Iceland's glaciers have lost around 750 square kilometers (290 square miles), or seven percent of their surface, since the turn of the millennium due to global warming, a study published on Monday showed.

Most of the existing 39 cat species are threatened. Successful reproduction under breeding conditions is hindered by a lack of knowledge and appropriate techniques. But now scientists from the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) have succeeded in testing the influence of selected hormones on cell cultures of domestic cats and translated the methods to wild cat...

In many species including humans, the cells responsible for reproduction, the germ cells, are often highly interconnected and share their cytoplasm. In the hermaphrodite nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, up to 500 germ cells are connected to each other in the gonad, the tissue that produces eggs and sperm. These cells are arranged around a central cytoplasmic "corridor" and exchange cytoplasmic...

New technology captures never-before-heard sounds of lynx hunting, fighting, and sleeping.

A new study from the University of Agder shows that animals are part of the natural carbon cycle process that absorbs greenhouse gas emissions.

Hydropower is renewable, but mostly not environmentally friendly. A study led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) shows for Romania how the expansion of hydropower runs counter to the goals of EU environmental policy. Hydropower conflicts with the requirements of the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive (Natura 2000) and the European Water Framework Directive (WFD):...

While it is widely accepted that climate change drove the evolution of our species in Africa, the exact character of that climate change and its impacts are not well understood. Glacial-interglacial cycles strongly impact patterns of climate change in many parts of the world, and were also assumed to regulate environmental changes in Africa during the critical period of human evolution over the...

Very high atmospheric CO2 levels can explain the high temperatures on the still young Earth three to four billion years ago. At the time, our Sun shone with only 70 to 80 percent of its present intensity. Nevertheless, the climate on the young Earth was apparently quite warm because there was hardly any glacial ice. This phenomenon is known as the 'paradox of the young weak Sun." Without an...

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that individuals who falsely believe they are able to identify false news are more likely to fall victim to it. In the article published today, Ben Lyons, assistant professor of communication at the University of Utah, and his colleagues examine the concern about the public's susceptibility to false news due to their...

Phosphate pollution in rivers, lakes and other waterways has reached dangerous levels, causing algae blooms that starve fish and aquatic plants of oxygen. Meanwhile, farmers worldwide are coming to terms with a dwindling reserve of phosphate fertilizers that feed half the world's food supply.

Art Garfunkel once described his legendary musical chemistry with Paul Simon, "We meet somewhere in the air through the vocal cords ... ." But a new study of duetting songbirds from Ecuador, the plain-tail wren (Pheugopedius euophrys), has offered another tune explaining the mysterious connection between successful performing duos.

Researchers have developed a new concept to explain the phenomenon known as Green Sahara. They demonstrate that a permanent vegetation cover in the Sahara was only possible under two overlapping rainy seasons. Dr. Enno Schefuß of MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences of the University of Bremen, Dr. Rachid Cheddadi of the University of Montpellier, and their colleagues have now...

Three groups recently reported a reference sequence for the supernumerary B chromosome in maize in a study published online in PNAS. Dr. James Birchler's group from University of Missouri, Dr. Jan Barto's group from Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Dr. Han Fangpu's group from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences...

As anyone who has ever procrastinated knows, remembering that you need to do something and acting on that knowledge are two different things. To understand how learning changes nerve cells and leads to different behaviors, researchers studied the much simpler nervous system of worms.

Detailed and extensive genome sequencing of a subspecies of rat-infecting malaria parasites should instruct human malaria research.

Scientists have shown that the population of the Yakushima sika deer has declined due to natural factors, suggesting that the population can be regulated without culling.

As many as 39.2% of young university students surveyed in a study carried out by Enrique García-Tort and Laura Monsalve Lorente, from the Department of Teaching and School Organisation at the University of Valencia, have practiced sexting: Sending sexual content via mobile phone or social media. The research also shows a correlation between moral assessment, risk perception and frequency, meaning...

Right-wing voices set out powerful but misleading arguments to justify inaction by the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study of the rhetoric used by high-level government officials and influential commentators in the US during the first half of 2020.

From city centres to rural fields, human activity has decimated populations of France's most common bird species, scientists warned on Monday, citing data collected over 30 years by volunteer ornithologists.

The water oxidation reaction (WOR) is one of the most important reactions on the planet since it is the source of nearly all the atmosphere's oxygen. Understanding its intricacies can hold the key to improve the efficiency of the reaction. Unfortunately, the reaction's mechanisms are complex and the intermediates highly unstable, thus making their isolation and characterisation extremely...

Between 1991 and 2018, more than a third of all deaths in which heat played a role were attributable to human-induced global warming, according to a new article in Nature Climate Change.

If you ask your teens to do their homework they'll find a thousand other things to do. But put them in front of a video game, and they'll focus on it for hours. How exactly do game designers create this kind of engagement? And what would happen if we applied these principles to teaching?

California's wildfire burn area has increased by more than 23,000 acres per year over the past two decades, and the number of people who have been adversely affected has nearly doubled. In a paper published recently in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, UCI researchers show that elderly and low-income residents have suffered a disproportionate share of the...

How is matter distributed within our universe? And what is the mysterious substance known as dark energy made of? HIRAX, a new large telescope array comprising hundreds of small radio telescopes, should provide some answers. Among those instrumental in developing the system are physicists from ETH Zurich.