137 articles from MONDAY 17.2.2020

Edaphic factors are important to explain and predict impact of climate change on species distribution

The climate change crisis has resulted in an emphasis on the role of broad-scale climate in controlling species distributions. A key metric for predicting the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems is the local velocity of climate change: how fast a species must move across the landscape to track its preferred climate in space. However, other ecologically important environmental...

Coronavirus: 99 more cases confirmed on cruise ship - live news

Diamond Princess evacuations begin as Japan warns outbreak ‘entering new phase’. Follow latest updatesShare your experiences 2.38pm GMT A Russian court has ordered a woman who escaped from quarantine after testing negative for the disease to return to hospital for at least two more days, the Associated Press reports. Alla llyina was admitted to hospital in St Petersburg on 6 February with a...

Increasing the service life of polymer electrolyte fuel cells with a nanodispersed ionomer

Protons (subatomic particles) can be transferred from the anode to the cathode through the ionomer membrane in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC). Scientists can extend proton pathways by impregnating the ionomer (type of polymer) into the electrodes to achieve improved proton transfer efficiency. Since the impregnated ionomer can mechanically bind catalysts within the electrode, they are known...

New all-sky search reveals potential neutrino sources

For over a century, scientists have been observing very high-energy charged particles called cosmic rays arriving from outside Earth's atmosphere. The origins of these particles are very difficult to pinpoint because the particles themselves do not travel on a straight path to Earth. Even gamma rays, a type of high-energy photon that offers a little more insight, are absorbed when traversing long...

Value co-creation: From 'consume and dispose' to 'consume and pass on'

Major industrialized nations currently live in a "consume and dispose" world. This is great for firms' bottom lines and abstract measures such as GDP, but the social and environmental costs of this way of life have been high—for example, the high price of "fast fashion". We're all encouraged to use less and recycle more, but how can we as a society shift to a "consume and pass on" model?

Systems analysis for a new Arctic

The Arctic region has long been seen as one of the Earth's most remote frontiers. However, the Arctic is changing quickly, which is important in global governance, geopolitics and the global economy. Temperatures have warmed faster than the rest of the planet; sea ice dramatically declines in summers; exploitation of oil and gas, new (sea) trade routes, tourism and other economic activities are...

Origin of life: A Darwinian machine for non-living objects

Life is usefully defined on the basis of process: Any set of entities that participates in the process of evolution by natural selection is alive. But how does evolution by natural selection—and thus life—get started? The answer is far from obvious. Lack of insight haunts origins of life research and plagues understanding of the major evolutionary transitions, including the transition from...

Between bondage and freedom: Life in Civil War refugee camps

Research by assistant professor of history Abigail Cooper into the refugee camps set up for African Americans during the Civil War has revealed stories of courage and bravery and a new understanding of how blacks built a new future for themselves born from the ashes of slavery.

Microplastics: A macro problem

Flying somewhere over the planet, there's a plane equipped with research-grade, double-sided tape on the outside of its hull. Each time the pilot lands the plane, he removes the tape, seals it in a package, and replaces it with a new one before he takes off again. He then mails the package to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, care of Dimitri Deheyn, Associate Researcher.

Painting of deity found inside 3,000-year-old coffin

Three men, one at each end and one at the middle, slowly and gingerly lifted the wooden lid as if handling a giant eggshell. Quietly offering each other direction and status reports, they glided a few steps and placed the lid atop a Styrofoam support structure for safekeeping.