Oct 24th, 2025 - Journal of Experimental Biology , was shot at Venomworld in Paris, a facility where venom is harvested for medical use. Researchers crafted artificial prey from a muscle-like medical gel, then tempted the snakes to attack while recording from multiple angles. "I flinched a couple of times," Vipers were the quickest, biting their target in about 0.1 seconds. That's faster than a human can blink. When their aim faltered, they simply re-angled and bit again. Elapids, including the rough-scaled death adder and Cape coral snake, closed the distance first, then delivered quick, repeated bites to ... [Read More]

Oct 24th, 2025 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . T iming may, ultimately, be everything. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. It seems a rather odd coincidence that in the 4.6 billion years since Earth formed, humans have emerged now. For us to be here, first life itself had to get started, of course, and then develop more complexity. Then enough oxygen had to accumulate in the atmosphere. And habitability had to continue for a further 2 billion years or so while complex animals evolved. But here we are, now, thinking about such things, on a world that seems uniquely hospitable to ... [Read More]

Oct 23rd, 2025 - A father of four tragically lost his life after he was attacked and killed by sharks. The father was killed by a shark species that scientists previously believed to be harmless, adding shock and confusion to the already daunting situation. Now, experts are trying to uncover the truth of what happened. Father Of Four Killed By Surprising Shark Species Barak Tzach was just enjoying a solo snorkel off the coast of Israel. I am sure when the father jumped into the water this past April, he never imagined it would be for the last time. Video footage shows the father of four being dragged out to ... [Read More]

Oct 23rd, 2025 - Since the Ice Age, elkhorn and staghorn corals off Florida's southern coast have been stacking their skeletons into elaborate, branching homes for parrotfish, eels and octopuses. "They've been the most important reef builders on these reefs for 10,000 years," said Ross Cunning, a coral biologist with Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. But researchers are using stark, new language to describe the status of the two species in Florida: functionally extinct. "The numbers of individuals of these species that remain are now so low that they cannot perform their ecological functions in any meaningful way," ... [Read More]

Oct 23rd, 2025 - Excavations of the still-buried portion of the palatial building may begin as early as next year and could unearth new frescoes On a map, Pompeii's Villa of the Mysteries looks like an afterthought—a small, distant square, as far away as possible from the ancient city's amphitheatre, where the action was. But the suburban villa, which dates to the second century BC, is the red-hot centre for many who make the pilgrimage here. Its room of celebrated frescoes contains some of the best-known and best-preserved examples of Ancient Roman art. And its palatial sprawl of 3,700 sq. m is vivid ... [Read More]

Oct 23rd, 2025 - A test deployed in many fertility clinics to assess the viability of embryos for use in IVF is likely to overestimate the number of embryos with abnormalities, suggests a study published today. Using a new technique for imaging embryos in real time, a team led by scientists at the Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research, University of Cambridge, showed that abnormalities can arise at a later stage of embryo development than previously thought. This means that the tests used in some clinics may be finding errors in cells that will go on to develop into the placenta – and abnormalities in ... [Read More]

Oct 22nd, 2025 - The nature of gravity — and whether it can be reconciled with quantum mechanics — is one of the biggest mysteries in physics. Most researchers think that at a fundamental level, all phenomena follow the principles of quantum physics, but those principles do not seem to be compatible with the accepted theory of gravity. For years, researchers have been proposing experiments to show whether gravity could produce a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Now, two theoretical physicists have complicated the picture by putting forward a controversial, and seemingly counterintuitive ... [Read More]

Oct 22nd, 2025 - Google LLC's quantum division today  released research showing that its Willow quantum chip can provide elegant and accurate simulations about the physical properties of molecules much faster than classical computers. Furthermore, the algorithm the team developed is verifiable, which means that the same algorithm can be run on a similarly powerful computer and get the same answer. Google Quantum AI Principal Scientist ‪Vadim Smelyanskiy said this new algorithm offers "a valuable tool to understand the nature of quantum systems from molecules, to magnets, to potentially black ... [Read More]