Pure Science

Cosmos

Urine sample. Credit: Turbotorque Engineers have designed a system that uses electricity and waste heat generated by solar panels to extract nitrogen fertiliser from human urine, leaving behind clean wastewater which is safer to discharge...

Cosmos

Credit: Mlenny/Getty Images Researchers have developed a model that predicts when mathematicians are on the cusp of a breakthrough, something not even the individuals themselves are capable of. Videos of expert mathematicians working to...

Cosmos

A new technique measuring magnetic fields of some of the largest structures in the universe could be the key to identifying the elusive dark matter particles. But the story begins with something tiny – a theoretical fundamental particle...

Cosmos

Untreated cotton fabric absorbs water droplets (top) and cotton fabric treated with a form of cottonseed oil repels water (bottom). Credit: Richard Venditti Grab a garment from the wardrobe at random and there’s a good chance it’s made of...

Cosmos

Confocal microscopy image of a 9-day-old human embryo. Specific proteins and cellular structures have been coloured in the image: OCT4 (green), which is related to embryonic stem cells; GATA6 (magenta), which is associated with early...

Cosmos

We are taking a look back at stories from the Cosmos Print Magazine. In March 2025, Mark Pesce explained universal time-series transformers, the prediction engines of the future. How much would you pay to be able to predict the future?...

Cosmos

For centuries, sea creatures have been heaved up from the depths into the deadly air. This can quickly destroy gelatinous, fragile and bioluminescent animals. Elyse Hauser meets a new generation of scientists peering through the darkness...

Cosmos

Left: Chemical structure of the cyclo[48]carbon [4]catenane. Right: Space-filling representation. Credit: Harry Anderson For the first time since 1990, researchers have synthesised a new form of molecular carbon which can be studied on the...

Cosmos

Soft, breathable and skin-conformable electronic textiles could one day provide wearable device users with the ability to monitor their health and physical activity with unparalleled ease. Stable power outputs are needed to support these...

Cosmos

https://youtu.be/aeF6-PRBX0U A group of international researchers has developed a drone device that can quickly apply monitoring tags to whales whilst avoiding human interference. Currently, researchers tag whales by approaching in a boat...

Cosmos

Scientists have successfully decoded the silent monologue in people’s heads in research which could help people who are unable to audibly speak. Researchers from Stanford University, USA, translated what a participant was saying inside...

Cosmos

Researchers have tested a new approach to monitoring a difficult-to-reach area of Earth’s atmosphere using lightweight flying structures. In a process known as photophoresis, the novel structure would use nothing but sunlight to fly as it...

Cosmos

The cold dusty clouds from which stars form in the Carina Nebula. Credit: ESO/APEX/T. Preibisch et al. (Submillimetre); N. Smith, University of Minnesota/NOAO/AURA/NSF (Optical) Sulphur is the 10th most abundant element in our solar system...

Cosmos

Rainbow lorikeet. Credit: Andrew Allen (CC BY, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) A study of nearly 500 Australian birds revealed that up to 6% had undergone ‘sex reversal’ – developing the physical features of one sex...

Cosmos

A powerful new electricity-conducting material developed by researchers at La Trobe University in Australia could lead to major improvements in devices like touch screens and wearable biosensors. The material, described in a paper...

Cosmos

Dr Kelly Wade/Cosmos Studios in partnership with SAHMRI Discover the mechanisms behind different types of pain, including chronic and neuropathic pain, and how spider venom and VR are leading the way toward breakthrough treatments. You...

Cosmos

Archaeological sheep bones unveiled at a Bronze Age site in the Eurasian steppe. Credit: © Björn Reichhardt A new study has uncovered ancient plague DNA in 4,000-year-old sheep bones, shedding light on how the pathogen was able to infect...

Cosmos

Digital image of the formation of proton transfer pathways in BaSnO₃ and BaTiO₃ thanks to high concentrations of scandium substitutions. Credit: Kyushu University/Yoshihiro Yamazaki One of the greatest challenges facing this century is to...

Cosmos

A black hole 36 billion times heavier than our Sun has been discovered in the Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy. The cosmic colossus is near the upper limit of what astrophysicists believe is possible for black hole size. The Cosmic Horseshoe is...

Cosmos

Credit: MasterPhoto-DK (CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en) Two teams of scientists have prevented anaphylaxis in mice with an US FDA-approved asthma drug. The drug, Zileuton, temporarily shields allergic mice...

Cosmos

Credit: Paul Fleet / 500Px Plus / Getty Images Plus. A recent analysis of ocean sediments has uncovered geochemical hints that the Northern Hemisphere was hit by a disintegrating comet 12,800 years ago. The research suggests this comet may...

Cosmos

A group of Little Corellas (Cacatua sanguinea), a species of white cockatoo native to Australia and southern New Guinea, perch on a suburban TV antenna. Credit: Lea Scaddan / Moment / Getty Images Plus. A new study shows cockatoos in...

Cosmos

What is dark matter? Physicists have been trying to answer this question since the first observations of distant galaxies suggested that only a fifth of all the “stuff” in the universe is the visible matter with which we interact every...

Cosmos

South Korean engineers have developed a flexible robotic sheet which can grasp objects and move across surfaces – useful skills for applications in healthcare, exploration and haptic displays where users can “feel” virtual stimuli. The...

Cosmos

Not all giant predatory dinosaurs used their jaws for strong, bone-crushing bites according to a new study. Don’t get me wrong, you still wouldn’t want to be bitten by any of these ancient killers. Tyrannosaurus rex attacking two...

