258 articles from MONDAY 12.7.2021

Crystal clear: Lepidopterans have many ways of being transparent

Butterflies and moths have beautiful wings: The bright flare of an orange monarch, the vivid stripes of a swallowtail, the luminous green of a Luna moth. But some butterflies flutter on even more dramatic wings: Parts of their wing, or sometimes the entire wing itself, are actually transparent.

US drilling approvals increase despite Biden climate pledge

Approvals for companies to drill for oil and gas on U.S. public lands are on pace this year to reach their highest level since George W. Bush was president, underscoring President Joe Biden's reluctance to more forcefully curb petroleum production in the face of industry and Republican resistance.

Childhood lead exposure may adversely affect adults' personalities

A study sampled more than 1.5 million people in 269 U.S. counties and 37 European nations. Researchers found that those who grew up in areas with higher levels of atmospheric lead had less adaptive personalities in adulthood -- lower levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness and higher levels of neuroticism.

Symbionts sans frontieres: Bacterial partners travel the world

This pandemic year has restricted international travel for humans. Not so for some microscopic bacteria in the ocean: They partner up with clams living in the sand beneath the shimmering waters of coastal habitats throughout the globe. According to research by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and the University of Vienna now published in PNAS, the...

Quantum phase transition discovered in a quasi-2D system consisting purely of spins

Pure quantum systems can undergo phase transitions analogous to the classical phase transition between the liquid and gaseous states of water. At the quantum level, however, the particle spins in states that emerge from phase transitions display collective entangled behavior. This unexpected observation offers a new avenue for the production of materials with topological properties that are useful...

Despite less rain, the torrentiality of Mediterranean watercourses has increased

Ana Camarasa, professor of physical geography at the University of Valencia, has compared the rainfall registered in the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation between 1989 and 2018. By analyzing more than 800 rainfalls and more than 140 floods in four Valencian boulevards (including the ravines of Poyo and Carraixet, at the south and north of València) the expert concludes that in the final part of...

Study highlights media's important role in debunking COVID-19 misinformation

A study by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found that as the type of COVID-19 misinformation rectified by Singapore's mainstream news media evolved over the course of the pandemic, the role played by the media in debunking those myths became increasingly important to citizens in the nation's fight to manage the outbreak.

Mapping extreme snowmelt and its potential dangers

Snowmelt—the surface runoff from melting snow—is an essential water resource for communities and ecosystems. But extreme snow melt, which occurs when snow melts too rapidly over a short amount of time, can be destructive and deadly, causing floods, landslides and dam failures.

Improving data-independent acquisition proteomics

Proteomics produces enormous amounts of data, which can be very complex to analyze and interpret. The free software platform MaxQuant has proven to be invaluable for data analysis of shotgun proteomics over the past decade. Now, Jürgen Cox, group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, and his team present the new version 2.0. It provides an improved computational workflow for...

Researchers on quest to understand how different sexes first evolved

For 30 years, University of Tokyo Associate Professor Hisayoshi Nozaki has traveled an hour west of Tokyo to visit the Sagami River and collect algal samples to understand how living things evolved different sexes. Through new analysis of samples collected in 2007 and 2013 from dam lakes along the river, Lake Sagami and Lake Tsukui, researchers identified a species of freshwater algae that evolved...

NASA Lucy Mission’s Message to the Future

Portal origin URL: NASA Lucy Mission’s Message to the FuturePortal origin nid: 472461Published: Monday, July 12, 2021 - 13:45Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: As the first-ever mission to the Trojan asteroids, Lucy will survey this enigmatic population of small bodies that orbit the Sun beyond the main asteroid belt - trapped by Jupiter and the Sun...

Human environmental genome recovered in the absence of skeletal remains

Ancient sediments from caves have already been proven to preserve DNA for thousands of years. The amount of recovered sequences from environmental sediments, however, is generally low, which confounds the analyses performed with these sequences. A study led by Ron Pinhasi and Pere Gelabert of the University of Vienna and published in Current Biology successfully retrieved three mammalian...

Sea-level rise may worsen existing Bay Area inequities

Rather than waiting for certainty in sea-level rise projections, policymakers can plan now for future coastal flooding by addressing existing inequities among the most vulnerable communities in flood zones, according to Stanford research.

UK Covid: Johnson urges people to take unlocking ‘as slowly as we can’ amid 34,471 new cases – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For more coronavirus news from around the world, head to our global Covid blogPM urges Covid caution as hospitalisations could hit at least 1,000 a dayWhat Sage says about impact of PM’s plan to ease restrictions in EnglandBusinesses urged to check people’s Covid status as reopening confirmedWhitty says there is no ideal time to lift restrictionsJavid confirms...

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Reveals Intriguing Terrain for Rover Team

Portal origin URL: NASA’s Mars Helicopter Reveals Intriguing Terrain for Rover TeamPortal origin nid: 472478Published: Monday, July 12, 2021 - 13:34Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Ingenuity’s ninth flight provided imagery that will help the Perseverance rover team develop its science plan going forward.Portal image: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars...