178 articles from THURSDAY 10.11.2022

New study describes how employee opinion impacts CEO dismissal

Corporate governance decisions, like CEO dismissal, can disrupt organizations. As a result, the board of directors treads with caution while making such decisions. Previous research suggests that boards rely on factors like financial performance and security analyst recommendations to decide on CEO dismissal. A new study published in the Strategic Management Journal in October suggests that...

Participating in college football bowl games may slightly improve players' academic outcomes, study finds

For college football teams that win six or more games in a season, their reward is the opportunity to play in a postseason bowl game on national television. While many players and fans look forward to the opportunity each December or January, speculation remains if participating in a bowl game negatively impacts the academic outcomes for college football players during the end of the busy fall...

NASA Telescope, Moon Rocket Named TIME Inventions of 2022

Portal origin URL: NASA Telescope, Moon Rocket Named TIME Inventions of 2022 Portal origin nid: 483914Published: Thursday, November 10, 2022 - 16:41Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket were named 2022 TIME Inventions of the Year.Portal image: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in...

A wrongfully terminated Chinese-American scientist was just awarded nearly $2 million in damages

It’s been almost a decade since the Chinese-American hydrologist Sherry Chen’s life was turned upside down by an unfounded accusation of spying, and this week, she finally received something like justice.  Today, Chen’s lawyers announced that the scientist won a historic $1.8 million settlement from the US Commerce Department for her wrongful prosecution and subsequent termination...

Should kids be cramming for tests or competing at sports?

Most parents want to help their kids get ahead. But how do you that? Should you press them to excel at academics, devote hours to sports and other extracurriculars, or get an afterschool job? Or should you dial back on such demands, to avoid causing unhealthy levels of stress?

Footprints indicate human presence in Spain in Middle Pleistocene, 200,000 years earlier than previously thought

Researcher and GRS Radioisotopes technician Jorge Rivera, from the University of Seville, has participated in an incredible discovery that is unique in Europe. After applying an optically-stimulated luminescence technique at the Center for Research, Technology and Innovation laboratories at the University of Seville (CITIUS) and at CENIEH to hominin footprints found at Matalascañas in 2020,...

Mineral soil in forests accumulates carbon as trees grow

A recent study by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) investigated the accumulation of soil carbon in forest sites monitored intensively in the long term. In mature spruce- and pine-dominated forests where the growing stock volume increased, the soil acted as a carbon sink. In turn, natural damage and roundwood removals reduced soil carbon stocks.

A dual boost for optical delay scanning

Various applications of pulsed laser sources rely on the ability to produce a series of pulse pairs with a stepwise increasing delay between them. Implementing such optical delay scanning with high precision is demanding, in particular for long delays. Addressing this challenge, ETH physicists have developed a versatile "dual-comb" laser that combines a wide scanning range with high power, low...

Thirsty wheat needed new water management strategy in ancient China

Research shows that a practice of purposeful water management, or irrigation, was adopted in northern China about 4,000 years ago as part of an effort to grow new grains that had been introduced from southwest Asia. But the story gets more complex from there. Wheat and barley arrived on the scene at about the same time, but early farmers only used water management techniques for wheat. The results...

A dual boost for optical delay scanning

Various applications of pulsed laser sources rely on the ability to produce a series of pulse pairs with a stepwise increasing delay between them. Implementing such optical delay scanning with high precision is demanding, in particular for long delays. Addressing this challenge, physicists have developed a versatile 'dual-comb' laser that combines a wide scanning range with high power, low noise,...

NASA Space Biology Bootcamp Teaches the Teachers, Reaching More Students

Portal origin URL: NASA Space Biology Bootcamp Teaches the Teachers, Reaching More StudentsPortal origin nid: 483904Published: Thursday, November 10, 2022 - 14:40Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: When a team of NASA researchers set out to help train a diverse new generation of space biologists, they wanted to magnify their impact on today’s students....

Global changes in wetlands help clarify the decline of shorebirds

Over a half of all shorebird populations—sandpipers, plovers, avocets, oystercatchers, among others—are currently declining, according to scientific publications and reports of several Environmental NGOs, such as BirdLife International. The decline of shorebirds is a global phenomenon for which the causes are not yet fully understood.

Bibliometric study ranks world-leading institutions researching liver cirrhosis

The University of Barcelona is the institution with the most publications and number of bibliometric citations worldwide in research on liver cirrhosis, followed by the Virginia Commonwealth University (United States), the University College London (United Kingdom), the Mayo Clinic (United States) and the University of Padova (Italy).

Centimeter-scale multicolor printing with a pixelated optical cavity

Structural colors result from interactions between light and nanostructures. Engineering structural colors is a promising, rapidly emerging research field. Compared with conventional painting technology using chemical dyes, structural color has a broader range of technological applications for color management. Thanks in part to its excellent durability, structural color offers an environmentally...

Using 1980s environmental modeling to mitigate future disasters

On March 11, 2011, multiple catastrophes in Japan were triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake, including the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This event, also known as the 3/11 disaster, is what is known as a compound disaster. Now that over a decade has passed since this event, researchers are investigating how to prevent the next compound disaster.

116 scientists reject WHO's draft PFAS guidelines

More than 100 scientists sent a letter to the World Health Organization today urging a complete overhaul or withdrawal of the organization's draft drinking water guidelines for the two most well-studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The letter details how WHO's draft eschews calculating health-based standards, disregarding robust evidence for the harms of PFOS and PFOA. The letter...

Research reveals how a common bacterium may spread from the intestine

A typical gut bacterium that can spread through the body and cause a serious infection resists natural immune defenses and antibiotics by enhancing its protective outer layer, known as the cell envelope, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The finding suggests possible new ways to target these bacterial infections.

A new way of fabricating high-efficiency diffraction gratings for astronomical spectroscopy

Today, astronomers seek to observe the faintest and most distant objects possible. Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), with apertures in the order of several dozen meters, are the next generation facilities to do so. However, building larger telescopes is only one part of the equation. The other part is the capability of detecting the gathered photons in the most efficient way possible.

Researchers manage to extend the field of view for speckle-correlation imaging under a limited memory effect

Trying to see through scattering media like haze and fog is often accompanied by disappointment or even difficulties in our daily lives—if you have ever experienced a sunrise-watching trip on a cloudy morning or a palm-sweating drive through dense fog. For researchers in optics and photonics, seeing through scattering media is also a long-standing challenge in a broad range of application...

Disparities in advanced math and science skills begin by kindergarten

Racial and ethnic disparities in advanced math and science skills occur far earlier in the U.S. than previously known. Our new study finds that 13% of white students and 16% of Asian students display advanced math skills by kindergarten. The contrasting percentage for both Black and Hispanic students is 4%.

What is a flash drought? An Earth scientist explains

Many people are familiar with flash floods—torrents that develop quickly after heavy rainfall. But there's also such a thing as a flash drought, and these sudden, extreme dry spells are becoming a big concern for farmers and water utilities.

NASA laser reflector for ESA satnav on Lunar Pathfinder

NASA has delivered a retroreflector array to ESA that will allow the Lunar Pathfinder mission to be pinpointed by laser ranging stations back on Earth as it orbits the moon. Such centimeter level laser measurements will serve as an independent check on the spacecraft as it fixes its position using Galleo and GPS signals from an unprecedented 400,000 km away from Earth—proving the concept of...