Newsdesk Archive

One of the biggest challenges in cancer therapy is being able to sufficiently deliver chemotherapy drugs to tumors without exposing healthy tissues to their toxic effects. Magnetic bacteria are a promising vehicle for more efficiently delivering tumor-fighting drugs, researchers have demonstrated. Related: Consumption of a bioactive compound from Neem plant could significantly suppress development of prostate cancer

Scientists have pre-programmed materials to change their shape over time. Previous shape-shifting materials have needed some external trigger to tell them to transform, like light or heat.

Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced an ambitious project—to “invest in basic science research with the goal of curing disease.” The couple started by donating $3 billion over 10 years in this initiative, which target four major groups of illnesses

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of at least six people hidden under a church floor on Anglesey. The bones were discovered during a project to clean and restore a rare alabaster stone tomb at St Gredifael's Church near Menai Bridge.

A 3,000-year-old complete pressed flower is among the “absolutely jaw-dropping” late bronze age finds unearthed in Lancashire. The thistle flower appears to have been deliberately placed inside the hollow end of an axe handle and buried with other weapons, jewellery and ornaments, many in virtually pristine condition.

Analyzing how stories change in the retelling down through the generations sheds light on the history of human migration going as far back as the Paleolithic period

Although it’s unclear whether genetics or other factors are responsible, new study suggests that lethal violence is part of our evolutionary history Alt: Was Civilization the Cure for Primordial Human Violence?

The White House's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology said in a report released Tuesday that widely used forensic techniques may not pass scientific muster, and should be reviewed for accuracy. Related: Has a software bug really called decades of brain imaging research into question?

A revolutionary British 'frozen vest' – proven to save heatstroke victims from death – will be trialled this week at the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca. With an estimated two million visitors converging on Islam's holiest city over six days, the authorities have decided to employ the CAERvest, developed by a Brighton-based emergency medicine consultant.

It was only a matter of time, I guess. Virtual and augmented reality have been creeping into our daily lives for some time now. From the massive popularity of Pokémon GO to doctors prescribing virtual reality for pain relief, it’s clear that we will likely soon be spending as much time in digital spaces as we do in our annoyingly stubborn physical reality.

One of the most famous mind-twisters of the quantum world is the thought experiment known as "Schroedinger's Cat," in which a cat placed in a box and potentially exposed to poison is simultaneously dead and alive until someone opens the box and peeks inside.

The secret of why dogs are man’s best friend could be lurking in their genes, according to new research. Scientists say they have found a handful of genes that appear to be linked to the tendency for dogs to seek human help and contact.

Many common over-the-counter lice remedies are no longer effective, according to a study that has some doctors recommending prescription remedies instead.

Research at The University of Queensland has revealed the stunningly simple reason why birds never crash mid-flight: they always veer right. The findings from Professor Mandyam Srinivasan’s laboratory at QBI have enormous potential for automated anti-crash systems on aircraft.

Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice… Bumblebees may experience something like happiness after getting a treat that makes them appear more optimistic. Alt: Bees have feelings too...and become happy and optimistic after drinking nectar

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday proposed listing the rusty patched bumble bee, a prized but vanishing pollinator once widely found in the upper Midwest and Northeastern United States, for federal protection as an endangered species.

Study could explain why even with healthy lifestyles some people die younger than others, and raises future possibility of extending the human lifespan Alt: Epigenetic clock predicts life expectancy

The copper used to make Ötzi’s axe blade did not come from the Alpine region as had previously been supposed, but from ore mined in southern Tuscany. Ötzi was probably not involved in working the metal himself, as the high levels of arsenic and copper found in his hair had, until now, led us to assume.

A team of archaeologists led by Ian Hodder, professor of anthropology and of classics at Stanford, has unearthed an about 8,000-year-old figurine at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic site in central Turkey.

For archaeologists Afghanistan, rich in ancient treasures and once a key stop on the legendary silk road, is an "open-air museum", albeit one ravaged by war and plagued by looters. After 30 years of conflicts, Afghanistan's cultural heritage is in dire straits, but one group of archaeologists is trying to put the country's historical sites back on the map - literally.

