/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Neurovascular coupling (NVC) is the dynamic regulation of cerebral blood flow in response to neural activity. Specifically, when neurons become active, nearby blood vessels dilate to increase blood supply, thereby meeting the heightened energy demands associated with neural activity. /news/2025-07-microscope-enables-neurovascular-coupling-imaging.html Biotechnology Wed, 23 Jul 2025 14:56:45 EDT news672501401 Like humans, octopuses can fall for the rubber hand illusion and believe that a fake arm is theirs. This suggests they have a sense of their own body, just as we do. /news/2025-07-rubber-illusion-octopuses.html Plants & Animals Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:40:13 EDT news672399596 In a step forward for soft robotics and biomedical devices, Rice University engineers have uncovered a powerful new way to boost the strength and durability of silicone-based soft devices without changing the materials themselves. Their study, published in a special issue of Science Advances, focuses on printed and musculoskeletal robotics and offers a predictive framework that connects silicone curing conditions with adhesion strength, enabling dramatic improvements in performance for both molded and 3D-printed elastomer components. /news/2025-07-smarter-silicone-bonding-enables-stronger.html Materials Science Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:18:31 EDT news671901507 Due to extreme temperatures and the dryness of Mars, it's thought to be impossible for liquid water to form on the planet's surface, a critical precondition for habitability. The only hope of finding liquid water appears to be in the form of brines, which are liquids with high concentrations of salts that can freeze at much lower temperatures. But the question of whether brines can even form on Mars has yet to be answered. /news/2025-07-liquid-brines-mars-surface-seasonal.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 16 Jul 2025 11:54:32 EDT news671885667 A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports reveals a surprising discovery in the fight against one of the most destructive coral diseases in the Atlantic and Caribbean: high sea surface temperatures may slow down the spread of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). /news/2025-07-high-ocean-temperatures-deadly-coral.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 15 Jul 2025 14:48:07 EDT news671809683 Researchers have demonstrated a new technique that allows "self-driving laboratories" to collect at least 10 times more data than previous techniques at record speed. The advance—which is published in Nature Chemical Engineering—dramatically expedites materials discovery research, while slashing costs and environmental impact. /news/2025-07-automated-labs-materials.html Materials Science Mon, 14 Jul 2025 09:30:04 EDT news671703317 Magnetic materials are in high demand. They're essential to the energy storage innovations on which electrification depends and to the robotics systems powering automation. They're also inside more familiar products, from consumer electronics to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. /news/2025-07-parameter-machine-magnetic-properties-materials.html Condensed Matter Tue, 08 Jul 2025 16:08:03 EDT news671209681 Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a new way to build and control tiny particles that can move and work like microscopic robots, offering a powerful tool with applications in biomedical and environmental research. /news/2025-07-microrobots-metal-patches-aid-drug.html Nanomaterials Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:40:04 EDT news671207794 From schools of fish darting away from sharks to flocks of starlings swirling through the sky, the animal kingdom is full of examples of how group behavior offers a survival advantage. Through collective behaviors, animals can more effectively spot approaching predators and coordinate their escape, increasing their odds of survival and making foraging more efficient. Although we can observe such group dynamics everywhere, the genetic and neural mechanisms underlying collective behaviors remain largely unknown. /news/2025-07-sync-fruit-flies-survival-neurogenomic.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 07 Jul 2025 16:32:05 EDT news671124722 Fish make hanging motionless in the water column look effortless, and scientists had long assumed that this meant that it was a type of rest. Now, a new study reveals that fish use nearly twice as much energy when hovering in place compared to resting. /news/2025-07-fish-energy-resting.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:00:05 EDT news671101294 The classic microscope is getting a modern twist—US researchers are developing an AI-powered microscope system that could make soil health testing faster, cheaper, and more accessible to farmers and land managers around the world. /news/2025-07-ai-revives-classic-microscopy-farm.html Cell & Microbiology Agriculture Sun, 06 Jul 2025 19:00:01 EDT news670759276 As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft traveled through the Kuiper Belt at a distance of more than 5.5 billion miles from Earth, an international team of astronomers used the far-flung probe to conduct an unprecedented experiment: the first-ever successful demonstration of deep space stellar navigation. /news/2025-07-horizons-successful-deep-space-stellar.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Fri, 04 Jul 2025 07:40:01 EDT news670827565 The motion of snakes has long fascinated humans: they undulate, they sidewind, they crawl, they even fly. /news/2025-07-slithering-snakes-science-motion-young.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:13:17 EDT news670687992 By combining artificial intelligence with automated robotics and synthetic biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have dramatically improved the performance of two important industrial enzymes—and created a user-friendly, fast process to improve many more. /news/2025-07-lab-ai-automated-biology-combine.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 01 Jul 2025 16:41:04 EDT news670606861 Meet Bille, the name given to the world's first monostable tetrahedron—a four-faced object that will always land on the same side, no matter its starting position. This feat of geometry and engineering solves a nearly 60-year-old mathematical mystery and could help in designing self-righting spacecraft for future lunar or planetary missions. /news/2025-07-geometry-discovery-lunar-landers-falling.html Mathematics Tue, 01 Jul 2025 13:42:24 EDT news670596133 In blinding bright light or pitch-black dark, our eyes can adjust to extreme lighting conditions within a few minutes. The human vision system, including the eyes, neurons, and brain, can also learn and memorize settings to adapt faster the next time we encounter similar lighting challenges. /news/2025-06-robotic-eyes-mimic-human-vision.