long Covid cases.

An archaeologist who thought a medieval skeleton showed injuries like a modern car crash victim traced them instead to a trebuchet strike. The reconstruction gives a rare forensic look at siege warfare.

The biggest all-electric airplane yet built completed its maiden flight on roughly five dollars of electricity. Its makers argue the economics, not the engineering, are the real breakthrough for short-haul routes.

Orangutans rehabilitated and released into a remote forest have begun breeding, forming what conservationists describe as a genuinely new wild population. It is one of the strongest results yet for great ape reintroduction.

Peering into the earliest epochs of the cosmos, astronomers have spotted objects that look like enormous clouds of gas wrapped around a feeding black hole. If confirmed, these "black hole stars" would explain how supermassive black holes grew so large so fast.

Five secretarybird chicks have hatched under a breeding program, the first time so many of the endangered raptors have been raised together in care. Keepers hope the birds will seed a reintroduction effort.

Fields, parks and lawns across Europe have turned to straw this summer, revealing thousand-year-old landscapes as green outlines against yellow, where ancient underground walls and ditches still hold water. A plant scientist explains what happens next.

How many sharks should a coral reef have? Almost no reef on Earth has escaped fishing or other human effects, leaving no yardstick. Researchers built one, and found the prehistoric Pacific held roughly 20 times more sharks.

A research team led by Argonne National Laboratory has developed a material that combines inorganic components with biological ones to produce hydrogen peroxide more efficiently from sunlight, air and water.

A substantial global study published in the Journal of Mental Health finds that fulfilling friendships and close social relationships are strongly linked to excellent physical and mental health across 22 countries.

Understanding how ions diffuse through solid materials matters for batteries, electronics and catalysts, but solids are hard to see inside. A tracer exchange technique now reveals that ions can speed up or slow down as they move.

The administration is canceling a Biden-era program designed to accelerate power line construction in parts of Pennsylvania and other states, unwinding one of the previous administration's grid modernization efforts.

Forecasters say a potentially historic El Nino is taking shape, with far-reaching effects expected across the United States and globally. California is already bracing for what the pattern could bring this winter.

New research finds ospreys are recovering in Britain thanks to 'pioneering pairs' that prefer to nest away from the main population, a behavior that could be key to spreading the once-extinct raptor further.

Scientists examined four million years of hominin diets and found that natural sugars may have supplied glucose to growing brains before cooking made starchy foods easier to digest.

Romania shut down the Cernavoda nuclear plant, which supplies about 20 percent of the country's electricity, after extreme heat caused a huge drop in the level of the Danube River. It is not expected to restart within ten days.

Virgin Galactic is asking the public to help name its new Delta-class spaceship, floating options including VSS Horizon, Explorer, Ascend and Apeiron.

Reflect Orbital has approval to begin testing satellites that beam sunlight down to solar panels, and aims to launch as many as 50,000 mirror-equipped satellites by 2035. Critics are petitioning over the effects on wildlife, astronomy research and human health.

A diving whale revealed that the global web of subsea cables connecting the world can also be used to monitor cetaceans moving quietly across the seabed, using technology already in place.

A new study probes gargalesis, the poorly understood type of tickling caused by firm, repetitive touches, and finds that ticklish hot spots from armpits to feet are remarkably consistent across people.

University of Pennsylvania research shows antiviral and antibacterial chewing gums reduce levels of three microbes associated with oral cancer, pointing toward cheaper and more effective preventive therapies.

Early farmers in what is now Colombia built a giant irrigation network thousands of years ago that researchers call an engineering wonder of the world, and they did it through cooperation rather than central authority.

Chemists built a hydrogel from one designed peptide that spontaneously organizes into an electrically polarized network and repairs itself after being cut. The combination is unusual in a soft material. Possible uses run from nerve scaffolds to sensors.

A rebuttal years in the making argues that the celebrated finding that science has grown less disruptive is an artifact of how citations are counted. The critique sat in review long enough for the original claim to shape policy. Both papers are now public.

A engineered microbial process converts carbon dioxide into edible protein and folate at costs the researchers say are commercially competitive. The output is aimed first at animal feed. Scaling depends on cheap clean electricity more than on the biology.

Researchers found genetic changes in blood samples that preceded a cancer diagnosis by years, well ahead of what current screening detects. The signal is faint and would need enormous validation before clinical use. It points toward a much earlier intervention window.

High-resolution observations captured swirling vortices on the solar surface that appear to funnel energy upward into the atmosphere. Researchers think the structures could help explain why the corona is far hotter than the surface below it. The images come from a new generation of ground telescopes.