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In the fight against the climate crisis, countries are pinning great hope in reforestation projects. In a new study, ETH Zurich researchers show that the location in which reforestation is taking place is usually more important than the number of trees planted. If forests are strategically positioned, the same cooling effect could be achieved using half the area of land.

Researchers Gyanendra Singh and Josep Fontcuberta, from the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona, have experimentally confirmed a theory they proposed in 2021 that explains the mechanism by which some metals are transparent. Their findings, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, show that electrons in these materials move more slowly because they interact strongly with the vibrations of the material, so they cannot respond to visible light in the way electrons normally do in common metals.

Biobots, whose growing line of variants started with xenobots, are fascinating tiny self-powered living robots built exclusively using frog embryonic cells. Originally developed in the laboratories of Wyss Institute Associate Faculty member and Tufts University Professor Michael Levin, Ph.D. and his collaborators at University of Vermont, biobots are remarkably motile, moving autonomously through aqueous environments.

Diagnosing some diseases could be as easy as breathing into a tube. MIT engineers have developed a test to detect disease-related compounds in a patient's breath. The new test could provide a faster way to diagnose pneumonia and other lung conditions. Rather than sit for a chest X-ray or wait hours for a lab result, a patient may one day take a breath test and get a diagnosis within minutes.

Photorespiration is a cellular conversion process in which plants release carbon dioxide and consume oxygen when exposed to light. Until now, it has been considered an especially wasteful by-product of photosynthesis. Yet according to the latest studies by researchers from Helmholtz Munich, the Technical University of Munich, and Heidelberg University, this process in fact plays an important role in the preservation of the plant epigenome, which controls which genes are turned on or off in response to environmental influences. Читать дальше...

Neumark-Nord in northeastern Germany was a lake landscape in the last interglacial period. It is rich in archaeological finds discovered during lignite mining. The area in Saxony-Anhalt is one of the most important European paleontological sites for the European straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus. Fossil remains of more than 70 elephants have been found there—animals that were once hunted in this region by Neanderthals. Because of this unusually large number of finds, the site provides... Читать дальше...

VUB's Data Analytics Lab has published new results showing that it is possible to develop original mathematical proofs using commercial language models. In a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server, the researchers show that OpenAI's commercial large language model ChatGPT-5.2 (Thinking) could independently solve a mathematical problem.

Scientists have long observed that embryos of different species within a phylum look quite distinct at early and late developmental stages but resemble one another more during mid-embryogenesis, a phenomenon known as developmental hourglass.

As four astronauts travel around the moon on NASA's Artemis II mission, they will venture beyond Earth's protective magnetic field. The crew's spacecraft, Orion, will carry and protect them as they journey into deep space and serves as the main protection against the sun's intense power. During their 10-day flight, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will monitor the sun around the clock and translate space weather conditions into real-time decisions to protect the astronauts.

Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and X, are accessed daily by millions of people worldwide. In the weeks or months leading up to elections, many political parties use social media platforms as part of their campaigns to promote candidates, raise funds, or disseminate their proposed policies.