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Begin California’s bullet-train-project anew: What one consumer-advocate columnist is effectively calling for He says California high-speed rail should be started anew, in effect. The “he” in this case, being KTLA columnist and consumer advocate David Lazarus. Okay, so how would one go about — or…

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Common Mood Medications May Speed Up Mental Decline in Dementia Patients Widely prescribed antidepressants appear to accelerate cognitive decline in people with dementia, according to a new large-scale Swedish study that could alter treatment approaches for millions of patients worldwide. The…

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Those Tiny Fish Bowls Are Making Your Betta Miserable, Scientists Find Those jewel-colored Siamese fighting fish swimming in tiny containers at the pet store? They're actually suffering in silence, according to new research that challenges decades of retail practice in the global ornamental fish…

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Laser-powered device tested on Earth could spot microbial fossils on Mars Scientists have successfully identified microscopic fossil evidence of ancient bacterial life in Earth rocks that closely resemble those found on Mars, potentially opening a promising pathway to discovering if life once…

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Tree diversity increases carbon sequestration The world's oldest tropical tree diversity experiment has delivered compelling evidence that forests with multiple tree species capture significantly more carbon than single-species plantations, according to new research published in Global Change…

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How Neanderthals Nearly Vanished 110,000 Years Ago The delicate structures of the inner ear have revealed a critical moment in human evolution when our ancient relatives, the Neanderthals, experienced a dramatic population crash that may have set the stage for their eventual extinction thousands…

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Kitchen Scraps and Seashells Pull Drinking Water from Thin Air In a world where one in three people lack access to safe drinking water, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed an innovative solution that transforms everyday biomass - from food scraps to seashells - into…

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Scientists Turn Nuclear Waste into Electricity with New Micro-Battery Design Ohio State researchers have developed a novel battery that harnesses gamma radiation—typically considered a harmful waste product—to generate usable electricity. The prototype device, roughly the size of a sugar cube,…

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Mediterranean Diet Offers Modest Protection Against Obesity-Related Cancers Adhering to a Mediterranean diet may provide a small but significant reduction in the risk of developing obesity-related cancers, according to a major European study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. The research,…

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What Hundreds of Millions of Galaxies Can Teach Us About the Big Bang Soon, a new cone-shaped spacecraft will launch into space on a mission to chart the skies like never before. Called SPHEREx (for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), the…

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Brain Scans Outperform Behavior in Predicting What Markets Really Want New research suggests that our brains may reveal more about collective market behavior than our individual choices do—even with surprisingly small sample sizes. Scientists have discovered that neural activity from just a couple…

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AI Writing Tools Quietly Neutralize Human Emotions As large language models like ChatGPT become increasingly integrated into our daily digital communications, researchers have uncovered an unexpected effect: these AI tools are systematically neutralizing the emotional tone of human-written…

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Herpesviruses may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease via transposable elements Researchers from Cleveland Clinic’s Genome Center outlined the pathway human herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV1) can use to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease in aging brains. In a report published in Alzheimer's & Dementia:…

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Virologist: These steps can halt the spread of bird flu and ‘prevent a human epidemic’ As bird flu continues to circulate among wild birds and domestic livestock, public health officials are increasingly concerned about the potential for the virus to become transmissible among humans and…

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Milestone in retiring gravity nukes After more than a decade of painstaking development and production, the U.S. nuclear security enterprise has quietly reached a pivotal milestone. In December, workers at the Pantex Plant completed the final production unit of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb,…

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Physicists Crack the Code Between Matter and Antimatter Collisions in Groundbreaking Calculation In a remarkable mathematical feat that bridges seemingly unrelated quantum phenomena, researchers have demonstrated for the first time that the same fundamental physics governs both what happens when…

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Ancient Icebergs Reveal What’s Coming A study by Utrecht University researchers has solved a decades-old Antarctic mystery, revealing that massive icebergs were navigating the Southern Ocean millions of years earlier than previously thought - a discovery with profound implications for our…

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Scientists Uncover Hidden Patterns in COVID-Related Heart Inflammation A team of researchers in Berlin has discovered that not all heart inflammation is created equal. Their groundbreaking study reveals distinct cellular and molecular signatures in heart tissue, depending on whether the…

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Why GPT can’t think like us Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly large language models like GPT-4, has shown impressive performance on reasoning tasks. But does AI truly understand abstract concepts, or is it just mimicking patterns? A new study from the University of Amsterdam and the Santa…

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What happens when a diet targets ultra-processed foods? Most dietary programs are designed to help people achieve weight loss or adhere to U.S. nutrition guidelines, which currently make no mention of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). UPFs – like chips or candy – are the mass-produced, packaged…

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The rising tide of sand mining: a growing threat to marine life In the delicate balancing act between human development and protecting the fragile natural world, sand is weighing down the scales on the human side. A group of international scientists in this week’s journal One Earth are calling for…

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Study reveals Arabia’s rainfall was five times more extreme 400 years ago A new study reconstructing extreme rainfall in Arabia has uncovered that rainfall in the region was five times more extreme just 400 years ago, highlighting the need for preparedness amid growing urbanization. The findings…

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Tiny Light-Based Chips Could Make Your GPS Accurate to the Centimeter Imagine knowing your exact location down to the centimeter, or having time measurements so precise they could detect subtle changes in the Earth's surface. A breakthrough in miniaturizing optical atomic clocks brings this future…

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Virtual Reality Study Shows Our Brains Can Amplify Pain When Surprised When it comes to pain, what you expect might not be what you get. New research using virtual reality has revealed that unexpected events can actually intensify our pain experience, challenging previous theories about how our…

