162 articles from TUESDAY 19.10.2021

Molecular interfaces as building blocks for innovative sensors and data storage devices

Molecular interfaces formed between metals and molecular compounds have enormous potential as building blocks for future opto-electronics and spin-electronics devices. Transition metal phthalocyanine and porphyrin complexes are promising components for such interfaces. Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich, together with a team of international scientists, have been working to develop a model...

Small-scale foragers left more than footprints on the landscape

Archaeological sites like the Great Wall of China and the pyramids can be seen with the naked eye from space, but for ancient societies that did not build, their traces on the landscape are more difficult to find. Now Penn State researchers have used satellite data to identify areas in coastal southwest Madagascar where indigenous foragers altered their surroundings.

Scientists develop new sensor to capture calcium activity in cells

A team of researchers at Georgia State University has developed a novel approach for detecting the activity of calcium within cells. The study, led by Regents' Professor of Chemistry Jenny Yang, demonstrates the effectiveness of a red biosensor that can directly monitor calcium at specific locations within a cell, a discovery that could aid in better understanding of the molecular basis of human...

Study reconstructs 232-year history of prairie fire in Midwestern US

Researchers combed through thousands of historical documents for first-person accounts of fires occurring between 1673 and 1905 in the Midwestern tallgrass prairie. Their study is the first systematic analysis of the timing, causes and consequences of prairie fires in this part of the world. They report their findings in Natural Areas Journal.

Dairy calves use brushes for more than combing their hair

Dairy cows have a natural drive to groom themselves and to scratch those hard-to-reach itches on their bodies. When given the opportunity, dairy cattle use mechanical brushes daily at every stage of their lives. A new study in the Journal of Dairy Science, conducted by researchers from the Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada,...

Agricultural runoff contributes to global warming, but a new study offers insight on climate-change mitigation

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas, with 300 times the warming ability of carbon dioxide. Due to fertilizer runoff from farm fields, an increasing load of nitrogen is washing into rivers and streams, where nitrogen-breathing microbes break some of the fertilizer down into N2O, which the river releases into the atmosphere as it tumbles toward the ocean. But, until now, scientists...

Without Covid-19 jab ‘reinfection may occur every 16 months’ say scientists

Reports grow of repeat SARS-CoV-2 infection as experts warn prevalence among schoolchildren risks health of older people as vaccines waneCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAs Covid-19 infections surge in England people are increasingly reporting catching SARS-CoV-2 for a second or even third time. New analysis has suggested that unvaccinated individuals should expect to...

AI is helping to quantify enzyme activity

Without enzymes, an organism would not be able to survive. It is these biocatalysts that facilitate a whole range of chemical reactions, producing the building blocks of the cells. Enzymes are also used widely in biotechnology and in our households, where they are used in detergents, for example.

Arctic krill use twilight to guide their daily rhythms through the polar winter

Most animals sync their body clocks to the daily rhythm of the sun, but what happens during the polar winter when the sun never rises above the horizon? According to a study by Jonathan Cohen at the University of Delaware and colleagues, publishing October 19th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, arctic krill can detect tiny changes in light intensity during polar winter days, allowing them...

'Ray guns' let scientists use light instead of DNA to tell plant populations apart

In Star Trek, characters carry a little handheld device called a tricorder that they can point at objects to analyze and identify them. When the show's writers cooked up the idea in the 1960s, it was purely science fiction, but a new paper in New Phytologist takes the idea a step closer to reality. The researchers used a handheld device that looks a little like a ray gun to record how plant leaves...