207 articles from FRIDAY 12.2.2021

More trees do not always create a cooler planet, geographer finds

New research by Christopher A. Williams, an environmental scientist and professor in Clark University's Graduate School of Geography, reveals that deforestation in the U.S. does not always cause planetary warming, as is commonly assumed; instead, in some places, it actually cools the planet. A peer-reviewed study by Williams and his team, "Climate Impacts of U.S. Forest Loss Span Net Warming to...

TESS discovers new worlds in a river of young stars

Using observations from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a trio of hot worlds larger than Earth orbiting a much younger version of our Sun called TOI 451. The system resides in the recently discovered Pisces-Eridanus stream, a collection of stars less than 3% the age of our solar system that stretches across one-third of the...

Star-shaped brain cells may be linked to stuttering

Astrocytes -- star-shaped cells in the brain that are actively involved in brain function -- may play an important role in stuttering, a study led by an expert on stuttering has found. The study also suggests that treatment with the medication risperidone leads to increased activity of the striatum in persons who stutter.

'Colder and deeper’: Scientists close in on spot to drill Antarctic ice core 1.5m years old

Australian Antarctic Division will drill 3,000 metres deep in bid to improve ancient climate records and future modelsAntarctic scientists are close to finalising a drilling location deep in the frozen continent’s interior that could reveal a continuous record of the Earth’s climate going back 1.5 million years.After almost a decade of work, scientists at the Australian Antarctic Division are...

Epidemic possibly caused population collapse in Central Africa 1400-1600 years ago

A new study published in the journal Science Advances shows that Bantu-speaking communities in the Congo rainforest underwent a major population collapse from 1600 to 1400 years ago, probably due to a prolonged disease epidemic, and that significant resettlement did not restart until around 1000 years ago. These findings revise the population history of no less than seven present-day African...

NASA's TESS Discovers New Worlds in a River of Young Stars

Portal origin URL: NASA's TESS Discovers New Worlds in a River of Young StarsPortal origin nid: 468318Published: Friday, February 12, 2021 - 14:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a trio of hot worlds larger than Earth orbiting a young version of our Sun called TOI 451Portal...

Diving into the mysteries of mate selection

In your quest for true love and that elusive happily ever after, are you waiting for the 'right' person to come along, or do you find yourself going for the cutest guy or girl in the room, hoping things will work out? Do you leave your options open, hoping to 'trade-up' at the next opportunity, or do you invest in your relationship with an eye on the cost-benefits analysis?

Study contradicts belief that whales learn songs from one another

A new study is directly contradicting the widely accepted cultural transmission hypothesis suggesting that whales learn their songs from other whales. 'Our findings indicate that neither cultural transmission nor social learning contributes significantly to how humpback whales change their songs over time.', says one of the researchers.

St. John's Wort flowers serve as green catalyst

Since ancient times, St. John's Wort has been used as a medicinal herb covering a wide range of applications such as the treatment of burns, skin injuries, neuralgia, fibrosis, sciatica and depression. Due to its high medicinal potential, the plant known in technical terminology as Hypericum perforatum even became "Medicinal Plant of the Year" in 2015. Now, scientists at TU Dresden have shown that...

John Bishop obituary

My friend and colleague John Bishop, who has died aged 85, was a pioneer of molecular cell biology whose career bridged a remarkable era in life sciences – from genes to genetic engineering.Born in Edinburgh, to Mary (nee Oliver) and Robert Bishop, John was raised in the nearby town of Bo’ness, where his father was a shopkeeper. He won a scholarship to attend George Heriot’s school in...

NIH experts discuss SARS-CoV-2 viral variants

The rise of significant variants of SARS-CoV-2 has attracted the attention of health and science experts worldwide. In a new editorial, experts outline how these variants have arisen, concerns about whether vaccines currently authorized for use will continue to protect against new variants, and the need for a global approach to fighting SARS-CoV-2 as it spreads and acquires additional mutations.

'Snow apocalypse' batters Moscow

A record-breaking snowstorm descended on Moscow on Friday, paralysing traffic, grounding flights and straining efforts of local authorities to respond to the "snow apocalypse".

Environmental scientists cite need for studies looking into impact of microplastics

A pair of environmental scientists are warning that the worldwide population could be facing another health crisis—ailments that impact people due to ingestion of microplastics. In their Perspectives piece published in the journal Science, A. Dick Vethaak, with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Juliette Legler, with Utrecht University, note that the effects of ingesting microplastics on the human...

Electron refrigerator: Ultrafast cooling mechanism discovered in novel plasma

Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter" have achieved a breakthrough—creating a completely new type of plasma by combining state-of-the-art technologies using ultrashort laser pulses and ultracold atomic gases. They report on a novel electron cooling mechanism occurring in such plasmas in the journal Nature Communications.

Is the Brunt Ice Shelf on the brink?

In early 2019, all eyes were fixed on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where a massive iceberg, around the size of Greater London, appeared poised to break off. Almost two years later, the berg is desperately clinging on, although current data indicate calving is imminent. A new crack, spotted in images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel missions, now suggests the potential for calving of...

Increasing forest diversity insufficient in the face of extreme drought events

Trees of different species tend to compete less with each other in the use of forest resources. That is why forest diversity may exert a beneficial effect on their productivity stability when facing climate changes. But does this solution always work? A research group led by the Complutense University of Madrid in which the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has participated confirms this...

Producing more sustainable hydrogen with composite polymer dots

Hydrogen for energy use can be extracted in an environmentally friendly way from water and sunlight, using photocatalytic composite polymer nanoparticles developed by researchers at Uppsala University. In laboratory tests, these 'polymer dots' showed promising performance and stability alike. The study has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Detecting multiple sepsis biomarkers from whole blood—made fast, accurate, and cheap

Many life-threatening medical conditions, such as sepsis, which is triggered by blood-borne pathogens, cannot be detected accurately and quickly enough to initiate the right course of treatment. In patients that have been infected by an unknown pathogen and progress to overt sepsis, every additional hour that an effective antibiotic cannot be administered significantly increases the mortality...

Research team develops joint splints for sports and medicine inspired by dragonfly wings

Around 80% of sports injuries are so-called musculoskeletal injuries, for example sprains, strains or overstretching. Such injuries can occur especially in those sports with high loads on the wrists, such as handball, basketball or weightlifting. Conventional supports either do not provide enough stability or restrict the mobility of the joint too much. A research team from the Zoological...