Study finds nearly 500 ancient ceremonial sites in southern Mexico
A team of international researchers led by the University of Arizona reported last year that they had uncovered the largest and oldest Maya monument—Aguada Fénix. That same team has now uncovered nearly 500 smaller ceremonial complexes that are similar in shape and features to Aguada Fénix. The find transforms previous understanding of Mesoamerican civilization origins and the relationship...
Researchers identify new threat to American chestnut trees
For lumber companies, the American chestnut was a nearly perfect tree—tall, straight, rot-resistant and easy to split. It also was prolific, sending up new shoots that grew quickly.
Study explores how climate change may affect rain in U.S. Corn Belt
Air humidity is more important than soil moisture in influencing whether it rains in the United States Corn Belt, an agricultural area in the Midwest, stretching from Indiana to Nebraska and responsible for more than 35% of the world's most important grain crop, according to a new study by Penn State researchers.
The human GID complex engages two independent modules for substrate recruitment
A new paper by the Peter group of the ETH Zurich's Institute of Biochemistry (IBC) finds that the human GID E3 ubiquitin ligase forms a tetrameric complex with two distinct substrate-recruitment modules, namely WDR26-RanBP9 and GID4-ARMC8a. Although the shorter ARMC8b isoform stably assembles into the hGID complex, it lacks the ability to recruit the GID4 substrate-receptor.
Bezos' Blue Origin announces plans for private space station
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin on Monday announced it wants to launch a space station that will house up to 10 people in the second half of the decade, as the race to commercialize the cosmos heats up.
Biophysics analysis made easy with an online tool
EMBL Hamburg's García Alai Team has released eSPC, a freely available online platform for analyzing molecular biophysics data from a range of experimental techniques. The tool enables scientists around the world to easily analyze their data without the need to travel to the laboratory where the data was generated.
One plus one does not equal two: Research team investigates receptors that form pairs on the surface of cells
There are a number of G protein-coupled receptors in human cells. As an important component of the cell membrane, these proteins are responsible for detecting different stimuli in the surroundings of a cell within the body and transferring this information to the cell interior. They may act individually or in pairs, and this can have a crucial effect on their function. Together with colleagues...
Sloshing electrons in a charge density wave
In the latest edition of Physical Review B, UvA Ph.D. candidate Xuanbo Feng (QuSoft and IoP) and colleagues write about their recent experiments on a material that can go from a normal metal state to a more exotic state known as a "charge density wave state."
Sharpest images ever reveal the patchy face of living bacteria
The sharpest images ever of living bacteria have been recorded by UCL researchers, revealing the complex architecture of the protective layer that surrounds many bacteria and makes them harder to be killed by antibiotics.
Urban areas across the US are undercounting greenhouse gas emissions
Methane emissions from the distribution and use of natural gas across U.S. cities are 2 to 10 times higher than recent estimates from the Environmental Protect Agency, according to a new study from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
Clues from the ancient past can help predict abrupt climate change
Climate 'tipping points' can be better understood and predicted using climate change data taken from the ancient past, new research shows.
New study finds black spruce trees struggling to regenerate amid more frequent arctic fires
A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), finds that black spruce trees—a key species on the boreal landscape for millennia—are losing their resilience and capacity to regenerate in the face of warming temperatures and increasingly frequent Arctic wildfires. A continuation of this trend could result in a landscape-wide ecological shift that would...
Scientists make breakthrough in understanding how penicillin works
The mechanism which allows β-lactam antibiotics, including penicillin, to kill MRSA has been revealed for the first time.
Urgent action is needed to reduce uncertainty on carbon dioxide storage prospects, researchers warn
An urgent increase in policy support and investment would be needed for carbon capture and storage (CCS) to achieve the scale needed to meet global decarbonisation goals, according to University of Queensland and Princeton University researchers.
Tiny microscopic hunters could be a crystal ball for climate change
It's hard to know what climate change will mean for Earth's interconnected and interdependent webs of life. But one team of researchers at Duke University says we might begin to get a glimpse of the future from just a few ounces of microbial soup.
New molecule targets, images and treats lung cancer tumors in mice
Lung cancer can be elusive to spot and difficult to treat because the markers for it are found in other tissues, too. Now, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a finely tuned molecular agent that can target lung and other cancer cells for imaging and treatment.
Aquatic fungus has already wiped amphibians off the map and now threatens survival of terrestrial frogs
A water-borne fungus that has led to the extinction of several species of amphibians that spend all or part of their life cycle in water is also threatening terrestrial amphibians. In Brazil, researchers supported by FAPESP detected unprecedented mortality among a genus of tiny frogs known as pumpkin toadlets that live in the Atlantic Rainforest far from any aquatic environments. The animals were...
Seagrass restoration study shows rapid recovery of ecosystem functions
As the dominant seagrass species on the U.S. West Coast, eelgrass supports a wide range of ecosystem services and functions, making its preservation and restoration a top priority for the region. Eelgrass restoration has a spotty record of success, however, and studies of restoration sites have rarely assessed the full range of ecosystem functions.
Latest climate plans don't dent emissions: UN assessment
The latest round of national emissions cutting plans submitted under the Paris Agreement will make no material dent in short-term carbon pollution levels and still put Earth on course to warm 2.7C, the UN said Monday.
Endangered whale population sinks close to 20-year low
A type of whale that is one of the rarest marine mammals in the world lost nearly 10% of its population last year, a group of scientists and ocean life advocates said on Monday.
After drought, US west coast slammed by 'bomb cyclone'
Severe thunderstorms bringing record rainfall hit northern California on Monday, following several months of gigantic forest fires caused by drought.
New synthesis process paves way for more efficient lasers, LEDs
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new process that makes use of existing industry standard techniques for making III-nitride semiconductor materials, but results in layered materials that will make LEDs and lasers more efficient.
Scientists reveal genetic secrets of stress-tolerant mangrove trees
Mangrove trees straddle the boundary between land and ocean, in harsh environments characterized by rapidly changing levels of salinity and low oxygen. For most plants, these conditions would mark a death sentence, but mangroves have evolved a remarkable resistance to the stresses of these hostile locations.
Ammonia synthesis by mechanocatalysis in a ball mill
A breakthrough in the fight against hunger, three Nobel Prizes, and 150 million tonnes of annual production—yet still a tricky topic for research: For over 100 years, the chemical industry has been using the Haber-Bosch process to convert atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia, an important component of mineral fertilizers and many other chemical products. Scientists at the...
Astronomers may have discovered the first planet outside of our galaxy
Signs of a planet transiting a star outside of the Milky Way galaxy may have been detected for the first time. This intriguing result, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, opens up a new window to search for exoplanets at greater distances than ever before.