In most cases, antibiotics are a reliable form of protection against bacterial infections. They have saved billions of human lives since their introduction. This protection, however, is threatened by bacteria's resistance to classical antibiotics and by their aggressive pathogenicity.

The Southern Ocean, a region critical to Earth's climate, hosts vast blooms of microscopic ocean plants known as phytoplankton. They form the very basis of the Antarctic food web.

A research team led by Prof Zhang Guoqing from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have presented a novel molecular-solid sensor that enables rapid chiral recognition of natural amino acids through room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP), overcoming the limitations of structural complementarity and generality in traditional luminescence-based methods. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

The synthesis of metallic inorganic compound thin films typically requires high-temperature processes, which hampers their applications on flexible substrates. Recently, a research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) developed a pulse irradiation technique that synthesizes a variety of thin films in an extremely short time under ultra-low temperature.

Public policy should be based on scientific evidence—but scientists often lament the gap between science and policy, while policy-makers feel that scientists don't deliver the evidence that is needed.

An increasing number of bacteria have become resistant to many commonly used antibiotics. Researchers from Bochum have discovered a fresh opportunity for a potential active molecule whose predecessor was rejected. By studying its interaction with the bacterial target protein very precisely in three dimensions, they identified a previously undetected point of attack that could be targeted by this compound.

In a novel study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Twente have made significant strides in understanding the behavior of micro- and nanobubbles on electrodes during water electrolysis. This process is crucial for (green) hydrogen production. These tiny bubbles form on the electrodes, blocking the flow of electricity and reducing the efficiency of the reaction.

Named after an Italian theoretical physicist, Majoranas are complex quasiparticles that could be the key to building next-generation quantum computing systems.

Collaborating researchers have discovered a link between malaria parasites' ability to develop resistance to antimalarial drugs—specifically artemisinin (ART)—through a cellular process called transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modification. tRNA modification is a mechanism that allows cells to respond rapidly to stress by altering RNA molecules within a cell.

Many organisms are far more complex than just a single species. Humans, for example, are full of a variety of microbes. Some creatures have even more special connections, though.

An international team led by scientists from the University of Liège has investigated the evolutionary patterns behind the development of saber teeth, with some unexpected results along the way. Their study has been published in the journal Current Biology.

Some 31 pyramids in Egypt, including the Giza pyramid complex, may originally have been built along a 64-km-long branch of the river Nile which has long since been buried beneath farmland and desert. The findings, reported in a paper in Communications Earth & Environment, could explain why these pyramids are concentrated in what is now a narrow, inhospitable desert strip.

An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to find evidence for an ongoing merger of two galaxies and their massive black holes when the universe was only 740 million years old. This marks the most distant detection of a black hole merger ever obtained and the first time that this phenomenon has been detected so early in the universe.

Scientists at the University of Oregon have discovered that colonies of gelatinous sea animals swim through the ocean in giant corkscrew shapes using coordinated jet propulsion, an unusual kind of locomotion that could inspire new designs for efficient underwater vehicles.

Researchers have developed a data-driven model to predict the dehydrogenation barriers of magnesium hydride (MgH2), a promising material for solid-state hydrogen storage. This advancement holds significant potential for enhancing hydrogen storage technologies, a crucial component in the transition to sustainable energy solutions.

Topological quantum materials are hailed as a cornerstone of future technological advancements. Yet, validating their exceptional qualities has always been a lengthy process.

When water freezes, it transitions from a liquid phase to a solid phase, resulting in a drastic change in properties like density and volume. Phase transitions in water are so common most of us probably don't even think about them, but phase transitions in novel materials or complex physical systems are an important area of study.

In an amazing phenomenon of quantum physics known as tunneling, particles appear to move faster than the speed of light. However, physicists from Darmstadt believe that the time it takes for particles to tunnel has been measured incorrectly. They propose a new method to stop the speed of quantum particles.

A new study in Physical Review Letters explores the conditions of black hole formation from dying stars, particularly the role of neutrino-induced natal kicks in the formation process.