High up in the mountains, archaeologists are now discovering human traces dating as far back as the Stone age. Julian Martinsen bends down and places a tape measure next to a small treasure located between two large rocks.

For more than a decade, evidence has been piling up that humans colonized the Americas thousands of years before the Clovis people. The Clovis, who are the early ancestors of today's Native Americans, left abundant evidence of their lives behind in the form of tools and graves. But the mysterious pre-Clovis humans, who likely arrived 17,000 to 15,000 years ago, have left only a few dozen sources of evidence for their existence across the Americas, mostly at campsites where they processed animals during hunting trips. Alt: Did humans conquer the Americas earlier than we thought? Bones and tools suggest we reached the tip of South America 14,000 years ago

An ancient city gate and shrine that King Hezekiah ordered to be destroyed during the eighth century B.C., according to the Hebrew Bible, are seeing the light of day following an excavation in Israel, archaeologists reported today.

Recent excavations at Petra have revealed a startlingly advanced irrigation system and water storage system that enabled the desert city's people to survive – and to maintain a magnificent garden featuring fountains, ponds and a huge swimming pool. The engineering feats and other luxuries attest to the ancient Nabatean capital's former splendor and wealth some 2,000 years ago. Alt: Magnificent Gardens of Petra Discovered After 2,000 Years

Scientists are a step closer to using Australia's iconic gum trees to develop low-carbon renewable jet and missile fuel. Dr Carsten Kulheim from The Australian National University (ANU), a lead researcher in an international study published in Trends in Biotechnology, said renewable fuels that could power commercial aeroplanes were limited and expensive but a solution could be growing all around us.

All those cars on California's famously gridlocked highways could be doing more than just using energy - they could be producing it. The California Energy Commission is investing $2 million to study whether piezoelectric crystals can be used to produce electricity from the mechanical energy created by vehicles driving on roads.

Researchers led by NASA's former chief technologist are hoping to launch a satellite carrying water as the source of its fuel. The team from Cornell University, guided by Mason Peck, want their device to become the first shoebox-sized "CubeSat" to orbit the moon, while demonstrating the potential of water as a source of spacecraft fuel. It's a safe, stable substance that's relatively common even in space, but could also find greater use here on Earth as we search for alternatives to fossil fuels.

Typhoons are generally associated with mass destruction, but a Japanese engineer has developed a wind turbine that can harness the tremendous power of these storms and turn it into useful energy. If he’s right, a single typhoon could power Japan for 50 years.

Atmospheric oxygen levels have declined over the past 1 million years, although not nearly enough to trigger any major problems for life on Earth, a new study finds. The research behind this new finding could help shed light on what controls atmospheric oxygen levels over long spans of time, the researchers said.

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the U.S., which makes for a perky population — but it also creates a lot of used grounds. Scientists now report in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering an innovative way to reduce this waste and help address another environmental problem. They have incorporated spent coffee grounds in a foam filter that can remove harmful lead and mercury from water. Related: Climate Change Threatens World’s Coffee Supply, Report Says

Kiribati, a tiny nation on a chain of 33 atolls and reef islands in the South Pacific, could be the first entire country eliminated by climate change. As seas rise, the islands are increasingly inundated by high tides, and islanders believe the sea will swallow their lands in less than a generation. Related: Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun

Researchers are still trying to unravel the complex interactions between wind, waves and currents. One of the most visible results of these interactions is Langmuir circulation, which produces a pattern on the water surface like parallel furrows in a field. These lines are known as wind streaks or windrows, and occur only in steady winds of more than 7mph.

Archaeologists in Glasgow, Scotland, briefly excavated and then reburied a 5,000-year-old slab of stone that contains incised swirling geometric decorations. Alt: Mystery messages carved into Scotland's rocks up to 5,000 years ago may soon be revealed using 3D scans

Ancient Celtic bards were famous for the sheer quantity of information they could memorise. This included thousands of songs, stories, chants and poems that could take hours to recite in full.

Dozens of ring-shaped geoglyphs have been been mapped for the first time near the ancient town of Quilcapampa, Peru. The mysterious lines, created on the surface of the ground by ancient inhabitants, are in close proximity to the pathways that were used in the past for trade.

