Brain scans suggest that some autistic people have strong connections between their brain regions, while for others, this activity is weak
Puwadol Jaturawutthichai/Alamy
Some autistic people seem to have unusually strong connections between different regions of their brain, while others have weakened links. These two connectivity patterns appear to be associated with different mechanisms within the brain, adding to the growing evidence that there are several kinds of autism that are at least somewhat distinct from each other.
Birds can see a large portion of the world around them, but when they fly in flocks, they pay attention only to birds beside them or ahead of them. They do not align their movements with birds behind them. That behavior appears to conflict with Newton's third law, the famous action and reaction principle often summarized as "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
PFAS, widely known as "forever chemicals," are among the most stubborn pollutants scientists face today. Because these compounds are extraordinarily stable, they can remain in water supplies, ecosystems, and even the human body for decades. Their persistence has made PFAS contamination a growing environmental and public health concern around the world.
A new study from the SETI Institute suggests that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence may be facing an unexpected challenge. The same stellar activity that shapes conditions around distant planets could also make alien radio signals much harder to detect.
Tiny droplets hiding in plain sight in our cells could explain how life got started
Sam Falconer
In every cell of your body, there are mysterious speckles. You need a microscope to see them, but if you peer closely, you will see lots of tiny dots: some sitting still, some moving around as if swept along in invisible currents.
A tightly compressed bundle of office staples can behave in a surprising way. Even though it is made of many separate pieces, the tangled mass can be difficult to pull apart and can act almost like a single solid object.
Researchers at the University of Oxford have created a new type of quantum superposition, a phenomenon often associated with the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment. Unlike previous versions, these newly demonstrated states are built from highly nonclassical quantum components. The achievement could help advance quantum computing beyond traditional binary systems, improve sensing technologies, and provide new insights into the foundations of quantum physics.
Converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into methanol is widely viewed as a promising way to recycle carbon resources. However, scientists have long faced a difficult challenge when trying to improve the process.
Massive stars produce light and heat through nuclear fusion, a process that releases enormous amounts of energy from their cores. Eventually, however, the largest stars run out of fuel. Once that happens, the outward pressure generated by radiation is no longer strong enough to resist gravity. The star begins collapsing under its own weight, theoretically continuing until all of its mass is compressed into a single point known as a singularity.
Astronomers have long suspected that a planet's mass and its rotation speed are linked. In our own Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn provide striking examples. Despite their enormous size, both complete a full rotation in about 10 hours and account for a large share of the Solar System's total rotational energy.
