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78 articles from PhysOrg

Coastal flooding study finds trust-building, power-sharing key for environmental justice

It took two years and $11 million, but eventually ranchers, politicians and scientists came to a consensus about how to prevent flooding in Tillamook, a coastal Oregon town. A recent study by Portland State University researchers examining the social factors involved in this decision-making process showcases how environmental justice can be served when affected parties have a seat at the table....

Time-shifted inhibition helps electric fish ignore their own signals

Electric fish generate electric pulses to communicate with other fish and sense their surroundings. Some species broadcast shorter electric pulses, while others send out long ones. But all that zip-zapping in the water can get confusing. The fish need to filter out their own pulses so they can identify external messages and only respond to those signals.

Mutations may have saved brown howler monkeys from yellow fever virus

At the start of her 2008 field season at El Parque El Piñalito in the Misiones province in northeastern Argentina, Ilaria Agostini knew something was terribly wrong. Agostini has studied Misiones' two howler monkey species since 2005—brown (Alouatta guariba clamitans) and black and gold (A. caraya) howlers. Both lived at relatively low densities in the park, but still existed in one of the most...

Industry concentration contributes to job quality erosion, wage stagnation

Cratering job quality and weak wage growth in the U.S. have typically been attributed to a combination of technological change, waning worker bargaining power and increased pressures from trade and financial markets. But according to research co-written by a University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign expert who studies economic sociology, increased industry concentration also has dire consequences...

Quantum researchers create an error-correcting cat

Yale physicists have developed an error-correcting cat—a new device that combines the Schrödinger's cat concept of superposition (a physical system existing in two states at once) with the ability to fix some of the trickiest errors in a quantum computation.

Researchers develop catalyst for facilitating selective conversion of reactive lithium compounds

Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have developed a new catalyst that can catalyze reactions to produce pharmaceuticals or chemicals used in agriculture. It creates carbon-carbon bonds between what are known as organolithium compounds without creating any unwanted by-products. The team led by Professor Viktoria Däschlein-Gessner, Inorganic Chemistry II Research Group, describes the results...

Emerging infectious disease and challenges of social distancing in human and non-human animals

Humans are not the only social animal struggling with new infectious diseases. When Hamilton College Associate Professor of Biology Andrea Townsend began studying the social behavior of American crows, her work was complicated by West Nile virus, an emerging disease with devastating effects on crow populations. Her research pivoted to investigating the effects of disease on crow social behavior....

NASA finds hurricane Elida's eye covered

NASA's Aqua satellite obtained visible imagery of Hurricane Elida in the Eastern Pacific as it continued to weaken. Imagery revealed that Elida's eye had become covered as the storm embarks on a weakening trend over cooler waters.

Face mask insert could help diagnose disease conditions, study shows

Given current events, many people are wearing face masks to protect themselves and others. But that same face mask could someday also collect useful health information. Researchers reporting in ACS' Analytical Chemistry have demonstrated that a fiber inserted into an ordinary N95 face mask can collect compounds in exhaled breath aerosols for analysis. The new method could allow screening for...

Demographics data helps predict NY flood insurance claims

In flood-prone areas of the Hudson River valley in New York state, census areas with more white and affluent home owners tend to file a higher percentage of flood insurance claims than lower-income, minority residents, raising the issue of developing more nuanced, need-based federal flood insurance subsidies in these floodplains, according to a new study.

Engaging undergrads remotely with an escape room game

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, many universities canceled classes or held them online this spring—a change likely to continue for many this fall. As a result, hands-on chemistry labs are no longer accessible to undergraduate students. In a new study in the Journal of Chemical Education, researchers describe an alternative way to engage students: a virtual game, modeled on an escape room, in...

The oldest known cremation in the near east dates to 7000 BC

Ancient people in the Near East had begun the practice of intentionally cremating their dead by the beginning of the 7th millennium BC, according to a study published August 12, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Fanny Bocquentin of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and colleagues.

Why black rhinos may get sick in captivity

Inflammation and oxidative stress may be involved in the pathogenesis of iron overload disorder in captive black rhinoceroses, making this syndrome a potential common denominator to various diseases described in captivity in this species, according to a study published August 12 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Hanae Pouillevet of Oniris Nantes-Atlantic National College of Veterinary...

Efficient valves for electron spins

Researchers at the University of Basel in collaboration with colleagues from Pisa have developed a new concept that uses electron spin to switch an electrical current. In addition to fundamental research, such spin valves are also the key elements in spintronics—a type of electronics that exploits the spin instead of the charge of electrons. The results were published in the scientific journal...

OECD countries' politicians follow each other

The more democratic a country is, the greater the probability that its politicians decide in the same way as in neighboring countries, without further analysis. This is according a research group that has studied political decision-making during the beginning of the Corona crisis.

Glass blowing inspires new class of quantum sensors

When Adelaide glass blower Karen Cunningham made art using diamond and glass she had no idea it would inspire a new kind of hybrid material. Now a consortium of scientists, including from RMIT University and University of Adelaide, is using the technology to make a new class of quantum sensors.

Japanese biologists discover new species of sea worm in the southern ocean

Earlier this year, a team from Japan's National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), National Museum of Nature and Science (NMNS), and Kochi University (KU) set out to collect specimens of sea worm near the South Orkney Islands, a remote region of the Southern Ocean about 400 miles northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Global warming makes tropical soils leak carbon dioxide

Tropical forest soil warmed in experiments to levels consistent with end-of-century temperature projections released 55 percent more CO2 than control plots, exposing a previously underestimated source of greenhouse gas emissions, researchers reported Wednesday.