218 articles from THURSDAY 22.9.2022

Convenience-store robberies: Understanding the dynamics of workplace violence can improve employee health and safety

Workplace violence is a pervasive problem with tremendous costs for individuals, organizations, and society. A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) focuses on convenience-store robberies, one of the most common forms of workplace violence, and finds that robbers are significantly more likely to injure employees who are present on the sales...

Balanced fertilization: A fulcrum for sustainable production of maize and rice in Africa

Efforts to improve the yields of staple cereal crops like maize and rice at scale in Africa remain seriously hampered by the effects of poor soil fertility. The lack of adequate information to base an effective fertilizer recommendation upon often results in inefficient nutrient use by crops and low crop yields. A root cause of poor crop response to applied nutrients is generalized fertilizer...

Big planets get a head start in pancake-thin nurseries

Super-thin planet nurseries have a boosted chance of forming big planets, according to a study announced this week at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2022 in Granada, Spain. An international team, led by Dr. Marion Villenave of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), observed a remarkably thin disk of dust and gas around a young star, and found that its structure accelerated the process of...

Discovering sirtuin longevity proteins in early branches of animal life

Animals on the early branches of the tree of life, such as jellyfish and sea sponges, defy the usual conventions of aging. Some show abilities to regenerate damaged or missing tissues, halt or reverse aging, and in the case of at least one jellyfish species show a form of "immortality." A new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis, and Harvard Medical School takes a detailed...

2022 Arctic summer sea ice tied for 10th-lowest on record

According to satellite observations, Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum extent on Sept. 18, 2022. The ice cover shrank to an area of 4.67 million square kilometers (1.80 million square miles) this year, roughly 1.55 million square kilometers (598,000 square miles) below the 1981-2010 average minimum of 6.22 million square kilometers (2.40 million square miles).

NASA's Juno will perform close flyby of Jupiter's icy moon Europa

On Thursday, Sept. 29, at 2:36 a.m. PDT (5:36 a.m. EDT), NASA's Juno spacecraft will come within 222 miles (358 kilometers) of the surface of Jupiter's ice-covered moon, Europa. The solar-powered spacecraft is expected to obtain some of the highest-resolution images ever taken of portions of Europa's surface, as well as collect valuable data on the moon's interior, surface composition, and...

Water found in asteroid dust may offer clues to origins of life on Earth

Discovery offers new support for the theory that life may have been seeded from outer spaceSpecks of dust that a Japanese space probe retrieved from an asteroid about 186 million miles (300m kilometres) from Earth have revealed a surprising component: a drop of water.The discovery offers new support for the theory that life on Earth may have been seeded from outer space. Continue...

Scientists chip away at the mystery of how radiation weakens metal, one atom at a time

Gray and white flecks skitter erratically on a computer screen. A towering microscope looms over a landscape of electronic and optical equipment. Inside the microscope, high-energy, accelerated ions bombard a flake of platinum thinner than a hair on a mosquito's back. Meanwhile, a team of scientists studies the seemingly chaotic display, searching for clues to explain how and why materials degrade...

Making butter-like spreads healthier

A dollop of margarine or spread can go a long way to livening up a slice of toast, a piping hot ear of corn or other food. But that enhanced flavor can also come with a side helping of worry over consuming saturated fats, which are used as solidifying agents in some margarines and spreads and give them their butter-like properties.

New eDNA method opens doors for environmental research

With a single sample of water or soil, researches can analyze the DNA of everything that is living in that environment. During her research, Ph.D. candidate Beilun Zhao discovered a way to analyze not only the kind of species, but also the age of the species in a water sample. The method showed its first success with the great pond snail and is the first step to a whole new world of environmental...

Biodegradable plastic mulch: A climate-smart agricultural practice

During the growing and harvest seasons, vegetable producers often begin their day before sunrise and finish as the last light is seeping into the horizon. These long days are normal but varied. Challenges such as pests, disease, climate change, and weather make each day and each growing season unique and unpredictable.

Brown carbon from aromatic pollutants is emitted during combustion and wildfires

Tiny aerosol particles that are suspended in the air can absorb and scatter sunlight radiation and contribute to create clouds affecting climate, reduce the visibility over cities and affect air traffic, and lower air quality. Aerosols in large pollution plumes, called brown clouds, can be transported long distances by the wind and reach other continents from the originating one. The variable...

Climate change is making lakes less blue

If global warming persists, blue lakes worldwide are at risk of turning green-brown, according to a new study which presents the first global inventory of lake color. Shifts in lake water color can indicate a loss of ecosystem health. The new research was published in Geophysical Research Letters.

'Twisty' photons could turbocharge next-gen quantum communication

Quantum computers and communication devices work by encoding information into individual or entangled photons, enabling data to be quantum securely transmitted and manipulated exponentially faster than is possible with conventional electronics. Now, quantum researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have demonstrated a method for encoding vastly more information into a single photon, opening...

Steps for successfully growing sweet potatoes in Washington

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) production in the northern United States is limited due to the perceived barriers of a short growing season and relatively cool summer temperatures, yet recent studies have shown yield in northern regions can be greater than the national average when sweet potatoes are grown with plastic mulch. A study, now published in HortTechnology, was conducted in northwest...

Four new caladium cultivars for containers and landscapes

Caladiums are ornamental aroids highly valued for their attractive foliage that rivals the display of many flowers. Aroid is a common name for a large species of plants in the Araceae family. This family of plants is also often called the Philodendron or Arum family. There are over 100 genera and 3,750 species of aroid plants, most of which are from the tropics.

Former Texas professor pleads guilty to making false statements on China ties

Former Texas A&M University, College Station, material scientist Zhengdong Cheng pleaded guilty today to two federal charges of making false statements to NASA that hid his ties to two Chinese universities. Cheng also agreed to repay NASA $86,876, funds awarded for a microgravity experiment to be conducted on the International Space Station. Despite...

An integrated modeling framework to assess surface and ground water resources

Groundwater—the water contained in porous and fractured rocks underground—is the largest freshwater source on Earth apart from the ice caps and glaciers. It feeds into rivers, lakes, and other surface water bodies and is essential for ecosystems. In addition, groundwater systems are an integral part of agricultural irrigation, especially in regions with scarce surface water resources.