US formally removes Colorado River fish's endangered status
The humpback chub, a rare fish found only in the Colorado River basin, has been brought back from the brink of extinction after decades of protection, though work must continue to ensure its survival, federal authorities said Monday in reclassifying the species from endangered to threatened status.
Sim City for food science takes on Listeria outbreaks
Researchers from Cornell University are blending food science expertise and computer programming savvy to help the food industry stop Listeria outbreaks.
Powerful new technique allows scientists to study how proteins change shape inside cells
Understanding how proteins bend, twist, and shape-shift as they go about their work in cells is enormously important for understanding normal biology and diseases. But a deep understanding of protein dynamics has generally been elusive due to the lack of good imaging methods of proteins at work. Now, for the first time, scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have invented a method that could...
Researchers develop self-healing polymers for cracked cellphone screens
If you're like most cellphone users, at one point you have experienced a cracked screen.
Breakthrough proof clears path for quantum AI
Convolutional neural networks running on quantum computers have generated significant buzz for their potential to analyze quantum data better than classical computers can. While a fundamental solvability problem known as "barren plateaus" has limited the application of these neural networks for large data sets, new research overcomes that Achilles heel with a rigorous proof that guarantees...
Hear sounds captured from Mars by NASA's Perseverance rover
Thanks to two microphones aboard NASA's Perseverance rover, the mission has recorded nearly five hours of Martian wind gusts, rover wheels crunching over gravel, and motors whirring as the spacecraft moves its arm. These sounds allow scientists and engineers to experience the Red Planet in new ways—and everyone is invited to listen in.
People love the billionaire, but hate the billionaires' club
Americans may respect and admire how individual billionaires—think Oprah Winfrey or Bill Gates—made their billions, even as they rage against the "top 1%" as a group, new research finds.
Famed gorilla dies at 35 in Congo park
A veteran gorilla descended from a celebrated forebear immortalised on a banknote has been found dead near a national park in the Demoratic Republic of Congo, the protected reserve announced on Monday.
So-called junk DNA plays critical role in mammalian development
Nearly half of our DNA has been written off as junk, the discards of evolution: Sidelined or broken genes, viruses that got stuck in our genome and were dismembered or silenced, none of it relevant to the human organism or human evolution.
Climate change and human pressure mean migration may be 'no longer worth it,' say researchers
Animals that migrate north to breed are being put at risk by ongoing climate change and increasing human pressure, losing earlier advantages for migration, declining in numbers and faring much worse than their resident counterparts, according to scientists writing in Trends in Ecology & Evolution.
EPA unveils strategy to regulate toxic 'forever chemicals'
The Biden administration is launching a broad strategy to regulate toxic industrial compounds associated with serious health conditions that are used in products ranging from cookware to carpets and firefighting foams.
Titan's river maps may advise Dragonfly's sedimental journey
With future space exploration in mind, a Cornell-led team of astronomers has published the final maps of Titan's liquid methane rivers and tributaries—as seen by NASA's late Cassini mission—so that may help provide context for Dragonfly's upcoming 2030s expedition.
Valuable peatlands at risk of disappearing
Peatlands are valuable ecosystems that store water and large quantities of carbon and that support high biodiversity. However, 20 percent of the European raised bog habitat is currently under threat from climate change and dewatering.
Video: Are human burial practices messing up Earth's ecosystems?
Life depends on death—living things die, decompose and eventually become nutrients for other life.
A beacon molecule that prevents vision, behavioral problems in mice
Nestled deep in the middle of the vertebrate brain is a multi-sensory integration and movement control center called the superior colliculus. In rodents, this brain region integrates multi-sensory inputs—visual cues, sounds, touch information, and smells—and delivers output signals to a variety of motor control centers in the brain, coordinating the animal's movements in response to its...
Researchers observe translation symmetry breaking in twisted bilayer graphene
Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene is a material made of two sheets of graphene placed on top of each other, with one sheet twisted at precisely 1.05 degrees with respect to the other. This material has been found to be a very promising platform for studying different phases of matter, as it combines metallic, superconducting, magnetic and insulating phases in a single crystal.
Catalyst advance improves natural gas cleaning technology
A newly developed catalyst with unique, atomic-sized "rafts" does a better job than current technology for cleaning up emissions from natural gas engines.
New discovery can improve industrial yeast strains
Baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is used industrially to produce a great variety of biochemicals. These biochemicals can be produced from waste material from the agricultural or forest industry (second-generation biomass). During the mechanical and enzymatic degradation of biomass acetic acid is released. Acetic acid inhibits the growth and the biochemical production rate of yeast. Now,...
Fleshy fruits are more common in tropics: Phylogenic analysis
Fruits can be dichotomously classified as fleshy or dry. Although many factors have been proposed to explain the pattern that the fleshy-fruited species occur with deceasing latitude and altitude, the relative importance of these factors has not yet been resolved.
A virus that disrupts the sex routines of roundworms
Viruses influence the sex life of the roundworm C. elegans. Male roundworms of this non-parasitic nematode species are less sexually attracted to females infected with the Orsay virus. The virus also eventually leads to more male offspring and therefore an increase in mating behavior. This has been shown in doctoral research by microbiologist Lisa van Sluijs, lecturer at the Laboratory of...
mRNA degradation induced by fluid flow breaks left–right symmetry in vertebrates
A better knowledge of the causes of disease, birth defects and genetic syndromes could come from new insights gleaned by RIKEN biologists into how mice embryos develop asymmetry between their left and right sides.
Successful beam pipe installation at LHCb
The LHC experiments are nearing the completion of maintenance and upgrade works carried out in the framework of the second long shutdown of CERN's accelerator complex. Of all the experiments, LHCb is undergoing the most significant metamorphosis during these two years, namely the installation of a faster Vertex Locator (VELO), a new scintillating-fiber particle-tracking detector (SciFi), and...
Synthesizing double perovskite nanocrystals with bright emission based on triplet self-trapped excitons
Different from the narrow band emission based on free excitons in lead-perovskite nanocrystals (NCs), the low electronic dimensionality in lead-free double perovskite NCs can lead to self-trapped excitons (STEs), generating a broadband emission.
New active agent against parasites
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have identified a chemical compound that may be suitable as an active agent against several different unicellular parasites. Among these are the pathogens that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis. The point of attack for this promising substance is the protein tubulin: It helps cells divide and therefore is essential for the multiplication of the...
Analysis puts most general constraints on nonstandard neutrino interactions
For decades, physicists have theorized that the current best theory describing particle physics—the "Standard Model"—was not sufficient to explain the way the universe works. In the search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), elusive particles called neutrinos might point the way.