181209510
submission
alternative_right writes:
What do plants, toads, and mushrooms have in common? They can all produce psychedelic substances â" and now their powers have been combined in one plant, like a trippier Captain Planet.
In a wild first, scientists have taken the genes these organisms use to make five natural psychedelics and introduced them into a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana), which then produced all five compounds simultaneously.
181177964
submission
alternative_right writes:
Scientists have created a microscopic QR code so tiny it can only be seen with an electron microscope—smaller than most bacteria and now officially a world record. But this isn’t just about size; it’s about durability. By engraving data into ultra-stable ceramic materials, the team has opened the door to storing information that could last for centuries or even millennia without needing power or maintenance.
181104098
submission
alternative_right writes:
Regular ejaculation — for example, by masturbation — produces higher quality sperm, a finding that has implications for fertility science and assisted reproductive technologies, according to a comprehensive new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
It’s well-established that sperm quality in many animals can deteriorate as males age, but less is known about how the age of sperm cells independently impacts reproductive outcomes. To fill in this gap, scientists co-led by Krish Sanghvi and Rebecca Dean of the University of Oxford conducted a meta-analysis of more than 115 studies about human sperm storage that cumulatively involved nearly 55,000 men, as well as 56 studies of 30 non-human species.
181097064
submission
alternative_right writes:
Astronomers have an answer for a long-running mystery in astrophysics: why is the growth of supermassive black holes so much lower today than in the past? A study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other X-ray telescopes found that supermassive black holes are unable to consume material as rapidly as they did in the distant past. The results appeared in the December 2025 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
181079332
submission
alternative_right writes:
A security breach to Los Angeles Metro‘s internal computer systems this week left commuters unable to pay for rides or see arriving train times.
Agency officials confirmed Thursday that a “security concern” triggered the shutdown of several internal systems and the restriction of access to its administrative computer network.
The action did not affect train or bus operations, and officials insisted rider safety and schedules remained intact.
181077898
submission
alternative_right writes:
As human-caused climate change continues to raise temperatures across the globe, understanding how birds regulate their temperature is vital for their conservation. But how much heat birds emit—an invisible spectrum of radiation known as mid-infrared—has never been studied, until now.
181068906
submission
alternative_right writes:
In a video posted to X on March 11, Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), said that American forces had at the time hit more than 5,500 targets inside Iran. Cooper credited the success of at least part of those operations to advanced AI tools. “Humans will always make final decisions on what to shoot and what not to shoot and when to shoot. But advanced AI tools can turn processes that used to take hours and sometimes even days into seconds,” he said. The statement offered rare insight into how AI is used in modern warfare.
181036198
submission
alternative_right writes:
The utopia didn't last long. Early tech enthusiasts quickly realized how to monetize this collective consciousness by developing search engines, algorithms and collecting data.
"We see this in the ideology of early Facebook. The intention was very much like: 'Let me grab all of this data without permission and use it to build something that I can monetize'," says Mejias.
"We've moved from an age of connection to an age of extraction," Turner adds. "Digital media have become mining industries. We are now like oil or coal â" embedded in a social ground that corporations extract from and sell back to us as products and advertising."
180996198
submission
alternative_right writes:
Lithium dendrites, i.e. tiny crystalline thorns that grow off of lithium-ion battery anodes during charging, have been a persistent challenge for the world's most widely used form of energy storage. "Dendrites can penetrate the battery's separator, causing catastrophic short circuits and safety hazards," said Qing Ai, a former research scientist at Rice University who is a first author on a new study published in Science that reports for the first time exactly how these tricky structures behave inside batteries. "Despite decades of study, the fundamental nanomechanical properties of lithium dendrites remained a mystery—until now."
180985770
submission
alternative_right writes:
Authorities in Moscow have introduced a "whitelist" system that allows access only to selected websites during ongoing mobile internet outages, pro-government outlet Kommersant reported on March 13, citing unnamed sources.
Pro-government outlet Moscow-24 reported a surge in demand for alternative communication devices, including pagers, walkie-talkies, and landline phones.
Sales of printed atlases and travel guides have also increased. Between March 6 and March 10, purchases reportedly rose by 48% compared with the previous week.
180985724
submission
alternative_right writes:
Traditional shelters and trenches no longer offer protection in this war, he said: "The entire infantry — both Ukrainian and enemy soldiers — are digging into underground tunnels to remain out of reach of attack of the drones."
To spot traces of the enemy, he said, the brigade members carefully "read signs on the ground from the sky." They hunt for subtle clues: trash left on the streets of abandoned villages, freshly churned earth in gardens, a small pile of wood in the middle of a yard.
As soon as his brigade discovers a Russian hideout, combat drones are sent there. "Russia does the same thing," Thunder said. "Whoever has the best hideouts and the upper hand with drones dominates."
180937684
submission
alternative_right writes:
By simulating the life cycle of a minimal bacterial cell—from DNA replication to protein translation to metabolism and cell division—scientists have opened a new frontier of computer vision into the essential processes of life.
180929508
submission
alternative_right writes:
A new study found that people who use smartphones during bathroom visits had a 46% higher risk of hemorrhoids compared to those who don’t.
180924326
submission
alternative_right writes:
Choosing a Tinder profile picture may feel like a free, personal and creative act. But how true is that? A new study from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) shows that, far from being unique, most users follow one of a small number of visual strategies. The research, led by Alejandro García Alamán, a member of the CIRCLE Lab and instructor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, identifies nine standardized profile types that recur systematically on these platforms.
180896612
submission
alternative_right writes:
According to a study of 38 adult human brains donated to science, superagers – people who retain exceptional memory as they age – have roughly twice as many immature neurons as their peers who age more typically.
Moreover, people with Alzheimer's disease show a marked reduction in neurogenesis compared to a normal baseline.
