Plant reproduction is a cornerstone of our food system and ecological balance; however, it is a complex process. Plants have fascinating reproductive strategies, some being either male or female, some being hermaphroditic, and still some changing sex over their lifetime. Understanding the mechanisms that determine plant sex is crucial for modern agriculture.

The Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) observatory has captured the most detailed portrait yet of gases flowing within Cygnus X-3, one of the most studied sources in the X-ray sky.

Visualizing the potential impacts of a hurricane on people's homes before it hits can help residents prepare and decide whether to evacuate. MIT scientists have developed a method that generates satellite imagery from the future to depict how a region would look after a potential flooding event. The method combines a generative artificial intelligence model with a physics-based flood model to create realistic, birds-eye-view images of a region, showing where flooding is likely to occur given the strength of an oncoming storm.

A new mid-infrared image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features the Sombrero galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104). The signature, glowing core seen in visible-light images does not shine, and instead a smooth inner disk is revealed.

A team led by the University of Oxford has solved a mystery that has intrigued scientists for centuries: how does the squirting cucumber squirt?

Researchers Samuel Poincloux (currently at Aoyama Gakuin University) and Kazumasa A. Takeuchi of the University of Tokyo have clarified the conditions under which large numbers of "squishy" grains, which can change their shape in response to external forces, transition from acting like a solid to acting like a liquid.

Diamond rain? Super-ionic water? These are just two proposals that planetary scientists have come up with for what lies beneath the thick, bluish, hydrogen-and-helium atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune, our solar system's unique, but superficially bland, ice giants.

Researchers from Durham University, Jagiellonian University (Poland) and the John Innes Center have achieved a breakthrough in understanding DNA gyrase, a vital bacterial enzyme and key antibiotic target. This enzyme, present in bacteria but absent in humans, plays a crucial role in supercoiling DNA, a necessary process for bacterial survival.

In the 21st century, the Earth's oceans are growing warmer and more acidic. This change is happening slowly over the long-term, but it can also cause short-term, local spikes.

Water splitting—breaking water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen—is a promising pathway to sustainable energy. However, this process has long been challenged by the slow chemical kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction that make hydrogen production inefficient and costly.