The sun has emitted a strong solar flare that peaked at 10:33 p.m. ET on March 28, 2023. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Particles in the atmosphere affect global climate. For example, the black carbon from burning fossil fuels absorbs and radiates light and heat. To calculate the effects of aerosols on climate, scientists rely on simulated aerosol fields. How these models represent aerosol mixing state potentially introduces large uncertainties into climate calculations. This is because the simulated aerosol optical properties—how particles absorb and scatter light—are sensitive to mixing state. Mixing state refers to how various properties are distributed across the particles in the air.

When severe weather is brewing and life-threatening hazards like heavy rain, hail or tornadoes are possible, advance warning and accurate predictions are of utmost importance. Colorado State University weather researchers have given storm forecasters a powerful new tool to improve confidence in their forecasts and potentially save lives.

With the impact of industrial robots on the U.S. labor markets in the past two decades, and an ever-increasing presence of machine-driven technology (such as artificial intelligence and ChatGPT), many employees have feared that one day robots will take their jobs.

Scientists often look to the past for clues about how Earth's landscapes might shift under a changing climate, and for insight into the migrations of human communities through time. A new study offers both by providing, for the first time, a reconstruction of prehistoric temperatures for some of the first known North American settlements.

Galaxy collisions are transformative events, largely responsible for driving the evolution of the universe. The mixing and mingling of stellar material is an incredibly dynamic process that can lead to the formation of molecular clouds populated with newly forming stars. But, a head-on collision between the two galaxies UGC 12914 (left) and UGC 12915 (right) 25–30 million years ago appears to have resulted in a different kind of structure—a bridge of highly turbulent material spanning the two galaxies. Though this intergalactic bridge is teeming with star-forming material, its turbulent...

The entire scientific publishing world is currently undergoing a massive stress test of quantity vs. quality, open access (free) vs. institutional subscriptions (paywall), and how to best judge the integrity of a publication.

Cape Cod's salt marshes are as iconic as they are important. These beautiful, low-lying wetlands are some of the most biologically productive ecosystems on Earth. They play an outsized role in nitrogen cycling, act as carbon sinks, protect coastal development from storm surge, and provide critical habitats and nurseries for many fish, shellfish, and coastal birds.

The first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner space capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) will take place in July, Boeing and NASA officials said Wednesday.

The digestive tract of fruit flies remodels itself to accommodate beneficial microbiome species and maintain long-term stability of the gut environment, according to new research led by William Ludington and Allan Spradling of the Carnegie Institution for Science. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

The McCloud River redband trout, or O. mykiss calisulat, is newly identified as its own distinct subspecies of rainbow trout in a study from the University of California, Davis. It is the first newly identified subspecies of Pacific trout since 2008 and the youngest rainbow trout subspecies by more than 100 years.

A new study from the University of Delaware refutes a long-held talking point: the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy does not seem to have a negative impact on jobs or income.

On Earth, wind can transport particles of dust and debris across the planet, with sand from the Sahara ending up in the Caribbean or volcanic ash from Iceland being deposited in Greenland. Wind can also have a big impact on the ecology and environment of a galaxy, just like on Earth, but on much larger and more dramatic scales.

An ancient biological enzyme known as nickel-iron hydrogenase may play a key role in producing hydrogen for a renewables-based energy economy, researchers have found. Careful study of the enzyme has led chemists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to design a synthetic molecule that mimics the hydrogen gas-producing chemical reaction performed by the enzyme.

Concerned that its two pandas are slow to breed, Copenhagen Zoo has begun a new strategy to encourage mating—giving the prospective couple more time to get to know each other.

In a major survey of Swiss rivers and streams, more than 50 different fish species were recorded. For the first time, more than one species was also found in the case of smaller types of fish such as the bullhead. In Progetto Fiumi, riverine fish were surveyed using standardized methods and both morphological and genetic characteristics were analyzed. Particularly high diversity was seen in large lowland rivers—where, however, near-natural reaches are rare.

A recent study led by University of Vienna psychologists has shed light on the impact of viewers' movements and positioning when looking at art. By tracking participants' movements, the researchers found that these movements could be clustered into four distinct groups, each associated with different art experiences. The study highlights the importance of considering physical engagement and bodily experience in the components of emotional and cognitive experiences of artworks.

Humans and other vertebrates (like mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians) have complex, multi-faceted immune systems that protect us from a constant barrage of bugs and other nasties. But what about insects and other invertebrates?

Research by the Milner Center for Evolution at the University of Bath, U.K., along with colleagues at Universities of Oxford and Aberdeen, finds that trust in scientists has hugely increased overall since the COVID-19 pandemic, but that attitudes have also become more polarized. The study also found that people were more likely to take the COVID-19 vaccine if their trust in the science had increased.

Membrane separation technology has become one of the most effective methods for water treatment, owing to its advantages of high separation efficiency, convenient operation and low-energy consumption. The membranes prepared from graphene oxide (GO) have received extensive attention for their high water permeability which is attributable to rapid water transport in the atomically smooth sp2 regions (non-oxidized regions) of their membrane channels.

A large portion of the nearly 200 million tons of single-use plastic produced globally ends up discarded as waste. The eventual breakdown of this plastic into microplastics—0.1–1000 µm-sized particles—is a cause for concern. Humans are exposed to microplastics not only through food consumption but also via inhalation, and their occurrence in the bloodstream and organs has already been documented.

A landmark study of health and well-being promotion in Irish workplaces is published today (March 29), to reveal the first national mental health picture of the impact of the pandemic across Irish workplaces.

As our bodies and minds continue to adjust to the recent time change, debates continue around society about whether to make daylight saving time a permanent fixture, eliminate it or stay with the current semi-annual clock adjustment.

If you've stayed at a brand-name hotel or eaten at a fast food restaurant recently, it's more likely than not that you've supported a franchised company. Franchising is a distribution strategy where a larger company, the franchisor, licenses the rights to its brand, products, and procedures to a smaller establishment, the franchisee, in return for an initial fee and ongoing share of sales revenues.

Elections are nail-biting affairs for several reasons, including their seeming lack of predictability. Forecasts of results delivered with great confidence before balloting regularly get upended.