155 articles from THURSDAY 4.8.2022

Complex coacervate droplets as a model material for studying the electrodynamic response of biological materials

Manipulating solid particles of a few micrometers in size using an electric field has been of great interest to physicists. These controllable particles can be assembled into dynamic chains that can effectively control the flow of liquids in thin tubes like capillaries. Replacing these solid particles with liquid droplets would allow for previously unachievable electrorheology applications in...

Fruit flies: Summer pests or scientific marvel?

Fly-swatting season is here. No sooner will you place your fresh strawberries on the kitchen counter than will the first fruit fly arrive. It won't take long for a platoon of Drosophila buddies to be hovering about the spoils.

Up a creek without paddle? Researchers suggest 'gunwale bobbing'

Stand up in a canoe and you'll probably find yourself in the water before too long. Jump up and down on the upper edges of the sides of the canoe, and you'll likely end up in the drink as well. But get the balance right and you'll be able to move yourself along by as much as one meter per second, according to a study published in Physical Review Fluids examining gunwale bobbing.

The U.S Will Soon Have Space Force Ambassadors Around the World

First come the warriors, then come the diplomats. It was on December 20, 2019, that the National Defense Authorization Act was signed, creating the U.S. Space Force, the first new branch of the military to come into being in the 72 years since the Air Force was established. The Space Force’s remit was not just to protect U.S. assets, like spy satellites, from attacks by hostile nations; it...

Tracking nitrogen pollution

Tropical coastal ecosystems are among the most biodiverse areas on Earth. And they're also on the front lines of effects caused by human activity. That's why it's becoming increasingly important, especially as human populations increase, to manage the impacts of runoff and wastewater that flow into the sea.

These baboons borrowed a third of their genes from their cousins

Genetic analyses of baboons in Kenya reveals that most of them carry traces of hybridization in their DNA. As a result of interbreeding, about a third of their genetic makeup consists of genes from another, closely-related species. Fifty years of observations turned up no obvious signs that hybrids fare any worse than their counterparts. But the new findings suggest that appearances can be...

Team discovers new plant gene reprogramming mechanism

Researchers Albert Cairó and Karel Riha of the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) and their colleagues have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that is responsible for reprogramming gene expression in plants during the transition period when one cell differentiates into another one. The mechanism occurs at the end of meiosis, a specialized cell division essential for sexual...