Imagine a piece of space debris the size of a hockey puck slams into a Starlink satellite at about 10 kilometers per second. The kinetic energy is equivalent to 2 kilograms of TNT, or a fully loaded semitruck traveling at 100 kilometers an hour.
Scientists have engineered a nanoscale switch using DNA "origami." Inspired by macroscale mechanical switches, the device achieves long-term functionality without the continuous forcing mechanism that past versions required while remaining capable of fast switching. The paper is published in the journal Science Robotics.
Before a leaf dies, plants recover nutrients that the rest of the plant can reuse for growth and survival. Researchers at Umeå Plant Science Center have now identified a metabolic "point of no return" linked to the amino acid arginine. The study suggests that plants use arginine as a signal to determine whether recovery remains possible or whether cells should commit to death, a discovery that could eventually help improve crop resilience under environmental stress.
The challenges and consequences surrounding children's screen use are a leading concern for UK families.
A Korean research team has developed a new viral vector technology that significantly improves the production efficiency of next-generation cell and gene therapies known as CAR immune cell therapies, which are designed to recognize and destroy cancer cells.
AI-generated impersonations of political figures are judged by members of the public to be more authentic, relevant and coherent than the speakers' actual debate responses, according to a study appearing in PLOS One, written by Steffen Herbold of the University of Passau in Germany, and colleagues.
In cancer research, one person's junk is increasingly becoming another person's treasure. Scientists have uncovered new evidence showing how recently evolved "junk DNA" genetic elements can become integrated into ancient cellular pathways that regulate cancer. These findings may provide fresh insights into how evolutionary forces shape disease and reveal potential new targets for cancer research.
Beneath the surface of soybean fields, an invisible threat is costing farmers billions. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri are uncovering how nature itself may hold the key to fighting back. The soybean cyst nematode—a microscopic worm that attacks plant roots and siphons off nutrients—devastates soybean yields worldwide, leaving crops stunted, weakened and prematurely yellow.
A new analysis supports the previously overlooked "brain lag" hypothesis—the idea that, in some primate lineages, the evolution of larger body size preceded the evolution of larger brain size—while also building on that hypothesis by suggesting that some lineages' brain sizes then continued to grow beyond an expected baseline. Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford presents these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One.
A research group led by Satoshi Ide from the University of Tokyo has demonstrated that classic earthquake generation theory does not hold in areas where the angle at which a tectonic plate dips under another is sufficiently low. The discovery explains why giant earthquakes can form in such areas, providing a theoretical basis to extend observation efforts to previously overlooked features. The findings are published in Science Advances.
