178 articles from WEDNESDAY 18.1.2023
No jail time for Kansas professor convicted for undisclosed research ties to China
A federal judge today handed down the lightest possible sentence in the U.S. government’s case against University of Kansas (KU), Lawrence, chemical engineer Franklin Tao. The decision is the
latest rejection
by U.S. courts of the government’s attempt to prosecute Chinese-born scientists for lapses in reporting their research interactions with China.
U.S....
Ham on the lam: This duck named after dinner won't stop wandering off
A fashionable fowl with an insatiable wanderlust has become a local sensation in the British town of...
New study illustrates a changing flood recipe for Las Vegas
Las Vegas, with its rapid urbanization and desert landscape, is highly vulnerable to flooding. For this reason, flood managers have built an extensive system of drainage ditches and detention basins to protect the public. Now, a new study shows how intentional engineering and urban development are interacting with climate change to alter the timing and intensity of flood risk.
Researchers find that music education benefits youth well-being as California looks to boost arts in school
The latest University of Southern California (USC) research on the impact of music education shows that for adolescents, the benefits appear to extend beyond a surge in neural connections in their brains. It actually boosts their well-being.
How was the solar system formed? The Ryugu asteroid is helping us learn
Mineral samples collected from the Ryugu asteroid by the Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft are helping UCLA space scientists and colleagues better understand the chemical composition of our solar system as it existed in its infancy, more than 4.5 billion years ago.
Billions of celestial objects revealed in gargantuan survey of the Milky Way
Astronomers have released a gargantuan survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way. The new dataset contains a staggering 3.32 billion celestial objects—arguably the largest such catalog so far. The data for this unprecedented survey were taken with the Dark Energy Camera, built by the US Department of Energy, at the NSF's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NOIRLab.
Neanderthals are not the only species whose dentition is characterized by the possession of thin enamel
The Dental Anthropology Group of the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) has participated in a paper published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology on the dental remains of Homo antecessor, the species recovered from level TD6 of the Gran Dolina site (Atapuerca, Burgos), which reveals new aspects of the biology of this species.
Harnessing the healing power within our cells
University of Queensland researchers have identified a pathway in cells that could be used to reprogram the body's immune system to fight back against both chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases.
Researchers find a 'kernel of truth' in the urgent fight against tar spot of corn
Although discovered in the United States only seven years ago, tar spot has wreaked havoc on corn yield—resulting in an estimated 1.2-billion-dollar loss in 2021 alone. The miscreant behind this devastating plant disease, Phyllachora maydis, is an emergent fungal pathogen whose biology remains obscure. This lack of understanding significantly limits disease management strategies, and no corn...
Is There Water on the Moon? We Asked a NASA Scientist
Is there water on the Moon? Yes! But you won’t find pools of liquid H2O on the lunar surface — water on the Moon is mostly in the form of ice.
Harvesting this water is a critical component of future human deep space exploration, which is why our golf cart-sized VIPER, or the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will be traveling to the Moon’s South Pole to search for...
NASA’s Geotail Mission Operations Come to an End After 30 Years
Portal origin URL: NASA’s Geotail Mission Operations Come to an End After 30 YearsPortal origin nid: 485059Published: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 - 16:16Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: After 30 years in orbit, mission operations for the joint NASA-JAXA Geotail spacecraft have ended, after the failure of the spacecraft’s remaining data...
New 'chain mail' material of interlocking molecules is tough, flexible and easy to make
University of California, Berkeley, chemists have created a new type of material from millions of identical, interlocking molecules, that for the first time allows the synthesis of extensive 2D or 3D structures that are flexible, strong and resilient, like the chain mail that protected medieval knights.
Newly developed polysulfates could find wide use in high-performance electronics components
A new type of polysulfate compound that can form thin, flexible films has properties that could make it a material of choice for many high-performance electrical components, according to a study from chemists and materials scientists at Scripps Research and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
Increase in marine heatwaves expected to affect organisms at bottom of food chain, study suggests
An increase in marine heatwaves due to global climate change in the coming decades will have a significant impact on lifeforms in this environment, including those at the bottom of the food chain, according to a paper published in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science by Brazilian researchers working in Brazil, Norway and the United States.
What's driving re-burns across California and the West?
Seasonal temperature, moisture loss from plants and wind speed are what primarily drive fires that sweep across the same landscape multiple times, a new study reveals. These findings and others could help land managers plan more effective treatments in areas susceptible to fire, particularly in the fire-ravaged wildland-urban interfaces of California.
