Dolphins Learn How to Use Tools to Hunt for Fish from Their Mothers

From spears and the invention of the wheel to smartphones and robots, human societies have been building and using tools from the beginning. Human tool...

Scientists Find a Simpler Way to Build High-Performance Organic Lasers

Scientists in Finland have demonstrated the first fully solution-processed solid-state polariton laser, potentially opening a simpler and cheaper path toward advanced laser and photonic...

Once-Niche Math Theory Is Finding New Uses in Robots, Aircraft and Nanotechnology

A little-known branch of engineering mathematics is moving beyond theory and finding potential uses in everything from robots and aircraft to extremely small nanotechnology...

A Tiny 50°C Change Could Transform the Future of Magnetic Data Storage

A temperature difference of just 50°C can determine whether an ultrathin magnetic film stays smooth or begins breaking apart, according to new research that...

Scientists Create One of the Coldest Plasmas Ever Measured in a Laboratory

Scientists at Colorado State University have created one of the coldest plasmas ever produced in a laboratory, achieving electron temperatures within about one degree...

New Skyscraper Design Could Cut Building Sway by Up to 71%

Engineers have developed a new way to protect tall buildings from strong winds and earthquakes by allowing some floors to move rather than trying...

Uranus’s Magnetic Shield “Breathes” as the Planet Spins

Uranus is one of the strangest planets in our solar system, and new research shows that its unusual orientation causes the planet’s magnetic environment...

New Paste-and-Laser Method Pushes Solar Cell Efficiency to 26.31%

Scientists have developed a new manufacturing technique that could help make high-efficiency solar panels more powerful without making them much harder or more expensive...

New Low-Power AI Chip Could Identify Drones While Using 88% Less Energy

Researchers have developed a low-power artificial intelligence system that can identify drones while using dramatically less electricity than conventional computer-based systems. The technology could make...

Particles Don’t Disappear—They Transform into Something Much Stranger

For about 40 years, physicists have puzzled over a strange problem: What happens when an electrically charged particle encounters a hypothetical magnetic monopole? Some calculations suggested...

This Black Silicon Catalyst Could Help Turn CO2 From Waste into Fuel

Carbon dioxide is best known as a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, but scientists are increasingly exploring ways to turn it into...

Trillion-Mile Gas Stream May Explain a Bizarre Triple-Star System

Astronomers have discovered an enormous stream of gas flowing toward a young system of three stars, potentially explaining why its planet-forming disks are strangely...

FEATURED

The secret life of flowers: What bees want (and you’ll love too)

Across the globe, bees and other important pollinators are in trouble. Their numbers are declining, and that’s bad news for ecosystems and the food we...

Cold sore cream may offer new relief for cats with eye infections

A common cream used by people to treat cold sores could soon bring relief to cats suffering from painful eye infections. Researchers have discovered that...

Warmer temperatures could increase arsenic levels in rice

People around the world consume rice in their daily diets. But in addition to its nutrient and caloric content, rice can contain small amounts of...

Why stars formed in different environments have similar masses

Last year, a team of astrophysicists launched Star Formation in Gaseous Environments, or STARFORGE, a project that produces the most realistic, highest-resolution 3D simulations...

Scientists discover a safer way to store hydrogen

How would you like a world powered by clean and efficient energy sources instead of fossil fuels? Well, that might not be as far away...