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Scientists identify a new way to detect life in outer space with currently existing telescopes. The method hinges on worlds that look nothing like Earth, and gases rarely considered in the search for extraterrestrials.

Researchers elucidate the complex physical mechanisms and fluid dynamics involved in a handclap, with potential applications in bioacoustics and personal identification, whereby a handclap could be used to identify someone.

Researchers have published a new study that dives deep into nickel-based cathodes, one of the two electrodes that facilitate energy storage in batteries.

Scientists have developed an approach that combines rehabilitation robotics with spinal cord stimulation to restore movement in people with spinal cord injuries. The technology enhances rehabilitation and enables activities like cycling and walking outdoors.

Hydrocortisone and testosterone are just two of 13 drugs and supplements that could lessen the impact of genes that accelerate brain ageing

Noughts and crosses, or tic-tac-toe, is a simple game – but twist the rules and you can really spice it up, says Peter Rowlett

The odds are stacked against an all-female robotics team in Rule Breakers, a fantastic film about teaching girls in Afghanistan

In his Atomic series, artist James Stanford showcases "the spectacle and the horror" of growing up near a nuclear bomb testing site

Cosmic Titans, a new exhibition at the University of Nottingham, UK, is a powerful collaboration of artists and quantum physicists that sets out to make the intangible tangible

Our Future Chronicles column explores an imagined history of inventions yet to come – this time how, by the mid-21st century, many people were opting for a "nose job" that would supercharge their sense of smell. Rowan Hooper is our guide.

Feedback would like to bring to readers' attention the retraction of five psychology articles by Nicolas Guéguen, including a "field study" into "bust size and hitchhiking"

Whether social media sites police their platforms using humans or algorithms, content moderation isn't keeping users safe, says Jess Brough

Few people could write so genially, even humorously, about our existential crisis. Henry Gee can, in his excellent new book The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire

For a long time objective measurement of subjective experience was considered impossible, but it is finally becoming a reality, promising a boost for health care and much more

Scientists have achieved the first real-time visualization of how 'excited-state aromaticity' emerges within just hundreds of femtoseconds and then triggers a molecule to change from bent to planar structure in a few picoseconds. By combining ultrafast electronic and vibrational spectroscopies, the team captured these fleeting structural changes at the molecular level and showed that aromaticity appears before -- and then drives -- the structural planarization. Their findings lay the groundwork for designing more efficient photoactive materials, such as sensors and light-driven molecular switches, by leveraging the power of aromaticity in excited states.

Scientists have achieved the first real-time visualization of how 'excited-state aromaticity' emerges within just hundreds of femtoseconds and then triggers a molecule to change from bent to planar structure in a few picoseconds. By combining ultrafast electronic and vibrational spectroscopies, the team captured these fleeting structural changes at the molecular level and showed that aromaticity appears before -- and then drives -- the structural planarization. Their findings lay the groundwork for designing more efficient photoactive materials, such as sensors and light-driven molecular switches, by leveraging the power of aromaticity in excited states.

Dark matter - that mysterious, unknown stuff that's detectable only by its effect on other matter - seems to be sparking strong emissions at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens was the first to discover a Saturnian moon way back in 1655. Thanks to his skill as a lens grinder and polisher, he was the first person to see Titan. Over the centuries, we've discovered many more moons orbiting the ringed planet. In a surprising announcement on March 11th, the Minor Planet Center announced the discovery of 128 more moons, almost doubling the previous number.

Along with the other rules I’ve proposed (e.g., “button your shirt from the bottom up and you’ll never mis-button”), I have one that I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before. However, the pandemic seems to have had a lasting effect on the incidence of logorrhea, and so I will propose this one again, with a couple of qualifiers. First, the rule, which is mine. It’s coming.  Here it is:

In general, in a conversation between two individuals, you should limit yourself to no more than three sentences in a row before the other person gets to speak.

There are of course exceptions.  If someone is telling you a story, giving you instructions, or has a problem or is distraught, then, yes, they can speak longer and you should be more patient.  Or if you’ve being interviewed, you can go longer, for they can cut the transcript; and anyway, the purpose of an interview is to give the interviewee more airtime than the interviewer.

I’m sure there are other exceptions as well. What I am referring to is polite social discourse, which should involve an exchange between individuals—a fair exchange. I’m sure you’ve chafed when someone runs on and on and on, which seems self-absorbed; so you understand the value of “fair conversational exchange. I have found that three sentences is about the optimum length to ensure a decent conversation, but of course remember that this rule reflects my judgement and limited patience.

Scientists have developed an innovative solar-powered method to transform sewage sludge -- a by-product of wastewater treatment -- into green hydrogen for clean energy and single-cell protein for animal feed.