System can identify genes, regulatory sequences, splice sites, and more. Late in 2025, we covered the development of an AI system called Evo that was trained on massive numbers of bacterial genomes. So many that, when prompted with sequences from a cluster of related genes, it could correctly identify…
SEM analysis of pottery residues showed people combined fish with a wide variety of plants when cooking. Archaeologists are keen to learn more about the specific diets and culinary practices of ancient populations around the globe. An interdisciplinary team of scientists analyzed the residues on prehistoric ceramic cooking pots…
Multispectral imaging, proteomics, historical texts yield new insights into 16th-century medical manuals. Forget “eye of newt and toe of frog/wool of bat and tongue of dog.” People in the 16th century were more akin to DIY scientists than Macbeth’s three witches when it came to concocting home remedies for…
Smart underwear measures farts, brain cells play Doom, and AI discovers rules of an ancient game. It’s a regrettable reality that there is never enough time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across each month. So every month, we highlight a handful of the best stories…
Some creatures can dramatically alter their internal temperature and outlast storms, floods and, predators In 1774, British physician-scientist Charles Blagden received an unusual invitation from a fellow physician: to spend time in a small room that was hotter, he wrote, “than it was formerly thought any living creature could…
Interactions between neighboring materials is mediated by virtual photons. Despite the headline, this isn’t really a story about superconductivity—at least not the superconductivity that people care about, the stuff that doesn’t require exotic refrigeration to work. Instead, it’s a story about how superconductivity can be used as a test…
“Neanderthal deserts” in our genomes suggest a strong pattern in matings. By now, it’s firmly established that modern humans and their Neanderthal relatives met and mated as our ancestors expanded out of Africa, resulting in a substantial amount of Neanderthal DNA scattered throughout our genome. Less widely recognized is…
Geometry of tread patterns determines frequency, so blocks were designed to play Star Wars music. We’re all familiar with the high-pitched squeak of basketball shoes on the court during games, or tires squealing on pavement. Scientists conducted several experiments and discovered that the geometry of the sneakers’ tread patterns…
Officials expect the investigation into a booster anomaly on ULA’s Vulcan rocket to last multiple months. DENVER—The Global Positioning System is one of the few space programs that touches nearly every human life, and the stewards of the satellite navigation network are eager to populate the fleet with the…
Spare a thought for the intrepid graduate students who spent last summer in Africa collecting chimp urine. The urine of chimpanzees contains high levels of alcohol byproduct, most likely because the chimps regularly gorge themselves on fermented fruit, according to a new paper published in the journal Biology Letters.…
