Titan is migrating away from Saturn 100 times faster than previously predicted
By Earthly standards, Saturn's moon Titan is a strange place. Larger than the planet Mercury, Titan is swaddled in a thick atmosphere (it is the only moon in the solar system to have one) and covered in rivers and seas of liquid hydrocarbons like methane and ethane. Beneath these is a thick crust of water ice, and beneath that may be a liquid water ocean that could potentially harbor life.
New books present the PhyloCode, an evolution-based system for naming organisms
Move over, Linnaeus: There's a new way of naming organisms.
Milkweed, only food source for monarch caterpillars, ubiquitously contaminated
New evidence identifies 64 pesticide residues in milkweed, the main food for monarch butterflies in the west. Milkweed samples from all of the locations studied in California's Central Valley were contaminated with pesticides, sometimes at levels harmful to monarchs and other insects.
New tool helps nanorods stand out
Rice University scientists have developed an easy and affordable tool to count and characterize nanoparticles.
Shock waves created in the lab mimic astrophysical particle accelerators powered by exploding stars
When stars explode as supernovas, they produce shock waves in the plasma surrounding them. So powerful are these shock waves, they can act as particle accelerators that blast streams of particles, called cosmic rays, out into the universe at nearly the speed of light. Yet how exactly they do that has remained something of a mystery.
Marine energy devices likely pose minimal impacts to marine life, report shows
Marine scientists from around the world spent the last four years reviewing numerous studies and other data on the possible environmental effects of marine renewable energy (MRE) devices and found that the potential impact to marine life is likely small or undetectable.
Physicists study mirror nuclei for precision theory test
It's not often in nuclear physics that you can clearly get both sides of the story, but a recent experiment allowed researchers to do just that. They compared very similar nuclei to each other to get a clearer view of how the components of nuclei are arranged and found that there's still more to learn about the heart of matter. The research, carried out at the Department of Energy's Thomas...
Researchers develop ultra-sensitive device for detecting magnetic fields
A team of Brown University physicists has developed a new type of compact, ultra-sensitive magnetometer. The new device could be useful in a variety of applications involving weak magnetic fields, the researchers say.
Researchers shed light on new enzymatic reaction
Researchers have identified key ingredients for producing high-value chemical compounds in an environmentally friendly fashion: repurposed enzymes, curiosity, and a little bit of light.
You are what you eat is as important for fish as it is for people
There is truth in the saying "you are what you eat"; even more so if you are a salmon or herring swimming off the British Columbia coast, a recent UBC study discovered.
Researchers build better rock models
Once you crush, cut or fracture a rock, there are no do-overs. It's a fact that means geoscientists have to be particularly careful about which rock samples they can sacrifice to physics experiments versus which ones should stay on the shelf.
Engineers put tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses on a single chip
MIT engineers have designed a "brain-on-a-chip," smaller than a piece of confetti, that is made from tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses known as memristors—silicon-based components that mimic the information-transmitting synapses in the human brain.
Gently caressing atoms
Oxygen is highly reactive. It accumulates on many surfaces and determines their chemical behavior. At the Vienna University of Technology, scientists study the interaction between oxygen and metal oxide surfaces, which play an important role in many technical applications, from chemical sensors and catalysts to electronics.
Scientists engineer one protein to fight cancer and regenerate neurons
Our lungs, bones, blood vessels and other major organs are made up of cells, and one way our bodies keep us healthy is by using protein messengers known as ligands that bind to receptors on the surfaces of cells to regulate our biological processes. When those messages get garbled, it can make us ill with a host of different diseases.
Using multiomics in an agricultural field, scientists discover that organic nitrogen plays a key rol
Researchers from a collaboration led by the RIKEN BioResource Science Center in Japan have analyzed agricultural systems using a multiomics approach, and successfully digitalized the complex interactions between plants, microbes and soil in an agricultural field. Using the new approach, they made the surprising finding that organic nitrogen plays a key role in promoting plant growth. The study,...
New technique pinpoints locations of individual molecules in their cellular neighborhoods
Scientists have married two of today's most powerful microscopy techniques to make images that pinpoint, for the first time, the identities and precise locations of individual proteins within the detailed context of bacterial cells. This information is crucial for learning how protein molecules work together to organize cell division and carry out other important tasks, such as enabling microbes...
Replacing GDP with Gross Ecosystem Product reveals value of nature
Replacing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a new "ecosystem" measure reveals the enormous value of the natural world, new research shows.
Sharing of tacit knowledge is most important aspect of mentorship, study finds
When it comes to education and mentorship, Northwestern University researchers believe that Albert Einstein had the right idea. The most important aspect of teaching, Einstein thought, isn't relaying facts but imparting tacit knowledge that students will build on for the rest of their lives.
Ocean geoengineering tests violate UN convention: green groups
Experimental geoengineering schemes to protect areas such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef are "distracting technofixes" that violate an international moratorium on the largely untested tech projects, a coalition of nearly 200 environmental groups said Monday.
Protection of seagrasses is key to building resilience to climate change and disasters
Seagrass meadows can be a powerful nature-based climate solution and help sustain communities hard-hit by stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, but these important ecosystems continue to decline. The importance of seagrasses is highlighted in a new report, "Out of the Blue: The Value of Seagrasses to the Environment and to People," released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)...
Red tape may have a silver lining for micro businesses: new study
Small business owners who complain about excessive regulation may be overlooking the business benefits it brings, according to a new study from the University of Bath.
Monkeys appreciate lifelike animation
Monkeys can overcome their aversion to animated monkeys through a more realistic avatar, according to research recently published in eNeuro.
Crystalline 'nanobrush' clears way to advanced energy and information tech
A team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory synthesized a tiny structure with high surface area and discovered how its unique architecture drives ions across interfaces to transport energy or information. Their "nanobrush" contains bristles made of alternating crystal sheets with vertically aligned interfaces and plentiful pores.
'Social distancing' saves frogs: New approach to identify individual frogs noninvasively
Globally, 41% amphibian species are regarded as threatened with extinction. However, when it comes to the case of India, the majority of the species falls in the Data Deficient group, according to the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
Temperate insects as vulnerable to climate change as tropical species
In previous research, it has been assumed that insects in temperate regions would cope well with or even benefit from a warmer climate. Not so, according to researchers from the Universities of Uppsala and Lund in Sweden and Oviedo, Spain, in a new study. The earlier models failed to take into account the fact that insects in temperate habitats are inactive for much of the year.