The mech headlines that matter, in one email every morning. Free.
Scientists have developed a new way to make ceramic materials that can better withstand extreme heat and continue performing reliably in sensors and actuators. The approach creates tiny structures throughout the material that give it new electrical and mechanical properties.
The Intracellular Quality Control Project at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science has identified a molecular mechanism that helps initiate the formation of autophagic membranes around damaged mitochondria.
If your car's engine develops a stutter, that's generally a sign that you should go to a mechanic before it stops running. We tend to think the same way about our bodies: When something's broken, something bad usually follows. There might, however, be at least one exception to th
Scandium's electrons may explain predicted room-temperature superconductivity and more — today's mech signal.
Scientists have confirmed the existence of a predicted room temperature superconductor, while explaining the microscopic mechanism that distinguishes it from a similar one discovered several years ago. The work, published in the journal Physical Review B, offers "a theoretical bl
TMEM63B, a mechanosensitive lipid scramblase, has an autoinhibitory domain in its C-terminal tail that helps keep it inactive under resting conditions, researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo report. Changes to this regulatory region, particularly the Leu776 residue, reve
The South Asian summer monsoon has long been known to shape the Mediterranean climate thousands of kilometers away as part of a phenomenon known as the "monsoon–desert" mechanism. Through this mechanism, intense monsoon convection during the summer releases large amounts of heat
Chemicals affect biological species in different ways, posing a major challenge for assessing environmental chemical risks. However, the mechanisms behind these differences have remained largely unknown.
Every cell in an organism contains the same DNA, which carries all the instructions needed for it to function. Yet cells do not all use the same genes: A nerve cell, for example, does not activate the same genes as a muscle cell. Epigenetics refers to the mechanisms that allow ge
Docking with the ISS may seem simple. However, actually doing so shows how difficult orbital mechanics can be. It's like traveling down a highway at 28,000 km/hr (17,000 mph) and parallel parking in an open garage on a multibillion-dollar laboratory traveling at the same speed. I
A new study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has identified a molecular switch that controls whether stressed human cells activate a survival mechanism or trigger programmed cell death (apoptosis). The findings, published in Redox Biology, provide insights that could
Blood pressure enzyme reveals second job: Making sulfur rings for cellular antioxidants and more — today's mech signal.
The funniest post you saw this week may not have come from a friend; it may have come from a brand. Whether it is Kohl's, Wendy's, or Netflix, brands are behaving more like internet users than traditional advertisers.
The Surinam toad is one of the strangest frogs on Earth. Flat-bodied, tiny-eyed and adapted to the murky waters of the Amazon basin, it hunts well despite having very poor vision. When a fish swims close, the frog suddenly opens its mouth and sucks the prey inside in a fraction o
When you walk into a bakery and smell fresh cookies, the enticing smell draws you in. After you eat a handful of cookies, though, the same smell likely doesn't send you back for more. Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis sought t
Moving large animals around is a seductive idea in conservation. If there are plenty of animals in one place and too few in another, moving some between the two seems an obvious solution. Sometimes it is. But with animals as large, mobile and socially complicated as elephants and
The universe may be trapped in its own comfort zone, and a researcher in the College of Engineering and Computer Science has helped explain why it cannot seem to leave. A new study suggests the universe could be locked into its current state by the same kinds of quantum effects t
Since Labor won the 2024 general election, policy focused on children in the early years—from birth to school age—and their parents has moved sharply up the political agenda.
A new study finds that coastal forest loss in North Carolina's Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula began accelerating after 2010 and may still be speeding up. The study also found that North Carolina lost more than 20% of its coastal forest between 1985 and 2021.
Imagine two candidates with identical qualifications interviewing for the same job. One arrives carrying a bottle of water, while the other walks in with an iced coffee. Should that difference matter?
Some 99 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs, a tiny insect belonging to a species previously unknown to science became trapped in tree resin. The resin hardened and turned into amber, and the fossil preserved within it has now enabled a team of researchers from the
Popular culture often depicts people with psychopathy as cold, emotionless and hollow, but a recent University of Mississippi study found that the language associated with psychopathic traits is more complicated than often described.
Forest soils store an estimated 40% of the world's terrestrial carbon, but estimates suggest that around 15–30% of that soil carbon is lost when a forest is harvested. Tracking such losses can be tricky: wildfires, insects, disease and past forest management can all affect forest
Many medical specialties now require graduating doctors to be skilled in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for diagnosing patients and performing procedures. POCUS uses a portable ultrasound device to help clinicians make fast, accurate medical decisions. The Accreditation Council
