94 articles from FRIDAY 4.11.2022
As Musk reshapes Twitter, academics ponder taking flight
Mark McCaughrean has been moving his online home in steps. McCaughrean, an astronomer at the European Space Agency, has had a profile on Twitter for many years. In spring, when Elon Musk first suggested buying the social media platform used by nearly 240 million worldwide, many were concerned that such a purchase would increase the nastiness of Twitter and allow misinformation to drown...
Fecal microbial transplants show lack of predictability when no prior antibiotic treatment is given to recipient
- ScienceDaily
- 22/11/4 21:53
Fecal microbial transplants have been given to alter a recipient's metabolism to reduce obesity or alter immunity to fight cancer, and in those transplants recipients are not given suppressive antibiotics to eliminate the microbial community prior to the transplant. Researchers now report there is a lack of predictability for fecal microbial transplants to change the gut microbial community to...
Words matter in food freshness, safety messaging
- ScienceDaily
- 22/11/4 21:53
Changing the wording about expiration dates on perishable food items -- which is currently unregulated and widely variable -- could help reduce food waste, according to a new study.
New study of comets provides insight into chemical composition of early solar system
A new study from the University of Central Florida has found strong support that the outgassing of molecules from comets could be the result of the composition from the beginning of our solar system.
Team adds powerful new dimension to phenotyping next-gen bioenergy crop
Miscanthus is one of the most promising perennial crops for bioenergy production since it is able to produce high yields with a small environmental footprint. This versatile grass has great potential to perform even better, as much less effort has been put into improving it through breeding relative to established commodity crops such as maize or soybean.
Endangered Devils Hole pupfish is one of the most inbred animals known
As its name implies, the Devil's Hole pupfish lives in a truly hellish environment.
Puerto Rico's Hurricane Fiona recovery efforts may be repeating same failures from Hurricane Maria
Weeks after Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico, floodwaters have mostly receded in the hard-hit town of Loíza, but mud, debris and collapsed roofs remain. Power has been restored in some areas but is still unstable.
Light-driven molecular motors light up
- ScienceDaily
- 22/11/4 19:59
Combining two light-mediated functions in a single molecule is quite challenging. Scientists have now succeeded in doing just that, in two different ways.
Third Time’s a Charm? NASA Sets a New Date to Launch Its Mega-Moon Rocket
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) moon rocket has been in development for more than 18 years and has never flown so much as an inch. But that might change on Nov. 14 at 12:07 a.m. ET, when the massive 32-story machine blasts off for a 25-day mission around the moon. That mission, known as Artemis 1, will be preparatory to a similar crewed mission that could be flown as early as 2024.
Twice...
China Sends Yet Another Rocket Stage Hurtling Uncontrollably Toward Earth
There’s a lot that China would like you to pay attention to when it comes to its just completed Tiangong (“Palace in the Sky”) space station—and there’s one thing the country would very much like you to ignore.
On the upside, there’s the thousand or more scientific studies that crew members hope to carry out over the decade or so the station will be in...
Great leaps forward in vaccine history | Letter
Lucy Ward on the roles played by Edward Jenner and Thomas Dimsdale in the development of inoculation against diseaseYour article on challenge trials raises fascinating questions, as the world seeks to address the risk of new pandemics (Should we give people diseases in order to learn how to cure them?, 31 October). It refers to Edward Jenner, who did indeed “challenge” his patient James...
Fluorescence achieved in light-driven molecular motors
Rotary molecular motors were first created in 1999, in the laboratory of Ben Feringa, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Groningen. These motors are driven by light. For many reasons, it would be good to be able to make these motor molecules visible. The best way to do this is to make them fluoresce. However, combining two light-mediated functions in a single molecule is quite...
Eco-activist attacks on museum artwork ask us to figure out what we value
In the last few weeks climate change activists have perpetrated various acts of reversible vandalism against famous works of art in public galleries.
Australia's borders are open, so where are all the backpackers?
Backpackers on working holiday maker visas have been a crucial source of farm labor for decades, alongside smaller numbers of temporary migrants from the Pacific Islands, international students, and Australians.
New book confronts the intersection between mobility and the climate crisis
A new book by Stephanie Sodero of the HCRI explores the intersection between fossil fuel-powered mobility and climate change and how communities and mobility need to be revolutionized in Sodero's homeland of Canada and beyond in the context of climate change.
Understanding marine heatwaves using the Southern Hemisphere's longest running daily ocean temperature records
An Australasian university collaboration has shed new light on marine heatwaves in New Zealand's coastal waters, utilizing the two longest running daily in situ ocean temperature records in the Southern Hemisphere.
Biodiversity of Europe's mammals as rich as it was 8,000 years ago, according to new research
A new study comparing the biodiversity of wild mammals in Europe 8,000 years ago with the present has found that more species have been gained than lost on the continent.
Examining why parties in conflict cease fighting
The path to peace usually leads through a ceasefire. In an international project, ETH Zurich researchers have shown the conditions under which parties to civil wars are willing to stop fighting—and why they decide to do so.
