A wildfire was burning out of control Monday in forest outside Los Angeles after a weekend of record-breaking temperatures, and as forecasters warn of fire danger across the parched US West.

From a zoomed out, distant view, star-forming cloud L483 appears normal. But when a Northwestern University-led team of astrophysicists zoomed in closer and closer, things became weirder and weirder.

A new report from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) reveals how climate change is significantly impacting Antarctica's ice sheets, climate and ecosystems, with far-reaching global consequences.

Microorganisms, such as baker's yeast, can be used as cell factories to produce different chemicals and proteins, such as commonly used pharmaceuticals as insulin. By modifying the cell factories researchers are trying to increase the yield and speed of the production processes. In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers in systems biology at Chalmers provide us with a new...

A detailed analysis of the composition and motion of more than 500 stars has revealed conclusive evidence of an ancient collision between Andromeda and a neighboring galaxy. The findings, which improve our understanding of the events that shape galaxy evolution, were presented by Carnegie's Ivanna Escala Monday at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

The snow that falls in the mountains is good for more than just skiing, snowshoeing and breathtaking vistas. The snowpack it creates will eventually melt, and that water can be used for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water.

A new study finds inactive yeast could be effective as an inexpensive, abundant, and simple material for removing lead contamination from drinking water supplies. The approach should be efficient and economic, even down to part-per-billion levels of contamination.

Many sections of the non-coding region of the human genome play a key role in regulating gene activity. But the relationship between non-coding mutations and cancer risk has been a mystery. New research sheds light on that mystery, providing clues that may link mutations to epigenetic changes, and may point to potential drug targets to reduce risk for people born with certain genetic mutations.

Counties that don't cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—also known as "sanctuary counties"—have seen their crime rates decrease after implementing sanctuary policies, according to a new study from a researcher at The University of Texas at Austin.

The production of chemical substances normally requires environmentally harmful solvents. After the research group of Miriam Unterlass, professor of solid state chemistry at the University of Konstanz, produced organic substances without harmful substances for the first time by heating them in hot water, the researchers can now chalk up another success: Through hydrothermal synthesis, they...

North Carolina State University researchers show that the shape of flowers has the biggest effect on how parasites are transmitted to bees, an important consideration for declining populations of our prodigious pollinators. The findings could help stakeholders plant flowers that are less likely to spread parasites in pollinator habitats.

Strength in numbers and experienced individuals are both vital in mongoose warfare, new research shows.

As climate change shifts precipitation patterns, irrigation can be a powerful tool for increasing the world's food supply—feeding more than a billion additional people without converting natural spaces into farmland, according to a new study by Carnegie's Lorenzo Rosa published in Environmental Research Letters.

For some people, wigs are a fun and colorful fashion accessory, but for those with hair loss from alopecia or other conditions, they can provide a real sense of normalcy and boost self-confidence. Whether made from human or synthetic strands, however, most hairpieces lose their luster after being worn day after day. Now, researchers in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces report a new way to make...

The COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers across the globe to embrace remote learning. Although adapting existing materials was relatively easy for lecture-based courses that revolved around theory, teaching laboratory classes remotely presented a formidable challenge. In a new paper published in the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, researchers from the Department of Bioengineering at the...

Around 13,200 years ago, a roving male mastodon died in a bloody mating-season battle with a rival in what today is northeast Indiana, nearly 100 miles from his home territory, according to the first study to document the annual migration of an individual animal from an extinct species.

Stress -- in the form of traumatic events, job strain, everyday stressors and discrimination -- accelerates aging of the immune system, potentially increasing a person's risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and illness from infections such as COVID-19, according to a new study. The research could help explain disparities in age-related health, including the unequal toll of the pandemic, and...

Many different types of bacteria and viruses can cause pneumonia, but there is no easy way to determine which microbe is causing a particular patient's illness. This uncertainty makes it harder for doctors to choose effective treatments because the antibiotics commonly used to treat bacterial pneumonia won't help patients with viral pneumonia. In addition, limiting the use of antibiotics is an...

