Team designs system to create bioplastics
A team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists has developed a system that uses carbon dioxide, CO2, to produce biodegradable plastics, or bioplastics, that could replace the nondegradable plastics used today. The research addresses two challenges: the accumulation of nondegradable plastics and the remediation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Near-threshold resonance helps explain a controversial measurement of exotic decay in beryllium-11
Most mass in everyday matter around us resides in protons and neutrons inside the atomic nucleus. However, the lifetime of a free neutron—one not bounded to a nucleus—is unstable, decaying by a process called beta decay. For neutrons, beta decay involves the emission of a proton, an electron, and an anti-neutrino. Beta decay is a common process.
Two new discoveries shed light on the mystery of how cells manage stress
In new research recently published in the journal Cell Reports, a team of scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst delved into the mysteries of how cells weather stress. Using bacterial cells, the researchers discovered that a damage-repairing enzyme, called ClpX, can not only mutate to fix multiple cellular issues but can respond to changing levels of cellular energy to help keep a...
New study evaluates 'urban-wildland juxtapositions' of 36 US cities
For some, the great outdoors is nothing but a short walk away, while for others escaping the city is an odyssey in itself. While jogging in the wildlands surrounding Salt Lake City, Professor Jeff Rose wondered if there was a way to measure the border between undeveloped land and urban areas.
Research reveals bed bugs produce potentially dangerous amounts of histamine
University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food and Environment entomologists made eye-opening discoveries in a recent bed bug study, finding the bugs produce large amounts of histamine that may pose risks to humans.
Team reports on a fungus that simultaneously combats two of the worst threats to banana plantation yields
The banana borer Cosmopolites sordidus and the disease Fusarium wilt, caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum, are among the most harmful pests that threaten the livelihoods of banana growers, who face major challenges in attempting to control them. The former is a species of weevil that bores into the plant's rhizome (the underground stem that produces roots and shoots), weakening its...
New nationwide strategy brings scientists and communities together to help reduce landslide risks
Landslides are inevitable, but landslide disasters are not. With this in mind, the U.S. Geological Survey has released a new report that details the strategic actions necessary to equitably reduce the Nation's risk from landslide hazards.
Twenty years of research on relationship maintenance: More diversity is needed
Relationship researchers often test their hypotheses on real people. But are their samples actually representative of diverse populations? A new study from the University of Illinois evaluates 20 years of research on relationship maintenance and finds diversity lacking.
Coyotes in New York City do not need to rely on human food
Researchers in New York City have analyzed the DNA of urban coyotes and discovered that the coyotes eat a variety of native prey species and supplement this diet with human-sourced food items. The study is published in PeerJ.
Engineering robust and scalable molecular qubits
The concept of "symmetry" is essential to fundamental physics: a crucial element in everything from subatomic particles to macroscopic crystals. Accordingly, a lack of symmetry—or asymmetry—can drastically affect the properties of a given system.
Hubble detects protective shield defending a pair of dwarf galaxies
For billions of years, the Milky Way's largest satellite galaxies—the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds—have followed a perilous journey. Orbiting one another as they are pulled in toward our home galaxy, they have begun to unravel, leaving behind trails of gaseous debris. And yet—to the puzzlement of astronomers—these dwarf galaxies remain intact, with ongoing vigorous star formation.
New algorithm could reduce the effects of long-term drift in fiber Bragg-grating temperature sensors
Photonic thermometers—which measure temperature using light—have been around in optical fiber form for decades. These devices, called fiber Bragg gratings, are embedded in commercially available fibers thinner than a human hair, similar to the ones ubiquitous in network communications.
Men's experiences of sexual racism differ in two online dating communities
About 99% of the 550 young sexual minority Black men who participated in a recent survey reported encountering racialized sexual discrimination while searching for intimate partners online.
Encouraging girls to roleplay as successful female scientists could help close the gender gap in STEM
Make-believe doesn't usually have a place in laboratory settings, but research just published in Psychological Science suggests that girls may persist longer in science activities when they pretend to be successful female scientists. This kind of play-based intervention could help close the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields by boosting girls' early engagement...
Understanding virtual memory CD8+ T Cells
Virtual memory CD8+ T cells (TVM) are a relatively recent discovery in humans. A new review discusses what is known about them from mouse models and their cellular equivalents in humans, as described in the Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR).
Unlocking the doors to effective COVID-19 treatments
A team of interdisciplinary researchers from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) is hoping to identify effective COVID-19 therapeutics. With help from the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, the team has been able to visualize the interaction between inhibitory molecules and viral proteins. This allows researchers to see if their drug designs work...
Can a focus on politicians make the EU seem more human?
Individual politicians and their messages increasingly matter for our interest and trust in politics. Think only of the political figures in your country and how they influence your opinion. But little is known how the personalization of politics works out in European Union politics. Do we find personalization of politics at the EU level and does this influence our opinion of the EU? With a wealth...
Can gold mining be more sustainable?
In a review paper recently published in the journal Land Degradation and Development, Shrabya Timsina and Nora Hardy focused on the effects of surface gold mining in tropical regions, a growing environmental concern in recent years. According to a 2012 study, mining accounts for 7% of deforestation in developing nations and large-scale and artisanal, small-scale gold mining techniques such as...
Exploring a new algorithm for reconstructing particles
A team of researchers from CERN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Staffordshire University have implemented a new algorithm for reconstructing particles at the Large Hadron Collider.
Newly discovered protein could be used to produce life-saving antifungals
Like bacteria, yeasts are found everywhere, even in and around our bodies. And, as with bacteria, you can become infected by yeasts and become ill. Yeasts infect about 150 million people a year and kill about 1.7 million, especially those who are immunocompromised.
'Optical magic': New flat glass enables optimal visual quality for augmented reality goggles
As anyone who has recently tried out an augmented reality headset knows, the technology is not yet ready to be part of our everyday lives. Researchers have been working to perfect high-performing augmented reality (AR) glasses, but there are a number of challenges. One major problem with conventional AR glasses is that there is a tradeoff in terms of quality and brightness between the external...
Potential first traces of the universe's earliest stars
The very first stars likely formed when the universe was only 100 million years old, less than one percent its current age. These first stars—known as Population III—were so titanically massive that when they ended their lives as supernovae they tore themselves apart, seeding interstellar space with a distinctive blend of heavy elements. Despite decades of diligent searching by astronomers,...
When dangerous toxins teach fundamental biology
"What our work shows is how a complex in the center of the cell, the ER-Golgi interaction region, controls plasma membrane cholesterol, which is essential for many cellular functions, if not essential for multicellular life," says Professor Gisou van der Goot at EPFL's School of Life Sciences. Her group, working with the group of Giovanni D'Angelo at EPFL, has published a study in Developmental...
Feeding behavior traits may be an indicator of feed efficiency in Holstein cows
Genetic selection is a powerful tool to improve livestock production, given that genetic gains are cumulative and permanent, and feeding behavior in cows may be used as an indicated trait for feed efficiency.
Compostable bioleather offers sustainable solutions for the clothing industry and beyond
Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, clothing production has been on an unsustainable path. Like most manufacturing, textiles are produced in a linear fashion with a cradle-to-grave model. Fabrics like cotton are farmed, worn, used, then thrown away. The textile industry as a whole is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions, with leather being especially harmful.