Feb 19th, 2026 - Researchers have controlled a temporary stable phase in the system, offering a possible avenue for preserving quantum information Reading Time: 3 minutes In a landmark achievement, Chinese scientists have directly observed and manipulated prethermalisation – a critical transitional state in quantum systems – using the 78-qubit "Chuang-tzu 2.0" superconducting processor . This allows researchers to "tune" the speed of quantum decoherence, providing a vital tool for managing complex quantum environments. If a quantum system is disturbed, it naturally returns to a balanced state. ... [Read More]

Feb 19th, 2026 - By turning so-called "motion artefacts" into valuable data, researchers reveal that the natural dynamics of loose garments may hold more predictive power than tightly strapped sensors. Study: Human motion recognition and prediction using loose cloth Most studies require sensors to be firmly attached to the body, but this approach has several disadvantages. A recent paper published in Nature Communications explores the use of sensor-embedded, loose-fitting clothing for human motion analysis. The rise of smart textiles in movement tracking The wearable sensor market is projected to reach USD ... [Read More]

Feb 18th, 2026 - CLEVELAND, Ohio — A newly discovered Lake Erie shipwreck has been confirmed as the Clough, a 125-foot stone-hauling vessel built in Lorain in 1867 that sank just one year later during the height of Great Lakes commerce. Its identification, announced Wednesday by the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, follows multiple site visits, detailed mapping and extensive historical research by the museum and the Cleveland Underwater Explorers, a nonprofit dive group that has worked since 2001 to locate and document shipwrecks in Lake Erie. The Clough sank Sept. 15, 1868, while ... [Read More]

Feb 18th, 2026 - In a forest clearing outside Ely, Minn., two scientists huddle over a moose calf as it dozes in the snow. The female calf is only nine months old but already weighs almost 500 pounds. It's been sedated by a tranquilizer dart just long enough for biologist Morgan Swingen and veterinarian Mary Wood to do a physical exam and slip a tracking collar around its neck. Soon, the calf rises and bounds through the snow to catch up with her mother. She will wear that collar for up to three years, said Swingen, a wildlife biologist with an inter-tribal natural resource agency called the 1854 Treaty ... [Read More]

Feb 18th, 2026 - By In March 2020, construction crews in Córdoba, Spain, were preparing the ground for an expansion of the Cordoba Provincial Hospital's medical consulting room. What they uncovered was anything but routine: a small, cube-shaped bone, roughly 10 centimeters across, buried in the earth. Archaeologists quickly realized it might be one of the most extraordinary ancient finds in years — a foot bone from one of Hannibal 's legendary war elephants, possibly linked to one of history's most famous military campaigns. The ancient bone, technically a carpal bone from an elephant's foot, ... [Read More]

Feb 18th, 2026 - Reading time 2 minutes Sharks prowl nearly every marine ecosystem on Earth—except one. For decades, scientists assumed the waters around Antarctica were simply too cold to sustain these predators, but a surprise sighting is challenging that belief. Scientists with the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, based in Western Australia, were operating an undersea camera off the South Shetland Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula when a southern sleeper shark glided into view. The specimen, filmed in January 2025, was spotted more than 1,600 feet (490 meters) beneath the sea surface. At ... [Read More]

Feb 18th, 2026 - Spain isn't the first place you think of when you think of elephants. So, when researchers pulled a 10-centimeter elephant carpal bone from an Iron Age dig site at Colina de los Quemados, they figured it probably wasn't someone's pet. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports Radiocarbon dating places the animal between the late 4th and early 3rd century BCE, around the same era as Hannibal's march of his army and 37 elephants from Carthage across the Alps to wage war against the Roman Republic in 218 BCE. Evidence of Hannibal's elephants has appeared in military lore, historical, if ... [Read More]

Feb 18th, 2026 - Report records 65 unprovoked attacks – but annual drowning deaths in US alone exceed 4,000 The number of people killed or bitten by sharks in unprovoked attacks globally increased significantly in 2025, a report published on Wednesday has found, while a single Florida county maintained its crown as the so-called shark bite capital of the world. The International Shark Attack File , compiled by the Florida Program for Shark Research at the University of Florida, recorded 65 unprovoked attacks worldwide, up from 47 during 2024, and an increase on the five-year average of 61. The report ... [Read More]