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102 articles from PhysOrg
Tooth fast, tooth curious? New study uncovers novel approach to plant-based diet, unique to long-necked dinosaurs
How did the largest animals to ever walk the Earth dominate their environments? By doing something totally revolutionary: keeping it simple. Published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, a new study led by Postdoctoral Research Scientist and periodic dinosaur dentist Dr. Keegan Melstrom at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's Dinosaur Institute reveals that colossal sauropod dinosaurs, the...
Pay-for-performance incentives may put innovation at risk
Managers looking to create social conditions that lead to open, diversified and large networks—which are known to spur innovation—should avoid implementing pay-for-performance incentives that rest on short-term and quantitative performance metrics. According to new research published in Strategic Management Journal, such pay incentives result in more closed and smaller networks in...
Disclosures on auditor firings are useless in forecasting restatement trouble, study shows
Mandatory Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures about the reasons behind auditor firings are useless for assessing whether restatement trouble lies ahead for the company, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.
Improve recycling compliance by using this technique in public service announcements
A specific messaging strategy used in a public service announcement (PSA) video can effectively encourage New Yorkers who struggle with recycling compliance to properly separate their trash from recycling, according to the results of a University at Buffalo study.
Humans are guilty of breaking an oceanic law of nature: study
A new international study carried out by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) has examined the distribution of biomass across all life in the oceans, from bacteria to whales. Their quantification of human impact reveals a fundamental alteration to one of life's largest scale patterns.
SpaceX aims for night crew launch; ailing astronaut now OK
SpaceX counted down Wednesday toward a nighttime launch of four astronauts who have been grounded for nearly two weeks by weather and medical delays.
Methane's short lifespan presents golden opportunity to quickly address climate change
Sébastien Biraud is a Berkeley Lab scientist leading an effort to identify and mitigate some of the largest emitters of methane in California's Southern San Joaquin Valley. Methane is a short-lived air pollutant and greenhouse gas capable of warming the atmosphere about 80 times as fast as the far longer-lived carbon dioxide over 20 years. This month the U.S. and European Union launched the...
Student's research upends understanding of upper atmospheric wind
Space physicist Mark Conde had been seeing something curious in his atmospheric research data since the 1990s.
Competing quantum interactions enable single molecules to stand up
Nanoscale machinery has many uses, including drug delivery, single-atom transistor technology, or memory storage. However, the machinery must be assembled at the nanoscale, which is a considerable challenge for researchers.
Researchers puncture explanation for largest increase of biodiversity in Earth's history
In a geological period 469 million years ago known as the Ordovicium Period, Earth's seas were inhabited by animals like trilobites (reminiscent of pillbugs), conodonts (eel-like vertebrates) and brachiopods (animals with two-part shells reminiscent of seashells).
'Tug of war' between cells: What happens when crucial connections are missing
The ability of cells to move together in harmony is crucial for numerous biological processes in our body, for example wound healing, or the healthy development of an organism. This movement is made possible by the connections between individual cells. These connections, in turn, are established by various protein molecules which transfer the necessary forces and information between neighboring...
Female bushbabies are more stressed, may be more vulnerable to changing environment
A new study has explored the yearly routine of a small primate called the thick-tailed greater galago (Otolemur crassicaudatus), discovering that females may be under a lot more stress than males.
New space telescope to peer back at the universe's first galaxies
On Dec. 18, NASA is set to launch its next flagship mission into space. The spacecraft, called the James Webb Space Telescope, brings a lot of risks: Its roughly 270-square-foot mirror, which will collect light streaming in from the far reaches of space, will launch folded up inside a rocket, then unfurl far from Earth.
Researchers may have unlocked function of mysterious structure found on neurons
For 30 years, mysterious clusters of proteins found on the cell body of neurons in the hippocampus, a part of the brain, both intrigued and baffled James Trimmer.
What would expanding the EU's emissions trading system mean for consumers and climate goals?
The European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS) is one of the world's largest carbon markets. A new paper, published today in the journal Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, considers the benefits, costs, and policy design options of making it even bigger.
Catching the fog as it rolls in for more fresh water
In the Namib desert—one of the driest places in the world—a tiny species of beetle climbs the dunes, leans its body toward the wind, and catches the only source of water it can: passing droplets of fog.
Deep-frying sounds reveal oil temperature and the path to a perfect snack
Tempura, schnitzel, samosas, french fries, a deep-fried stick of butter at the county fair—who doesn't love food crisped up in sizzling oil?
Capturing the impact of human sewage on Earth's coastal ecosystems
A first-of-its-kind, high-resolution mapping analysis estimates the amounts of nitrogen and pathogens released into coastal ecosystems from human wastewater sources around the world. Cascade Tuholske (now affiliated with the Columbia Climate School) and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, present this research in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on November 10, 2021.
Traditional restaurants displaying a year of establishments are more preferred in Japan
Japanese customers have higher expectations of restaurants selling traditional foods more when they display an older year of establishment.
New research helps explain the genetic basis for why we look the way we do
Which genes control the defining features that make us look as we do? And how do they make it happen?
Introduced birds are not replacing roles of human-caused extinct species: study
Human-caused bird extinctions are driving losses of functional diversity on islands worldwide, and the gaps they leave behind are not being filled by introduced (alien) species, finds a new study led by UCL and University of Gothenburg researchers.
Uncovering racial disparities in nonfatal police shootings
An analysis of data from four U.S. states suggests that Black people may be more likely than white people to be nonfatally shot and injured by police in these states, and these disparities are greater than seen for fatal police shootings. Justin Nix of the University of Nebraska Omaha and John Shjarback of Rowan University in New Jersey present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on...
Mosaic brain evolution in guppies helps to explain vertebrate cognitive evolution
Researchers at Stockholm University have provided the first experimental evidence that brain regions can evolve independently of each other during cognitive evolution. This so called mosaic brain evolution was verified empirically in an artificial selection experiment with guppies (Poecilia reticulata) where telencephalon size (but no other regions) differed by 10 percent after only four...
How does homeschooling affect adolescents' character, health and well-being?
Compared to peers at public schools, adolescents who are homeschooled are more likely to report greater character strengths and fewer risky health behaviors later in life, but are less likely to attain a college degree, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Tyler VanderWeele of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, US, and colleagues.
SpaceX launching four astronauts to ISS
After a series of delays, SpaceX is set to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station on Wednesday night on the "Crew-3" mission.