Welcome To Science in the News!
Deep Dives into Topics that Matter
Our contributing authors present well researched articles on scientific topics that matter. From recent advancements to science that’s becoming buzzworthy, these deep dives help explain, simplify, and inform.
Who Isn’t Psyched? The Risks That Psychedelics and Marijuana Pose for Substance Induced Psychosis
Psychedelics are gaining attention for their therapeutic potential, but concerns about substance-induced psychosis remain.
Why Comb Jellies Don’t Crack Under Pressure
At the deepest point of the ocean, the pressure of 36,200 feet of seawater is greater than the weight of an elephant on every square inch of your body. How could life possibly survive down there? Learn about the unique biology of comb jellies here!
Cloak and Cure: Disguising Nanoparticles as Immune Allies
Imagine if medication could travel directly to the source of your illness and unpleasant side effects could be a thing of the past? This is the intriguing promise of nanoparticles!
Helping Cancer Cells “Grow” Could Be the Key to a Cure
Cancer is one of the world’s deadliest diseases. While traditional treatments focus on killing these diseased cells, research is exploring a new approach: pushing cancer cells to become healthy cells.
How to Detect Black Hole Explosions
Stephen Hawking predicted that black holes evaporate, maybe even explode! How can we detect them?
Buzz-Worthy Behavior: Unraveling social learning in the honeybee’s waggle dance
Even bees need dance lessons! Bees use their “waggle dance” to point each other toward food, and they need lessons to perform it properly.
Self-Taught AI: The Secret to Learning Without Supervision
Machine learning influences many aspects of our lives, from ChatGPT to healthcare. How do these models learn such diverse tasks on such a large scale?
Bringing Hidden Hearing Loss into the Open
Almost 20% of the global population has hearing loss! However, one type of hearing loss, known as hidden hearing loss, is missed by current tests.
Gene Editing to Treat Disease: A success story in sickle cell disease
A genetic editing technique has shown success in treating the genetic disorder sickle cell disease in humans.
Quick Dives into Recent News
Our wonderful short-form writers dive into recent news articles, scientific reports, and more in these quick-to-read explainers!
Scientists discover that electrons flow around holes like water around stones
Introducing micrometer-size holes in a thin layer of graphene induces hydrodynamic flow of electrons in a new study
Blood vessel insulin sensitivity may be the key to understanding how obesity turns into diabetes
Scientists discover how an obesity-driven hormone may drive the transition to type 2 diabetes by affecting blood vessel cells’ insulin sensitivity
Folds in tissue may unfold cancer
Scientists show how folds in epithelial tissue may cue and contribute to the rise of epithelial cancers.
Blood biomarker accurately predicts preeclampsia
A new blood biomarker identifies early risk for one of pregnancy’s most serious complications with 80% accuracy.
New studies profile malaria parasite evolution and gene essentiality
Two new research studies perform comprehensive genetic screening in the parasite that causes malaria, identifying genes required for the parasite and drug targets.
Asteroid Sample Leads to New Hypotheses About the Origins of Life
Scientists analyzed the molecular contents of a sample retrieved from the asteroid Bennu to find both clues and surprises about the possible origin of life on Earth.
Scientists discover a novel, light-induced magnetic state
Laser light generates a novel magnetic state in a material by changing the interaction between electrons.
Development of a ‘Molecular Can Opener’ for Drug Delivery
Physicists utilized large-scale computer modeling to develop a cage-like structure and paired opener towards the goal of efficiently delivering therapies.
Parkinson’s disease treatment leaves a mark in the gut
Scientists show that entacapone, a drug used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, disrupts bacterial communities in the gut by starving them of iron.
Is it still edible?
Researchers from Princeton use a simple sticker to accurately monitor fruit ripeness, offering a scalable solution to reduce food waste.
Ants vs Humans: Our insect friends are better team players
A puzzling new study finds that ants possess a higher collective intelligence than humans.
How dinosaurs came to rule the planet
Researchers from Europe examined dinosaur feces to help explain how the dinosaur dynasty arose.
New Study Charts Neanderthal DNA through Human History
A group of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley has mapped out the evolution of Neanderthal DNA over the last 40,000 years
A Thin Layer of Silence for You!
MIT scientists develop a piezoelectric fiber actuator that can be incorporated with different fabrics to create active noise cancelling and emission.
Circular Economy of Chocolate
Researchers at ETH Zurich are redefining the cocoa value chain through the development of innovative whole-fruit chocolate formulations.
Lizard saliva offers an improved tool for detecting benign tumors
A team of scientists demonstrates that a molecule found in lizard saliva can be used to better detect benign pancreatic tumors called insulinomas.
The ingredients for pluripotent stem cells are more ancient than we thought
By studying our closest single-celled relatives, scientists find that proteins important for stem cell pluripotency existed before the evolutionary jump to multicellularity.
A new method of breaking down harmful chemicals with carbon-fluorine bonds
Chemists are using a protein that absorbs light to speed up the breaking of carbon-fluorine bonds, which are present in many harmful chemicals.
Scientists analyze DNA of volcano victims in Pompeii, finding ancient diversity and archaeological mistakes
In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius violently erupted and buried the city of Pompeii under ash, preserving the city and many of the volcano’s victims. In the 1700s, when archaeologists discovered the ruins at Pompeii, they filled empty cavities left by the…
Fundamental research on artificial intelligence wins Nobel Prize in Physics (2024)
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to John J. Hopfield (Professor at Princeton University) and Geoffrey E. Hinton (University of Toronto) ‘for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.’
