Researchers have found that fruit flies rebuild their internal biological clock into a distinct seasonal mode to survive winter, using a genetic mechanism described as a winter lock. The switch keeps the insects inactive until warmer weather returns. Scientists say the finding could inform new pest-control approaches and deepen understanding of how organisms time seasonal behaviour.
Scientists have worked out how the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica thrives in the dim blue-green light of the seabed. The plant expands its photosynthetic antenna, capturing more light while shuttling energy more efficiently through altered machinery. Researchers say the mechanism could guide efforts to breed crops that use limited sunlight better beneath dense canopies.
Kyoto University researchers deployed underwater microphones in two bays along Japan's Sea of Japan coast after residents repeatedly reported dolphin sightings. The recordings picked up dolphin sounds only about once every 10 days, indicating occasional rather than resident visits. The team says sustained acoustic monitoring can meaningfully aid marine conservation work.
Rising sea temperatures are drawing Mediterranean species including octopus, red mullet and bream into British waters, forcing fishers to rethink long-established techniques. Surging octopus numbers are preying on native shellfish and thinning other seafood stocks. Chefs are responding by rebuilding menus around the newcomers, turning an ecological disruption into a culinary shift.
Chemist Alice Augusta Ball devised a method to make chaulmoogra oil injectable, producing the first practical treatment for leprosy. Her technique transformed care for patients worldwide, sparing limbs and lives at a time when the disease meant isolation. Her contribution went largely uncredited for decades after her early death.
Scientists and transport officials in Florida have planted 15,000 milkweed plants along roadsides to support monarch butterfly breeding. Milkweed is the only plant on which monarchs lay eggs, making it essential to their life cycle. The scheme also benefits bees and other pollinators while testing whether verges can serve as lasting wildlife corridors.
'Management of Healthcare in India: Need for a Paradigm Shift' contends that strengthening the country's health system requires attention well beyond clinical care. The book focuses on institutions, leadership, governance and management structures that determine how services actually reach patients, arguing these are the binding constraints on delivery.
A genetic study of 457 koalas indicates the species came close to extinction roughly 100,000 years ago during severe ice ages — well before humans reached Australia. By comparing genomes, researchers traced how climate swings drove steep population declines. Today's pressures on koalas, they note, stem overwhelmingly from human activity.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,600-year-old Assyrian stele of King Ashurbanipal at Nineveh's Shamash Gate in Iraq, nearly a decade after ISIS damaged the ancient city. Found during restoration work, the stone monument records architectural achievements and offers fresh detail on Assyrian urban development and the recovery of contested heritage.
San Francisco has pushed Google and Apple to remove AI 'nudification' apps from their stores. Both companies restated their policies on apps that breach their rules and confirmed they had acted against the offending listings, amid growing legal pressure over tools used to generate non-consensual explicit imagery.
A US judge has refused to block Meta from laying off workers who filed an AI discrimination lawsuit against the company. The judge ruled the employees had not demonstrated that losing their jobs constituted the 'irreparable harm' required to justify an emergency order halting the terminations while litigation proceeds.
A new study identifies a natural process that may have stabilised Earth's climate over the past 60 million years. Researchers found sea level changes regulated how much phosphate reached the oceans, in turn shaping marine life, carbon burial beneath the seafloor and atmospheric carbon dioxide — offering a fresh explanation for long-term climate regulation.
Nearly 200 years after the British Royal Navy rescued thousands of Africans from illegal slave ships and landed them on Saint Helena, scientists have reconstructed where many originated. Published in Science, the study combined historical records, chemical analysis of teeth, computer modelling and ancient DNA to trace the childhood origins of 152 people buried on the island.
Conservationists have described Dakar's port as a hotspot for illegal shark fin trafficking, calling the practice cruel and wasteful. Industrial fishing has driven steep global declines, with one study finding shark populations have fallen 71 percent since 1970.
Scientists tracked a mobile genetic element jumping from a predator into its prey. Such jumping genes drive the spread of antibiotic resistance and contribute to many cancers, while circular RNA molecules derived from them are being explored as next-generation vaccine platforms — giving the findings broad medical significance.
Researchers are studying whether animals comprehend mortality, with cockatoos among their subjects. In a 2020 paper with cognitive scientist Antonio J. Osuna-Mascaro, philosopher Susana Monso argued that two forms of anthropocentrism underpin human reluctance to accept that other species may understand death.
By identifying 'living fossils' embedded in modern speech, some researchers argue that human language evolved gradually through a process of 'survival of the wittiest'. The theory holds that verbal humour was sexually selected in place of physical fighting, drawing on visual brain regions to build the foundations of complex modern grammar.
Engineering evolution through gene drives forces a balance of risk and benefit that each country will resolve differently — the safest aircraft, as one framing puts it, is the one that never takes off. With field data on both the promise and the hazards expected soon, scientists argue public debate must prepare now.
Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1, the country's first private orbital-class rocket, successfully placed technology payloads and postcards into orbit. Named 'Mission Aagaman', meaning arrival, the flight marks India's entry into a small group of nations with demonstrated private orbital launch capability.
Health authorities reported that deaths in the Paris region more than doubled during June's heatwave. The extreme heat swept across Europe, breaking all-time temperature records in several countries and placing severe strain on health systems.