The common cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. lycopersicum; or (SLL)) is among the world's most widely grown vegetable crops, from big agricultural farms to heirloom grown varieties.

University of Cincinnati geography researchers have identified a tipping point for deforestation that leads to rapid forest loss.

NASA's Terra satellite provided before and after imagery that showed the extent of the fires that have been ravaging Australia's Kangaroo Island. Kangaroo Island lies off the mainland of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. About a third of the island is made up of protected nature reserves which are home to native wildlife which includes sea lions, koalas and diverse and endangered bird...

Astronomers at Harvard University have discovered a monolithic, wave-shaped gaseous structure—the largest ever seen in our galaxy—made up of interconnected stellar nurseries. Dubbed the "Radcliffe wave" in honor of the collaboration's home base, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the discovery transforms a 150-year-old vision of nearby stellar nurseries as an expanding ring into one...

More than a third of the world's vanishing pristine forests are managed by indigenous peoples under threat from development and deforestation, scientists said Tuesday, calling for greater protection.

From the Norwegian fjords to Russian cities, record warm temperatures with less snow and rain have left the far north of Europe still waiting for the Arctic winter.

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Southern Indian Ocean on January 7 and found the center of Tropical Storm Blake just of the Kimberley coast of Western Australia.

More than two dozen Alaska tribes are protesting a Trump administration land-use proposal that, if approved, could open millions of acres of wilderness to future mining in a large chunk of rural Alaska.

The magnitude of the Great Lisbon Earthquake event, a historic and devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Portugal on All Saints' Day in 1755, may not be as high as previously estimated.

California is cooperating with the federal government to clear a backlog of reports on its implementation of the Clean Air Act, likely avoiding cuts to highway funding threatened by the Trump administration late last year.

The first batch of space-baked cookies is back on Earth, along with muscle-bound "mighty" mice and other space station experiments.

Doctors have used focused ultrasound to destroy tumors without invasive surgery for some time. However, the therapeutic ultrasound used in clinics today indiscriminately damages cancer and healthy cells alike.

South African police have arrested four people for allegedly trying to sell lion paws, just days after eight mutilated lion carcasses were discovered at a private game farm.

The Earth's Cenozoic Era began 66 million years ago with a bang—and with the last mass extinction event on Earth until now. The meteorite impact that marked the end of the Cretaceous Period and the beginning of the Cenozoic Era was followed by a number of dramatic global events, including a heat pulse 56 million years ago. Only after this remarkable boundary did mammals develop the diversity...

Chinese researchers under the direction of Profs. Li Xianfeng and Zhang Huamin from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently developed an ultrathin ion-conducting membrane with high selectivity and conductivity that can boost the power of flow batteries. The study was published in Nature Communications.

The zebrafish is a master of regeneration: If brain cells are lost due to injury or disease, it can simply reproduce them—contrary to humans, where this only happens in the fetal stage. However, the zebrafish is evolutionarily related to humans and, thus, possesses the same brain cell types as humans. Can a hidden regeneration potential also be activated in humans? Are therapies for stroke,...

The prolonged periods of juvenility and nutritional dependence that are characteristic of human development are thought to facilitate brain and somatic growth in children, as well as provide opportunities to learn and accumulate skills required for a productive adult life. In chimpanzees, the benefits of continuing to associate with mothers after becoming nutritionally independent are less well...

Researchers at SAGA Light Source, the University of Toyama, Hiroshima University and the Institute for Molecular Science have demonstrated a method to control the shape and orientation of an electron cloud in an atom by tuning the attosecond spacing in a double pulse of synchrotron radiation.

The abandonment of high-altitude mountain pastures and the climatic changes that are causing woodland boundaries to extend ever higher, may potentially result in the reduction of the number and variety of invertebrates living in mountain streams. Eurac Research ecologists have compared 15 streams and found that in streams running through extensive meadows with grazing animals—regardless of...

Professor Sally Shortall, Duke of Northumberland Chair of Rural Economy at Newcastle University, explains why women are key to the survival of the farming industry.

NASA satellite data continues to provide a look at the smoke and aerosols generated by the massive fires in Australia. Although rain fell on parts of the fire-ravaged areas in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia (and in some areas the rain was torrential), officials are already warning residents that the fires (and resultant smoke and aerosols) will return to their former state with a...

Kansas private well owners should test water quality annually, according to a recent Kansas State University study that revealed nitrate levels in shallow wells above U.S. Environment Protection Act standards.

Fear is a bad counselor. In the comic book series "Asterix," the Gaul chief Vitalstatistix may be afraid that the sky may fall on his head. In the real world, however, risks should be assessed with a clear mind. To ensure that risk assessments are not carried out emotionally but lead to appropriate decisions, scientists use models to analyze the hazard potential of substances or technologies. Empa...

A new method to fit together layers of semiconductors as thin as a few nanometers has resulted in not only a scientific discovery but also a new type of transistor for high-power electronic devices. The result, published in Applied Physics Letters, has aroused huge interest.