Research breakthroughs across physics, biology, climate, and the natural world.
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Signals traveling from the gut to the brain may help turn meals into lasting memories. Rats showed stronger memory activity after consuming nutritious foods, but not after drinking sweet liquids with little or no nutritional value. Blocking the vagus nerve erased this effect and made it harder for the animals to remember where food had been located. Over time, diets high in fat and sugar also weakened this memory system.
Bumblebees naturally have short lives, but extreme heat and human activity are making survival harder. Pesticides can poison bees or destroy the flowers they depend on, while habitat loss leaves them with fewer safe places to live and feed. Protecting native plants and using fewer chemicals could help these vital pollinators recover.
Spain and France have so far borne the burnt of this summer's wildfires, caused by a succession of heatwaves and prolonged dry spells.
Rice University chemists have found a new way to make neodymium, a rare-earth metal, interact with oxygen. Using a specially designed molecular structure described as a “basket,” the team positioned the atoms so they could form a bond once thought unlikely. The breakthrough produced highly reactive compounds that could eventually give chemists alternatives to iron-based molecules used in biological reactions and chemical manufacturing.
July's full Moon, know as the Buck Moon, is set to light up the night sky on Wednesday.
Dr George Dransfield says the decision to cut funding is "short-sighted".
The July full moon is expected to peak at 15:36 BST on Wednesday.
A new cooking method could make French fries crispier in less time while significantly limiting how much oil they absorb. Researchers propose combining microwave heating, which keeps oil out, with conventional frying, which provides the crunch consumers expect.
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