Science, engineering, and discovery — the research and breakthroughs that matter.

It's not easy to extract iron from its ore. But the peoples of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe—the capital of a thriving kingdom in southern Africa between A.D. 1000 and 1700—were masters.

When the U.S. Federal Reserve announces a change in its interest rate, consumers expect shifts in borrowing costs elsewhere and potential price adjustments for things like housing and some consumer goods. New research, however, shows that stock market analysts generally give a co

More than a century after Einstein revolutionized our understanding of gravity, scientists have uncovered a surprising new phenomenon hidden within his equations. Researchers at Columbia University and Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez have identified a theoretical process called "gravit

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of astronomers identified 104 magnified stellar events in a galaxy known as the Dragon, located around 6.5 billion light-years away. This discovery more than doubles the previous record of 44 such detections in the same galaxy.

Different text genres help doctoral students adapt their writing to reach new readers and more — today's student signal.

An academic abstract, a blog post and a public outreach article all place different demands on the writer. Readers' prior knowledge varies, as does the purpose of the text and what needs explaining. Mastering one kind of text therefore does not automatically mean being able to wr

The Mediterranean Sea still holds species unknown to science. One of them is Copula lucentia, a tiny jellyfish measuring just a few millimeters. Discovered off El Campello, in Alicante, it was formally described in 2024 by a research team at the University of Alicante (UA) Marine

How a metabolite protects the enzyme that consumes it and more — today's student signal.

Metabolites are consumed by enzymes to produce other vital molecules as well as to control metabolite levels. But how do cells avoid consuming too much? Researchers from the MPI of Biochemistry, with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the de Duve Institute in Brussels, have

After more than 60 years of unsuccessful attempts, scientists have finally isolated stable examples of elusive boron-oxygen molecules once considered too unstable to capture. The surprising breakthrough, achieved using relatively simple chemical reactions, could pave the way for

Forest areas can act both as carbon sinks and as vital habitats for thousands of species—but not necessarily at the same time. This has important implications for how Europe should manage its forests, says a University of Copenhagen researcher.

Like many of us, I always enjoy the John Lewis Christmas ad and 2026 is no different. This year, I love the fact that the star of the show is a grandmother.

Armed with dozens of motion-sensing cameras, William Grooms spent this past summer documenting wildlife across Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. It was his first field season collecting photos for a two-year study to understand how forest structure influences biodive

The bacterial flagellum is a motility organelle that enables bacteria to swim and is composed of more than 30 different proteins. Researchers have long sought to understand how this complex nanomachine self-assembles from many parts in the correct order and at the correct positio

It's known that the Y chromosome, which confers male sex, plays a big role in development and health, despite its small size. As cells age they frequently lose their Y chromosomes, which is associated with conditions like cancer, Alzheimer's disease and heart disease.

Geologists have uncovered new evidence that dramatic sea-level changes carved giant underwater canyons in South Australia's Flinders Ranges hundreds of millions of years ago, helping to create conditions that preserved some of the earliest complex life on Earth. The findings, led

Crop residues—the stems, leaves and husks left behind after harvesting cereals—could provide an important source of renewable energy for Europe, but research led by the University of Surrey suggests that removing too much from fields could come at a cost to biodiversity.

Growing two crops in succession on the same land requires a tight schedule. In parts of central and eastern China, farmers sow barley in autumn and harvest it in late spring. It is then followed by a summer crop, such as rice. For this cropping sequence to succeed, the barley mus

It's not easy to extract iron from its ore. But the peoples of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe—the capital of a thriving kingdom in southern Africa between A.D. 1000 and 1700—were masters.

The COP31 climate talks kicked off Monday with an early fight over money as the U.N.'s chief urged world leaders to "get serious" about tackling the crisis after a year of devastating weather extremes.

The brilliant magenta feathers on the head and throat of a male Anna's hummingbird present an optical puzzle. Magenta cannot be produced by a single wavelength of light. Instead, the feathers reflect a mixture of red and blue. Scientists understood the strong red reflection, but

Cutting-edge medical imaging techniques have revealed that Jeremy Bentham, the Georgian philosopher and reformer, suffered from chronic toothache and a jaw riddled with arthritis.

When the U.S. Federal Reserve announces a change in its interest rate, consumers expect shifts in borrowing costs elsewhere and potential price adjustments for things like housing and some consumer goods. New research, however, shows that stock market analysts generally give a co

Typically, after a physical system is disturbed, it can gradually return toward a state of thermal equilibrium by exchanging heat with its surroundings. Thermal equilibrium is a state in which there is no net transfer of heat between the system and its surroundings.