Other Sciences News

Researchers Solve Mystery of Swirling, Plume-Like Structures Deep Inside Greenland’s Ice Sheet

Location of large plume-like structures (triangles) hidden deep within the Greenland Ice Sheet. Image credit: Leysinger Vieli et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07083-3 / Law et al., doi: 10.5194/tc-20-1071-2026.
Feb 16, 2026 by News Staff

For years glaciologists puzzled over strange plume-like structures hidden deep within the Greenland Ice Sheet. Now a new study by scientists from the University of Bergen, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Oxford suggests that these enigmatic features are caused by thermal convection, a process usually linked to the Earth’s mantle. Location of large plume-like structures (triangles) hidden deep within the Greenland Ice Sheet....

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Evolution of the Antarctic Geoid Low. Image credit: P. Glišović & A.M. Forte, doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-28606-1.

Geoscientists Pinpoint Ancient Forces behind Antarctica’s Gravity Hole

Feb 16, 2026 by News Staff

New research by geoscientists from the University of Florida and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris traces the origins of the Antarctic gravity...

An artist’s impression of Earth around 700 million years ago during the Sturtian glaciation. Image credit: Pablo Carlos Budassi.

Seasonal and Multi-Decadal Climate Cycles Persisted during Snowball Earth, Scientists Say

Feb 11, 2026 by News Staff

A new analysis of exquisitely preserved laminated rocks (varves) from the Port Askaig Formation on the Garvellach Islands, Scotland, shows that climate...

Pecans are a tree nut native to America with a rich content of unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, fiber, and a diverse array of bioactive components, including polyphenols, tocopherols, and phytosterols.

Pecan Consumption Improves Cardiovascular Health and Diet Quality, New Review Shows

Feb 11, 2026 by Natali Anderson

New research reviewing decades of nutritional studies suggests that pecans — rich in polyphenols, healthy fats, and fiber — may improve diet...

Zhang et al. determined that moderate caffeinated coffee and tea intake can lower dementia risk. Image credit: Sci.News.

Moderate Caffeinated Coffee and Tea Consumption Can Lower Dementia Risk

Feb 11, 2026 by News Staff

In one of the largest prospective cohort studies to date, moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee (2-3 cups a day) or tea (1-2 cups a day) correlated...

Kanzi the bonobo. Image credit: Ape Initiative.

Bonobos Demonstrate Imaginative Ability in New Experiments

Feb 5, 2026 by News Staff

The consistent performance of Kanzi the bonobo in pretend play experiments suggests that the mental capacity to imagine nonexistent objects may trace back...

Weekend recovery sleep doesn’t prevent weight gain or reduce insulin sensitivity. Image credit: Wok & Apix.

Night Owls and Early Birds Aren’t Enough: Scientists Identify Five Distinct Sleep-Wake Profiles

Feb 3, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by McGill University scientists suggests human sleep patterns (chronotypes) fall along a broader biological spectrum — with each...

Two enormous blobs of solid, superheated material located at the base of Earth’s mantle affect the underlying liquid outer core. Image credit: Biggin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41561-025-01910-1.

Two Enormous Blobs of Superheated Material Help Shape Earth’s Magnetic Field

Feb 3, 2026 by News Staff

Two immense, ultrahot rock structures located at the base of Earth’s mantle, around 2,900 km beneath Africa and the Pacific, have been shaping Earth’s...

Hun Rho et al. introduce plasmonic colloidal supraballs -- solution-processable assemblies of gold nanospheres -- as a robust and versatile platform for broadband solar energy harvesting. Image credit: Hun Rho et al., doi: 10.1021/acsami.5c23149.

New Nanomaterial Design Could Help Solar Tech Harness More Sunlight

Feb 2, 2026 by News Staff

By using gold nanospheres engineered to capture light across the solar spectrum, researchers at Korea University took a step toward lowering barriers to...

Early Earth. Image credit: Peter Sawyer / Smithsonian Institution.

Massive Undersea Volcanism May Explain Frequent Extinctions in Triassic Period

Jan 29, 2026 by News Staff

A team of geologists from China and Australia has found evidence that episodic eruptions from vast marine large igneous provinces (LIPs) drove repeated...

Artist’s reconstruction of Xigou tool-hafting. Image credit: Hulk Yuan, IVPP.

China’s Xigou Site Yields Evidence of Advanced Stone Tool Technology

Jan 27, 2026 by News Staff

Technological innovations in Africa and Western Europe in the later part of the Middle Pleistocene signal the behavioral complexity of hominin populations....

Vaccinium angustifolium. Image credit: Σ64 / CC BY 3.0.

Wild Blueberries Show Promise in Fight against Heart Disease and Diabetes

Jan 27, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) are North American perennial plants rich in polyphenols, including flavonoids, beneficial to human health. A...

Díaz-Muñoz et al. identified therapeutically tractable mechanisms involved in the control of gut motility, including a previously unrecognized role for vitamin B1. Image credit: Hillman et al., doi: 10.1264/jsme2.ME17017 / CC BY 4.0.

Genes Tie Gut Motility to Surprising Nutrient: Vitamin B1

Jan 26, 2026 by News Staff

Analyzing data from more than 268,000 people, researchers found that genes involved in thiamine (vitamin B1) metabolism play a key role in gut motility,...

The red knot (Calidris canutus), juvenile, near Gourinet, Brittany, France. Image credit: Stephan Sprinz / CC BY 4.0.

Fossil Shorebirds Tell New Story about Climate Change in Australia

Jan 21, 2026 by News Staff

Shorebirds are widespread birds whose dependence on coastal and wetland environments makes them effective paleoenvironmental indicators. Wading shorebirds...

Paranthropus boisei. Image credit: © Roman Yevseyev.

2.6-Million-Year-Old Fossil from Ethiopia Shows Paranthropus Hominins Were Widespread

Jan 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered fossil — a 2.6-million-year-old partial lower jaw found in the Afar region of Ethiopia — represents the first known specimen...

Cryogenian Earth. Image credit: NASA.

Tectonic Plate Movements, Not Volcanoes, Drove Major Climate Shifts Over 540 Million Years

Jan 20, 2026 by News Staff

New research challenges conventional wisdom by demonstrating that mid-ocean ridges and continental rifts, not volcanic eruptions, played the central role...

Operating principle and implementation of MASI. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-65661-8.

New Sensor Rewrites Rules of Optical Imaging

Jan 19, 2026 by News Staff

Inspired by a technique that allowed astronomers to image a black hole, scientists at the University of Connecticut developed a lens-free image sensor...

Facial reconstruction of Homo habilis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes.

2-Million-Year-Old Skeleton Offers Clearest Look Yet at Homo habilis

Jan 15, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A newly-described partial skeleton from the Koobi Fora Formation in northern Kenya is giving paleoanthropologists their most complete picture yet of Homo...

Leang Bulu Bettue in the Maros-Pangkep karst area of South Sulawesi. Image credit: Burhan et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0337993.

Enigmatic Hominins May Have Overlapped with Homo sapiens on Sulawesi

Jan 13, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

At Leang Bulu Bettue, a rock-shelter in the Maros-Pangkep karst region on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, paleoanthropologists have uncovered one of...

The 60,000-year-old backed microlith from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: (A) buphanidrine and (B) epibuphanisine detected in a sample from the microlith; (C) the microlith showing the reddish poisonous adhesive residue still adhering to the dorsal backed portion of the tool. Image credit: Isaksson et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adz3281.

60,000-Year-Old Poisoned Arrowheads Found in South Africa

Jan 8, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have identified traces of two toxic plant alkaloids — buphandrine and epibuphanisine — on artifacts from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter...

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