Science News
Gut Microbiome Regulates Brain Signals Through the Vagus Nerve
Neuroscience News - 11 Feb 2025 23:52
New research provides direct evidence that the gut microbiome communicates with the brain through the vagus nerve. Using germ-free mice, scientists observed significantly reduced vagal nerve activity, which returned to n...
The Urge to Move to Music Is Hardwired
Neuroscience News - 11 Feb 2025 23:18
A new study finds that the urge to move to music--known as groove--is a distinct physiological response, separate from musical enjoyment. Researchers examined individuals with musical anhedonia, who feel little or no ple...
Stress Alters How the Brain Processes Sound
Neuroscience News - 11 Feb 2025 23:03
Chronic stress weakens the brain's ability to process sounds, requiring louder stimuli to trigger normal responses, according to new research in mice. Scientists found that stress affects inhibitory brain cells, which su...
Researchers provide mathematical solutions to study 2D light interaction in photonic crystal lasers
Phys.org - 11 Feb 2025 21:50
Laser diodes are semiconductors that generate light and amplify it using repeated reflection or "optical feedback." Once the light has achieved desirable optical gain, laser diodes release it as powerful laser beams.
Quantum computers successfully model particle scattering
Phys.org - 11 Feb 2025 21:47
Scattering takes place across the universe at large and miniscule scales. Billiard balls clank off each other in bars, the nuclei of atoms collide to power the stars and create heavy elements, and even sound waves deviat...
Exploiting photon colors for a high-performance quantum internet
Phys.org - 11 Feb 2025 21:10
Data security on the internet is under threat: in the future, quantum computers could decode even encrypted files sent over the internet in no time. Researchers worldwide are, therefore, experimenting with quantum networ...
In a first, physicists set an upper limit in the search for hybrid mesons
Phys.org - 11 Feb 2025 20:02
Carnegie Mellon University's Professor Curtis Meyer and his research colleagues explore an uncharted world inside protons and neutrons. For the first time, researchers have provided measurements describing a maximum boun...
100-year-old heart drug made from foxglove may help 'dissolve' clumps of spreading cancer cells
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 20:00
The heart drug digoxin could potentially be combined with existing cancer therapies to prevent the spread of tumors, an early trial suggests. But questions remain.
Giant Florida panther captured by wildlife officials is heaviest on record
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 19:42
Wildlife officials accidentally captured the heaviest Florida panther ever documented during a routine population check.
Earthquakes at massive Alaska volcano Mount Spurr ramp up again -- and there's now a 50-50 chance of an eruption
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 19:31
Ten months of unrest at Mount Spurr could be a sign of an upcoming eruption from a side vent or, less likely, from the main crater.
Cybersecurity experts fear Elon Musk's DOGE may enable quantum hackers
New Scientist - 11 Feb 2025 19:00
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is tasked with developing standards for encryption that can protect against quantum computers, may be at risk
World's 1st hybrid quantum supercomputer goes online in Japan
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 19:00
Japan's Fugaku supercomputer has gained an edge following the installation of the Reimei quantum computer.
Earth grew an extra, never-before-seen 'radiation belt' after last year's supercharged solar storm -- and it's probably still there
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 18:38
Data collected from a once-defunct NASA satellite show that Earth grew two extra radiation belts following a supercharged geomagnetic storm in May 2024, including a never-before-seen structure that is "likely still there...
How studying babies' minds is prompting us to rethink consciousness
New Scientist - 11 Feb 2025 18:00
The debate over when consciousness arises has been revitalised by new tests of awareness in infants - raising the possibility that it emerges just before birth
Canal turns into 'stream of blood' in Argentina as locals fear toxic leak
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 16:57
The Sarandà canal in Argentina turned blood red last week. Officials suspect a toxic substance used in dyes has entered the waterway, located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
World's biggest underground thermal lake discovered in Albania at bottom of 330-foot abyss
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 16:34
Researchers have returned to an underground thermal lake they first came across in 2021 in southern Albania and confirmed it is the largest of its kind known in the world.
Physicists achieve fully optical readout of superconducting qubits
Phys.org - 11 Feb 2025 16:03
Qubits--the fundamental units of quantum information--drive entire tech sectors. Among them, superconducting qubits could be instrumental in building a large-scale quantum computer, but they rely on electrical signals an...
Fossil proteins may soon reveal how we're related to Australopithecus
New Scientist - 11 Feb 2025 16:00
Australopithecus came before us, but that doesn't tell us which specific individual species is our ancestor. The fossil record is spotty in places, but the latest finds could give us enough clues to pin down how we are l...
Photographing DUNE
Symmetry Magazine - 11 Feb 2025 15:34
Documenting the work of building the world's largest neutrino experiment presents photographers with a unique set of challenges.
People are starting to trust AI more - and view it as more human-like
New Scientist - 11 Feb 2025 15:00
The results of a year-long survey suggest that people in the US are warming up to artificial intelligence, potentially due to marketing and the engaging way AI chatbots respond to human users
A promising technique to steer laser-produced THz radiation in air
Phys.org - 11 Feb 2025 15:00
Terahertz radiation (THz), electromagnetic radiation with frequencies ranging from 0.1 and 10 THz, is central to the functioning of various technologies, including imaging, sensing and spectroscopy tools. While THz radia...
Sun quiz: How well do you know our home star?
Live Science - 11 Feb 2025 14:11
Test your knowledge on the giant ball of burning gas at the heart of the solar system.