Researchers have quantified the length and mass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks globally. Hidden underground around the world lie 110 quadrillion kilometers of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks—webs of ultra-thin threads that, if connected in a single line, would stretch almost a billion times the distance between the Earth and…
A pending report on climate attribution may be setting the stage for conflict. Founded during the US Civil War to provide advice to the government, the National Academies of Science have become one of the most prestigious scientific organizations. Its primary function is to prepare comprehensive reports on scientific…
“Some missions are using more than what their paperwork would say.” NASA pushed its Deep Space Network beyond its limits during the Artemis I mission nearly four years ago. The global array of deep space communications antennas couldn’t keep up with the routine demands of 40 robotic science missions…
Archaeologists found apparent scrape marks inside a skull; long bones may have been sharpened into tools. Very little is known about funerary practices in Iron Age Britain, since few human remains have survived. However, the environment in northwest Scotland is more conducive to preserving bone from that period. Archaeologists…
Alaska’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry and vulnerable coastal communities at risk. The upcoming loss of a deep-ocean monitoring system is triggering deep anxiety in Alaska, the nation’s top fish-producing state, where temperatures are warming twice as quickly as the global average. The National Science Foundation announced plans in May to…
Our ancestors’ genomes were built through successive waves of gene transfers. We tend to view ourselves and the complex cells that build us as a distinct branch of the tree of life from the compact, seemingly featureless cells of bacteria and archaea. But we’ve found that our genome is…
For days after the stunning incident, the ADA had doubled-down on the choice. Amid intense backlash, the head of the American Diabetes Association posted a video Wednesday apologizing for the organization’s decision on Friday to forcefully remove five leading diabetes scientists from the association’s annual meeting. The scientists were ejected…
Cities are dynamic, not static grids, and urbanization is a “spiky,” cyclical, and asynchronous process. People often speak metaphorically of the heartbeat or pulse of a city, but according to the authors of a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, cities do indeed…
Five peer-reviewed papers update the design and model its expected output. The scientific community has a plan for achieving fusion power. It involves getting a better understanding of how to control fusion in a tokamak-style reactor using the currently under construction ITER reactor, and then using that knowledge to…
Individual gold atoms move around to form oxidation-proof structures. Gold is weird. It’s one of the few metals that doesn’t really oxidize. Even silver and copper—from the same column of the periodic table—form weak oxides. Naively, you might expect that gold would tarnish just like silver. Gold also sits…
