Credit: PixabayCan a pandemic change the Moon’s temperature? A 2024 study suggested global lockdowns reduced Earth’s heat radiation, cooling the Moon. But new research says otherwise.The original idea: As businesses shut down in 2020 and people stayed home, carbon emissions dropped, lowering terrestrial radiation—the heat Earth emits and the Moon absorbs. Scientists noted a...
Credit: PixabayJanuary set a new heat record, defying expectations that La Niña would bring cooling.Copernicus Climate Change Service reported temperatures 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels, extending a historic warming trend. Scientists expected a cooldown after El Niño peaked in early 2024, but extreme heat persists, fueling debate over additional warming factors.Every fraction of a degree...
Credit: PixabayKeeping global warming under 2°C—the fallback goal of the Paris Agreement—is now "impossible," according to a controversial new study by prominent climatologist James Hansen and his team. Published in Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, the paper argues that Earth's climate is more sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought.Adding to...
Credit: PixabayUniversity of Oregon researchers have discovered a sex chromosome in the California two-spot octopus that likely dates back 480 million years—long before octopuses and nautiluses diverged. This makes it one of the oldest known animal sex chromosomes.The finding confirms that octopuses and other cephalopods, including squid and nautiluses, use chromosomes to determine sex,...
Credit: PixabayThe FDA has approved suzetrigine, the first non-opioid painkiller in over 20 years. This breakthrough offers a safer alternative for managing acute pain without addiction risks.A Safer Alternative to OpioidsOpioids, though effective, carry a high risk of addiction. Patients using them for more than a week after surgery double their chances of long-term...
Researchers have discovered a novel way that surface acoustic waves interact with magnetic materials, leading to a surprising asymmetric diffraction effect. This could revolutionize acoustic-based communication technologies. Credit: SciTechDaily.comBy experimenting with nanoscale magnetic materials, researchers have uncovered an asymmetric diffraction pattern in surface acoustic waves (SAWs)—a phenomenon previously seen only in optics. This breakthrough...
Brain tissue from dementia patient (left) with glints of plastic (right). (Nihart, Nature Medicine, 2025)A recent study reveals that postmortem brain samples collected last year contain significantly more microplastics than those analyzed nearly a decade ago, suggesting these synthetic particles accumulate in vital organs over time.Researchers led by University of New Mexico health scientist Alexander...
Can quantum systems become more disordered, as thermodynamics would predict? Yes, they can – if a proper definition of “entropy” is used. Credit: TU WienResearchers at TU Wien have resolved a long-standing paradox in quantum entropy, proving that even in isolated quantum systems, disorder naturally increases, aligning quantum mechanics with thermodynamics.The second law of...
Credit: PixabayScientists at the University of Jyväskylä’s Accelerator Laboratory have precisely measured the atomic masses of radioactive lanthanum isotopes, uncovering an unexpected anomaly in their nuclear binding energies. This discovery sheds light on the formation of elements heavier than iron and raises questions about nuclear structure.At the IGISOL facility, researchers produced short-lived, neutron-rich lanthanum...
(mycan/Getty Images)A team from the University of Science and Technology of China tested a quantum paradox by measuring light in 37 dimensions, exploring the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) paradox. Their findings provide insights into quantum phenomena and technologies, revealing how difficult it is for our brains to understand the universe’s workings. While local realism predicts a...
