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Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. But scientists aren't sure just how much there actually is in the Sun's atmosphere, where it is hard to measure. Knowing the amount of helium in the solar atmosphere is important to understanding the origin and acceleration of the solar wind—the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun.

Filter 'paper' made from titanium oxide nanowires is capable of trapping pathogens and destroying them with light. This discovery by an EPFL laboratory could be put to use in personal protective equipment, as well as in ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) took a census of stellar eggs in the constellation Taurus and revealed their evolution state. This census helps researchers understand how and when a stellar embryo transforms to a baby star deep inside a gaseous egg. In addition, the team found a bipolar outflow, a pair of gas streams, that could be telltale evidence of a truly newborn star.

With a new Atlantic hurricane season in full swing, scientists may have found a new influence on how tropical cyclones develop.

Since its discovery, scientists have been using the much-lauded gene editing tool CRISPR to alter the DNA of model organisms and uncover the functions of thousands of genes. Now, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Andalusian Center of Developmental Biology at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, Spain, have harnessed the technology to target gene messages (messenger RNA) involved in early vertebrate development.

A key component of the Gulf Stream has markedly slowed over the past century—that's the conclusion of a new research paper in Nature Communications published on August 7. The study develops a method of tracking the strength of near-shore ocean currents using measurements made at the coast, offering the potential to reduce one of the biggest uncertainties related to observations of climate change over the past century.

Chemical reactions driven by the geological conditions on the early Earth might have led to the prebiotic evolution of self-replicating molecules. Scientists at Ludwig-Maximilians Universitaet (LMU) in Munich now report on a hydrothermal mechanism that could have promoted the process.

Legume plants know their friends from their enemies, and now we know how they do it at the molecular level. Plants recognize beneficial microbes and keep harmful ones out, which is important for healthy plants production and global food security. Scientists have now discovered how legumes use small, well-defined motifs in receptor proteins to read molecular signals produced by both pathogenic and symbiotic microbes. These remarkable findings have enabled the researchers to reprogram immune receptors into symbiotic receptors, which is the first milestone for engineering symbiotic nitrogen-fixing symbiosis into cereal crops.

In the first billion years, there was no oxygen on Earth. Life developed in an anoxic environment. Early bacteria probably obtained their energy by breaking down various substances by means of fermentation. However, there also seems to have been a kind of "oxygen-free respiration." This was suggested by studies on primordial microbes that are still found in anoxic habitats today.

A team of researchers from Sweden, the U.S., Poland and the U.K. has found evidence that suggests the wealth gap in human communities goes back at least 6,600 years. In their paper published in the journal Antiquity, the group describes their study of skeletons in an ancient Polish graveyard and what they found.

A machine-learning algorithm that can predict the compositions of trend-defying new materials has been developed by RIKEN chemists1. It will be useful for finding materials for applications where there is a trade-off between two or more desirable properties.

A group of researchers from three Japanese universities has discovered why the western subarctic Pacific Ocean, which accounts for only 6 percent of the world's oceans, produces an estimated 26 percent of the world's marine resources.

Scientists have unveiled a correlation between high blood lead levels in children and methylation of genes involved in haem synthesis and carcinogenesis, indicating a previously unknown mechanism for lead poisoning.

Several kinds of bacteria can cause lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause pneumonia, typically infects infants or young children and persists for life, while Burkholderia cepacia complex species only infect teenagers and adults. Although Burkholderia infections are rare, when they do take hold, they are deadly. Now, UNC School of Medicine scientists led by Peggy Cotter, Ph.D., professor in the UNC Department of Microbiology and Immunology, have discovered a reason for this pathogen's apparent age discrimination.

A pair of researchers with the National Institute for Research in Amazonia has posted an open letter in the journal Science warning of the negative repercussions of resuming paving of a road through a part of the Amazon. In their letter, Lucas Ferrante and Philip Martin Fearnside suggest that resumption of paving will lead to releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further contributing to global warming.

A team of physicists has devised a simple way to measure the duration of a bizarre phenomenon called quantum tunneling.

In this special episode of Life's Little Mysteries, we'll give you the latest news and answer frequently asked questions about the new coronavirus and COVID-19.

Free radicals—atoms and molecules with unpaired electrons—can wreak havoc on the body. They are like jilted paramours, destined to wander about in search of another electron, leaving broken cells, proteins and DNA in their wakes.

Scientists have developed a more nuanced library approach to tuning gene expression in metabolic pathways. Compared to the traditional way, which leverages an all-or-nothing approach to expression, scientists can now opt for various shades of gray. The ability to fine-tune the level of gene expression allowed researchers to identify variations of essential genes in metabolic networks that were missed using traditional approaches.

Your takeout may come with a dose of chemicals known as PFAS—but the FDA’s push to get rid of some of them will take five years.

The unprecedented fall in greenhouse gas emissions from lockdowns during the pandemic will do "nothing" to slow climate change without a lasting switch from fossil fuels, an international team of researchers said Friday.

Basing their research on an unexpected interspecies difference between rats and mice, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University have mapped a system in the brain that controls paternal behavior towards offspring. A key component in this behavior is the hormone prolactin, which prepares females for motherhood and has now been shown to control paternal behavior as well. The study has been published in the journal Cell.

Need light but want privacy? A new type of wood that's transparent, tough, and beautiful could be the solution. This nature-inspired building material allows light to come through (at about 80%) to fill the room but the material itself is naturally hazy (93%), preventing others from seeing inside.

The techie-turned-philanthropist on vaccines, Trump, and why social media is “a poisoned chalice.”

Scientists traced a fast radio burst (FRB) to a known star inside the Milky Way for the first time.