New research strengthens link between glaciers and Earth's 'Great Unconformity'
New research provides further evidence that rocks representing up to a billion years of geological time were carved away by ancient glaciers during the planet's "Snowball Earth" period, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Western monarchs rebound but still below historic population
The number of Western monarch butterflies overwintering in California rebounded to more than 247,000 a year after fewer than 2,000 appeared, but the tally remained far below the millions that were seen in the 1980s, leaders of an annual count said Tuesday.
Finding the tipping point for coastal wetlands
The Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula covers more than 2,000 square miles on the North Carolina coastal plain, a vast expanse of forested swamps and tea-colored creeks. Many people would probably avoid this place, whose dense thickets of cane and shrubs and waterlogged soils can slow a hike to a crawl.
Copycat red nectar shows promise as a natural colorant and is gecko-approved
Plants that secrete colored nectars are part of an exclusive club. To date, only 70 plants in the world are on that list. The colors lure in pollinators, but more recently they sparked the interest of researchers and industry partners in search of natural colorant options.
Hungry yeast are tiny, living thermometers
Membranes are crucial to our cells. Every cell in your body is enclosed by one. And each of those cells contains specialized compartments, or organelles, which are also enclosed by membranes.
Silicon fluorescence shines through microcracks in cement, revealing early signs of damage
Concrete fractures that are invisible to the naked eye stand out in images produced through a technique created at Rice University.
'Atomic Armor' for accelerators enables discoveries
Protective coatings are common for many things in daily life that see a lot of use. We coat wood floors with finish; apply Teflon to the paint on cars; even use diamond coatings on medical devices. Protective coatings are also essential in many demanding research and industrial applications.
Study probes the planet's turbulent past to explain where oceans came from
The origin of water on our planet is a hot question: Water has immense implications for plate tectonics, climate, the origin of life on Earth, and potential habitability of other Earth-like planets. In a recent study in Physical Review Letters, a Skoltech professor and his Chinese colleagues suggest a chemical compound that—although now extinct—could have preserved water deep underground in...
EU launches 'game changer' space startup fund
The EU launched Tuesday a billion-euro fund to support startups in the space sector with the hope it will be a "game changer" and attract private investors into the key sector.
Physicist solves century old problem of radiation reaction
A Lancaster physicist has proposed a radical solution to the question of how a charged particle, such as an electron, responded to its own electromagnetic field.
Confirming liquid water beneath Martian south polar cap
A Southwest Research Institute scientist measured the properties of ice-brine mixtures as cold as -145 degrees Fahrenheit to help confirm that salty water likely exists between grains of ice or sediment under the ice cap at Mars' south pole. Laboratory measurements conducted by SwRI geophysicist Dr. David Stillman support oddly bright reflections detected by the MARSIS subsurface sounding radar...
Where legal, voting by those in prison is rare, study shows
The voting rights of people with felony convictions is a controversial issue across many U.S. states—not least because many people assume expanding those rights could significantly affect election outcomes. A study by MIT scholars of voting patterns among the imprisoned now suggests that is unlikely to be the case.
Lead lurking in your soil? New Chicago project maps distribution
Lead exposure in early childhood can have lifelong consequences, including brain damage, developmental delays, and learning and behavioral disorders. Preventing these devastating outcomes means avoiding lead, but that's only possible if you know where to find it.
'Lefty' protein tightens control of embryonic development
A protein known as Lefty pumps the brakes as human embryos begin to differentiate into the bones, soft tissues and organs that make us.
A molecular framework to bridge experimental and computer sciences for peptide-based materials engineering
Researchers in the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, Gallogly College of Engineering, at the University of Oklahoma have developed a framework published in Science Advances that solves the challenge of bridging experimental and computer sciences to better predict peptide structures. Peptide-based materials have been used in energy, security and health fields for the past two decades.
Southern Ocean storms cause outgassing of carbon dioxide
Storms over the waters around Antarctica drive an outgassing of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to a new international study with researchers from the University of Gothenburg. The research group used advanced ocean robots for the study, which provides a better understanding of climate change and can lead to better global climate models.
Forward-thinking gym lifts weights, shifts attitudes
A gym in Boston, Massachusetts, with an inventive vocational path that prepares students to work as personal trainers serves as a telling example for how community-based programs can develop anti-racism practices within organizations that contribute to the cultivation of racial unity, according to a paper published by a University at Buffalo Social Work researcher.
Sediments a likely culprit in spread of deadly disease on Florida coral reefs, study finds
A new study found that seafloor sediments have the potential to transmit a deadly pathogen to local corals and hypothesizes that sediments have played a role in the persistence of a devastating coral disease outbreak throughout Florida and the Caribbean.
97% of Latin America's e-waste is improperly managed and includes an annual $1.7 billion in recoverable materials
Electronic waste in 13 Latin American countries rose by 49% between 2010 and 2019, roughly the world average, but just 3% was collected and safely managed, a fraction of the 17.4% global average, according to the UN's first assessment of Latin America's e-waste volume, legislation, and management infrastructure.
Viral proteins join forces to lower plants' defense 'shields'
New research, led by Washington State University scientists, into how viral proteins interact and can be disabled holds promise to help plants defend themselves against viruses—and ultimately prevent crop losses.
Simulation models exercise, age effects on plaque formation in arteries
Plaque formation in the arteries carrying blood to the head and neck is a serious medical problem, potentially leading to strokes and heart attacks. In Physics of Fluids, engineers from China use fluid dynamics simulations to study the effect of exercise at various ages on plaque formation.
Simulations shed significant light on janus particles
Named for a Roman god, Janus particles refer to nanoparticles that possess surfaces with two or more distinct physical chemical properties.
New research discovers surprising activity among organisms thriving in extremely deep, hot subseafloor
Since the discovery of the deep subseafloor biosphere in the mid-1990s, scientists have studied the conditions under which organisms thrive in this isolated and generally food-deprived environment and wondered which conditions set a limit to the existence of life. In 2016, a group of international scientists set out to sea on board the Japanese scientific drillship, Chikyu, to study the...
How big does your quantum computer need to be?
Quantum computers are expected to be disruptive and potentially impact many industry sectors. So researchers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands decided to explore two very different quantum problems: breaking the encryption of Bitcoin (a digital currency) and simulating the molecule responsible for biological nitrogen fixation.
Unusual emission from pulsar PSR B1859+07 examined with FAST
Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), Chinese astronomers have investigated a peculiar emission phenomena exhibited by a pulsar known as PSR B1859+07. Results of the study, published January 18 on the arXiv pre-print repository, could shed light on abnormal emission modes observed in some pulsars.