How the Aztecs could improve modern urban farming
Roland Ebel of the Sustainable Food Systems Program at Montana State University conducted a research project to determine the extent to which an ancient Aztec agricultural technique could benefit 21st century horticultural needs.
Hindu children more apt to echo propaganda that 'Indian equals Hindu'
With a multi-faith population of some 1.3 billion, India claims to be the world's largest secular democracy. But when it comes to the question of who is a true Indian, the country's Hindu children are more likely than their Muslim peers to connect their faith to their national identity, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.
New California fire grows as crews make headway on other blazes
A new wildfire in California grew to nearly 9,000 acres (3,700 hectares) on Friday, sending thousands of people fleeing and further stretching resources in a state struggling with a spate of wildfires this season.
The secret behind crystals that shrink when heated
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have new experimental evidence and a predictive theory that solves a long-standing materials science mystery: why certain crystalline materials shrink when heated. Their work, just published in Science Advances, could have widespread application for matching material properties to specific applications in medicine,...
The last Neanderthal necklace
Eagle talons are regarded as the first elements used to make jewellery by Neanderthals, a practice which spread around Southern Europe about 120,000 to 40,000 years ago. Now, for the first time, researchers found evidence of the ornamental uses of eagle talons in the Iberian Peninsula. An article published on the cover of the journal Science Advances talks about the findings, which took place in...
NASA finds Tropical Storm Maha's heavy rain potential over Lakshadweep
Tropical Cyclone Maha continued to move north along the southwestern coast of India when NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead and analyzed the cloud top temperatures. Satellite imagery showed the storms with the greatest rainfall potential were over the Lakshadweep islands.
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.
UN confirms Madrid as new location for climate summit
The United Nations global climate meeting next month will take place in Madrid after previous host Chile canceled at short notice, officials said Friday.
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...
Researchers can now quickly, accurately scan for nutrient content in the produce aisle
The first quick, accurate, nondestructive and portable way to scan produce for nutrients has been demonstrated by a team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists. The same scan can also identify diseases in living plants before visible symptoms appear.
Bringing ideas to life through experimental physics
Even the most brilliant scientific ideas need data. Just this year, the first-ever image of a black hole finally provided the evidence needed to support Einstein's 100-year-old theories.
Mobile app to provide the latest on black hole collisions and merging neutron stars
PhD students from the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy have released a new app to encourage members of the public to stay up to date with new gravitational wave events in near real time.
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...
This Alaska mine could generate $1 billion a year. Is it worth the risk to salmon?
A brown bear loped across rolling green tundra as Charles Weimer set down a light, single-engine helicopter on a remote hilltop.
Four decades of data sounds early warning on Lake George
Although concentrations of chemicals and pollutants like salt and nutrients have increased in the deep waters of Lake George, they're still too low to harm the ecosystem at those depths, according to an analysis of nearly 40 years of data published Thursday in Limnology and Oceanography. However, the changes in the deep water sound an early warning for what are likely much larger impacts in the...
Cities, tribes try a new environmental approach: Give nature rights
When members of the White Earth band of Ojibwe in Minnesota take out their canoes to harvest wild rice, they're gathering a source of nourishment and following a tradition that has connected them to the land for generations.
Quarter of all pigs worldwide could die from swine fever, animal health organization says
At least a quarter of the world's pig population could die as a mass outbreak of African swine fever spreads, a global animal health organization says.
Image: Halloween crack in the Brunt ice shelf
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over cracks in the Brunt ice shelf, which lies in the Weddell Sea sector of Antarctica.
Variability in the molecules of life
How variable are gene transcripts and proteins, the molecules of life, across the tissues and organs of the human body? Furthermore, how variable are they within the same tissue type from different people? Understanding this variability will be key for the realization of personalized medicine. These questions are the focus of a new study led by researchers from Uppsala University, which is...
Dutch emission reduction targets probably won't be met
The Netherlands is unlikely to reach its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 49% by 2030 despite a tough package of measures agreed in June, a government agency said Friday.
River deltas are 'drowning,' threatening hundreds of millions of people
The world's river deltas take up less than 0.5 percent of the global land area, but they are home to hundreds of millions of people. Many live in major fast-growing cities such as Kolkata in the Ganges delta, Bangkok in the Chao Phraya delta, or Shanghai, one of dozens of large cities in the Yangtze delta region.
Value chain collaboration in new product development yields innovativeness and performance
Businesses looking for a cutting edge with their new products when facing technological turbulence benefit from greater innovativeness and better results for both the product and the companies overall when working with other firms in the same value chain.