242 articles from MONDAY 1.6.2020

Study shows today's atmospheric carbon dioxide levels greater than 23 million-year record

A common message in use to convey the seriousness of climate change to the public is: "Carbon dioxide levels are higher today than they have been for the past one million years!" This new study by Brian Schubert (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and coauthors Ying Cui and A. Hope Jahren used a novel method to conclude that today's carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are actually higher than they have...

New biosensor visualizes stress in living plant cells in real time

Plant biologists have long sought a deeper understanding of foundational processes involving kinases, enzymes that catalyze key biological activities in proteins. Analyzing the processes underlying kinases in plants takes on greater urgency in today's environment increasingly altered by climate warming.

Conserving biodiverse 'slow lanes' in a rapidly changing world

The notion of conserving climate change refugia—areas relatively buffered from current climate change that shelter valued wildlife, ecosystems, and other natural resources—is only about 10 years old, but the field has matured enough that a leading journal has prepared a special issue on the topic.

COVID-19 outbreak lasts days longer for each day's delay in social distancing

A new analysis of COVID-19 outbreaks in 58 cities has found that places that took longer to begin implementing social distancing measures spent more time with the virus rapidly spreading than others that acted more quickly. Epidemiological researchers have published research finding every day a city delayed implementing social distancing measures after the appearance of a first case added 2.4 days...

Scientists shed light on growth of black holes

Scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Black Hole Initiative (BHI), have shed light on how black holes grow over time by developing a new model to predict if growth by accretion or by mergers is dominant, according to the results of a study presented today at the virtual 236th meeting of the American Astronomical Society and published simultaneously in The...

Tracking fossil fuel emissions with carbon-14

Researchers have devised a breakthrough method for estimating national emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels using ambient air samples and a well-known isotope of carbon that scientists have relied on for decades to date archaeological sites.

A boost for cancer immunotherapy

MIT engineers have found a way to boost the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors. They showed that if they treated mice with these drugs along with new nanoparticles that stimulate the immune system, the therapy became more powerful than checkpoint inhibitors given alone.