Other Sciences News

Habitual coffee intake may be a protective factor against Alzheimer’s disease; specifically, increased coffee consumption could contribute to slower cognitive decline potentially by slowing the rate of cerebral Aβ-amyloid accumulation, and in doing so, ameliorate the associated neurotoxicity from Aβ-amyloid-mediated oxidative stress and inflammatory processes. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Scientists Develop Quicker Test to Measure Coffee Quality

Apr 29, 2026 by News Staff

Researchers have developed a fast, practical test to evaluate quality of black coffee, offering baristas and scientists a clearer window into flavor without...

Scatterty et al. used a combination of self-report and biological measures to demonstrate that infrasound can have irritant, and aversive properties on humans. Similarly, infrasound appears to influence increases in negative affective evaluation.

Infrasound Can Subtly Raise Stress and Discomfort, New Study Finds

Apr 27, 2026 by News Staff

New research suggests that infrasound — very low-frequency sound below 20 Hz — can increase cortisol levels and irritability, offering a scientific...

The study by Martineau et al provides the most robust evidence yet that vitamin D has benefits beyond bone and muscle health, and could have major implications for public health policy.

New Study Finds Genetic Key to Vitamin D’s Role in Diabetes Prevention

Apr 23, 2026 by News Staff

In a large clinical trial, Tufts University researcher Bess Dawson-Hughes and colleagues found that vitamin D supplements reduced diabetes risk only in...

The arrival of Homo erectus in Southeast Asia 1.8 million years ago triggered the evolution of major human malaria vectors.

Study: Malaria Shaped Human Settlement Patterns for Over 74,000 Years

Apr 22, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by Max-Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and University of Cambridge scientists suggests malaria did more than sicken ancient populations,...

Boscaini et al. reveal previously unrecognized effects of coffee on the microbiota-gut-brain axis, suggesting that microbiome profiles could potentially predict coffee consumption patterns and highlighting a close association between coffee intake and gut microbial composition. Image credit: Sci.News.

New Study Links Coffee Intake to Microbiome Changes and Improved Mental Well-Being

Apr 21, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by University College Cork scientists suggests that both caffeinated and decaf coffee reshape the gut microbiome in ways tied to lower...

A group of Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

Scientists Reconstruct One of Oldest Known Neanderthal Communities

Apr 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from eight fossils found in Stajnia Cave in Poland reveals a tight-knit group of Neanderthals who lived about 100,000 years ago,...

Lu et al. suggest large language models like ChatGPT cannot learn independently or acquire new skills.

Large Language Models Don’t Just Analyze People, They Judge Them

Apr 13, 2026 by News Staff

New research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows that large language models (LLMs) form structured ‘trust’ assessments much like humans do,...

The European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) next to the foot of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). Image credit: Nicole Viehofer / MONREPOS - LEIZA.

Neanderthals Hunted Pond Turtles, But Not for Dinner

Apr 8, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

New evidence from Germany suggests Neanderthals captured European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) around 125,000 years ago, likely valuing their shells...

Illustration of the predicted hexagonal carbon hydride compound under Neptune-like interior conditions. In this structure, carbon forms the outer spiral chains (yellow) and hydrogen forms the inner spiral chains (blue), consistent with the quasi-one-dimensional superionic behavior identified in first-principles simulations. Image credit: Cong Liu.

New Form of Matter May Lurk Deep Inside Uranus and Neptune

Apr 6, 2026 by News Staff

New computational simulations suggest ice-giant planets like Uranus and Neptune harbor a quasi-one-dimensional superionic state of carbon hydride that...

Vitamin D3 may be effective in the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, myocardial infarction, vasculopathy, stroke and diabetes. Image credit: Aloísio Costa Latgé.

Higher Vitamin D in Midlife May Be Associated with Lower Levels of Alzheimer’s Biomarker Years Later

Apr 2, 2026 by News Staff

In new research, University of Galway’s Dr. Martin David Mulligan and his colleagues followed nearly 800 participants from the Framingham Heart Study...

Large naturalistic style thylacine with sharp teeth from Injalak Hill, Northern Territory, Australia. Image credit: Craig Banggar.

Researchers Discover Tasmanian Tiger and Tasmanian Devil Paintings in Northern Australia

Mar 30, 2026 by News Staff

Both the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) and the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) are believed to have become extinct on the Australian...

You et al. studied supercooled water at timescales before ice formation by heating high- and low-density amorphous ices using infrared ultrafast laser pulses, followed by X-ray scattering; they observed a rapid increase in the heat capacity indicating a critical divergence at 210 K coincident with enhanced density fluctuations. Image credit: POSTECH University.

Physicists Find First Experimental Evidence of Elusive Critical Point in Supercooled Water

Mar 30, 2026 by News Staff

By probing supercooled water with ultrafast lasers before it crystallizes, physicists at Stockholm University observed telltale signs of a long-theorized...

Gubatan et al. demonstrate that vitamin D promotes immune tolerance to gut microbiota in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Image credit: Gubatan et al., doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2026.102703.

Vitamin D Shows Promise in Resetting Immune System in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Mar 26, 2026 by News Staff

New research suggests that vitamin D supplements can reshape how the immune system responds to gut bacteria in patients with inflammatory bowel disease,...

Canadian Eskimo dogs. Illustration by John James Audubon and John Bachman (1845-1848).

Ancient DNA Study Rewrites Origins of Europe’s First Dogs

Mar 26, 2026 by News Staff

Scientists have extracted and analyzed DNA from 216 canid remains, including 181 from Paleolithic and Mesolithic Europe. The oldest data that they recovered...

Hadean Earth. Image credit: Alec Brenner.

Earth’s Lithosphere was Already Segmented and Mobile 3.5 Billion Years Ago

Mar 22, 2026 by News Staff

By tracing magnetic signals preserved in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia, geoscientists have found the oldest direct evidence yet that...

The Acropolis at Athens by Leo von Klenze.

Democracy’s Roots Run Far Deeper than Ancient Greece, New Study Says

Mar 19, 2026 by News Staff

Examining 31 ancient societies across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, researchers found that democratic systems were more widespread than once believed...

A butterfly clay bead from the Final Natufian period in Eynan-Mallaha, the Upper Jordan Valley, colored red with ochre and marked with the fingerprints of the child (around 10 years old) who modeled it 12,000 years ago. Image credit: Laurent Davin.

Long Before Pottery, Children Shaped Clay to Tell Stories

Mar 19, 2026 by News Staff

A cache of 142 beads and pendants from five Natufian (15,000 to 11,650 years before the present) sites in Israel reveals that clay was first used not for...

Mortierellomycetes and Umbelopsidomycetes fungi from freshwater ecosystems in Korea. Image credit: Goh et al., doi: 10.4489/kjm.20230018.

Fungi Found to Trigger Ice Formation

Mar 19, 2026 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States and Germany has identified fungal proteins that can freeze water at relatively warm subzero temperatures,...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Neanderthals May Have Used Birch Tar as Natural Antibiotic

Mar 18, 2026 by News Staff

New experiments show that tar made from birch bark — long known as a tool adhesive — can inhibit harmful bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus,...