ScienceDaily: Top Science News

Astronomers have discovered a strange new type of star covered in the by-product of helium burning. It is possible that the stars might have been formed by a rare stellar merger event.

Cutting-edge research has observed time crystals in a system that is not isolated from its ambient environment. This major achievement brings scientists one step closer to developing time crystals for use in real-world applications.

As ice sheets began melting at the end of the last ice age, a series of cataclysmic floods called the Missoula megafloods scoured the landscape of eastern Washington, carving long, deep channels and towering cliffs through an area now known as the Channeled Scablands. They were among the largest known floods in Earth's history, and geologists struggling to reconstruct them have now identified a crucial factor governing their flows. A new study shows how the changing weight of the ice sheets would have caused the entire landscape to tilt, changing the course of the megafloods.

A new study looking at the presence of pharmaceuticals in the world's rivers found concentrations at potentially toxic levels in more than a quarter of the locations studied.

Researchers developed a desalination system that is more efficient and less expensive than previous methods. In addition to providing fresh water, the process could be used to treat contaminated wastewater or generate steam for sterilizing medical instruments, all without requiring a power source other than sunlight.

A new study shows how a particular molecule, produced by gut bacteria, affects brain function and promotes anxiety-like behaviors in mice.

Astrophysicists report how, when tiny galaxies collide with bigger ones, the bigger galaxies can strip the smaller galaxies of their dark matter -- matter that we can't see directly, but which astrophysicists think must exist because, without its gravitational effects, they couldn't explain things like the motions of a galaxy's stars.

The brain has neurons that fire specifically during certain mathematical operations. The findings indicate that some of the neurons detected are active exclusively during additions, while others are active during subtractions. They respond in the same manner whether the calculation instruction is written down as a word or a symbol.

Scientists have discovered the first evidence of a unique respiratory infection in the fossilized remains of a dinosaur that lived nearly 150 million years ago. Researchers examined the remains of an immature diplodocid -- a long-necked herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, like 'Brontosaurus' - dating back to the Late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. The dinosaur nicknamed 'Dolly,' discovered in southwest Montana, had evidence of an infection in the area of its neck vertebrae.

Researchers published a new sample catalog of more than 24 million stars that can be used to decipher the chemical history of elements in the Milky Way galaxy.

A ring of planetary debris studded with moon-sized structures has been observed orbiting close to a white dwarf star, hinting at a nearby planet in the 'habitable zone' where water and life could exist, according to a new study. White dwarfs are glowing embers of stars that have burned through all their hydrogen fuel. Nearly all stars, including the Sun, will eventually become white dwarfs, but very little is known about their planetary systems.

Scientists have developed the first fully autonomous biohybrid fish from human stem-cell derived cardiac muscle cells. The artificial fish swims by recreating the muscle contractions of a pumping heart, bringing researchers one step closer to developing a more complex artificial muscular pump and providing a platform to study heart disease like arrhythmia.