The accelerator tunnel of European XFEL, the facility where the tiny atomic motion was measured XFEL/Heiner Mueller-Elsner For the first time, a stunningly powerful X-ray laser has revealed minuscule atomic motions in a molecule that should otherwise be perfectly still – were it not for the quirks of quantum mechanics. Quantum physics abhors stillness. This…
Stephanie Eisenbarth and Adam Williams prepping peanuts for allergy research in their lab Northwestern University A common asthma medication has been shown to shield mice from anaphylaxis – a potentially fatal allergic reaction. The drug, called zileuton, has long been used to treat asthma and is now being trialled in humans as a possible treatment…
Scientists have identified an ultramassive black hole billions of light years away IgorZh/Shutterstock A gargantuan black hole hiding in a galaxy 5 billion light years away is the most massive that has been directly measured, more than 10,000 times as massive as the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and around…
Cut marks on a foot bone from El Mirador cave in Spain IPHES-CERCA Butchered human remains found in a cave in northern Spain suggest that Neolithic people may have eaten their enemies after killing them in combat. Francesc Marginedas at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) in Tarragona, Spain, and his…
An illustration of a spaceship sailing close to a black hole liuzishan/Getty Images An interstellar probe sent to a black hole could complete its journey and send data back to Earth in less than a century – if we can find a black hole close enough. Cosimo Bambi at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, has developed…
Letting off steam at a laughter yoga session in Kolkata, India SOPA Images Limited/Alamy It seems that laughter therapy is no joke. Structured interventions that aim to tickle our funny bone, like laughter yoga or hospital clowns, really do appear to reduce anxiety and improve life satisfaction. Laughter, which is also common in non-human animals,…
“It can be hard to have a sense of the enormity of the scales involved…” Science Photo Library/Alamy Most of us can relate to being worried about inflation: we are all concerned about the cost of living and what our political leaders are doing to address it. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that we…
Cage fungus Alison Pouliot “I’ve been hanging around fungi for more than 30 years now, working more at the scientific end. But this time I wanted to really explore the aesthetics of fungi,” says photographer, writer and ecologist Alison Pouliot. “Many of them are aesthetically beautiful. But they are also bizarre, unusual and crazy. I…
For many neurodivergent people, the outdoors is a more manageable, simpler place to be Westend61/Getty Images Neurodivergent, By NatureJoe Harkness (Bloomsbury) We begin with moth genitalia. Joe Harkness was planning to write a book about “niche nature interests”: ecologists, naturalists and conservationists with obscure passions for woodlice, or taxidermy, or yes, the examination (for ID purposes)…
An illustration of nerve cells affected by Alzheimer’s disease Science Photo Library / Alamy Stock Photo People with Alzheimer’s disease have lower levels of lithium in their brains, and giving lithium to mice with symptoms of the condition reverses cognitive decline. Together, the findings suggest that lithium deficiency could be a driver of Alzheimer’s disease…