Kenya's school reform is entering a new phase in 2023—but the country isn't ready
The start of the 2023 school year in Kenya marks an important occasion: the first cohort of pupils to adopt a new curriculum in 2017 are entering junior secondary school.
NASA's Geotail mission operations come to an end after 30 years
After 30 years in orbit, mission operations for the joint NASA-JAXA Geotail spacecraft have ended, after the failure of the spacecraft's remaining data recorder.
Researchers uncover secrets on how Alaska's Denali Fault formed
When the rigid plates that make up Earth's lithosphere brush against one another, they often form visible boundaries, known as faults, on the planet's surface. Strike-slip faults, such as the San Andreas Fault in California or the Denali Fault in Alaska, are among the most well-known and capable of seriously powerful seismic activity.
Michigan wolf population holding steady, 2022 survey shows
Michigan's gray wolf population remains stable and might have reached its natural ceiling after mounting a decadeslong comeback in the Upper Peninsula, state biologists said after the latest survey.
NASA Recaps Webb Telescope Findings From AAS Meeting
Portal origin URL: NASA Recaps Webb Telescope Findings From AAS MeetingPortal origin nid: 485090Published: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 - 14:05Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Scientists shared new findings and updates from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, also called “Webb” or “JWST,” at press conferences during the 241st meeting of the...
In the Neanderthal site of Combe-Grenal, France, hunting strategies were unaffected by changing climate
Neanderthals in Combe-Grenal (France) preferred to hunt in open environments, and their hunting strategies did not alter during periods of climatic change, according to a study published in PLOS ONE by Emilie Berlioz of the CNRS/Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France, and colleagues, as part of research carried out in the ANR DeerPal project.
Satellites can be used to detect waste sites on Earth
A new computational system uses satellite data to identify sites on land where people dispose of waste, providing a new tool to monitor waste and revealing sites that may leak plastic into waterways. Caleb Kruse of Earthrise Media in Berkeley, California, Dr. Fabien Laurier from the Minderoo Foundation in Washington DC, and colleagues present this method in PLOS ONE.
Underlying assumptions of air quality need to be redefined, says study
The 40-meter-high monitoring tower of the Innsbruck Atmospheric Observatory near the city center of Innsbruck in Austria continuously provides data on the composition of the atmosphere near the surface. Every hour, 36,000 data points are recorded. Using a special measuring method—the so-called eddy covariance method—the concentration of air components can be continuously monitored.
Better hydrogen transfer brings better hydrogen evolution reaction performance
The electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the most efficient methods for producing green hydrogen. However, the inefficient mass transfer of hydrogen has greatly impeded HER efficiency.
How mycorrhizal types control biodiversity effects on productivity
Mycorrhizal symbiosis helps plants expand their root surface area, giving plants greater access to nutrients and water. Although the first and foremost role of mycorrhizal symbiosis is to facilitate plant nutrition, how mycorrhizal types mediate the nutrient acquisition and interactions of coexisting trees in forests has not been clear to scientists.
Jumpin' Jehoshapat! New grasshopper-like material can leap 200 times its own thickness
Engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder have designed a new, rubber-like film that can leap high into the air like a grasshopper—all on its own and without needing outside intervention. Just heat it up and watch it jump!
New study shows 'self-cleaning' of marine atmosphere
Scientists have shed new light on the "self-cleaning" capacity of the atmosphere.
Mummified crocodiles provide insights into mummy-making over time
Crocodiles were mummified in a unique way at the Egyptian site of Qubbat al-Hawā during the 5th Century BC, according to a study published January 18, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Bea De Cupere of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium, and the University of Jaén, Spain, and colleagues.
Tracking the elusive and shifting identities of the global fishing fleet
A new study published today in Science Advances combines a decade's worth of satellite vessel tracking data with identification information from more than 40 public registries to determine where and when vessels responsible for most of the world's industrial fishing change their country of registration, a practice known as "reflagging", and identify hotspots of potential unauthorized fishing and...
An examination of federal personnel changes in the Trump era
According to a new analysis, the total number of people employed full-time by the U.S. federal government remained largely unchanged by the end of the Trump administration, but with significant variation in growth, downsizing, and turnover between agencies. Brian Libgober of Northwestern University and Mark Richardson of Georgetown University present these findings in PLOS ONE.