126 articles from TUESDAY 18.10.2022
These colourful fish use their massive mouths to protect their love dens
When male sarcastic fringeheads get aggressive with each other — which they often do — they open their unusually wide jaws, revealing two rows of pointy teeth. New research delves deep into the meaning behind these big-mouth...
Odd cave bacterium forms a multicellular ‘body,’ like plants and animals
- ScienceNOW
- 22/10/18 23:45
A newly described bacterium is shaking up what it means to be a complex organism. The bizarre microbe, found by Japanese ecologists seeking biodegradable plastics, starts out as a single cell. But instead of remaining a single cell like most microbes, it then develops an organized body comprised of hundreds of cells. When the time is right, the cellular conglomeration shoots out a new...
Was a study that created a hybrid COVID-19 virus too risky?
- ScienceNOW
- 22/10/18 23:40
This week, Twitter exploded with outrage about a study that seemed to have created a Frankenstein COVID-19 virus: a version of SARS-CoV-2 that combines Omicron, the fast-spreading but relatively mild variant that’s now everywhere, and a deadlier strain from early in the pandemic. The labmade virus killed 80% of mice infected with it, compared with no deaths with the unmodified Omicron...
Bright colors in the animal kingdom: Why some use them to impress and others to intimidate
High up in a tree sits a bright red vermilion flycatcher. The males of this songbird species use their red feathers to attract females. Meanwhile, an Arizona mountain kingsnake slithers among the rocks below. Its vivid red, yellow and black coloring mimics that of the venomous coral snake to keep predators away. But why did these two species evolve similar colors to send completely different...
Warming oceans likely to shrink the viable habitat of many marine animals—but not all
Brad Seibel still remembers the headlines from 20 years ago that sounded like a B-rated sci-fi movie: "Invasion of the jumbo squid in Monterey Bay" and the like. He was a postdoctoral scholar at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) at the time.
The dark side of a super app like WeChat
China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about what’s happening in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Welcome back to China Report! I know this is going to be a long week for all of you China watchers. New stories seem to be coming out every minute about the 20th Party Congress…
Magnetic plant biobots can be effectively used for pesticide and heavy metal removal
Biohybrid micro/nanorobots that integrate biological entities with artificial nanomaterials have shown great potential in the field of biotechnology. However, commonly used physical hybridization approaches can lead to blockages and damage to biological interfaces, impeding the optimal exploitation of natural abilities.
The unique way this virus sneaks into a cell's nucleus could advance the study of cancer-causing pathogens
Viruses are tiny packets of destruction and there are more of them than any other biological entity on the planet.
Recognition for that extra mile leads to improved job performance, study finds
Who doesn't like to be noticed by their company for going above and beyond the call at work, especially if there's bonus pay? Yet, subjective performance evaluations can lead to feelings of unfairness when they're not in an employee's favor.
Researcher publishes new studies on bridging human rights education and youth work
How can we best employ human rights education when it comes to working with youth?
Astronomers create new technique to assist in search for dark matter
Meteors may help astronomers devise a new way to locate dark matter—mysterious and invisible particles that have so far only been discerned by the effect they have on the natural world.
Firms issue unrelated news when SEC disclosure is bad news
In an apparent attempt to distract investors, firms forced to disclose bad news via mandatory Securities and Exchange Commission filings are more likely to issue a press release touting unrelated news around the time of the filing.
Hopes for rebuilding giant Arecibo telescope appear dead
- ScienceNOW
- 22/10/18 22:05
The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, for decades the home of the world’s largest radio telescope, will be an astronomical observatory no more. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) last week said it intends to transform the facility, which suffered fatal damage to its massive dish in 2020, into a center for education and outreach in science, technology, engineering, and math...
Light rail stations could form the basis of a polycentric Montreal with the right planning, according to new research
As municipal planning and design shifts away from the sprawling, car-centric model that dominated much of the 20th century, developers and local governments can disagree over how to grow cities sustainably. Transit-oriented development (TOD), which prioritizes population density, walkability, land-use diversity and parking around transit nodes, is a long-standing field. However, much of the...
Ancient ocean methane is not an immediate climate change threat
Deep below the ocean's surface, the seafloor contains large quantities of naturally occurring, ice-like deposits made up of water and concentrated methane gas. For decades, climate scientists have wondered if this methane hydrate reservoir might "melt" and release massive amounts of methane to the ocean and the atmosphere as ocean temperatures warm.
Report: Hurricane Ian farm loss could reach $1.56B
Agriculture losses in Florida from Hurricane Ian's high winds and drenching rains could reach $1.56 billion, with citrus, cattle, vegetable and melon operations among the hardest hit, the University of Florida reported Tuesday in a preliminary estimate.
Gold mining threatens 'forest giraffe' in DR Congo
Gold mining in a Democratic Republic of Congo national park is threatening the okapi, a stripy-legged relative of the giraffe, civil society groups warned on Tuesday.
Attack on two fronts may force ocean bacteria to take in more carbon
The types of ocean bacteria known to absorb carbon dioxide from the air require more energy—in the form of carbon—and other resources when they're simultaneously infected by viruses and face attack from nearby predators, new research has found.
New laboratory to explore the quantum mysteries of nuclear materials
Replete with tunneling particles, electron wells, charmed quarks and zombie cats, quantum mechanics takes everything Sir Isaac Newton taught about physics and throws it out the window.
Collaborative team discovers new natural products, to be used as sources of antibiotics, at unprecedented speed
Many of the drugs we utilize in modern medicine are naturally produced by microbes. Penicillin, an antibiotic derived from certain molds, is one of the most notable natural products due to its recognition as one of the biggest advances in medicine and human health. As DNA sequencing has become cheaper and faster, scientists now have access to hundreds of thousands of microbial genomes and the...
