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Research Highlights
Two places at once: superposed crystal could test whether gravity obeys quantum laws
Method could probe whether a key tenet of quantum mechanics applies to gravity, which has so far resisted quantum theory.
No hearing aids needed: bats’ ears stay keen well into old age
Elderly big brown bats showed little sign of age-related degradation in the inner ear.
Don’t blame search engines for sending users to unreliable sites
Analysis of billions of pages of results from searches using the Bing algorithm suggests that reliable sites appear in search results 19 to 45 times more often than do sites with low-quality content.
China’s thriving forests are stockpiling vast amounts of carbon
Satellite observations validate national reports on forest coverage and carbon storage.
Naked mole rats vanquish genetic ghosts — and achieve long life
Comparison of the hairless animals’ genomes with those of several other mammals shows low activity of certain sequences.
The seas are on the rise — and that surge is accelerating
Sea-surface data show that the average sea-level rise in 2023 was more than double that in 1993.
The midlife crisis is not universal
Study of thousands of people in rural communities shows that many do not experience a slump in well-being during their forties and fifties.
Hidden wonders: laser data reveal a dense network of ancient Maya settlements
Survey pinpoints pyramids, rural settlements and a large city in an unstudied stretch of Mexico.
Atomic smash-ups hold promise of record-breaking elements
Laboratory collisions that create the superheavy element livermorium could help scientists to discover new elements.
Why a fortunate few don’t get ill after HIV infection
Immune-system responses help to explain why some people with high viral loads stay healthy.
This plankton balloons in size to soar upwards through the water
A single-celled alga takes water into a bladder, allowing it to migrate to the sea’s sunlit surface zone.
The speed of smell is faster than expected
Humans can distinguish between sequences of odours that are presented only 60 milliseconds apart.
Giant Turkish quake shifted the ground hundreds of kilometres away
The deadly earthquake led to unexpectedly large deformations some 700 kilometres from the epicentre.
Fabric that can switch from warming black to cooling white — and back again
Tent made from the smart material can maintain a comfortable interior for external temperatures of 14–33 °C.
Moonstruck: tropical mammals take their cues from lunar cycles
A survey found that some mammals are ‘lunar phobic’ and a select few are more active when the Moon shines bright.
Mumps is rising in some nations — but a fresh dose of vaccine might help
Modelling of an outbreak at a US university suggests that a nimble vaccination campaign can limit transmission.
Kids in the classroom flow like water vapour
Young children in the playground behave like molecules in a gas, but kids undergo a phase change in a more structured setting.
Two comb jellies fuse their bodies and then act as one
The easy synchronization suggests that an individual jelly does not distinguish its tissues from those of others.
Sewage lurks in coastal waters — often unnoticed by widely used test
Global survey finds human faecal contamination in at least one sample from all 18 cities tested.
Evidence of dead people posed on dead horses found in ancient tomb
A royal burial site linked to the fearsome Scythian equestrian culture contains evidence of ‘spectral riders’ described in Classical account.
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