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Why dating apps are fueling cosmetic procedures They’re the modern way to find love according to the 323 million people who use them worldwide, but dating apps are fuelling an obsession with cosmetic surgery that may not have a happy ending. A new study by researchers at the University of South…

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Genetic therapy gives infants life-changing improvements in sight Four young children have gained life-changing improvements in sight following treatment with a pioneering new genetic medicine through UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital, with the support of MeiraGTx. The…

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Shape-Shifting Robot Swarms Can Flow Like Liquid, Support Human Weight In a significant advance for robotics and materials science, researchers have developed a collective of robots that can transition between solid and liquid-like states, supporting weights hundreds of times greater than…

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Researchers outline new approach for better understanding animal consciousness A team of researchers has outlined a new approach for better understanding the depths of animal consciousness, a method that may yield new insights into the similarities and differences among living organisms. The…

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Not Weird: Sniffing Ancient Egyptian Mummies for Science In a study that quite literally passes the smell test, researchers have discovered that ancient Egyptian mummies retain distinct aromas that offer valuable insights into their preservation methods and historical context. The research,…

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Preserved in Scent In the chambersof the ancient,oils and waxesthread through corridorsof stone –spices and balmsbind soul to sand.An alchemy of preservationetched into the linen’stender hold.Scents linger –spicy,woody,sweet.Guided by tradition’s handthese fragrances revivethe breath of distant…

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Biobanking on health: sharing biological samples and data to build a healthier future EU-funded researchers are championing smarter and more sustainable ways to safeguard biological samples and data donated by millions of citizens. The aim is greater international preparedness for potential future…

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Inhaled Gene Therapy Offers New Hope for Cystic Fibrosis Patients In a significant advancement for cystic fibrosis treatment, researchers at Imperial College London are leading groundbreaking human trials of an innovative inhaled gene therapy that could benefit patients regardless of their genetic…

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Common Heart Drug Shows Surprising Power Against ADHD, Opening Door to Safer Treatment A blood pressure medication that millions already take safely could offer new hope for treating ADHD, according to groundbreaking research that spans from fish tanks to human genetics. The discovery may provide…

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Digital Danger: Screen Time in Preteens Linked to Manic Behavior Two Years Later A groundbreaking study of over 9,000 American preteens has revealed an unsettling connection between screen time and the development of manic symptoms, raising new concerns about children's digital consumption habits.…

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World’s Glaciers Vanishing at Record Speed, Landmark Study Reveals In a comprehensive new study that has unified global glacier research, scientists have discovered that the world's ice masses are disappearing faster than previously known, with implications for both coastal cities and mountain…

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Microsoft’s ‘Quantum Transistor’ Brings Million-Qubit Computing Within Reach Microsoft has unveiled a quantum processor that fits in the palm of your hand yet promises the computational power of a machine that would otherwise fill a football field. The new chip, dubbed Majorana 1, marks the first…

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Average increase in electricity consumption through 2027 expected to be 4% annually The world’s electricity consumption is forecast to rise at its fastest pace in recent years, growing at close to 4% annually through 2027 as power use climbs in a range of sectors across the economy, according to a…

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On the home front: Mold can be a big issue. One I recently went through Several months ago an under-the-bathroom-sink water leak did extensive damage to one part of the house. At first the leak was small and was coming from the angle stop that controls the flow of hot water to the faucet above.…

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Top meter of salt-marsh soils store ‘10 million cars’ worth’ of carbon, UMass Amherst researchers learn AMHERST, Mass. — In the race to combat global climate change, much attention has been given to natural “carbon sinks:” those primarily terrestrial areas of the globe that absorb and sequester…

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Indian generic drugs linked to more adverse events than those from U.S. Generic drugs manufactured in India are linked to significantly more “severe adverse events” for patients who use them than equivalent drugs produced in the United States, a new study finds. These adverse events included…

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False Confidence: Why Your Most Assertive Colleagues Might Not Be Your Best Leaders People who naturally take charge and dominate social situations may not be any better at making decisions than their more reserved peers, despite their greater confidence, new research reveals. The study challenges…

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Scientists Create ‘Light Switch’ for Precision Drug Delivery In a development that could change how medications are delivered in the body, researchers at the University of Geneva have created a system that uses light to activate drugs exactly where and when they're needed. The advance, published…

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Scientists Unlock Magnetic ‘Light Switch’ for Next-Generation Quantum Computers A discovery about how magnetic fields can trap and control quantum particles could accelerate the development of next-generation quantum computers and sensors. Researchers from the University of Regensburg and…

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Your Lifestyle, Not Your Genes, May Be the Biggest Factor in How Long You Live In a revelation that challenges common assumptions about aging and mortality, new research shows that environmental factors like smoking, physical activity, and living conditions have a substantially greater impact on…

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Trust in Elected Officials Plummets Worldwide as Faith in Police Surges In a stark revelation about the state of modern democracy, citizens across the globe are losing faith in their elected representatives while simultaneously placing more trust in law enforcement and civil servants, according to…

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Bio-hybrid drone uses silkworm moth antennae to navigate using smell Researchers develop an odor-sensing bio-hybrid drone by integrating robotic technology with biological odor sensors from insects Conventional drones use visual sensors for navigation. However, environmental conditions like…

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A single protein may have helped shape the emergence of spoken language The origins of human language remain mysterious. Are we the only animals truly capable of complex speech? Are Homo sapiens the only hominids who could give detailed directions to a far-off freshwater source or describe the…

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Biologists transform gut bacteria into tiny protein pharmacies Hundreds of different species of microbes live, laugh, and love in your gut. In the future, one of these might serve a new function: microscopic in-house pharmacist. A new study published Feb. 18 in Nature Biotechnology shows how gut…

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