Ancient crocodile-like predators rewrite current knowledge of how animals adapted to the land
The first four-legged vertebrates did not grow up like tadpoles after all. That idea has shaped the story…
Physicists discover the upper limit of electrical resistance in metals
Electrical resistance is easy to notice and hard to pin down. Power lines shed energy as heat, and…
Schrödinger’s anthill: Quantum entanglement detected inside a centimeter-sized strange metal
A strange metal can fit in your hand, yet still behave in ways that seem to belong to…
574 million-year-old fossils reveal a lack of sex delayed evolution for millions of years
Fern-like bodies once covered the seafloor, some stretching as tall as a person. Yet for millions of years,…
‘Mini Universe’ built from ultracold atoms measures time without a clock
A trapped cloud of ultracold atoms, colder than almost anything found in nature, has become the setting for…
Researchers find a surprising human bias toward counterclockwise motion
A crowd does not need a leader to fall into step. In public spaces, people sort themselves into…
Basketball drills help middle schoolers improve fractions skills
A missed shot turned into a math problem, and that shift appears to have mattered. In an eight-week…
Atomic clocks may be powerful enough to detect the quantum fabric of time
Time feels familiar. It marks every moment of daily life, from the ticking of a wall clock to…
Oxford physicists create a new kind of Schrödinger’s cat
Quantum mechanics is full of states that seem to defy ordinary sense, but one of its strangest ideas…
Pigeons may use magnetic immune cells to find their way home
For centuries, homing pigeons have amazed people with their ability to return home across vast distances. Even when…
Study reveals hidden role of permafrost in ancient climate change
For decades, scientists have looked to the oceans for answers about one of Earth’s biggest climate mysteries: Why…
Ancient Velociraptor cousin glided on four wings and hunted birds
A fossil bed in northwestern China has been telling a strange story for years. Scattered through its rocks…