91 articles from FRIDAY 1.11.2019

Harvesting genes to improve watermelons

An international team of researchers has taken a comprehensive look at the genomes of all seven species of watermelon, creating a resource that could help plant breeders increase the domestic fruit's quality and ability to thrive during an era of climate change.

NASA satellite imagery finds Rebekah now post-tropical

NASA's Terra Satellite provided a visible image of Post-Tropical Cyclone Rebekah as it continued moving in an easterly direction through the North Atlantic Ocean. Satellite data has confirmed that Rebekah is now a post-tropical cyclone.

Harvesting genes to improve watermelons

When many people think of watermelon, they likely think of Citrullus lanatus, the cultivated watermelon with sweet, juicy red fruit enjoyed around the world as a dessert. Indeed, watermelon is one of the world's most popular fruits, second only to tomato—which many consider a vegetable. But there are six other wild species of watermelon, all of which have pale, hard and bitter fruits.

25 Years of Science in the Solar Wind

Portal origin URL: 25 Years of Science in the Solar WindPortal origin nid: 454472Published: Friday, November 1, 2019 - 12:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: For the past 25 years, Wind's data has been instrumental in elucidating solar wind properties, intense space weather, and interstellar space, as well as assisting other spacecraft that have...

Use of neonicotinoids on rice paddies linked to fishery collapse in Japan

A team of researchers with members affiliated with several institutions in Japan has found what they describe as compelling evidence of two fisheries collapsing due to use of neonicotinoid pesticides by nearby rice farmers. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes their study of fishery water quality data over two decades and what they learned from it. Olaf Jensen with...

Jupiter-sized exoplanet discovered through microlensing

The path of a light beam is bent by the presence of mass, and a massive body can therefore act like a lens (a "gravitational lens") to distort the image of an object seen behind it. Scientists first confirmed Einstein's prediction quantitatively during the now famous total eclipse of 29 May 1919 by observing starlight bent by the mass of the Sun. Microlensing is the name given to a related...

Artificial wombs and the promise for premature babies - Science Weekly podcast

In October, a team of Dutch researchers were awarded a grant of €2.9m to develop a working prototype of an artificial womb for use in the clinic. But they are not the only ones working on this kind of technology. In 2017, a team in Philadelphia created the ‘biobag’, which could sustain premature lambs. Both teams hope their artificial wombs could allow premature babies to continue to develop...

Gene flow among distantly-related butterfly species

Researchers analyzed the genomes of 20 butterfly species and found evidence that many butterflies -- including distantly related species -- have a surprisingly high amount of gene flow between them. The findings challenge conventional views about species, and indicate that hybridization may be a key process in the emergence of biological diversity.

Engineers develop new way to know liars' intent

Engineering researchers have developed a new approach for detecting a speaker's intent to mislead. The approach's framework, which could be developed to extract opinion from 'fake news,' among other uses, was recently published.