Cosmos

Common dormouse. Credit: Michel VIARD/Getty Images New research has identified specific regions of DNA that regulate hibernation by tweaking metabolism. The findings could offer pathways to new treatments for metabolic disorders like type...

Cosmos

Australopithecus afarensis (left), Homo rudolfensis (centre), Homo ergaster (right). Credit: Public domain; Don Hitchcock; Fernando Losada Rodríguez (rotated). Chemical analysis of early human ancestors shows that hominins were eating...

Cosmos

Human brain organoids. Credit: David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr The Brunswick lab looks perfectly normal. Perfectly normal masked-and-gloved scientists are pulling petri dishes from fridges,...

Cosmos

Credit: Xu-Ri Yao, Beijing Institute of Technology Physicists have developed a cheap and simple device which can transform ordinary objects into microphones. The technology uses light to detect minute vibrations caused by sound waves on...

Cosmos

A genetic study has found that potatoes evolved through natural interbreeding in the wild between tomato plants and a potato-like species in South America about 9 million years ago. Potatoes are a much-loved food around the world – from...

Cosmos

Ancient teeth found in Thailand show that the practice of chewing on betel nuts emerged at least 4,000 years ago during the Bronze Age. Betel nuts are the fruit of the areca palm tree. The areca palm is native to the Philippines but was...

Cosmos

You have probably heard about the ‘weirdness’ of quantum mechanics. It’s hard to come by a piece of writing on the subject that doesn’t quote a famous physicist lamenting the incomprehensibility of quantum behaviour. But as Conor Feehly...

Cosmos

Pantheon Roman temple in Lazio, Italy. Built in the 2nd century CE, it is known for its concrete dome. Credit: Francesco Riccardo Iacomino / Moment / Getty Images Plus. Ancient Roman aqueducts and bridges have stood tall for more than...

Cosmos

This bronze jar on display at the Ashmolean Museum contained a mysterious substance (shown in the foreground) that is very likely ancient honey. Credit: Adapted from the Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, DOI:...

Cosmos

Kākāpō (Strigops habroptila), Maud Island, New Zealand. Credit: Chris Birmingham/Department of Conservation (CC BY 2.0) In an analysis of fossilised kākāpō droppings, researchers from Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research in New Zealand have...

Cosmos

A new quantum state of matter has been found in a material which could be useful in building self-charging and deep-space quantum computers. The phase of matter was independently theoretically predicted by several researchers in the...

Cosmos

A group of Issa Valley chimpanzees navigate an open woodland crown to forage on new leaves. Credit: Rhianna C. Drummond-Clarke/Greater Mahale Ecosystem Research and Conservation (GMERC). New research on chimpanzees might explain why early...

Cosmos

This piece was originally published by CSIRO on its research news website. You’ve probably heard the term ‘quantum leap’, meaning a ‘sudden, significant, or very evident (usually large) increase or advance’. But quantum leap isn’t a...

Cosmos

Credit: Science Photo Library / Getty Images Plus. New research suggests that the reason Neanderthal remains have high nitrogen levels is due to them eating maggots, challenging theories that the ancient humans ate as much fatty meat as...

Cosmos

A tissue sample. Credit: Correa Lab Researchers are one step closer to developing a gel that can be used to repair and regenerate tissue. The team from Columbia University in the US has created an injectable hydrogel using a by-product of...

Cosmos

Australian researchers are testing an unusual way to save frog species from extinction: spa and sauna treatment. Frog species in Australia and globally are under intensifying threat of extinction. Major factors include habitat drying due...

Cosmos

For the first time, researchers at Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, quickly and efficiently measure the seafloor down to the centimeter-level using an unmanned aerial vehicle. Credit: Institute of Industrial...

Cosmos

In October 2024, a headline made waves across climate and tech circles: Ebb Carbon, a California-based startup, had inked a multimillion-dollar agreement with Microsoft to tackle a quietly growing crisis in our seas: ocean acidification....

Cosmos

Credit: Daniela Velasco/EMBL It’s been more than 2 decades since the human genome was mapped for the first time. This achievement, while tremendous at the time, was based on the DNA of only a handful of people and left important regions...

Cosmos

Photo of a tooth of Giraffatitan from Tanzania (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, MB.R.2180.20.5). The wear surface on the tip of the tooth is clearly visible. Credit: Jan Kersten, Freie Universität Berlin, Fachrichtung Paläontologie. Analysis...

Cosmos

Scientists have long wondered if Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and most enigmatic stars in the sky, is not alone. Astronomers have finally confirmed that it does indeed have a companion star. A paper published in the Astrophysical...

Cosmos

Scientists have used a single injection to correct gene mutations caused by an ultra-rare disease, improving symptoms and survival rates in mice. Published in Cell, the gene editing study targeted the 2 most common mutations that cause...

Cosmos

The three faces of a pygmy spiny-tailed skink (Egernia depressa). The lizard’s skeleton, osteoderms, and soft tissue are shown clockwise from the top. The specimen is from 1902. Credit: Roy Ebel Osteoderms are bony deposits embedded in the...

Cosmos

Hybrid copper iodide crystals emitting deep blue light. Credit: Kun Zhu/Jing Li Lab/Rutgers University Electric lighting revolutionised human society in the late 19th century, but we’ve come a long way from the incandescent bulbs of old....

Cosmos

Credit: ASHBi/Kyoto University A new international study suggests that what was once dismissed as “junk DNA” may actually play a crucial role in regulating gene expression. The study focused on a group of transposable elements (TEs)...