The face of a powerful ruler of the ancient Moche civilization of Peru, known as El Señor de Sipán (The Lord of Sipán), has been revealed for the first time following an intensive project to digitally reconstruct his face with the help of forensic anthropology experts. The 2,000-year-old remains of the Lord of Sipán were discovered in 1987 in the tomb complex of Huaca Rajada, buried among dazzling treasures, unlike any seen before in the region.

Archaeologists were left baffled by the "strange" discovery of ancient Roman coins buried in the ruins of a castle in Japan. The four copper coins were retrieved from soil beneath Katsuren Castle on Okinawa Island, and were originally thought to be a hoax before their true provenance was revealed.

A group of previously unknown burial mounds has been discovered near Czaplinek in north-western Poland. The most interesting feature found so far is a stone ring, which is shaped similar to the world-famous site of Stonehenge. The complex sheds a new light on the history of these lands.

Excavations at a little Roman cemetery in the south of London have revealed a huge mystery of history. Among the remains of ancient ordinary Londoners, researchers have found the bones of ethnically Asian individuals. Alt: Skeleton find could rewrite Roman history

Ancient human migrations out of Africa may have been driven by wobbles in Earth's orbit and tilt that led to dramatic swings in climate, a new study finds. Alt: Out of Africa thanks to climate change: Humans arrived in Europe up to 30,000 years earlier than believed

In the centuries to come, history books will likely look back on September 2016 as a major milestone for the world’s climate. At a time when atmospheric carbon dioxide is usually at its minimum, the monthly value failed to drop below 400 parts per million. Related: Soil carbon storage not the climate change fix it was thought, research finds

Recent rises in levels of methane in our atmosphere is being driven by biological sources, such as swamp gas, cow burps, or rice fields, rather than fossil fuel emissions, new research suggests.

In an effort to turn away from chemical pesticides, which have the potential to damage the environment, some farmers are looking in a new direction in the age-old struggle against pests. They're warding off intruding insects and noxious weeds with bugs and chickens. Related: Sandboxes keep chicken parasites at bay Related: Secrecy surrounding antibiotic use on Australian farms sparks superbug fears

Farmed chicken, salmon and pork are all reared using fishmeal, and as global demand for cheap meet rises, producers are casting their net wider to obtain fish for animal feed, even effectively taking them from the mouths of people in West Africa

A recent controlled clinical trial represented a rare attempt to use metabolic biomarkers to assess the reported health benefits of integrative medicine and holistic practices. During the study participants were kept in a six-day Ayurvedic-based well-being program that provided a vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga and massages experienced measurable decreases in a set of blood-based metabolites associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease risk and cholesterol regulation.

The clinical failure rate of Alzheimer's drugs is exceptionally high, yet early data from researchers at the Salk Institute suggests marijuana could provide a cure. Related: Confirming Big Pharma Fears, Study Suggests Medical Marijuana Laws Decrease Opioid Use Related: Opioids affect ‘cuteness’ of babies Related: Smoking has a very broad, long-lasting impact on the human genome Related: Can nicotine protect the aging brain?

The next time you wrap up your work day and realize you've been sitting in front of the computer for almost eight straight hours, maybe you won't feel so proud of yourself. A new study, conducted in 54 countries around the world, declares that 3.8% of all deaths are due to the fact that society spends more than three hours a day sitting down. Related: Sitting for long periods of time is the cause of 4% of deaths worldwide Related: Youthful DNA in old age

In my book Stop Worrying! There Probably is an Afterlife I devoted an entire chapter to so-called 'end-of-life experiences' (ELEs) - one aspect of which is the death-bed vision, where a dying individual reports seeing deceased loved ones in their room and around their bed. It's a fascinating topic that has long been overshadowed by the more-famous near-death experience (NDE), but it deserves much more attention. One large scale study that I mentioned in my book found that almost two-thirds of doctors, nurses and hospice carers reported witnessing ELEs in their patients in the lead-up to their passing. A recent study by Japanese researchers has added some much-needed extra data about the phenomenon.