The early bird may just get the worm
- ScienceDaily
- 22/11/4 18:45
Night owls may be looking forward to falling back into autumn standard time but a new study has found Daylight Saving Time may also suit morning types just fine.
Extreme temperatures take deadly toll on people in Texas prisons, study finds
- ScienceDaily
- 22/11/4 18:45
A research team found higher death rates among people in prisons without air conditioning compared to those in climate-controlled institutions.
Parallel alignment of dressing fibers accelerates wound healing
A team of researchers from Singapore has reported the development of a skin-mimicking scaffold by parallelly aligning nanofibers made up of a mixture of polycaprolactone (PCL) and gelatin that enhances wound healing. Their research has recently been published in Advanced Fiber Materials.
Europe is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world
Temperatures in Europe have increased at more than twice the global average over the past 30 years—the highest of any continent in the world. As the warming trend continues, exceptional heat, wildfires, floods and other climate change impacts will affect society, economies and ecosystems, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Socially responsible companies laid off more workers than their peers during the COVID-19 pandemic
A good track record in corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not a guarantee that the company will continue to focus on CSR in times of crisis. According to a new study from the University of Vaasa, US companies with a history of high CSR laid off more employees during the COVID-19 pandemic than their peers.
Fire in the Amazon is associated more with agricultural burning and deforestation than with drought
A Brazilian study shows that the number of fires detected in the entire Amazon region between 2003 and 2020 was influenced more by uncontrolled human use of fire than by drought. According to the researchers, burning of vegetation to prepare areas for pasture and deforestation rather than extreme water deficits were the main cause of fire in most years with large numbers of fires.
'Click' chemistry may help treat dogs with bone cancer, study finds
In September, researchers from California and Denmark were awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of "click" chemistry, a process in which molecules snap together like LEGO, making them a potentially more efficient transportation device in delivering pharmaceuticals to cancer tumors.
NASA's 'mega moon rocket' back on the pad as it readies for next launch attempt
NASA's 'mega moon rocket' is back on the launch pad. The Space Launch System, or SLS, is the space agency's newest and most powerful rocket to date and will return astronauts to the moon at some point in 2024 or 2025 as part of the Artemis...
Limiting antibiotics for cows may create new dairy market
Consumers would be willing to buy milk from cows only treated with antibiotics when medically necessary—as long as the price isn't much higher than conventional milk, according to researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Liquid crystal metasurface could enable multi-dimensional light field sensing
While conventional photodetectors can only measure light intensity, the light field contains much richer information. This information includes but is not limited to phase, polarization, and spectrum.
Spain briefly closes airspace over risks from Chinese rocket debris
Debris from the Chinese rocket was expected to pass over Catalonia and land in the Atlantic.
Spin photonics to move forward with new anapole probe
Topological nontrivial spin textures are intriguing in various physical systems, ranging from high energy to condensed matter physics. The magnetic Skyrmions formed by a swirling magnetization in magnetic materials have potential applications in high-density magnetic information storage and transfer.
Semi-nonlinear etchless lithium niobate waveguide with bound states in the continuum
Lithium niobite (LN) with an ultra-wide optical transparent window has shown excellent nonlinear, electro-optic, acoustic-optic, piezoelectric, thermoelectric and photorefractive effects. It is an excellent platform for realizing χ(2) nonlinear photonic devices with low power consumption and high efficiency.
Report examines how agroforestry can deliver for nature and the climate
Agroforestry—farming with trees—could be pivotal in helping the agricultural sector reach net zero by 2050, according to new research carried out by Cranfield University, which underpins a report by the Woodland Trust.
Common path principle improves shape metrology of complex precision optics
In order to push the performance of optical systems, aspheric- and freeform surfaces are used in state-of-the-art optic design for correcting aberrations. The production of these complex-shaped surfaces requires measuring the surface deviation from the nominal design. There are a lot of optical measurement methods, such as pointwise and stitching methods.
Zero deforestation in the Amazon is now possible—here's what needs to happen
Jair Bolsonaro has been defeated in the Brazilian election against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ("Lula") to the rejoicing of scientists, environmentalists, and human rights activists in Brazil and beyond. What happens in South America's largest country is globally significant since, among other reasons, the country contains most of the world's largest tropical forest.
Why a chain of tiny Pacific islands wants an international court opinion on responsibility for the climate crisis
Small island states are losing their patience with big polluting nations as they suffer the devastating impacts of climate change. Without significant movement at the forthcoming COP27 climate talks in Egypt, a pivotal vote at the next UN general assembly meeting, brought by the tiny Pacific islands of Vanuatu, could open the floodgates to international climate litigation.
Gaining structural insight into the influenza virus
A team of scientists at University of Oxford have worked with multiple techniques at Diamond Light Source, to solve the structure of the influenza replication machinery and to determine how it interacts with cellular proteins. This research furthers our understanding of influenza replication and how the virus adapts to different hosts.
Investment, power and protein in sub-Saharan africa
Researcher Jeremy Brice has published a new report examining financial investment in protein production in sub-Saharan Africa for TABLE.