Scientists recently discovered that water was once present in a region of Mars called Arabia Terra. Arabia Terra is in the northern latitudes of Mars. Named in 1879 by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, this ancient land covers an area slightly larger than the European continent. Arabia Terra contains craters, volcanic calderas, canyons and beautiful bands…

A new theoretical study has proposed a novel mechanism for the creation of supermassive black holes from dark matter. The international team find that rather than the conventional formation scenarios involving ‘normal’ matter, supermassive black holes could instead form directly from dark matter in high density regions in the centres of galaxies. The result has…

Scientists have identified a specific type of sensory nerve ending in the gut and how these communicate pain or discomfort to the brain, paving the way for targeted treatments for common conditions like ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome or chronic constipation. While understanding of the gut’s neurosensory abilities has grown rapidly, two great mysteries have…

A new study based on a mostly forgotten guide to medicinal plants, ‘Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests,’ focuses on three of the plants and shows they inhibit bacteria associated with wound infections. Scientific Reports is publishing the results of the study led by scientists at Emory University. The results show that extracts from…

A research team has succeeded in creating a micrometer-sized space-time crystal consisting of magnons at room temperature. With the help of a scanning transmission X-ray microscope, they were able to film the recurring periodic magnetization structure in a crystal. Order in space and a periodicity in time A crystal is a solid whose atoms or…

As companies use more and more data to improve how AI recognizes images, learns languages and carries out other complex tasks, a recent article shows a way that computer chips could dynamically rewire themselves to take in new data like the brain does, helping AI to keep learning over time. As companies use more and…

Researchers have developed a huggable, cushion-like device that mechanically simulates breathing, and preliminary evidence suggests it could help reduce students’ pre-test anxiety. Treatments for anxiety disorders primarily include therapy and medications. However, these can be costly, and medications may have unwanted side effects. At-home anxiety aids could complement treatments for anxiety disorders and also benefit…

Researchers describe a revolutionary imaging technology that compresses lamp light into a nanometer-sized spot. It holds that light at the end of a silver nanowire like a Hogwarts student practicing the ‘Lumos’ spell, and uses it to reveal previously invisible details, including colors, in nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes. In a new report in Nature…

A new survey of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, combines the capabilities of the Very Large Array and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany to provide astronomers with valuable new insights into how stars much more massive than the Sun are formed. Stars with more than about ten times the mass of our Sun are…

Mummification of the dead probably was more common in prehistory than previously known. This discovery is made at the hunter-gatherer burial sites in the Sado Valley in Portugal, dating to 8,000 years ago. A recent study presents new evidence for pre-burial treatments such as desiccation through mummification, which has not been suggested for the European…