The springtime emergence of vast swarms of cicadas can be explained by a mathematical model of collective decision-making with similarities to models describing stock market crashes.

Trees are struggling to sequester heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in warmer, drier climates, meaning that they may no longer serve as a solution for offsetting humanity's carbon footprint as the planet continues to warm, according to a new study.

A collaborative team of researchers has conducted first-of-its kind research into how global climate change affects African elephants. The work shows that older elephants will have markedly decreased chances of survival, which will not only drastically reduce the species' overall ability to weather the changing climate but will send ripple effects throughout the surrounding landscape. The team has also modeled possible mitigation scenarios.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Now a new study has found exposure to this invisible, odorless gas is also linked to an increased risk of stroke. The study, which examined exposures in middle age to older female participants, found an increased risk of stroke among those exposed to high and even moderate concentrations of the gas compared to those exposed to the lowest concentrations. The study does not prove that exposure to radon causes stroke; it only shows an association.

Did the ancient Greeks and Romans experience Alzheimer's? Medical texts from 2,500 years ago rarely mention severe memory loss, suggesting today's widespread dementia stems from modern environments and lifestyles, a new analysis shows.

Geoscientists have uncovered a missing link in the enigmatic story of how the continents developed- - a revised origin story that doesn't require the start of plate tectonics or any external factor to explain their formation. Instead, the findings rely solely on internal geological forces that occurred within oceanic plateaus that formed during the first few hundred million years of Earth's history.

A new study has analyzed plant spore dispersion at its source, where rain droplets shake flexible leaves to initially disperse pathogens.

Rickets ran rife in children following the Industrial Revolution, but new research has found factory work and polluted cities aren't entirely to blame for the period's vitamin D deficiencies.

A research group has discovered a novel RNA viral genome from microbes inhabiting a high-temperature acidic hot spring. Their study shows that RNA viruses can live in high-temperature environments (70-80 degrees Celsius), where no RNA viruses have been observed before. In addition to the two known RNA virus kingdoms, a third kingdom may exist.

Floating macroalgal acts as a raft that provides habitat for a diverse array of juvenile oceanic fish a new study has found. The study conducted in the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area, Western Australia, revealed that fish were more abundant around macroalgal rafts than in open water, with eleven species of juvenile fishes associated with Sargassum rafts, and one species of both juveniles and adults.

New research has estimated that 1454 avoidable deaths (one person every five days) occurred in Australian capital cities in the past 20 years because of fine particle air pollution from extreme events such as bushfires and dust storms, wood-heater smoke or industrial accidents.

New research examines the causes of the record-breaking ocean temperatures witnessed in 2023.

Researchers have concluded that the methane uptake in dry landscapes exceeds methane emissions from wet areas across the ice-free part of Greenland. The results of the new study contribute with important knowledge for climate models. The researchers are now investigating whether the same finding applies to other polar regions.

A team of researchers has achieved a major breakthrough in genome editing technology. They've developed a cutting-edge method that combines the power of designer-recombinases with programmable DNA-binding domains to create precise and adaptable genome editing tools.

A new type of E. coli that is both highly infectious and resistant to some antibiotics has been discovered. The newly identified mutation of antibiotic-resistant E. coli is described in a new article. The team suggests that some existing antibiotics called carbapenems will be ineffective against the bacteria.

Green roofs have become increasingly popular thanks to their benefits related to climate adaptation, mitigation, and urban biodiversity management. But, in the U.S., green roofs are typically planted with non-native plants in sterile soils, and their effectiveness declines over time. A new study finds that managing green roof soil microbes boosts healthy urban soil development, which is a methodology that could be applied to support climate resilience in cities.

Insect-killing bacteria typically release toxins to slay their hosts. The bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens, for example, pumps insect larvae full of the lethal 'Makes caterpillars floppy 1' (Mcf1) toxin, leading them to first become droopy and then dead. However, it has so far been a mystery how Mcf1 unfolds its devastating effect. Researchers successfully used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and biochemical assays to characterize the first-ever Mcf1 structure, allowing them to propose a molecular mechanism of the toxin's action. Understanding how bacterial toxins perform their deadly task in such detail is very useful for engineering novel biopesticides, thereby reducing the use of barely specific chemical agents with harmful side effects for the ecosystem.

Antimicrobial resistance is an urgent and growing global crisis. Researchers are exploring phages, viruses that infect bacteria, as a possible solution. In the new study, researchers successfully modified DNA from four types of phages to kill a deadly pathogen. The process can also be used to produce more phage variants for further exploration.

As sea otters recolonize a California estuary, they are restoring its degraded geology by keeping populations of overgrazing marsh crabs in check, a new study shows. The crabs' appetite for plant roots, and their tunneling behavior had caused many of the estuary's marshes and creekbanks to erode and collapse in the otters' absence. Today, erosion has slowed by up to 90% in areas with large otter populations and marshes and streambeds are restabilizing.

Archaeologists have debated whether Neanderthals or modern humans made stone tools that are found at sites across northern Europe and date from about 40,000 years ago. A new excavation at one site in Germany turned up 45,000-year-old bone fragments that, when analyzed for mitochondrial DNA, proved to be from Homo sapiens. This is the earliest evidence that modern humans overlapped with Neanderthals in northwest Europe, thousands of years before Neanderthals went extinct.