168 articles from FRIDAY 4.6.2021
O'Regan says 30 million trees to be planted this year, two billion by 2030
A Liberal campaign pledge to plant two billion trees by 2030 finally seems to have taken root. Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan announced Friday that 30 million trees will be planted this season out of the two billion his government promised to plant over the next 10 years during the 2019 federal election...
Magnetism drives metals to insulators in new experiment
Like all metals, silver, copper, and gold are conductors. Electrons flow across them, carrying heat and electricity. While gold is a good conductor under any conditions, some materials have the property of behaving like metal conductors only if temperatures are high enough; at low temperatures, they act like insulators and do not do a good job of carrying electricity. In other words, these unusual...
Social identity within the anti-vaccine movement
A study of more than 1,000 demographically representative participants found that about 22 percent of Americans self-identify as anti-vaxxers, and tend to embrace the label as a form of social identity.
Researchers investigate mining-related deforestation in the Amazon
If you're wearing gold jewelry right now, there's a good chance it came from an illegal mining operation in the tropics and surfaced only after some rainforest was sacrificed, according to a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and alumni who studied regulatory efforts to curb some of these environmentally damaging activities in the Amazon.
Fungus creates a fast track for carbon
Tiny algae in Earth's oceans and lakes take in sunlight and carbon dioxide and turn them into sugars that sustain the rest of the aquatic food web, gobbling up about as much carbon as all the world's trees and plants combined.
Why scientists want to solve an underground mystery about where microbes live
Though it might seem inanimate, the soil under our feet is very much alive. It's filled with countless microorganisms actively breaking down organic matter, like fallen leaves and plants, and performing a host of other functions that maintain the natural balance of carbon and nutrients stored in the ground beneath us.
Beyond synthetic biology, synthetic ecology boosts health by engineering the environment
There's a lot of interest right now in how different microbiomes—like the one made up of all the bacteria in our guts—could be harnessed to boost human health and cure disease. But Daniel Segrè has set his sights on a much more ambitious vision for how the microbiome could be manipulated for good: "To help sustain our planet, not just our own health."
Substantial carbon dioxide emissions from northern peatlands drained for crop cultivation
A new study shows that substantial amounts of carbon dioxide were released during the last millennium because of crop cultivation on peatlands in the Northern Hemisphere.
AAS Names New NASA-Affiliated Fellows, Legacy Fellows
Portal origin URL: AAS Names New NASA-Affiliated Fellows, Legacy FellowsPortal origin nid: 471546Published: Friday, June 4, 2021 - 16:05Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Thirteen scientists working at or affiliated with NASA have been recently named Fellows of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the major organization of professional astronomers...
'Natural climate solutions' are available to help Canada meet emissions targets, new study says
Canada could reach one-third of its greenhouse gas reduction targets by making better use of its vast forests, prairies and wetlands, says a report by more than three dozen...
Five questions posed by Facebook’s two-year ban on Donald Trump
On Friday, Facebook announced that it would suspend former president Donald Trump from the social network for two years, until at least January 7, 2023, and said he would “only be reinstated if conditions permit.”
The announcement comes in response to recommendations last month from Facebook’s recently created Oversight Board. Facebook had hoped that the board would decide how to handle...
The U.S. Government’s Long-Awaited UFO Report Is Here. Its Findings? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The U.S. Navy pilots flying maneuvers in their F/A-18 Super Hornets in 2015 did not have to wait for yesterday’s leak of the classified government report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)—better known as UFOs—to know that they were seeing things they could not explain outside their windscreens. The objects were, yes, saucer-shaped, and they were bobbing, darting and...