144 articles from THURSDAY 23.6.2022

UM study finds microplastic pollution in Flathead Lake

They're in our oceans and rivers. They're in the food we eat and the water we drink. They've even been detected inside the human body. They're called microplastics—particles of plastic so small they can't be seen by the naked eye. While researchers have known for years that these microplastics exist in Flathead Lake, the concentrations and origins of the microplastic pollution have remained a...

Hidden carbon layer may have sparked ancient bout of global warming

There is no perfect parallel in Earth’s past for present-day climate change—human-driven warming is simply happening too fast and furiously. The closest analog came 56 million years ago, when over the course of 3000 to 5000 years, greenhouse gases soared in the atmosphere, causing at least 5°C of warming and pushing tropical species to the poles. The cause of the...

Gravitational wave radar could probe deep space for tiny stellar objects

Theoretical physicists have hit on a new way to test Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, or general relativity, and—just maybe—probe the distant universe for tiny, hard to detect objects. Gravitational waves —ripples in space set off when massive objects such as black holes whirl together and collide—should bounce off other massive objects to produce echoes of...

Team composition, structure, members' gender influence ability to focus, work together

The ability of team members to work together across a range of tasks, called collective intelligence (CI), varies significantly between teams. Research suggests that the level of collective attention (the quality and coordination of members' focus) a team develops influences its level of CI. A new study examined what factors enhance collective attention, focusing on the influence of teams'...