Tag Archives: ScienceAlert

Surgeons at Duke University have resuscitated a ‘dead’ heart on the operating table after it stopped beating for more than five minutes. The organ was later transplanted into the chest of a three-month-old child, saving their life. The infant with the donor heart continued to show normal cardiac function and no signs of organ rejection at six months of age, …

Tropical lizards love to snack on butterflies, but sometimes, they have trouble telling which end is which. That’s because many butterflies in the Lycaenidae family have evolved marvelously deceptive wings. A study by two entomologists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram reveals the complex interplay of genes required to achieve such an act of subterfuge. Butterfly …

Keep calm and try omega-3. The fatty acids, available as dietary supplements via fish oil capsules and thought to help with mental and physical well-being, could also cut down on aggression, according to a 2024 study. These findings haven’t come out of nowhere: omega-3 has previously been linked to preventing schizophrenia, while aggression and antisocial behavior are thought in part …

Nearly three in four American teenagers have used AI companions, with more than half qualifying as regular users despite growing safety concerns about these virtual relationships, according to a new survey released Wednesday. AI companions – chatbots designed for personal conversations rather than simple task completion – are available on platforms like Character.AI, Replika, and Nomi. Unlike traditional artificial intelligence …

A new analysis of decades’ worth of observations has revealed that Uranus does indeed emit more heat than it receives from the rays of the Sun. This conclusion, arrived at by two independent teams of scientists, finally resolves a puzzle that first emerged when Voyager 2 cruised past the stinky planet all the way back in 1986. Those observations suggested …

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) may play a role in mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, according to a new study. Experts have long noted links between these psychiatric disorders and certain viral infections, but direct evidence of the viruses inside human brains is lacking. In the brain’s protective lining, however, the new study found …

Recent shifts in Earth’s magnetic field have human fingerprints all over them. While it is normal for our planet’s magnetic poles to sporadically wander, new research shows we’ve now amassed enough water behind dam walls to account for at least some of the current movements. Harvard University geophysicist Natasha Valencic and colleagues calculated that the masses concentrated in just under …

A clock built by a team led by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been estimated to be 41 percent more accurate than the previous timekeeping record holder. By measuring the tiny vibrations of a trapped aluminum ion cooled to near absolute zero, the clock calculates seconds with a precision of 19 decimal places. As …

Our first meeting was a bit awkward. One of us is an archaeologist who studies how past peoples interacted with their environments. Two of us are geophysicists who investigate interactions between solar activity and Earth’s magnetic field. When we first got together, we wondered whether our unconventional project, linking space weather and human behavior, could actually bridge such a vast …

A person in Arizona has died from the plague, local health officials reported on Friday. This marks the first such death in this region in 18 years. But it’s a stark reminder that this historic disease, though rare nowadays, is not just a disease of the past. So what actually is “plague”? And is it any cause for concern in …