Nature Astronomy - Supermassive black hole movies in action

There are stark differences between metals, through which electrons flow freely, and electrical insulators, in which electrons are essentially immobile. And despite the obvious difficulties in finding a way to switch back and forth from a metal to an insulato…

The neocortex of our brain is the seat of our intellect. New data suggests that mammals created it with new types of cells that they developed only after their evolutionary split from reptiles.

A study published in Nature Communications today (February 14) by an international team of scientists shows that an irreversible loss of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, and a corresponding rapid acceleration of sea level rise, may be imminent if …

A study published in Nature Communications by an international team of scientists shows that an irreversible loss of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, and a corresponding rapid acceleration of sea level rise, may be imminent if global temperature c…

Celebrate the day with these out-of-this-world Valentines.

NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft has completed the Mission Critical Design Review and is on track to meet its scheduled 2025 launch. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is managing the payload office, providing the scientif…

In this chapter we examine how our knowledge of present day Venus can inform terrestrial exoplanetary science and how exoplanetary science can inform our study of Venus. In a superficial way the contrasts in knowledge appear stark.

We consider planets composed of water ice and rock, located far from a central star. In an earlier study, computing the growth of planets by continuous accretion, we found that a large fraction of the ice evaporates upon accretion, creating a water vapor atmo…

For decades, scientists have investigated oxytocin’s effects on creating bonds between mates and with their offspring by studying monogamous prairie voles. But a new study suggests that genetically "shutting the door" to oxytocin in the rodents has little eff…

Earth has a variety of islands and bodies of water that resemble a heart. ESA takes you on a tour. Credit: ESA

Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), Chinese astronomers have detected a new galaxy, which received designation FAST J0139+4328. The newfound galaxy is isolated, has a relatively low stellar mass, and is dominated by dark ma…

Researchers hope to discover more exoplanets in the K2-415 system.

The sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 10:48 a.m. EDT on Feb. 11, 2023. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

A new study led by Dai Qing's team from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Javier Abajo from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Spain has shown a gate-tunable nanoscale negative re…

Centipedes avoid light by registering the temperature changes it induces.

By manipulating high frequency sound waves, scientists were able to create shapes ranging from a helix to a figure 8 out of particles suspended in water.

Novel propulsion ideas for moving around space seem like they’re a dime a dozen recently. Besides the typical argument between solar sails and chemical propulsion lies a potential third way – a nuclear rocket engine. While we’ve discussed them here at UT befo…

If you're still looking for the perfect – or last-minute – way to celebrate Valentine's Day, look no further than the sky above.

We are now seeing the Sun in a new light — literally.

A new theoretical framework has been given by Japanese researchers for explaining the quark-gluon plasma, which matches better with experimental data.

Scientists don't understand why the corona is so hot.