Life on other planets would likely be brief and become extinct very quickly, according to a new paper by astrobiologists at the Australian National University. In research aiming to understand how life might develop, the scientists realised new life would commonly die out due to runaway heating or cooling on their fledgling planets. “The universe

Blood-feeding bats burn more amino acids during exercise, unlike carbs or fats other mammals use A vampire bat working out on a bat-friendly treadmill helped scientists figure out the quirks of digesting high-blood diets. Price Sewell Vampire bats have become such specialized bloodsuckers that they metabolize their food more like some blood-feeding flies than like

A law of physics that explains why larger animals live longer and travel further can be extended to the simplest forms of mass migration on the planet – like rolling stones and turbulent eddies in water and air currents, according to new research from Duke University. “The finding demonstrates that evolution doesn’t apply only to

A gene that controls when potato plants form their tubers also limits nitrogen uptake Genetically modified plants with the silenced StCDF1 gene (right) fared much better in low-nitrogen conditions than control plants (left) and plants with an overexpressed StCDF1 gene (center and center-left), showing that StCDF1 limits nitrogen uptake. Maroof Ahmed Shaikh Potatoes are the

In a new study that expands our understanding of how humans contribute to global warming, scientists have discovered that human activity has changed the terrestrial biosphere to make it a significant contributor to climate change. Published in Nature, the study looked at the net balance of the three major greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, and

The find is helping researchers understand ancient urban densities in Mexico’s Maya Lowlands Data from laser-mapping aircraft helped produce this topographical map of a part of Mexico’s Maya Lowlands, revealing evidence of ancient structures that may have once constituted a major urban center. Luke Auld-Thomas A massive Maya landscape has been hiding under a forested

It’s been known for more than a century that acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol and marketed as Tylenol and Panadol) is an effective painkiller, but according to a new Canadian study it could also be impeding error-detection in the brain. The research appears in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. “Past research tells us physical

The images may be the only known Upper Paleolithic representations of net-fishing practices Newly identified scenes of net fishing engraved on stones at a nearly 16,000-year-old German site include this depiction of two fish (center and top) surrounded by crosshatched lines likely representing a net. J. Robitaille et al/PLOS ONE 2024 (CC-BY 4.0 ) Rare

In a study published in online journal npj Schizophrenia, Johns Hopkins researchers found that a history of Candida yeast infections was more common in a group of subjects with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder than in those without these disorders. The researchers caution that their findings do not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between mental illness and yeast infections, but

The mutinous molecules may be involved in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and more Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, is a fatal disease caused by prions. The infectious proteins are the subject of a new book. Sean Gallup/GETTY IMAGES The Power of Prions Michel Brahic Princeton Univ., $24.95 A mysterious neurological disease was killing