Musical chills are pleasurable shivers or goosebump sensations that people feel when they resonate with the music they’re listening to. They reduce stress and have beneficial side effects, but they are difficult to induce reliably. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a practical system that uses in-ear electroencephalography sensors to measure the brain’s response to music in real time and provide music suggestions that enhance chills.  

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan recently examined how different kinds of pesticides and fertilizers affect mandarin oranges across Japan. Analysis showed that while reducing pesticides enhanced the diversity of microbes in the soil, it also led to an increase in fruit disease caused by leaf pathogens. The real-world data from commercial farms thus indicate a trade-off above ground with potential ecological benefits below ground. The study offers important insights for the advancement of sustainable agricultural technologies and future policy development.

In a paper published in Earth and Planetary Physics, an international research team has completed taxonomic classification of 80 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) through multicolor photometric observations. Using data from Purple Mountain Observatory Yaoan High Precision Telescope (YAHPT, IAU code O49) in China and Kottamia Astronomical Observatory 1.88 m telescope (IAU code 088) in Egypt, the study reveals the distribution characteristics of different asteroid complexes and their correlations with size and orbital parameters, providing critical references for understanding NEA origins and optimizing planetary defense strategies.

Researchers have discovered that natural “sunscreen” compounds found in algae and cyanobacteria may also support skin and heart health. By comparing two mycosporine-like amino acids, the team showed for the first time that these molecules can block a key enzyme involved in blood pressure control in laboratory tests, while also offering antioxidant and anti-aging effects. The findings open new possibilities for cosmetics and functional foods based on nature-derived ingredients.

The fight against climate change relies heavily on finding better ways to capture carbon dioxide before it escapes into our atmosphere. While carbon nanotubes have long been seen as a "wonder material" for this task, their internal structures are often locked away like a closed pipe. Now, a research team from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) has pioneered a deceptively simple way to pop those caps open and supercharge their adsorption capacity.

A University of Arizona-led research team has measured the dynamics and ever-changing "shell" of hot gas from where the solar wind originates. The findings could help scientists better understand how heated plasma interacts with magnetic fields general, including other astrophysical contexts such as interstellar gas, accretion disks around black holes and neutron stars.

Why are planets rarely found orbiting a pair of stars? UC Berkeley and American University of Beirut physicists find that general relativity makes the orbit of a tight binary pair precess. As the orbit shrinks because of tidal effects, the precesion increases. Eventually the precession matches the orbital precession of any circumbinary planet, creating a resonance that makes the planet’s orbit wildly eccentric. The planet either gets expelled from the system or is engulfed by one of the stars.