The new-new kids on the block: hybrid lizards
There are many different kinds of anoles, but they tend not to mix. Females recognize the colorful, extendable neck flap of an amorous male of the same species, or the pattern of his head-bobbing dance. As a result, the Jets and the Sharks of the anole world almost never connect.
Magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes off Alaska coast
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska early Monday in what the Alaska Earthquake Center called an aftershock of a 8.2 quake from late July.
Chemists create chemical probe to better understand immune response
A trio of chemists at Indiana University Bloomington has created a new sensor to detect chemical changes in immune cells during the breakdown of pathogens. The work could potentially contribute to the early diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, that evade certain elements of the body's immune response.
Crews clean 250,000 pounds of oil debris from Orange County shores as beaches reopen
In a sign of progress in the Orange County oil spill, Huntington Beach city and state beaches reopened Monday morning as cleanup crews continued their work combing the shores for vestiges of oil and tar.
Automatic entry into career advancing competitions could help women, study suggests
Women continue to be underrepresented in leadership roles, a dilemma a new study suggests could be helped by eliminating self-nomination from competitive selection processes.
Forgiveness messaging increases willingness to accept former Boko Haram fighters returning home
Thousands of former Boko Haram militants and abductees in Nigeria left the group this summer and asked to return to their homes. If they are not allowed, they could return to fighting. A randomized evaluation in the Nigerian city where Boko Haram began—and where many of its victims now live—found that messages from a Muslim religious leader focused on ideas about forgiveness from the religion...
Ocean life helps produce clouds, but existing clouds keep new ones at bay
Stand on the ocean's shore and take a big whiff of the salt spray and you'll smell the unmistakably pungent scent of the sea. That ripe, almost rotting smell? That's sulfur.
Marine researchers focus on the tiniest victims of Orange County oil spill
Until now, the story of the worst Southern California oil spill in decades has been told by gut-wrenching images oil-soaked birds, dying fish and fouled wetlands. However, these images reveal just part of the story, researchers say.
Crucial benefits of vital moorland restoration works revealed
The innovative Mires on the Moors project has made significant breakthroughs in the quest to identify where peatlands, found on the Moors across the United Kingdom's South West, have been damaged by drainage, peat cutting and burning.
Researchers identify universal laws in the turbulent behavior of active fluids
Certain groupings of bacteria or cellular tissues form systems that are called active fluids. These can flow spontaneously without having to be forced from the outside, since their components are able to generate forces and move autonomously. When the activity is high enough, the spontaneous flows become chaotic, like those observed in the turbulence of ordinary fluids. University of Barcelona...
Assessing the risks from 'grease-proofing' chemicals in food packaging requires new methods, studies
Developing ways to measure and study exposures to a class of synthetic chemicals is critical to addressing potential health risks stemming from a long history of consumer uses in food wrappers, popcorn bags and paperboard.
Thousands locked down as La Palma volcano destroys cement works
Up to 3,000 residents of the Spanish island of La Palma on Monday were ordered to stay indoors after lava from a volcano destroyed a cement works, raising fresh fears of toxic gases.
WHO pens prescription for health at COP26
Millions of lives could be saved by reining in global warming, the World Health Organization said Monday, urging the COP26 summit to take serious climate action to improve public health worldwide.
Scientists urge speedy switch to renewables in Middle East
A climate change conference will underscore to policymakers in the Middle East and the east Mediterranean that the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is needed urgently because greenhouse gas emissions are helping to drive up regional temperatures faster than in many other inhabited parts of the world.
Climate change may already impact majority of humanity: study
The effects of climate change could already be impacting 85 percent of the world's population, an analysis of tens of thousands of scientific studies said Monday.
How recovery from COVID-19's impact on energy demand could help meet climate targets
The pandemic-related drop in greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 was likely the largest on record in a single year, but how our recovery might affect future emissions is less clear. New modeling examines alternative scenarios and how they could impact climate mitigation targets.
Study shows how corporations influence policy through nonprofit donations
In 2003, the Coca-Cola Foundation announced a $1 million donation to the American Association of Pediatric Dentistry, supposedly to "improve child dental health." Shortly after receiving the gift, the children's dental group changed its stance on sugary beverages, no longer calling them a "significant factor" in causing cavities, but instead saying the scientific evidence was "not clear."
Millions of sea creatures lived on the Elly platform off the California coast. Will they survive the oil spill?
Perched high above the waves about nine miles off the coast of Huntington Beach, the oil processing platform known as Elly looks like an industrial eyesore—a tangle of hard metal surfaces, cranes and pipes.
Radio signals from distant stars suggest hidden planets
Using the world's most powerful radio antenna, scientists have discovered stars unexpectedly blasting out radio waves, possibly indicating the existence of hidden planets.
Study links COVID-19 rates with nature equity, shows double burden for communities of color
By now, it's clear the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly unkind to communities of color and low-income populations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ties these disparities to disproportionate representation of nonwhite populations in essential worker roles, discrimination, lack of healthcare access, wage gaps, housing factors, and more. But new research from the San Francisco...
Anticipated spill from deteriorating Red Sea oil tanker threatens public health, study finds
A massive prospective spill from a deserted oil tanker in the Red Sea could lead to catastrophic public health effects in war-torn Yemen and neighboring countries unless urgent action is taken, according to a study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Machine learning offers high-definition glimpse of how genomes organize in single cells
Within the microscopic boundaries of a single human cell, the intricate folds and arrangements of protein and DNA bundles dictate a person's fate: which genes are expressed, which are suppressed, and—importantly—whether they stay healthy or develop disease.
New study sheds light on molecular motion
New research has shown how a synthetic self-made fibers can guide molecular movement that can be fuelled by light over long distances, a discovery that could pave the way for new ways to use light as a source of sustainable energy.
Corrosion can improve materials' durability
When it comes to the integrity of structural alloys, a little corrosion may sometimes be a good thing.
Lightning strikes may trigger short-term thinning in the ozone layer
Crack! Lightning strikes are bright and loud—violent enough to shake your bones and light up the sky. Now, a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that these powerful events may also alter the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere, even affecting Earth's all-important ozone layer.