Can super-Earth interior dynamics set the table for habitability?
New research led by Carnegie's Yingwei Fei provides a framework for understanding the interiors of super-Earths—rocky exoplanets between 1.5 and 2 times the size of our home planet—which is a prerequisite to assess their potential for habitability. Planets of this size are among the most abundant in exoplanetary systems. The paper is published in Nature Communications.
NASA's first mission to the trojan asteroids installs its final scientific instrument
With less than a year to launch, NASA's Lucy mission's third and final scientific instrument has been integrated onto the spacecraft.
Why does love of bargain hunting run in families?
Headlines like "Black Friday Shoppers Trampled in New York" and popular television shows such as "Extreme Couponing" remind us how crazy consumers can get about retail sales promotions. This enthusiasm for getting bargains has been termed "deal proneness."
Scientists create flexible biocompatible cilia that can be controlled by a magnet
Researchers at the University of Campinas's Chemistry Institute (IQ-UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, have developed a template-free technique to fabricate cilia of different sizes that mimic biological functions and have multiple applications, from directing fluids in microchannels to loading material into a cell, for example. The highly flexible cilia are based on polymer-coated iron...
Ancient Amazonian farmers fortified valuable land they had spent years making fertile to protect it
Ancient Amazonian communities fortified valuable land they had spent years making fertile to protect it from conflict, excavations show.
Not a living fossil: How the Coelacanth recently evolved dozens of new genes
The capture of the first living Coelacanth, a mighty ocean predator, off the coast of South Africa caused quite a stir in 1938, 65 million years after its supposed extinction. It became known as a "living fossil" owing to its anatomy looking almost identical to the fossil record. But while the Coelacanth's body may have changed little, its genome tells another story.
Researching ways to improve sustainability and reduce waste in the seafood industry
Nutritionists have been touting the health benefits of seafood for years. Dietary guidelines recommend that the average adult get at least two servings of seafood per week. But the push to increase our consumption of seafood can put a strain on the seafood industry and create more waste.
The pandemic lockdown leads to cleaner city air across Canada, paper reveals
The COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered cities around the world did not just affect the way we work, study and socialize. It also affected our mobility. With millions of workers no longer commuting, vehicle traffic across Canada has plummeted. This has had a significant impact on the quality of air in major Canadian cities, according to a new study by Concordia researchers.
Starling success traced to rapid adaptation
Love them or hate them, there's no doubt the European Starling is a wildly successful bird. A new study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology examines this non-native species from the inside out. What exactly happened at the genetic level as the starling population exploded from just 80 birds released in New York City's Central Park in 1890, peaking at an estimated 200 million breeding adults spread...
Human eye beats machine in archaeological color identification test
A ruler and scale can tell archaeologists the size and weight of a fragment of pottery—but identifying its precise color can depend on individual perception. So, when a handheld color-matching gadget came on the market, scientists hoped it offered a consistent way of determining color, free of human bias.
Explainer: how the UAE probe reached Mars' orbit
The first Arab interplanetary mission reached Mars' orbit Tuesday in the most critical stage of its journey to unravel the secrets of weather on the Red Planet.
Turkey unveils space program including 2023 moon mission
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled an ambitious 10-year space program for his country Tuesday that includes missions to the moon, sending Turkish astronauts into space and developing internationally viable satellite systems.
Deer native to India starve to death amid drought in Hawaii
Axis deer, a species native to India presented as a gift from Hong Kong to the king of Hawaii in 1868, have fed hunters and their families on the rural island of Molokai for generations. But for the community of about 7,500, where self-sustainability is a way of life, the invasive deer are both a cherished food source and a danger to their island ecosystem.
Researchers study how lifelong environmentalists want their remains handled after death
Traditional burial in a graveyard has environmental costs. Graves can take up valuable land, leak embalming chemicals and involve nonbiodegradable materials like concrete, as well as the plastic and steel that make up many caskets. But the other mainstream option—cremation—releases dangerous chemicals and greenhouse gasses into the environment.
'Defective' carbon simplifies hydrogen peroxide production
Rice University researchers have created a "defective" catalyst that simplifies the generation of hydrogen peroxide from oxygen.
New CRISPR tech targets human genome's complex code
Finding a needle in a haystack is hard enough. But try finding a specific molecule on the needle.
Racism and anti-gay discrimination heighten risk for arrest and incarceration
New research by Morgan Philbin, Ph.D., at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues looks at why Black young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are disproportionately subject to high rates of arrest and incarceration. They find that perceived racial discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and HIV-status discrimination are all associated with risk for criminal...
Low carbon transport at sea: Ferries voyage optimization in the Adriatic
Energy efficiency or carbon intensity (defined as CO2 emissions per transport work, ed.) is a possible point of convergence between the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and EU regulations to cut GHG emissions and decarbonize shipping. Short term measures to increase energy efficiency and achieve carbon intensity savings include voyage optimization.
Researchers uncover hidden hunting tactics of wolves in Minnesota's Northwoods
Wolves are arguably the most well-studied large predators in the world, yet new research shows there is still a lot to learn about their hunting tactics. Typically, wolves hunt large mammals like moose, deer, and bison in packs by outrunning, outlasting, and exhausting their prey. However, throughout the dense boreal forests in North America and Eurasia, during the summer wolves often hunt beavers...
Quantum computing enables simulations to unravel mysteries of magnetic materials
A multi-institutional team became the first to generate accurate results from materials science simulations on a quantum computer that can be verified with neutron scattering experiments and other practical techniques.
Long-term environmental damage from transportation projects in Kenya, scientists warn
The construction of a major railway through Kenya will have long-term environmental impacts on the area, suggesting more work needs to be done to limit the damage on future infrastructure projects, a major study reveals.
Astronomers offer possible explanation for elusive dark-matter-free galaxies
A team led by astronomers at the University of California, Riverside, has found that some dwarf galaxies may today appear to be dark-matter free even though they formed as galaxies dominated by dark matter in the past.
Collective worm and robot 'blobs' protect individuals, swarm together
Individually, California blackworms live an unremarkable life eating microorganisms in ponds and serving as tropical fish food for aquarium enthusiasts. But together, tens, hundreds, or thousands of the centimeter-long creatures can collaborate to form a "worm blob," a shape-shifting living liquid that collectively protects its members from drying out and helps them escape threats such as...
Coca-Cola to sell soda in 100% recycled plastic in US
Coca-Cola will soon begin selling sodas in completely recycled plastic in the United States for the first time, the beverage giant said Tuesday.
Fear and love surround Escobar's hippos thriving in Colombia
Tucked between mountain ranges, the sprawling palace of Pablo Escobar was home to kangaroos, giraffes, elephants and other exotic animals—a private zoo of illegally imported animals that was the greatest ostentation of the feared drug kingpin as he reigned over the cocaine trade in Colombia.