Research Highlights in 2024

The common fungus Aspergillus niger removes both heavy metals and organic pollutants from its surroundings.

Carbon emissions from flights that departed from low- and middle-income countries in 2019 totalled 417 million tonnes.

Scientists initially thought that the outsized teeth were fangs, giving rise to the ‘sabre-toothed salmon’ nickname.

Findings underscore that genetic factors contribute to development of the condition after a traumatic incident.

Antarctic observatory gathers the first clear evidence of mysterious subatomic particles from space.

Finds in pyramid at Guatemalan site suggest that remains were disinterred and desecrated in a public ritual.

Static electricity generated by the foot striking the ground can be captured to kill pathogens.

The gigantic animals have worked out an unusual way to exfoliate — a perfect way to deal with whale lice.

Discovery in sharks suggests that these sensory receptors date back to some 450 million years ago.

Astronomers spot the first planet outside the Solar System to boast a phenomenon reminiscent of a rainbow.

People who survived paediatric cancers age faster and are at higher risk of early death.

Climate change is partly to blame for a storm that pounded Girona province with record-breaking hailstones.

Long-lived compounds emitted by industry reach the oceans and are then ferried by bubbles into the atmosphere.

Applying a ‘base editor’ allows cells to crank out increased levels of a vital metabolic enzyme.

An unusual technique picks up the slow vibration of a faint star.

People who had the most vegetation near their residences were the least likely to report depression and anxiety.

Soap bubbles bombarded with ultrasonic waves rise into mid-air and can survive being stabbed with a needle.

Copper-containing ‘nanoclusters’ form glasses with an orderly structure and unusual properties.

Levels of a host of molecules in the cerebrospinal fluid reliably assess development of the disease.

Horses buried near the royal complex of Westminster in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had been imported from as far away as Scandinavia.