Jessica Irvine 
Our galaxy’s heart is a gluttonous monster. Like the mythical Kammapa of the Sotho people of southern Africa, the Milky Way’s central, supermassive black hole has swallowed nearly everything around it, growing heftier and heftier the more it eats. And it’s not alone. Black holes weighing as much as thousands, millions or even billions of …
Transmission electronic microscopy image of Toxoplasma gondii. Credit: Masahiro Yamamoto Exterminating harmful critters in your home is a simple call away. However, battling parasites in the body is a grueling task. Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite, infects humans and animals, leading to severe toxoplasmosis. Scientists from Japan have developed a technique to investigate the survival …
A group of arthropod bodyguards may be guarding the cherry tree in your backyard or the maple tree across the street. These bodyguards include mites that eat fungi on leaves and ants that protect branches from caterpillars and other predators. In exchange, plants provide food and shelter for the arthropods. Evolutionary ecologist Marjorie Weber from …
Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Scientists have discovered a promising new method of treating depression using LSD and psilocin that does not involve hallucinations. These drugs affect a specific receptor in the brain, …
Bullet ant. Credit: Sam Robinson, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, UQ University of Queensland researchers have shown for the first time that some of the world’s most painful ant stings target nerves, like snake and scorpion venom. This research is published in Nature Communications. Dr. Sam Robinson and colleagues at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience discovered …
A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team has developed a more energy-efficient, tunable superconducting diode—a promising component for future electronic devices—that could help scale up quantum computers for industry and improve artificial intelligence systems. Credit: University of Minnesota Twin Cities A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team has developed a new superconducting diode, a key …
Credit: Nano Research Energy (2023). DOI: 10.26599/NRE.2023.9120079 Nanoscientists have created a wearable textile that can convert body movement into usable electricity and store it for later use. This innovative fabric could have far-reaching applications, from medical monitoring and smart displays on clothing to helping athletes and their coaches track performance. The research team responsible for …
Two Trigona stingless bees collecting pollen. Credit: Cristiano Menezes According to new research, human influence has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of communication among bees, further adding to struggling colonies’ stress. The scientists from the University of Bristol, who studied honeybees, bumblebees, and stingless bees, found that differences in the habitats the bees inhabit …
Graphical abstract. Credit: Water Research (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120112 Diverting streams and rivers to irrigate crops or provide drinking water may significantly extend the time microplastics spend in river catchments before they flow into our oceans, a new study reveals. Publishing their findings in Water Research, an international group of scientists led by the University of …
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Preserving endangered and typical habitats in Europe with their biodiversity is the goal of Natura 2000, a network of nature reserves established by the EU. By 2030, EU member states want to significantly expand this network. A new biogeographical study by the University of Bayreuth published in the Journal for Nature …