Study says tech firms underreport their carbon footprint
Large technology companies such as SAP, IBM and Google are underreporting their greenhouse gas emissions at a time of heightened scrutiny over the role of corporations in driving climate change, a study released Friday claimed.
Big tech data centers spark worry over scarce Western water
Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of this Oregon town on the Columbia River represent an emerging 21st century concern.
NASA targeting Feb. 2022 to launch new lunar program Artemis
NASA said Friday it is now targeting February 2022 for the uncrewed lunar mission Artemis 1, the first step in America's plan to return humans to the Moon later this decade.
How can lizards adapt to a changing climate?
Researchers at the University of Toronto and Ohio Wesleyan University are collaborating in a quest to find out how lizards can adapt to the world's changing climate.
Seamless wayfinding by a deafblind adult on an urban college campus: A case study
Portland State University researchers Martin Swobodzinski and Amy Parker, with student co-authors Julie Wright, Kyrsten Hansen and Becky Morton, have published a new article in Frontiers in Education: "Seamless Wayfinding by a Deafblind Adult on an Urban College Campus: A Case Study on Wayfinding Performance, Information Preferences, and Technology Requirements."
Nature-inspired coatings could power tiny chemistry labs for medical testing and more
A newly developed coating that allows for certain liquids to move across surfaces without fluid loss could usher in new advances in a range of fields, including medical testing.
Astronomers discover infant planet
One of the youngest planets ever found around a distant infant star has been discovered by an international team of scientists led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty, students, and alumni.
Machine learning predicts antibiotic resistance spread
Genes aren't only inherited through birth. Bacteria have the ability to pass genes to each other, or pick them up from their environment, through a process called horizonal gene transfer, which is a major culprit in the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Controlling light with a material three atoms thick
Most of us control light all the time without even thinking about it, usually in mundane ways: we don a pair of sunglasses and put on sunscreen, and close—or open—our window blinds.
The climate project that changed how we understand extreme weather
When a handful of scientists tried to publish rapid research into the role of climate change in record rainfall that lashed Britain in 2015, they were told their high-speed approach was "not science".
Discovery of ancient Peruvian burial tombs sheds new light on Wari culture
A team of archeologists in northern Peru discovered the remains of 29 people, including three children, that could help experts rewrite the history of the pre-Incan Wari civilization, the lead researcher said on Friday.
Experiments confirm a quantum material's unique response to circularly polarized laser light
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down experiments at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory early last year, Shambhu Ghimire's research group was forced to find another way to study an intriguing research target: quantum materials known as topological insulators, or TIs, which conduct electric current on their surfaces but not through their interiors.
Chemists discover mechanism in controlled growth of tetrahedron-shaped nanoparticles
Nature clearly likes symmetry. Look at your own hands, for example. But sometimes nature produces asymmetric things, and the reasons aren't always clear.
A national network examining Earth's planetary limits
University of California San Diego Physics Professor Tom Murphy is among five authors of an essay, appearing in the November 2021 issue of the journal Energy Research & Social Science, that cautions current levels of worldwide economic growth, energy use and resource consumption will overshoot Earth's finite limits.
Bringing new life to ATLAS data
The ATLAS collaboration is breathing new life into its LHC Run 2 dataset, recorded from 2015 to 2018. Physicists will be reprocessing the entire dataset—nearly 18 PB of collision data—using an updated version of the ATLAS offline analysis software (Athena). Not only will this improve ATLAS physics measurements and searches, it will also position the collaboration well for the upcoming...
Novel eremophilane sesquiterpenoids with immunosuppressive activity isolated from Parasenecio albus
Plants of the genus Parasenecio have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine for invigorating the circulation of blood, relieving rheumatic ache, and for the treatment of injures from falls. Previous phytochemical investigations on Parasenecio species demonstrate that sesquiterpenes, especially the eremophilanes, are their characteristic components. Parasenecio albus (P. albus), mainly...
NASA completes mega-moon rocket stacking
NASA has completed stacking of the agency's mega-Moon rocket and spacecraft that will launch the next generation of deep space operations, including Artemis missions on and around the Moon. Engineers and technicians successfully secured the Orion spacecraft atop the fully assembled Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida just before midnight Oct. 21.
Massachusetts gun-control legislation has had no effect on violent crime
Although many Americans favor expanding background checks for gun purchases, gun-control measures in Congress have failed to garner enough votes to pass. In contrast, some state legislatures have enacted measures to reduce gun violence in their communities. A new study examined the impact changes to background checks and licensing policies has made on different types of violent crime in...
Experiences in prison reduce perceptions of corrections officers' fairness, regardless of time served
Numerous studies have examined the coercive nature of prisons, but few have considered the role of in-prison experiences (e.g., confinement in restrictive housing) and time served in prison in incarcerated people's perceptions of corrections officers' fairness. A new study examined whether in-prison experiences among a nationally representative sample of inmates varied in their effect across...
Stretchy, bendy, flexible LEDs
Sure, you could attach two screens with a hinge and call a cell phone "foldable," but what if you could roll it up and put it in your wallet? Or stretch it around your wrist to wear it as a watch?
Pioneering new process creates versatile moldable wood
Natural wood already boasts an inherently lower life cycle cost than other materials and is a naturally strong, lightweight, and durable composite material that could offer an attractive alternative to commonly used polymers, metals and alloys, if its properties and functionality could be improved.
Projection of extreme rainfall improved
Mapping the effects of mostly small-scale but extreme rainfall events in global climate models poses major challenges. Computer models that are used to simulate the global climate, for example in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), usually have a resolution of grids with a scale of approximately 100x100 kilometers.
Quantum battles in attoscience: Following three debates
In July 2020, 300 researchers from 34 different countries attended the CECAM virtual workshop, 'Quantum Battles in Attoscience'. EPJ D presents three community papers which emerged from the in-depth panel discussions held at this occasion.
Analysis and sorting with flow cytometry
Throughout the planet's oceans reside a modest group of organisms with a fairly monumental task.
Unravelling fungal spore release mechanics
Researchers have shed light on a long-standing mystery concerning how fungal spores are released and dispersed.