The ozone layer over Antarctica, damaged by air pollution decades ago, has fortunately been recovering in recent years. Scientists have observed gradual ozone restoration since the 2000s, but now, one study all but confirms that this positive trend is a result of reduced ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere. The study, recently published in Nature, reveals a bright spot in the current climate outlook. Testing simulations based on different climate factors, researchers seemingly confirmed ...read more

The affects of a meteorite’s impact should not be underestimated. The discovery of the world’s oldest known crater caused by a meteorite could change how we think about the origins of life on Earth as well as how the planet was shaped.A team of Curtin University researchers found the crater while investigating rock layers in the North Pole Dome in western Australia. There they found signs that a major meteorite impact affected the area 3.5 billion years ago, the team reported in the journal ...read more

If you’re a dog lover and owner, you probably share a lot with your dog. You may share your thoughts about the day, share in the pleasure of a good, long walk, or even share a bed. Along with that, you may also share an obesity gene if you own a lab. A new study published in Science found that British Labrador retrievers have multiple genes related to canine obesity, of which are also associated with human obesity. Obesity Genes and Brain PathwaysResearchers from the University of Cambridge ...read more

Ice may lie an inch or so below the Moon’s surface in many more regions than previously thought — which has major implications for longer-term lunar exploration or even habitation.An India-led project found that differences in the Moon’s surface temperature vary widely, depending on location (poles versus equator), orientation (facing the Sun or not), and angle (diagonal crater walls versus flat surfaces). The lunar surface measurements were taken in 2023 by the Indian Chandrayaan-3 missio ...read more

Every day, around 29 million people in the U.S. take a low dose of aspirin as a blood thinner to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes. Aspirin prevents blood clots by stopping thrombocytes, also called platelets, from clumping together. Current research suggests aspirin may have another pharmacological benefit — the prevention of cancer progression.Previous studies have shown that people taking low-dose aspirin had lower chances of metastasis in breast, ...read more

We all get old. It’s a given. And the longer we live, the more likely we are to experience the decline and deficits of aging. But is there a way to slow down the aging process? Scientists think there may be, and they’ve taken some promising steps in that direction. The Complexities of Aging Sounds like a simple question, right? But like a lot of questions, it’s more complex than you might think. Aging is a complex process that scientists are just beginning to understand, explains Kenneth ...read more

By the time we notice signs of cognitive decline due to aging, it’s often too late to effectively treat it. But taking a look at the brain during the “critical window” between the ages of 40 and 59 could provide a chance to prevent or slow conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The study suggests that patients in that “window” undergo functional MRI (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). Those imaging tests c ...read more

Archaeologists have dug up a collection of mass-produced bone tools, the earliest ever discovered, suggesting that hominins systematically made tools out of bone around 1 million years earlier than previously thought. Described in a Nature study, the collection contains 27 fossilized tools that were fashioned around 1.5 million years ago. According to the archaeologists, this tool “factory” indicates that hominins exhibited advanced abstract thought early on in their history.“The tools sho ...read more

Tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets are sitting around, just waiting to be translated. It’s not an easy job; the ancient language is based on wedge-shaped pictograms and includes more than 1,000 unique characters that vary by era, geography, and individual writer.But decoding the pictograms could be a culturally and historically significant task. Cuneiform arose about 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq. It is one of four known pristine languages — writing systems with no ...read more

Earthquakes and secondary disasters like landslides and tsunamis can devastate regions, leaving lasting impacts for years. Beyond the immediate harm to individuals and infrastructure, these events disrupt essential services, alter landscapes, and place a significant economic burden on affected areas.Major earthquakes in the last two decades, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Japan earthquake, and the 2023 Turkey - Syria earthquake, have highlighted the ...read more