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 01 Jul 2025 11:00:01 EDT news670491110 Common beetles equipped with microchip backpacks could one day be used to help search and rescue crews locate survivors within hours instead of days following disasters such as building and mine collapses. /news/2025-07-cyborg-beetles-revolutionize-urban.html Biotechnology Tue, 01 Jul 2025 10:39:54 EDT news670585191 A new discovery of how bees use their flight movements to facilitate remarkably accurate learning and recognition of complex visual patterns could mark a major change in how next-generation AI is developed, according to a University of Sheffield study. /news/2025-07-bees-secret-super-efficient-ai.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:56:04 EDT news670582561 Researchers have discovered a dramatic and unexpected shift in the Southern Ocean, with surface water salinity rising and sea ice in steep decline. /news/2025-06-southern-ocean-saltier-hotter-ice.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:00:06 EDT news670496641 Tiny magnetic bots that are activated by light can clear bacterial infections deep in the sinus cavities, then be expelled by blowing out the nose. /news/2025-06-tiny-sensitive-magnetic-robots-bacterial.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:50:01 EDT news670498441 Scientists have created tiny disk-shaped particles that can swim on their own when hit with light, akin to microscopic robots that move through a special liquid without any external motors or propellers. /news/2025-06-powered-microscopic-swimmers-onoff-pathways.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:25:35 EDT news670253120 For 50 years, scientists believed that schools of fish would save the most energy by swimming in flat diamond formations. Recently, a team of researchers at Princeton and Harvard ran an experiment to check this assumption. /news/2025-06-held-belief-fish-schools-overturned.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 27 Jun 2025 11:49:07 EDT news670243741 Nanoparticles (NPs) are materials whose dimensions range from 1 to 1,000 nanometers (nm). Due to their nano-scale dimensions and tunable material properties, NPs have gained interest in the global scientific community in recent years. Applications of NPs in the field of human health include NP-based drug delivery systems and radioactive probe-linked NPs for medical diagnosis. While significant advancements have been achieved in the design and synthesis of NPs, studies investigating the interactions of NPs with important biological macromolecules like proteins remain limited. /news/2025-06-proteins-silica-nanoparticle-interactions-biophysics.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Thu, 26 Jun 2025 10:00:03 EDT news670148642 On June 3, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover ground down a portion of a rock surface, blew away the resulting debris, and then went to work studying its pristine interior with a suite of instruments designed to determine its mineralogic makeup and geologic origin. "Kenmore," as nicknamed by the rover science team, is the 30th Martian rock that Perseverance has subjected to such in-depth scrutiny, beginning with drilling a two-inch-wide (5-centimeter-wide) abrasion patch. /news/2025-06-nasa-perseverance-rover-scours-martian.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:08:38 EDT news670086512 A team of bio-robotic specialists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems has confirmed theories suggesting that scaly-tailed flying squirrels use their spiky tails to keep their perch in slippery trees. In their study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the group generated 3D models of the squirrel tails and tested their friction on ramps with different grades of sandpaper. /news/2025-06-spikes-scaly-tailed-squirrel-tail.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:30:02 EDT news670077148 Shooting lasers at foes is the stuff of science fiction, but now, a few farmers are fighting one of their greatest nemeses with a new technology—laser weeders. /news/2025-06-lasers-common-herbicides-zapping-east.html Biotechnology Agriculture Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:05:04 EDT news670079101 Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are characterized by high porosity and structural versatility. They have enormous potential, for example, for applications in electronics. However, their low electrical conductivity has so far greatly restricted their adoption. /news/2025-06-metal-frameworks-metallic-pave-paths.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 24 Jun 2025 15:49:04 EDT news669998942 Remote-controlled microflow using light-controlled state transitions within DNA condensates has been reported by scientists from the Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. By switching between ultraviolet light (UV) and visible light irradiation, the researchers demonstrated that the novel DNA motifs containing azobenzene can dissociate or reassemble. Furthermore, localized photo-switching within a DNA liquid condensate generated two distinct directional motions. This study can fuel the development of innovative fluid-based diagnostic chips and molecular computers. /news/2025-06-photo-switchable-dna-condensates-enable.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:40:03 EDT news669908401 As artificial intelligence reshapes workplaces worldwide, a new study provides early evidence suggesting AI exposure has not, thus far, caused widespread harm to workers' mental health or job satisfaction. In fact, the data reveals that AI may even be linked to modest improvements in worker physical health, particularly among employees with less than a college degree. /news/2025-06-ai-impact-worker-job-satisfaction.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Mon, 23 Jun 2025 05:00:01 EDT news669644461 Before they take the long journey to another planet, humans will have to find the right place to land. New findings from a University of Mississippi researcher may point to just such a place on Mars. /news/2025-06-small-life-mars.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Thu, 19 Jun 2025 10:56:04 EDT news669549361