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- By partnering with artificial intelligence (AI), a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has solved a long-standing physics problem and uncovered the mathematical trickery that underlies the generalization of recently discovered, extremely surprising new states of matter. The work exemplifies the paradigm shift that is taking place in research, as scientists learn to see AI as a valuable asset in advancing knowledge and discovery.
- Tuberculosis is both curable and preventable, yet each year, it still kills more people than any other infectious disease. One reason is that current treatments hinge on rifampicin, an antibiotic that blocks bacterial transcription and forms the cornerstone of a multidrug regimen—and rising drug resistance has revealed the limits of leaning so heavily on a single point of attack.
- The mystery surrounding dozens of small dinosaur fossils has finally been solved. Remains previously thought to belong to miniature armored dinosaurs are actually baby ankylosaurs, offering scientists new insight into how these remarkable dinosaurs developed.
- Visible light can be used to create electrodes from conductive plastics completely without hazardous chemicals. This is shown in a new study carried out by researchers at Linköping and Lund universities, Sweden. The electrodes can be created on different types of surfaces, which opens up a new type of electronics and medical sensors.
- Two new studies show how climate influences behavior, communication, and genome evolution—driving adaptation in a long-running conflict.
- Male bottlenose dolphins that form friendships age more slowly than loners, new research shows.
- A collaborative team has developed a new way to create magnetic optical materials, one that removes a long-standing design bottleneck and could boost the speed and efficiency of data-center communications. Using an ion beam sputtering technique, the team fabricated nanoscale, labyrinth-like magnetic patterns that form reliably regardless of the underlying substrate strain.
- A stray comet from another star swings past Earth this week in one last hurrah before racing back toward interstellar space.
- New research by a historian from the University of Bristol offers an intriguing suggestion about one of history's biggest mysteries—the original purpose of the world-famous Bayeux Tapestry.
- Marine fouling triggers ongoing economic losses for the global shipping industry through detrimental effects on structures and vessels—but tests by Flinders University researchers on a new type of anti-foul coating reveal a solution that is not detrimental to the environment.
- Glaciers are melting worldwide. In some regions, they could even disappear completely. Looking at the number of glaciers disappearing, the Alps could reach their peak loss rate as early as 2033 to 2041. Depending on how sharply the planet warms, this period may mark a time when more glaciers vanish than ever before. Worldwide, the peak glacier loss rate will occur about ten years later and could rise from 2,000 to 4,000 glaciers lost each year.
- An international study led by researchers from Australia's La Trobe University and the University of Cambridge has challenged the classification of one of the world's most complete human ancestral fossils, raising the possibility of a new human species.
- Stanford engineers debuted a new framework introducing computational tools and self-reflective AI assistants, potentially advancing fields like optical computing and astronomy.
- Quantum technologies are systems that leverage quantum mechanical effects to perform computations, share information or perform other functions. These systems rely on quantum states, which need to be reliably transferred and protected against decoherence (i.e., a gradual loss of quantum information).
- Astronomers from the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Manoa and elsewhere have observed the Taurus star-forming region, which resulted in the discovery of planetary-mass and stellar companions of two ultracool dwarf stars. The new finding was presented in a paper published December 4 on the pre-print server arXiv.
- When most people see a leafhopper in their backyard garden, they notice little more than a tiny green or striped insect flicking from leaf to leaf. But these insects are actually master engineers, capable of building some of the most complex natural nanostructures known, which makes them invisible to many of their predators. Their secret lies in brochosomes: tiny, hollow nanostructures that leafhoppers naturally produce and coat themselves with.
- The first exoplanet ever discovered in 1995 was what we now call a "hot Jupiter," a planet as massive as Jupiter with an orbital period of just a few days. Today, hot Jupiters are thought to have formed far from their stars—similar to Jupiter in our solar system—and later migrated inward.
- One of the oldest unsolved riddles in planetary science concerns the origin of the moon. Over a century ago, George Darwin proposed that tidal and centrifugal forces on a rapidly rotating proto-Earth caused the moon to be spun off into an Earth orbit.
- Almost a half-mile below the surface of Monterey Bay, California, scientists have recorded rare footage of a seven-arm octopus— only the fourth time the same research team has spotted the species in about four decades.
- During early development, tissues and organs begin to bloom through the shifting, splitting, and growing of many thousands of cells.
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