Science

The world is guzzling more and more sugary beverages, a new study says

7:58am October 05, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Worldwide, between 1990 and 2018, intake of sugary drinks was up by almost 16%, according to findings of a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

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A visualization of the accretion disk around a black hole.

Science

Black holes can teach us how to live our best lives

5:00am October 05, 2023

by Regina G. Barber

Black holes may seem like interstellar enigmas, but they hold some key lessons on how to move through the universe.

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A Uruguayan physicist cracked a major code for renewable energy

5:52pm October 04, 2023

by Erika Beras

In an unlikely country, Uruguay, a particle physicist figured out how to convert energy grids to renewable energy. We tell the story of how he did it.

Vegetarianism may be in your genes

4:39pm October 04, 2023

by Allison Aubrey

Eating less meat is good for your health and the environment. Now a new study suggests genes may play a role in people's ability to stick to a strict vegetarian diet.

A study published in the journal Nature found that the status of amphibians globally is "deteriorating rapidly," earning them the unenviable title of being the planet's most threatened class of vertebrates. Here, an endangered Agalychnis annae, commonly known as a Blue-Sided Leaf Frog, is seen at National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica, INBio, in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Scientists looked at nearly every known amphibian type. They're not doing great

4:36pm October 04, 2023

by Nathan Rott

A new global assessment of the world's amphibians finds that more than 2 of every 5 known species is at risk of extinction. Habitat loss, disease and climate change are the main drivers.

The groundbreaking research of Linsey Marr, an aerosols expert and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, showed that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is airborne as opposed to traveling in large droplets that fall with gravity.

This MacArthur 'genius' knew the initial theory of COVID transmission was flawed

12:07pm October 04, 2023

by Gabriel Spitzer

When COVID-19 first emerged, Linsey Marr suspected right away it spread through the air. Time has proved this aerosols engineer right. Now she's being honored with a MacArthur "genius grant."

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Anthropologist Amber Wutich embeds in communities only at their invitation — a method she calls 'participant observation.' Much of her work focuses on alleviating water insecurity.

This expert on water scarcity would never call herself a 'genius.' But MacArthur would

12:04pm October 04, 2023

by Max Barnhart

Amber Wutich, an anthropologist and newly minted 'MacArthur genius,' says water scarcity is a human-caused problem that requires human-generated solutions.

Moungi Bawendi of MIT, one of the 2023 winners of the chemistry Nobel Prize, embraces his step-daughter Julia Teller (left) at their home in Cambridge, Mass.

Science

Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to three scientists for tiny, colorful quantum dots

11:02am October 04, 2023

by The Associated Press

Three scientists were honored for their work with the tiny nanoparticles that allow for very bright colors. They are used in many electronics, like LED displays.

A festival goer gets to hold a tarantula in the education pavilion at the second annual Tarantula Festival in La Junta, Colorado.

Tarantulas in Colorado are on the move, and they're looking for love

7:39pm October 03, 2023

by Shanna Lewis

Fall is tarantula mating time in the plains of southeastern Colorado. The small city of La Junta is celebrating the spiders' season of romance with its second annual tarantula festival.

A panel of the Royal Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm, announces the winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday.

3 scientists win Nobel Prize in physics for looking at electrons in atoms

6:22am October 03, 2023

by The Associated Press

The scientists look at electrons in atoms during the tiniest of split seconds, giving "humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons," according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.