Exorcists are in urgent demand as a result of a sharp rise in people dabbling in Satanism and the occult, experts from the Catholic Church in Italy and the US said.

Could it be time to call in Mulder and Scully? An Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) has been spotted over the Bristol Channel sparking online speculation about Little Green Men. Alt: Police baffled by 'UFO' captured on helicopter's thermal imaging camera 1000ft above Bristol Channel Related: Britain’s most notorious UFO case happened at a US airbase and it’s still a complete mystery Related: UFO Hunters Exposed Mysterious Object Feeding with the Sun’s Energy

Chaos reigns as addition of Ophiuchus casts doubt over accuracy of all horoscopes Alt: Your Astrological Sign Just Changed, Thanks To NASA Alt: Stop freaking out, NASA did not just change your Zodiac sign Alt: No, NASA hasn’t changed the zodiac signs or added a new one

The largest radio telescope in the world officially opened on Sunday, according to China's official Xinhua News. Alt: Biggest radio telescope on Earth ready to receive alien signals

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has outlined his highly ambitious vision for manned missions to Mars, which he said could begin as soon as 2022 – three years sooner than his previous estimates. Related: Elon Musk says it would take 40 to 100 years to build a self-sustaining civilization on Mars Related: Elon Musk’s proposed spaceship could send 100 people to Mars in 80 days

They were dismissed as stupid and primitive by the archaeologists who first studied their fossilised bones, but it seems Neanderthals may have been just as chatty as our own species. Researchers have discovered evidence that suggests Neanderthals may have used vocal communication just like our own species Homo sapiens. Alt: Neanderthal and modern human ear bones

A team of researchers at Norwegian University of Life Sciences has found that horses are capable of reading symbols on a sign and using them to convey a desire—whether they want a blanket put on them or not. The researchers have written a paper describing their efforts with the horses and have had it published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.

This lion king (pictured above) is a queen. And she’s not the only one. Five lionesses in Botswana have grown a mane and are showing male-like behaviours. One is even roaring and mounting other females.

The temporary euphoria associated with opioids comes at a steep price: heroin, oxycodone, opium, morphine and other painkilling drugs are some of the highly addictive culprits fueling the drug epidemic that is sweeping America. Related: Ants Pick Morphine Over Sugar

Scientists have pinpointed a promising new source of antibiotics: ants. They have found that some species – including leaf-cutter ants from the Amazon – use bacteria to defend their nests against invading fungi and microbes.

A 25-year-old student has just come up with a way to fight drug-resistant superbugs without antibiotics. The new approach has so far only been tested in the lab and on mice, but it could offer a potential solution to antibiotic resistance, which is now getting so bad that the United Nations recently declared it a "fundamental threat" to global health. Related: How We'll Tackle Diseases That Are Becoming Untreatable - "The United Nations just declared antibiotic resistance “the greatest and most urgent global risk.” Here’s what they’re going to do about it."

Artificial intelligence has already been used to create a short film, snippets of angst-ridden poetry, and even the odd avant-garde melody. But the YouTube video above might just be the first pop song written by AI — and it's almost certainly (probably) a dire warning for humanity.

New Zealand researchers have restored the first recording of computer-generated music, created in 1951 on a gigantic contraption built by British genius Alan Turing.

Quantum mechanics, Carl Sagan once observed, is so strange that "common sense is almost useless in approaching it." Scientists still don't understand exactly why matter behaves as it does at the quantum level. Yet they're getting better at exploiting its peculiar dynamics -- in ways that may soon upend the technology business. Related: Electrons squeezed into 'one-dimensional' wires yield quantum effects

Space is filled with types of light we can't see -- from infrared signals released by hot stars and galaxies, to the cosmic microwave background. Some of this invisible light that fills space takes the form of X-rays, the source of which has been hotly contended over the past few decades.

It’s a case of pulsar ping-pong. Repeating radio bursts from space may be the result of pulsars colliding with asteroids in faraway stellar systems. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are a rare and mysterious phenomenon. Until recently, we had seen fewer than 20 of these milliseconds-long pulses of radio waves, and they have been attributed to everything from quasars to aliens.

