319 articles from THURSDAY 27.5.2021
Driving in the snow is a team effort for AI sensors
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 23:25
A major challenge for fully autonomous vehicles is navigating bad weather. Snow especially confounds crucial sensor data that helps a vehicle gauge depth, find obstacles and keep on the correct side of the yellow line, assuming it is visible. Averaging more than 200 inches of snow every winter, Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is the perfect place to push autonomous vehicle tech to its limits.
Dark energy survey releases most precise look at the universe's evolution
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 23:25
The Dark Energy Survey examines the largest-ever maps of galaxy distribution and shapes, extending more than 7 billion light-years across the Universe. The extraordinarily precise analysis, which includes data from the survey's first three years, contributes to the most powerful test of the current best model of the Universe, the standard cosmological model. However, hints remain from earlier DES...
Scientists unravel noise-assisted signal amplification in systems with memory
Signals can be amplified by an optimum amount of noise, but stochastic resonance is a fragile phenomenon. Researchers at AMOLF were the first to investigate the role of memory for this phenomenon in an oil-filled optical microcavity. The effects of slow non-linearity (i.e. memory) on stochastic resonance were never considered before, but these experiments suggest that stochastic resonance becomes...
Key early steps in gene expression captured in real time
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 22:34
Scientists have observed early RNA transcription dynamics by recording where, when and how RNA polymerase enzymes kick off transcription by binding to a DNA sequence.
'Nothing looks good' preparing for summer wildfire season
Wearing soot-smudged, fire-resistant clothing and helmets, several wildland firefighters armed with hoes moved through a stand of ponderosa pines as flames tore through the underbrush.
Launch postponed for Soyuz rocket with UK telecom satellites
The launch of a Soyuz rocket carrying 36 UK telecommunication and internet satellites has been postponed until Friday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
Partners in crime: Agricultural pest relies on bacteria to overcome plant defenses
Although insect larvae may seem harmless to humans, they can be extremely dangerous to the plant species that many of them feed on, and some of those plant species are important as agricultural crops. Although plants cannot simply flee from danger like animals typically would, many have nonetheless evolved ingenious strategies to defend themselves from herbivores. Herbivorous insect larvae will...
Engineered defects in crystalline material boost electrical performance
Materials engineers don't like to see line defects in functional materials.
Bacterium causing rabbit fever remains virulent for months in cold water
Although it is not spread through human contact, Francisella tularensis is one of the most infectious pathogenic bacteria known to science—so virulent, in fact, that it is considered a serious potential bioterrorist threat. It is thought that humans can contract respiratory tularemia, or rabbit fever—a rare and deadly disease—by inhaling as few as 10 airborne organisms.
Beluga whale found dead in Alaska will help scientists better understand the endangered animals
A stranded beluga whale found dead in the mudflats near Potter Marsh on Tuesday will likely help scientists untangle more information about the critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga population.
Study sheds light on population history of northern east Asia
A study led by research groups of Prof. Fu Qiaomei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. Zhang Hucai from Yunnan University covers the largest temporal transect of population dynamics in East Asia so far and offers a clearer picture of the deep population history of northern East Asia.
Effects of nanoplastics on Canadian and Guadeloupean oysters
Oysters' exposure to plastics is concerning, particularly because these materials can accumulate and release metals which are then absorbed by the mollusks. According to a recent study published in the journal Chemosphere, the combined presence of nanoplastics and arsenic affects the biological functions of oysters. This study was conducted by the Institut national de la recherche scientifique...
Bacterium causing deadly rabbit fever remains virulent for months in cold water, researchers report
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:54
Disease ecologists have published study results showing how they were able to prove, by replicating environmental conditions in the lab, that Francisella tularensis can persist for months in cold water without any nutrients and remain fully virulent. Their results provide a plausible explanation for how the deadly pathogen, which causes rabbit fever, can overwinter in the environment outside of a...
Partners in crime: Agricultural pest that relies on bacteria to overcome plant defenses
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:54
The oral secretions of herbivorous insects can activate plant defense mechanisms that protect plant cells from being digested. However, scientists have discovered that some larvae 'partner up' with bacteria that help interrupt these plant defense mechanisms. This disrupts the plant's defenses before the digestive proteins that the larvae smear on them. These findings may help agricultural...
Engineered defects in crystalline material boosts electrical performance
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:53
Researchers have discovered that engineering one-dimensional line defects into certain materials can increase their electrical performance.
World needs $8.1 trillion investment in nature by 2050 to tackle triple planetary crisis
A total investment in nature of $8.1 trillion is required between now and 2050—while annual investment should reach $536 billion annually by 2050—in order to successfully tackle the interlinked climate, biodiversity, and land degradation crises, according to the State of Finance for Nature report released today.
Comprehensive electronic-structure methods for materials design
Nicola Marzari, head of the Theory and Simulation of Materials laboratory at EFPL and director of NCCR MARVEL, has just published a review of electronic-structure methods as part of a special edition Insight on Computational Materials Design, published by Nature Materials. The article, written with Andrea Ferretti of CNR–Instituto Nanoscienze and Chris Wolverton of Northwestern University,...
Managing global climate change--and local conditions--key to coral reefs' survival
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:02
According to a new study, what's key to coral reefs surviving climate-driven heatwaves and subsequent bleaching is managing global climate change -- and local conditions.
Technology predicts protein stability
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:02
A digital tool that will make it cheaper, safer and faster to develop new medicines is being rolled out by scientists.
Parasites as fountains of youth: Study finds infected ants live much longer
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:01
According to the results of a multi-year scientific study, ants of the species Temnothorax nylanderi show exceptionally high survival rates when infected with a tapeworm.
Changes in how cholesterol breaks down in the body may accelerate progression of dementia
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:01
The blood-brain barrier is impermeable to cholesterol, yet high blood cholesterol is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. However, the underlying mechanisms mediating this relationship are poorly understood. A new study suggests that disturbances in the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids may play a role in the development of dementia.
How more inclusive lab meetings lead to better science
- ScienceDaily
- 21/5/27 21:01
A new article seeks to help scientists structure their lab-group meetings so that they are more inclusive, more productive and, ultimately, lead to better science.
The new species of bacteria killing palms in Australia
As reported in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, a newly-discovered bacterium named Candidatus phytoplasma dypsidis has been found to cause a fatal wilt disease.
To give astronauts better food, engineers test a fridge prototype in microgravity
Astronauts have been going to space since 1961, but they still don't have a refrigerator to use for keeping food cold on long missions to the moon or Mars.