Historic virus infections can be traced in vertebrate genomes. For millions of years, these genomes have been repositories for retroviruses that incorporated their code into germline cells and were inherited as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). Researchers now provide new findings about retroviral establishment in the koala genome.

Scientists analysed footage from small video cameras with infrared night-vision attached to the animals When they are in the deep, dark ocean, seals use their whiskers to track down their prey, a study has confirmed after observing the sea mammals in their natural habitat.It’s hard for light to penetrate the gloom of the ocean’s depths, and animals have come up with a variety of adaptations in...

Many different types of bacteria and viruses can cause pneumonia, but there is no easy way to determine which microbe is causing a particular patient's illness. This uncertainty makes it harder for doctors to choose effective treatments because the antibiotics commonly used to treat bacterial pneumonia won't help patients with viral pneumonia. In addition, limiting the use of antibiotics is an...

Historic virus infections can be traced in vertebrate genomes. For millions of years, these genomes have been repositories for retroviruses that incorporated their code into germline cells and were inherited as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). Researchers from Uppsala University now provide new findings about retroviral establishment in the koala genome. The findings are being published in the...

The deep ocean is a dark place, yet deep-diving seals can easily locate their prey in that darkness. A multi-national research team has used field-based studies to better understand how seals use their whiskers in their search for prey.

Oregon State University scientists have identified proteins that prevent a bacterial cell from becoming misguided by its own messaging, allowing it to instead wait for collective communication from its group.

Around 13,200 years ago, a roving male mastodon died in a bloody mating-season battle with a rival in what today is northeast Indiana, nearly 100 miles from his home territory, according to the first study to document the annual migration of an individual animal from an extinct species.

Some content has been removed for formatting reasons. Please view the original article for the best reading experience. In 1993, then-President Bill Clinton picked a 34-year-old applied physicist named Arati Prabhakar to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Two decades later, former President Barack Obama chose her to lead the Defense Advanced Research Projects...

Some content has been removed for formatting reasons. Please view the original article for the best reading experience. It’s not always easy to find clues to ancient campfires. Bits of charcoal, cracked bones, and discolored rocks often give a prehistoric blaze away. But not every blaze leaves such obvious traces, especially after hundreds of thousands of years. Now, using...

Some content has been removed for formatting reasons. Please view the original article for the best reading experience. Female elephant seals spend most of their lives fishing in complete darkness. Now, by strapping infrared cameras to their heads, scientists have figured out how these sleek swimmers locate their prey: They move their whiskers like satellite...

When our sun exhausts the hydrogen fuel in its core some 5 billion years from now, it will expand to become a red giant, engulfing the inner planets. The dynamics and possible outcomes of planetary engulfment are poorly understood, but it is thought to be a relatively common fate for planetary systems.

Child-support policies that are color-blind or race-neutral put low-income men of color and their families at a disadvantage and lead to continued racial inequities, according to Rutgers research.

Researchers demonstrate the implementation of a remote laboratory activity to teach students about enzyme kinetics.

For some people, wigs are a fun and colorful fashion accessory, but for those with hair loss from alopecia or other conditions, they can provide a real sense of normalcy and boost self-confidence. Whether made from human or synthetic strands, however, most hairpieces lose their luster after being worn day after day. Now, researchers report a new way to make wigs more durable and long lasting.

The production of chemical substances normally requires environmentally harmful solvents. After researchers had produced organic substances without harmful substances by heating them in hot water, they can now chalk up another success: Through hydrothermal synthesis, they succeeded in jointly forming and combining organic and inorganic substances in the same reaction vessel. Specifically: an...

With the rising cost of nitrogen fertilizer and its impacts on air and water quality, researchers want to help farmers make more informed fertilizer rate decisions. Their latest modeling effort aims to do that by examining the role of pre-growing season weather on soil nitrogen dynamics and end-of-season corn yield.

Researchers show how a molecule that they have identified stimulates the formation of new insulin-producing cells in zebrafish and mammalian tissue, through a newly described mechanism for regulating protein synthesis.

A new study demonstrates the possibility of changing the identity of synapses between neurons, both in vitro and in vivo, through enzymatic means. The results have implications for treating brain diseases caused by malfunctions in synaptic information processing and exchange.