NASA Study Finds Evidence That Fuel Regulation Reduced Air Pollution from Shipping
Portal origin URL: NASA Study Finds Evidence That Fuel Regulation Reduced Air Pollution from ShippingPortal origin nid: 483408Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 - 15:18Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: A global standard limiting sulfur in ship fuel reduced artificial “ship track” clouds to record-low levels in 2020. Pandemic-related disruptions...
Earth's warming hole not indication of abrupt climate change event, study finds
A new study from scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science suggests that the pattern of temperature change of the world's oceans may not be an indication of an impending abrupt climate change event as depicted in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow."
Scientists have grown custom-shaped nanoparticles
Physicists at Ural Federal University (UrFU) and their colleagues from the Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Ion Plasma and Laser Technologies, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan have developed a technology for the growth of nonspherical nanoparticles that are synthesized in the process of ion implantation.
Modifying water's structure as a low-energy method for removing pollutants
Fresh water is a finite resource vulnerable to contamination.
Black Canada lynx photographed for the first time
A black-coated Canada lynx was photographed for the first time by a researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada. Thomas Jung, also employed by the Government of Yukon, recorded the animal in a 30 second video on a cell phone.
Disinfection processes with better removal results for natural and synthetic progesterones in hospital wastewater
Hospital wastewater (HWW) contains plenty of persistent compounds, dangerous substances, and pathogenic microorganisms, such as antibiotics, psychiatric drugs, β-receptor blockers, anesthetics, analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and X-ray contrast agents.
Bacterial quorum quenched by bacterial enzyme
Bacteria produce slimy biofilms to coat and protect themselves and make them less susceptible to antimicrobial drugs and chemical cleaning products. The biofilms have implications for health and various industries, as they can cause fouling, corrosion and bacterial contamination.
Scientists find novel way to optimize thermoelectric properties of bismuth telluride alloys
Recently, a research team led by Prof. Qin Xiaoying from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences found the thermoelectric properties of N-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3(BTS) could be improved by introducing a small amount of Ag9AlSe6 nanoparticles into BTS matrix.
Climate change could quiet prairie birds’ chirping
- ScienceNOW
- 22/10/18 20:25
A bird sings on the prairie and nobody can hear it. Forget whether it makes a sound—biologists want to know why it went unheard. Drier conditions intensified by climate change might be responsible, a new study finds, because birdsong doesn’t travel as far in dry air. That could have harmful consequences for birds trying to defend their territories or find a mate.
The study is...
How scientists predict solar wind speed accurately using multimodality information
As more and more high-tech systems are exposed to the space environment, space weather prediction can provide better protection for these devices. In the solar system, space weather is mainly influenced by solar wind conditions. The solar wind is a stream of supersonic plasma-charged particles which will cause geomagnetic storms, affect short-wave communications, and threaten the safety of...
Scientists compile Cassini's unique observations of Saturn's rings
Southwest Research Institute scientists have compiled 41 solar occultation observations of Saturn's rings from the Cassini mission. The compilation, published recently in the journal Icarus, will inform future investigations of the particle size distribution and composition of Saturn's rings, key elements to understanding their formation and evolution.
NEOWISE: Revealing Changes in the Universe
New time-lapse movies from NASA’s NEOWISE mission give astronomers the opportunity to see objects, like stars and black holes, as they move and change over time. The videos include previously hidden brown dwarfs, a feeding black hole, a dying star, a star-forming region, and a brightening star. They combine more than 10 years of NEOWISE observations and 18 all-sky images, enabling a...
Native predatory fish help control invasive species in Hawaiian fishpond
Jacks and barracuda in Heʻeia fishpond were found to feed on Australian mullet, an invasive species introduced to Oahu waters in the 1950s. This finding, published in Aquaculture, Fish, and Fisheries by researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and Paepae O Heʻeia suggests that these native predatory fish may provide a form of...
Findings show that the Vikings' self-image was influenced by Ancient Rome
In the Late Viking Age, a grave was built that looks very similar to one of the most spectacular graves of the Roman Age in Norway.
Climate change to increase lifetime of space pollution
Satellites face greater chances of collision with space debris as a result of reduced density in the upper atmosphere.
The travails of an alewife: Dams, drought, and climate change
River herring once swam up Connecticut's streams to reproduce by the billion, and then reverse their journey back to sea. In recent years, though, their migration has become increasingly perilous, and their numbers have plummeted. Obstructions like dams have been added to many of the streams and rivers and the population has been drastically overfished.
AI answers the call for quail information
A new model gives wildlife managers the ability to gather the necessary data in a matter of minutes
How the inequality crisis is linked to the sociogenesis of climate change
Research published in Water International develops an approach to the emergence of multiple economies of water in India's capital Delhi, using a neo-Polanyian approach of instituted economic process. Prof Mark Harvey argues that water is an "uncooperative public good" and analyzes the systems of provision, distribution, appropriation and consumption of water, and the formation of scales of these...
Gambling needs more holistic management to reduce harm when it causes debt
Gambling treatment and support services need to dovetail better with debt advice, to ensure recovery pathways for people affected by gambling harm are more likely to succeed, according to a new report by the University of Bristol.
Study: Women avoid looking at Instagram images that reflect their own areas of insecurity
Instagram users avoid images that reflect their own feelings of insecurity, research has found.
Gaps in verbal skills main educational challenge for children of migrant origin
Gaps in verbal skills are the biggest educational gap being experienced by young children of migrant origin, according to new research conducted by sociologists in Trinity College Dublin.