171 articles from MONDAY 23.12.2019

'Lost crops' could have fed as many as maize

Make some room in the garden, you storied three sisters: the winter squash, climbing beans and the vegetable we know as corn. Grown together, newly examined "lost crops" could have produced enough seed to feed as many indigenous people as traditionally grown maize, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

A Device That Curbs Drunken Driving Carries Its Own Risks

Over the past decade, states have increasingly turned to a powerful tool to stop drunken driving before it starts: miniature breathalyzers, wired into a car's electronics, that prevent the engine from starting unless the person behind the wheel is sober enough to drive.These devices, called ignition interlocks, have been remarkably effective. One study found that states mandating them for all...

Powder, not gas: A safer, more effective way to create a star on Earth

A major issue with operating ring-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks is keeping the plasma that fuels fusion reactions free of impurities that could reduce the efficiency of the reactions. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found that sprinkling a type of powder into the plasma could aid in harnessing the ultra-hot gas...

'Tweezer clock' may help tell time more precisely

Atomic clocks are used around the world to precisely tell time. Each "tick" of the clock depends on atomic vibrations and their effects on surrounding electromagnetic fields. Standard atomic clocks in use today, based on the atom cesium, tell time by "counting" radio frequencies. These clocks can measure time to a precision of one second per every hundreds of millions of years. Newer atomic clocks...

The global reef expedition: French Polynesia

Scientists have released their findings from the largest coral reef survey and mapping expedition ever conducted in French Polynesia. The Global Reef Expedition: French Polynesia Final Report provides a comprehensive summary of the research findings from the expedition, an assessment of the health and resiliency of French Polynesia's coral reefs, and recommendations for preserving French...

Cha-cha-chimp? Ape study suggests urge to dance is prehuman

Chimpanzees seen clapping, tapping and swaying along to piano rhythms in a music boothAkira stands up and sways about. Pal is big on clapping. Ai is into tapping her foot, while Gon bangs and slaps the walls.Not the latest teen band sensation, but a spectacle far more impressive: the moves of a group of chimpanzees that scientists believe shed light on the prehistoric origins of human dancing....

Cultural evolution caused broad-scale historical declines of large mammals across China

Cultural evolution has been the dominant driver of range contractions in megafauna taxa across China since the beginning of the Common Era, with little or no direct importance of climate. A research team led by Aarhus University along with collaborators from Nanjing University analyzed maps of megafauna distribution dynamics and societal development based on Chinese archival records alongside data...

2-D materials: Arrangement of atoms measured in silicene

Silicene consists of a single layer of silicon atoms. In contrast to the ultra-flat material graphene, which is made of carbon, silicene shows surface irregularities that influence its electronic properties. Now, physicists from the University of Basel have been able to precisely determine this corrugated structure. As they report in the journal PNAS, their method is also suitable for analyzing...

Study reveals a role for jumping genes during times of stress

Only percent of human DNA codes for proteins, and approximately half of the rest of the genome is made up of what used to be called "junk" sequences that can copy themselves into RNA or DNA and jump from one location to another. Previous research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) had revealed a critical role for one of these jumping genes during times of stress. In new...

Study finds whales use stealth to feed on fish

Small fish are speedy and easy to scare. So how is it that a giant humpback whale, attacking at speeds about as fast as a person jogs, is able to eat enough fish to sustain itself? Combining field studies, laboratory experiments and mathematical modeling, researchers at Stanford University have found a surprising answer to this seemingly paradoxical feat: Whales capture fish using stealth and...

Computing with molecules: A big step in molecular spintronics

Spintronics or spin electronics in contrast to conventional electronics uses the spin of electrons for sensing, information storage, transport, and processing. Potential advantages are nonvolatility, increased data processing speed, decreased electric power consumption, and higher integration densities compared to conventional semiconductor devices. Molecular spintronics aims for the ultimate step...

Scientists develop gentle, microscopic hands to study tiny, soft materials

Handling very soft, delicate items without damaging them is hard enough with human hands, let alone doing it at the microscopic scale with laboratory instruments. Three new studies show how scientists have honed a technique for handling tiny, soft particles using precisely controlled fluid flows that act as gentle microscopic hands. The technique allows researchers to test the physical limits of...

Chesapeake Bay oysters get more attention at pivotal time

Robert T. Brown pulled an oyster shell from a pile freshly harvested by a dredger from the Chesapeake Bay and talked enthusiastically about the larvae attached—a sign of a future generation critical to the health of the nation's largest estuary.

300 million year old atmospheric dust

Dust plays a crucial role in the life and health of our planet. In our modern world, dust-borne nutrients traveling in great dust storms from the Saharan Desert fertilize the soil in the Amazon Rainforest and feed photosynthetic organisms like algae in the Atlantic Ocean. In turn, it is those organisms that breathe in carbon dioxide and expel oxygen.