255 articles from TUESDAY 20.10.2020

Plantwatch: Australia's giant stinging trees – 35m tall with a poison that can last for months

Scientists are hoping that research into Dendrocnide excelsa could lead to new painkillersIt sounds like something out of The Day of the Triffids: a stinging nettle the size of a large tree, with a sting so vicious it inflicts excruciating pain that can last for days, weeks or even months. But this is no science fiction, these are the stinging trees of Australia.Dendrocnide excelsa can grow up to...

How initiatives empowering employees can backfire

Strategies meant to motivate people in the workplace may have unintended consequences -- depending on who's in charge. Recent research shows that empowerment initiatives aren't necessarily the answer for business leaders hoping to motivate their employees.

Tradition of petrified birds in the Dome of the Rock

On the southern exterior wall of the Dome of the Rock, a very important Islamic shrine in Jerusalem's Old City, there are two marble slabs, both carved from the same stone and placed side by side to form a symmetrical pattern, that depicts two birds. In a recent article published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, "Solomon and The Petrified Birds on the Dome of the Rock," author Elon Harvey...

Repairing the photosynthetic enzyme Rubisco

Manajit Hayer-Hartl, head of the research group "Chaperonin-assisted Protein Folding," has a long-standing interest in the central enzyme of photosynthesis called Rubisco. Her team has already reported on many of the interacting partners of Rubisco that are required for the folding and assembly of this highly abundant protein. In the current study, they have elucidated how Rubisco activase works....

Geologists 'resurrect' missing tectonic plate

The existence of a tectonic plate called Resurrection has long been a topic of debate among geologists, with some arguing it was never real. Others say it subducted—moved sideways and downward—into the earth's mantle somewhere in the Pacific Margin between 40 and 60 million years ago.

Inside the information war on Black voters

In August, about 12,000 cell phones with Detroit area code 313 got recorded messages from “Tamika Taylor.” She claimed to be a member of a civil rights organization called Project 1599, and said she was calling to warn that applying to vote by mail could lead people’s personal information to be entered into a public government database. Her tone and language led listeners to believe she was...

After 2 Hurricanes, Lake Charles Fears Its Cries for Help Have Gone Unheard

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- That first drive through Lake Charles after Hurricane Laura had been a gut punch. Trinette Thomas felt a barrage of surprise and despair as she strained to absorb the destruction surrounding her and imagine the lengths it would take to stagger back. Then, another storm hit.The shock subsided quickly, replaced by the tedium and exasperation that accompany the slog toward...