Category: Science and Nature

  • The best apps for nature lovers – from identifying birdsong to tracking lions

    The best apps for nature lovers – from identifying birdsong to tracking lions

    With a phone at your fingertips, the world is your oyster, or hoopoe, or oak tree. It’s now possible to identify everything from mystery animal tracks to elusive birdsong via an app. Beyond that, your sightings could contribute valuable information to scientific studies and conservation efforts around the globe. While phones often get the blame…

  • The Nature Conservancy Adds Four New Trustees to Help Guide its Work in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

    The Nature Conservancy Adds Four New Trustees to Help Guide its Work in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

    MINNEAPOLIS—The Nature Conservancy announced today that it has added four new trustees—Catherine Gunsbury, Jessica Hellmann, George Hicks and William Rahr—to its Board of Trustees overseeing the organization’s work in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. In addition to the new trustees, Jay Kim, executive vice president & general counsel and chief administrative officer of Heartland HTLF…

  • Superlensing enables radio communication and imaging underwater

    Superlensing enables radio communication and imaging underwater

    Abstract Wireless radio communications provide a backbone to our technological civilization. However, radio communications are widely believed to be impossible in many situations where radios are surrounded by conductive media, such as underwater or underground, thus making ocean exploration difficult and creating well-known mine safety problems. In addition, since most imaging techniques rely on electromagnetic…

  • Screening of genes interacting with high myopia and neuropsychiatric disorders

    Screening of genes interacting with high myopia and neuropsychiatric disorders

    Abstract Clinical studies have demonstrated an association between high myopia (HM) and neuropsychiatric disorders; however, the underlying mechanism of the association is not clear. We used whole exome sequencing (WES) in combination with the Genetic Variants Classification Criteria and Guidelines published by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) and bioinformatics analysis to clarify the…

  • A human-machine collaborative approach measures economic development using satellite imagery

    A human-machine collaborative approach measures economic development using satellite imagery

    Abstract Machine learning approaches using satellite imagery are providing accessible ways to infer socioeconomic measures without visiting a region. However, many algorithms require integration of ground-truth data, while regional data are scarce or even absent in many countries. Here we present our human-machine collaborative model which predicts grid-level economic development using publicly available satellite imagery…

  • How robots can learn to follow a moral code

    How robots can learn to follow a moral code

    Credit: Totto Renna A person with a burning need to know whether the video game Doom is compatible with the values taught in the Bible might once have had to spend days studying the two cultural artefacts and debating the question with their peers. Now, there’s an easier way: they can ask AI Jesus. The…

  • Daily briefing: A unique layer of molten rock envelops Mars’s core

    Daily briefing: A unique layer of molten rock envelops Mars’s core

    Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. Mars’s liquid-metal core seems to be smaller than previous studies suggested (artist’s impression).Credit: Claus Lunau/Science Photo Library Mars contains surprise layer of molten rock In the interior of Mars, a layer of molten rock envelops the…

  • The Isala project’s empowered new insights into the vaginal microbiome and women’s health

    The Isala project’s empowered new insights into the vaginal microbiome and women’s health

    Empowering women through citizen science, from using self-collected vaginal samples to participant input on research questions, we decoded nuances in the composition of the vaginal microbiota — thereby linking female health and lifestyle to vaginal microbiota diversity. We crafted a unique dataset that should inspire new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities. This is a preview of…

  • Psychedelic science and Indigenous shamanism: an urgent dialogue

    The global expansion of the use of ayahuasca and other Indigenous medicines — alongside the rise of psychedelic therapies both covertly and overtly — is rooted in contact with Indigenous cultures and peoples. The surfacing of new ways of using forest medicines in urban areas has awakened diverse interests in the scientific community and the…

  • A citizen-science-enabled catalogue of the vaginal microbiome and associated factors

    A citizen-science-enabled catalogue of the vaginal microbiome and associated factors

    Abstract Understanding the composition and function of the vaginal microbiome is crucial for reproductive and overall health. Here we established the Isala citizen-science project to analyse the vaginal microbiomes of 3,345 women in Belgium (18–98 years) through self-sampling, 16S amplicon sequencing and extensive questionnaires. The overall vaginal microbiome composition was strongly tied to age, childbirth and…