137 articles from FRIDAY 22.10.2021

The impact of coastal hardening on local ecosystems

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in New Zealand and Australia has created a model to forecast coastal hardening around the world in the coming years. In their paper published in the journal Nature Sustainability, the group describes collecting and analyzing satellite data to build their model.

ESA moves forward with Destination Earth

Earth observation provides a wealth of information to benefit our daily lives. As the demand for satellite data grows to address the challenges of climate change and a growing population, ESA, under the leadership of the European Commission, along with its key European partners, are developing high precision digital models of Earth to monitor and simulate both natural and human activity, to enable...

Scientists uncover the genetic pathway that colors bumble bee stripes

While most people in the U.S. may think of bumble bees as the standard yellow and black variety, there are an estimated 260 bee species that sport about 400 different color patterns. One reason many people associate bumble bees with distinct colors is because evolution can influence multiple bee species to share similar color patterns in specific geographic regions, which scientists call mimicry.

Microorganisms are sensitive to large-scale climate change in Antarctica

For a long time, scientists assumed that microorganisms, due to their broad distribution patterns, were much less affected by such climatic changes than plants and animals that often present very limited distribution areas. By examining fossils of Antarctic microorganisms, an international team led by researchers from Ghent University and Meise Botanic Garden showed that this assumption is...

How to retrain your frazzled brain and find your focus again

Are you finding it harder than ever to concentrate? Don’t panic: these simple exercises will help you get your attention backPicture your day before you started to read this article. What did you do? In every single moment – getting out of bed, turning on a tap, flicking the kettle switch – your brain was blasted with information. Each second, the eyes will give the brain the equivalent of...

How AI is reinventing what computers are

Fall 2021: the season of pumpkins, pecan pies, and peachy new phones. Every year, right on cue, Apple, Samsung, Google, and others drop their latest releases. These fixtures in the consumer tech calendar no longer inspire the surprise and wonder of those heady early days. But behind all the marketing glitz, there’s something remarkable going on.  Google’s latest offering, the Pixel 6,...

NASA launches tool that measures Western water loss

NASA on Thursday launched an online platform with information on how much water evaporates into the atmosphere from plants, soils and other surfaces in the U.S. West, data it says could help water managers, farmers and state officials better manage resources in the parched region.

Shape-shifting materials with infinite possibilities

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a shape-shifting material that can take and hold any possible shape, paving the way for a new type of multifunctional material that could be used in a range of applications, from robotics and biotechnology to architecture.