186 articles from THURSDAY 20.1.2022
Long-sought Great Lakes projects get funding under new law
A project that will boost Great Lakes shipping in a crucial bottleneck and another intended to protect the lakes from invasive carp will get big funding increases under the Biden administration's infrastructure package, officials said Thursday.
'Rough' words feature a trill sound in languages around the globe
In languages spoken around the world, words describing rough surfaces are highly likely to feature a "trilled /r/" sound—a linguistic pattern that stretches back over 6,000 years, a new study reveals. The international team of researchers from the University of Birmingham, Radboud University, and the University of British Columbia has published its findings in Scientific Reports.
Marine sponge cells in 3D could ramp up production of drug compounds
There are more than 9,000 species of marine sponges (Phylum Porifera) worldwide, which are a source of novel natural products. They contain promising chemical agents that may be useful in combatting cancer, COVID-19 and antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus bacteria. These chemicals interact with molecules that have been conserved throughout evolutionary history and are involved in human disease...
Are you a 'busy explorer' or 'quality time seeker?' Study splits travelers according to time use, environmental impact
Younger travelers in full-time work who feel the pressure to make the most of their holiday time are more likely to engage in activities that make their trips less sustainable, according to research led by Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University.
Experiment with turnstiles of single electrons shows way towards new power standard
The world's most commonly used system of measurement, the International System of Units (SI), was redefined in 2019. Since then, units have needed to be defined in terms of the constants of nature—that is, nature's rules that are fixed and of no uncertainty, such as the speed of light—and not in terms of arbitrary references.