Before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) 2.4 billion years ago, the Earth’s atmosphere had almost no oxygen. During the GOE, photosynthetic bacteria known as cyanobacteria produced oxygen through photosynthesis, releasing it into the atmosphere. When oxygen was found at a depth of 4,000 meters below the surface of the Pacific […]

Dinosaur footprints are notoriously tricky to identify, but AI got the recreational fossil hunters covered. Scientists have launched the AI-based DinoTracker app that can identify dinosaur footprints left tens of millions of years ago. Previous AI systems based their learning on labelled dinosaur footprints, but Brusatte argues that if any

Cancer wastes you physically, and Alzheimer’s mainly thins out your cognitive ability. Two different diseases, two different patterns, yet they influence each other. Rarely do researchers find the same person having cancer and Alzheimer’s, fuelling the speculation that one of the conditions might shield a person from the other. The

Now you can “turn down the brightness” of a fluorescent protein remotely using magnets. Magnetic sensitivity in these engineered proteins can be exploited to remotely control biosensors and develop therapies that can be turned on and off as needed. “We want to make a toolbox of magnetically remote-controlled protein functions,”

The Sun can be seen going down and under beyond the horizon, but down under has made use of solar energy even at night. Solar scientists in Sydney have harnessed the power of the Sun to generate energy after the Sun has set. Jamie Hanson, a postgraduate student at the

Obesity has become one of the most pressing health crises of our time, affecting over 40% of adults in the United States alone. People often think it’s a simple failure of willpower, but the reality is far more complex. Genes, your environment, food desserts, how much you earn and hormones

Cells require energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), commonly known as the cell’s energy currency. Mitochondria mint this currency, as well as store it for some time before dispatching it to the rest of the cell. Cancer cells have been reported to hijack these mitochondria from immune cells

Evolving to survive as the fittest is often portrayed as gradual, yet cases have been documented in which animals evolved within a century. Dark-eyed junco songbirds do not naturally live in urban areas, and mostly inhabit mountain forests. The climate crisis has driven them into cities, where they have made

Hundreds of billions of galaxies are scaffolded on a meshwork of dark matter. Yet, as the name suggests, dark matter truly stays in the ‘dark’; it doesn’t interact with light. To date, we have detected only the gravitational effects of dark matter, but this might change with the discovery of

If you’ve ever felt a rush of fear when getting a flu shot or donating blood, you’re not alone. A fear of needles is one of the most common phobias, and it’s known as Trypanophobia. Between 17-52% of adults report experiencing some hesitation or anxiety around needles. Imagine if people

Bifocals and varifocals require manual focus, with the eyes feeling like they’re ping-ponging. Finnish eyewear company IXI has introduced a revolutionary technology that enables ‘autofocus’ based on the user’s needs. Bifocals were invented in the 1800s, which required the user to look through different parts of the lens for reading