Scientists introduce rating system to assess quality of evidence for policy
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical need for robust scientific evidence to support policy decisions, such as around the effectiveness of various social distancing measures and the safety of drug therapies. Yet this need arises at a time of growing misinformation and poorly vetted facts repeated by influential sources. To address this gap, a group of scientists led by Kai Ruggeri, a...
Taking a landslide's temperature to avert catastrophe
Engineers from Duke University have developed a comprehensive new model of deep-seated landslides and demonstrated that it can accurately recreate the dynamics of historic and current landslides that occur under various conditions.
Accelerating biological systems design for sustainable biomanufacturing
Northwestern University synthetic biologists have developed a new rapid-prototyping system to accelerate the design of biological systems, reducing the time to produce sustainable biomanufacturing products from months to weeks.
New study reveals racial disparities in fear of police brutality
A recently published nationwide study by two University of South Florida professors indicates that blacks are five times more likely and Latinos four times more likely to fear police brutality than whites.
Researchers show Canada Basin's diminished capacity to absorb carbon dioxide
New research by University of Delaware doctoral student Zhangxian Ouyang and oceanographer Wei-Jun Cai, and an international team of researchers, demonstrates that rapid warming and sea-ice loss have induced major changes in the western Arctic Ocean.
While stargazing on Mars, Curiosity rover spots Earth and Venus
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover occasionally stops to stargaze. Recently, it captured a shot of Earth and Venus in the Red Planet's night sky.
Researchers unlock clues to a dramatic chapter of Earth's geological history
Imagine Earth completely covered in ice. While it's hard to picture all of today's oceans and land masses obscured with glaciers, such an ice-covered version of the planet was not so far-fetched millions of years ago.
Wounded plants: How they coordinate their healing
When we cut our fingers, blood rushes out of the wound to close it. However, the vegetable we just wanted to slice and dice, would have reacted completely differently to this injury. Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) investigated how plant cells heal wounds. In their results, published in PNAS on June 15, the researchers discovered that the hormone auxin...
No single solution helps all students complete MOOCs
In one of the largest educational field experiments ever conducted, a team co-led by a Cornell researcher found that promising interventions to help students complete online courses were not effective on a massive scale—suggesting that targeted solutions are needed to help students in different circumstances or locations.
Scientists discover three-dimensional structure in smaller water droplet
Water and its interactions with other substances are essential to human life. However, understanding the structure of liquid water and its hydrogen-bonding networks has been a challenge.
Spectacular bird's-eye view? Hummingbirds see diverse colors humans can only imagine
To find food, dazzle mates, escape predators and navigate diverse terrain, birds rely on their excellent color vision.
Carbon emission from permafrost soils underestimated by 14%
Picture 500 million cars stacked in rows. That's how much carbon—about 1,000 petagrams, or one billion metric tons—is locked away in Arctic permafrost.
New analysis of human portraits reveals shift in culture, cognition
Throughout history, portraits featuring the human profile have evolved to reflect changing cultural norms. A new study led by Helena Miton, a Santa Fe Institute Omidyar Fellow, and co-authored by Dan Sperber of Central European University and Mikołaj Hernik, of UiT the Artic University of Norway, shows that human cognition plays a critical role in the evolution of human portraiture.
COVID-19 pandemic could decimate outdoor environmental, science education programs
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens the survival of organizations nationwide that provide critical outdoor environmental and science education to K-12 students, with an alarming 63% of such groups uncertain about their ability to ever reopen their doors, according to a study released this week by the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
The many lifetimes of plastics
Many of us have seen informational posters at parks or aquariums specifying how long plastics bags, bottles, and other products last in the environment. They're a good reminder to not litter, but where does the information on the lifetime expectancy of plastic goods come from, and how reliable is it?
Researchers create first room-temp 'magnon switch' with industrially useful properties
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have demonstrated a potentially new way to make switches inside a computer's processing chips, enabling them to use less energy and radiate less heat.
NASA follows Tropical Storm Nuri's path
An animation of four days of imagery from NASA's Terra satellite showed the progression and landfall of Tropical Storm Nuri.
New fossil discovery shows 50 million-year-old Canada-Australia connection
The discovery of a tiny insect fossil is unearthing big questions about the global movement of animals and the connection to changes in climate and shifting continents across deep time. The fossil, estimated to be 50 million years old, was found in rocks near the city of Kamloops, British Columbia, but today its relatives live exclusively in Australia.
Cell wall research reveals possibility of simple and sustainable method to protect crops
While crop diseases have devastating consequences on agriculture, causing losses of up to 30% in some crops, plants constantly evolve to maintain robust immune systems that allow them to perceive pathogens and develop defenses. One key player in this system is the plant cell wall, a complex structure that surrounds all plant cells. The plant cell wall is a dynamic structure modified by...
Team develops benchmark for detecting large genetic mutations linked to major diseases
Many serious diseases, including autism, schizophrenia and numerous cardiac disorders, are believed to result from mutation of an individual's DNA. But some large mutations, which still make up only a small fraction of the total human genome, have been surprisingly challenging to detect.
Surprising growth rates discovered in world's deepest photosynthetic corals
New research published in the journal Coral Reefs revealed unexpectedly high growth rates for deep water photosynthetic corals. The study, led by Samuel Kahng, affiliate graduate faculty in the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), alters the assumption that deep corals living on the brink of darkness grow extremely slowly.
Why pulsars shine bright: A half-century-old mystery solved
When Jocelyn Bell first observed the emissions of a pulsar in 1967, the rhythmic pulses of radio waves so confounded astronomers that they considered whether the light could be signals sent by an alien civilization.
Using Jenga to explain lithium-ion batteries
Tower block games such as Jenga can be used to explain to schoolchildren how lithium-ion batteries work, meeting an educational need to better understand a power source that has become vital to everyday life.
How teachers are adapting to COVID-19 disruptions is subject of new study
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on many of society's unsung heroes—among them teachers, who took their duties online this past spring and kept teaching, even as schools shuttered and "homeschooling" became the new norm.
Excitons form superfluid in certain 2-D combos
Mixing and matching computational models of 2-D materials led scientists at Rice University to the realization that excitons—quasiparticles that exist when electrons and holes briefly bind—can be manipulated in new and useful ways.