202 articles from MONDAY 4.1.2021

Reawakened geyser does not foretell Yellowstone volcanic eruptions

Geyser eruptions, like volcanic eruptions, are a mystery, so the reactivation of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone in 2018 provided an opportunity to explore why geysers turn off and on, and what determines their periodicity. Researchers found little evidence of magma moving below the geyser, meaning no sign of imminent hydrothermal eruptions, but did discover a relationship between the height of...

Secrets Behind Sunquakes Could Lurk Beneath the Solar Surface

Portal origin URL: Secrets Behind Sunquakes Could Lurk Beneath the Solar SurfacePortal origin nid: 467347Published: Monday, January 4, 2021 - 16:05Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: A secret behind the workings of sunquakes – seismic activity on the Sun during solar flares – might be hidden beneath the solar surface.Portal image: Satellite...

Scientists develop new approach to understanding massive volcanic eruptions

A geosciences team led by the University of South Florida (USF) has developed a new way to reconstruct the sizes of volcanic eruptions that occurred thousands of years ago, creating a first-of-its kind tool that can aid scientists in understanding past explosive eruptions that shaped the earth and improve the way of estimating hazards of future eruptions.

Uncovering how plants see blue light

Plants can perceive and react to light across a wide spectrum. New research from Prof. Nitzan Shabek's laboratory in the Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences shows how plants can respond to blue light in particular.

Study resolves long-running controversy over critical step in gene silencing

A long-running debate over how an important gene-silencing protein identifies its targets has been resolved by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Their findings, reported in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, also explain certain mysteries about the behavior of this protein, known as Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2).

Gas pressure depletion and seismicity

Europe's largest gas field, the Groningen field in the Netherlands, is widely known for induced subsidence and seismicity caused by gas pressure depletion and associated compaction of the sandstone reservoir. Whether compaction is elastic or partly inelastic, as implied by recent experiments, is key to forecasting system behavior and seismic hazard.

Reawakened geyser does not foretell Yellowstone volcanic eruptions, study shows

When Yellowstone National Park's Steamboat Geyser—which shoots water higher than any active geyser in the world—reawakened in 2018 after three and a half years of dormancy, some speculated that it was a harbinger of possible explosive volcanic eruptions within the surrounding geyser basin. These so-called hydrothermal explosions can hurl mud, sand and rocks into the air and release hot steam,...

New study on circadian clock shows 'junk DNA' plays a key role in regulating rhythms

Researchers have been trying to figure out what regulates molecular circadian clocks, in search of new insights into diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes. Until now, that research has focused on what is known as clock genes. But new research reveals the discovery of a new cog in the circadian clock - a genome-wide regulatory layer made up of small chains of non-coding nucleotides known...

Uncovering how plants see blue light

Plants can perceive and react to light across a wide spectrum. New research shows how plants can respond to blue light in particular by revealing the structure of cryptochrome-2, the molecule that reacts to blue light.

First glimpse of polarons forming in a promising next-gen energy material

Polarons are fleeting distortions in a material's atomic lattice that form around a moving electron in a few trillionths of a second, then quickly disappear. As ephemeral as they are, they affect a material's behavior, and may even be the reason that solar cells made with lead hybrid perovskites achieve extraordinarily high efficiencies in the lab.

Fluoride to the rescue? Addressing the challenge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Scientists have long been aware of the dangerous overuse of antibiotics and the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant microbes that have resulted. While over-prescription of antibiotics for medicinal use has unsettling implications for human health, so too does the increasing presence of antibiotics in the natural environment. The latter may stem from the improper disposal of medicines, but...

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria: Fluoride to the rescue?

Scientists have long been aware of the dangerous overuse of antibiotics and the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant microbes that have resulted. While over-prescription of antibiotics for medicinal use has unsettling implications for human health, so too does the increasing presence of antibiotics in the natural environment. The latter may stem from the improper disposal of medicines, but...

London hospital halts urgent cancer surgery due to Covid cases

Concern among staff as King’s College postpones operations amid shortage of ICU beds Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageOne of the NHS’s biggest hospitals has had to cancel urgent cancer surgery this week because so many of its intensive care beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.King’s College hospital in south London called off all “priority two” cancer...