science news

In this artistic rendering, two asteroids fly past Earth. An asteroid will whiz harmlessly past Earth Saturday June 29, 2024. With the right equipment and timing, you just might spot it. Called 2024 MK, the space rock will make its closest approach to Earth at 9:46 AM EST (13:46 GMT) passing by at about three-quarters … Read more

Additive framework for spatiotemporal control of active defects. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2400933121 University of Michigan physicists have devised a way to manipulate active fluids, a type of fluid composed of individual units that can propel themselves independently, by taking advantage of topological defects in the fluids. The researchers … Read more

Illustration of T Coronae Borealis where material from a red giant star pours onto a white dwarf, setting the stage for a humongous stellar explosion. Credit: NASA/Conceptual Image Lab/Goddard Space Flight Center If you peer up at the constellation Corona Borealis—the Northern Crown—over the next several months, you may catch a glimpse: Astronomers predict that … Read more

Plots were sown with between zero and eight native grass species. The study was conducted in a former area of pasture taken over by the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park (Goiás state, Brazil). Its purpose was to analyze the role of biodiversity in resistance to reinvasion of plant communities by exotic species. Credit: Guilherme Mazzochini … Read more

This close-up picture of the fossilized termites shows the parallel positioning of the two individuals encased in the amber. The larger female (left) is still touching the smaller male (right). Credit: Aleš Buček (OIST/The Czech Academy of Sciences) Approximately 38 million years ago two termites were in the middle of courtship behavior when they got … Read more

To make a quantum dot consisting of a perovskite nanocrystal (left) more efficient, researchers have created special molecules (right) that form a protective layer around the quantum dot. Credit: Kovalenko Lab Quantum dots are a kind of artificial atom: just a few nanometers in size and made of semiconductor materials, they can emit light of … Read more

Littorina snails are common on the rocky shores of Europe, the U.K., and the East Coast of the U.S. Credit: Daria Shipilina Significant evolutionary changes happen gradually as opposed to in dramatic “monster” steps, biologists have discovered, answering the long-debated question as to how game-changing innovations like flight, vision, and the bearing of live offspring … Read more

Polymers with breakable bonds inserted into the polymer chains (B) were more easily degraded and re-formed than those with breakable bonds in the cross-lnks (A). Credit: Maciek Kopec A team of UK scientists has got a step closer to making several different types of plastic much easier to recycle using a method that could be … Read more