108 articles from MONDAY 30.12.2019

Pharmacies Don’t Know How to Dispose of Leftover Opioids and Antibiotics

Today (Dec. 30), a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., published the results of an investigation into whether or not pharmacy workers could provide accurate information on the disposal of two classes of drugs: opioids and antibiotics. The results are frightening: The researchers enlisted volunteers...

Life could have emerged from lakes with high phosphorus

Life as we know it requires phosphorus, and lots of it. But phosphorus is scarce. A new study reports that certain types of carbonate-rich lakes, which could have formed on early Earth, have the right chemistry to keep phosphorous levels high and available to organisms.

The experimental demonstration of a spin quantum heat engine

The theoretical notion of a 'quantum heat engine' has been around for several decades. It was first introduced around sixty years ago by Scovil and Schulz-DuBois, two physicists at Bell Labs who drew an analogy between three-level masers and thermal machines.

The mysterious case of the ornamented coot chicks has a surprising explanation

The American coot is a somewhat drab water bird with gray and black feathers and a white beak, common in wetlands throughout North America. Coot chicks, however, sport outrageously bright orange and red feathers, skin, and beaks. A new study explains how the bright coloring of coot chicks fits in with the reproductive strategy of their less colorful parents.

Life could have emerged from lakes with high phosphorus

Life as we know it requires phosphorus. It's one of the six main chemical elements of life, it forms the backbone of DNA and RNA molecules, acts as the main currency for energy in all cells and anchors the lipids that separate cells from their surrounding environment.

Year in Science: Revisit a black hole and other sights that weren’t seen before 2019

What will people remember about the year 2019 in the year 3019? Just as they're likely to recall 1969 as the year humans first walked on the moon, they might well hold up the first portrait of a black hole as this year's most memorable achievement. By that measure, there's little question that the Event Horizon Telescope's radio view of M87's supermassive black hole, 55 million...