A giant blob of gas and dust far off in the universe mysteriously glows bright green, and astronomers have finally figured out why. Two huge galaxies were observed in the blob's core, and they're surrounded by a swarm of smaller galaxies in what appears to be the birth of a massive cluster of galaxies.

Astronomers may have found the first binary planets ever observed beyond our solar system. The two objects straddle the dividing line between gas giants and odd "failed stars" known as brown dwarfs in terms of mass, researchers said. The newfound bodies are also similar to each other in size and age.

Marsquakes — that is, earthquakes on Mars — could generate enough hydrogen to support life there, a new study finds. Humans and most animals, plants and fungi get their energy mainly from chemical reactions between oxygen and organic compounds such as sugars.

Twenty years ago, America celebrated its Independence Day by landing several thousand invaders on the surface of Mars. On July 4, 1997, the Pathfinder spacecraft touched down in a northern lowland called Chryse Planitia carrying a small rover named Sojourner—as well as a large amount of stowaways in the form of earthly microbes.

Further evidence has been obtained to show that Jupiter's icy moon Europa throws jets of water out into space. Scientists first reported the behaviour in 2013 using the Hubble telescope, but have now made a follow-up sighting. Alt: Plumes spotted on Europa raise hopes that we can taste its ocean

In recent months, there’s been growing evidence that Pluto is hiding a liquid water ocean beneath its frozen surface. New models by researchers at Brown University support this hypothesis, and take it one mind-boggling step further: Pluto’s ocean may be more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) deep. Alt: Pluto's 'heart' sheds light on a possible buried ocean

It’s small, it’s hot, and it’s shrinking. New NASA-funded research suggests that Mercury is contracting even today, joining Earth as a tectonically active planet. Images obtained by NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft reveal previously undetected small fault scarps— cliff-like landforms that resemble stair steps.

While NASA researchers are trying to figure out how a mysterious cloud appeared over Titan, Saturn’s methane-covered moon, others have been trying for years to understand something completely different: could life exist there?

A layer of iron and other elements deep underground is the evidence scientists have long been seeking to support the hypothesis that the moon was formed by a planetary object hitting the infant Earth some 4.5 billion years ago, a new study led by Johns Hopkins University scientists argues.

A team of researchers from Princeton University discovered that our planet’s oxygen supply has dropped by 0.7 percent over the last 800,000 years. This discovery was made after studying air bubbles trapped inside ice cores collected in Greenland and Antarctica. These samples revealed that something has disrupted the Earth’s oxygen cycle, and geochemists are at a loss for a concrete explanation.

China has been building two wind turbines every hour, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has told BBC News. This is the world's biggest programme of turbine installation, double that of its nearest rival, the US.

Nine out of 10 people globally are breathing poor quality air, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, calling for dramatic action against pollution that is blamed for more than six million deaths a year.

A new study paints a picture of an Earth that is warmer than it has been in about 120,000 years, and is locked into eventually hitting its hottest mark in more than 2 million years.

Scientists have found preserved proteins in 3.8-million-year-old ostrich eggshells from Africa. The researchers say these biological building blocks - bound into the eggshell - could provide genetic information up to 50 times older than any DNA.

A recent theory by paleontologists at Montana State University suggests that the nesting habits of some Mesozoic-era dinosaurs further bolsters the theory that all birds, from the majestic bald eagles of Yellowstone National Park to robins nesting in backyards across Montana, evolved from dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago.

As scientists continue finding evidence for life in the ocean more than 3 billion years ago, those ancient fossils pose a paradox. Organisms, including the single-celled bacteria living in the ocean at that early date, need a steady supply of phosphorus, but "it's very hard to account for this phosphorus unless it is eroding from the continents,"

It has long been a mystery why after three billion years of nothing more advanced than algae, complex animals suddenly started to appear on Earth. Now scientists have put forward some of the strongest evidence yet to support the hypothesis that high levels of oxygen in ancient oceans were crucial for the emergence of skeletal animals 550 million years ago.

Tiny ocean fossils distributed widely across rock surfaces in the Transantarctic Mountains point to the potential for a substantial rise in global sea levels under conditions of continued global warming, according to a new study.

