Stalagmites reveal devastating droughts that helped spur Maya breakdown
Series of droughts chronicled in cave rocks likely pushed civilization to breaking point
River turbulence can push toxic pollutants into the air
Toxic pollutants from a Southern California river are infiltrating the air. Polluted water surging along a turbulent section of the Tijuana River in San Diego can release toxic gases, including …
Central Asia’s last stable glaciers just started to collapse
Too little snowfall is now also shaking the foundations of some of the world’s most resilient ‘water towers’, a new study led by the Pellicciotti group at the Institute of …
Just 1 minute of vigorous exercise a day could add years to your life
Briefly walking up a steep hill counts as exercise Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy If you don’t exercise for the sake of exercising, doing five or six vigorous activities, each lasting just …
Legal adviser warns NIH not to kill 900 grants a second time
Advice follows Supreme Court ruling that threatened previously restored grants, but reprieve may be brief
A newborn planet munches on gas and dust surrounding its host star
In a first, astronomers imaged a baby planet within a gap in the disk of material around a star, confirming predictions about how rings form.
A simple metal could solve the world’s plastic recycling problem
The future of plastic recycling may soon get much less complicated, frustrating and tedious. In a new study, Northwestern University chemists have introduced a new plastic upcycling process that can …
Steroids are everywhere on social media – but how dangerous are they?
South_agency/Getty Images If you have swiped through fitness-related content on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok lately, chances are that an influencer on your feed has taken steroids. A recent global meta-study …
Human ancestors braved England’s ice-covered northlands 440,000 years ago
How exactly ancient toolmakers survived the harsh conditions remains a mystery
A bioengineered protein may someday treat carbon monoxide poisoning
An antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning could come from bacteria. Mice treated with a tweaked version of a bacterial protein rapidly cleared carbon monoxide from their blood, safely eliminating it …