169 articles from WEDNESDAY 8.6.2022

Using Indigenous knowledge and Western science to address climate change impacts

Traditional Owners in Australia are the creators of millennia worth of traditional ecological knowledge—an understanding of how to live amid changing environmental conditions. Seasonal calendars are one of the forms of this knowledge best known by non-Indigenous Australians. But as the climate changes, these calendars are being disrupted.

Study sheds more light on stellar populations of NGC 6822

Using the Subaru telescope, an international team of astronomers have performed deep multi-band photometric observations of a dwarf irregular galaxy known as NGC 6822. Results of the observational campaign, presented May 30 on arXiv.org, deliver important insights into stellar populations of this galaxy.

Evolutionary biologist suggests yawning may be a means for telling others to be more alert

Andrew Gallup, an evolutionary biologist with the Psychology and Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences Program at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in New York has published a paper in the journal Animal Behavior outlining research into the reason that animals yawn. He suggests there could be a variety of reasons for it but believes it mostly likely signals members of a social group that the yawner is not...

Looking for the origin of slow earthquakes in the Guerrero gap

We are underway on our 48-day long expedition offshore of the west coast of Mexico near Acapulco, where the young Cocos oceanic plate dives beneath the North American plate. Most of this subduction zone, often referred to as "the Mexican segment of the Middle America Trench," has produced large earthquakes in the last 100 years, including the dramatic 8.0-magnitude Michoacán earthquake in 1985...

Genetics breakthrough in sea urchins to aid in biomedical research

Marine biologists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have created a line of sea urchins whose genetic makeup is fully mapped and can be edited to study human disease genes. The creation of these new research model organisms will accelerate the pace of marine biomedical research.

Study recommends how to prevent 'weaponizing' Title IX to cover up sexual assault

When a sexual assault survivor tells their story to a journalist, they may have any number of reasons for doing so, but almost certainly not because that reporter would be required to pass the information on to university administrators. Yet Title IX, the landmark gender equality in higher education legislation, has been used to make student and university-affiliated journalists required reporters...

Rectal cancer: researchers hail ‘breakthrough’ experimental treatment

Every patient treated with immunotherapy drug went into remission, researchers in New York reportedEvery patient treated for rectal cancer with an experimental immunotherapy drug went into remission, in findings that researchers have hailed as a breakthrough.All 14 patients who were given the new drug, dostarlimab, were found after six months to have no trace of cancer. Researchers at Memorial...

A unique defense: Bacteria lose cell wall in the presence of virus

Bacteria temporarily live without their cell wall if dangerous viruses are near. A remarkable feature, as the cell wall is a sturdy barrier against threats. Still, the discovery has a logical explanation and might be of a consequence for fighting pathogenic bacteria, according to Véronique Ongenae, first author of the publication in Open Biology.

Introducing the largest quantum photonic processor to date

Quantum computers promise to propel computing far beyond what today's computers are capable of, but this potential has yet to be realized. In their search for a way to demonstrate quantum supremacy, researchers working in the EU-funded PHOQUSING project are developing a hybrid computational system based on cutting-edge integrated photonics that combines classical and quantum processes.

Scientists use food puzzles to show how otters learn from each other

Experts hope study can help with reintroducing captive otters into wild to aid conservation effortsOtters are able to learn from each other – but still prefer to solve some puzzles on their own, scientists have found.The semi-aquatic mammals are known to be very social and intelligent creatures, but a study by the University of Exeter has given new insight into their intellect. Continue...

Don’t Trust Your Gut by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz review – the problem with intuition

From relationships, to sport, to happiness – why data points, not feelings, are a better guide to what worksIntuition is a funny business. Back in the day, you might have thought that making life decisions by blindly following your “gut feeling” was a bad idea and could get you into trouble. But in 2005 along came Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, a massive bestseller that made the scientific...

Jupiter turns out to be inhomogeneous; metallicity gives clues about origin

An international team of astronomers, led by Yamila Miguel (SRON/Leiden Observatory), has found that Jupiter's gaseous envelope doesn't have a homogeneous distribution. The inner part has more metals than the outer parts, adding up to a total of between 11 and 30 earth masses, meaning 3–9% of Jupiter's total mass. This is a high enough metallicity to conclude that kilometer-sized...