A 230-million-year-old reptile may have looked like a dinosaur, but it wasn't one. What can it tell us about evolutionary patterns?

Australia is not quite where you think it is. The continent has shifted by 4.9 feet since the last adjustment was made to GPS coordinates in 1994, reports the New York Times.

Dozens of circular geoglyphs, some comprising several intertwined rings, have been identified and mapped near the ancient Peruvian town of Quilcapampa, revealing that these earthen designs were created near ancient pathways used for trade.

Geneticists have traced the history of beer’s most important ingredient: yeast. By sequencing the genomes of nearly 200 modern strains of brewer’s yeast, the research reveals how, over hundreds of years, humans transformed the wild fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae into a variety of strains tuned for particular tipples. Related: Sober People Make Drinkers Feel Drunker

It happened to Marie Antoinette; Mary, Queen of Scots; and me. Is there a scientific explanation? Canities subita is the medical term for hair turning white overnight. The phenomenon is almost universally acknowledged as myth—but not entirely.

When Aristotle described “the complete happiness of man”, he thought it would include, among other things, “self-sufficiency, leisureliness and unweariedness”. Unfortunately the philosopher concluded that “such a life would be too high for man” – it was suitable only for the gods. Related: Artificial intelligence: ‘Homo sapiens will be split into a handful of gods and the rest of us’ Related: As Our Jobs Are Automated, Some Say We'll Need A Guaranteed Basic Income

The Swedish government is introducing tax breaks on repairs to everything from bicycles to washing machines so it will no longer make sense to throw out old or broken items and buy new ones.

Obesity now affects more than 600 million people worldwide and is increasingly becoming a serious public health problem. But despite this, we still don’t completely understand what causes people to become obese.

It's no secret that the adolescent years can be challenging: young teens have a heightened sensitivity to perceived injustice and react against authority. And their newfound social conscience and desire for autonomy can motivate many of their decisions - even food choices.

The traditional advice to “feed a cold and starve a fever” might have an element of truth, say scientists. Research shows that the old adage appears to be based on sound science when a fever is caused by bacterial infection. Related: Researchers debunk 'five-second rule': Eating food off the floor isn't safe

It's been suggested that women are better at giving directions than men. New research from Concordia University in Montreal, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, shows that may be thanks to the hormones that trigger the menstrual cycle. Related: Sex is improved by shining bright lights at men, new study finds

A study has found that during sleep, the experiences you care about are more likely to enter your long-term memory. Eighty non-Welsh speaking participants were taught Welsh words before either a period of wake or sleep. Related: Enough to give you a cold sweat: ‘Dream lag’ means that we are likely to suffer the same nightmare a week later

The brain doesn’t sound out words it already knows, a new study shows When children first learn to read, they painstakingly sound out every letter—C-A-T—before mentally stringing them together and connecting the result to a word and its meaning. With practice, however, we begin to recognize words on sight.

Languages have always cycled through their own stages of birth, change, and disappearance. As cultures move and evolve, interacting with the world around them, so do their languages. That languages shift and dominate other tongues isn’t necessarily a bad thing, explains Bernard Perley, a linguist at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. What worries linguists and anthropologists isn’t simply that Indigenous languages are fading to silence but that so many are doing so at such a rapid rate.

Likely from the Okunev culture, might this mysterious ancient figurine with the angry face be a children's 'rattle', to ward off evil spirits? The 'very distinctive expression of ferocity and rage' has never been seen before among ancient Siberian statuettes, say experts.

Ancient Roman ruins that lie hidden below the surface at the Apennine Mountains of Italy have largely escaped discovery because the rugged terrain makes them difficult to spot by foot and dangerous to find by airplane.

A simple cryptography method can produce the unusual language-like features of a mysterious manuscript from the Middle Ages. The finding suggests that the famous Voynich manuscript may be an elaborate hoax, not a secret language to be decoded.

The possibility that the writing on the Fuente Magna Bowl was used by the Sumerians, and the identification of Sumerian placenames on the Altiplano suggest that Bolivia and Peru may represent the "Tin Land of the West" or the "Sunset Land", of Sumerian inscriptions.