178 articles from WEDNESDAY 18.1.2023

Agave gene delays poplar dormancy, study finds

A team of scientists led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered the gene in agave that governs when the plant goes dormant and used it to create poplar trees that nearly doubled in size, increasing biomass yield for biofuels production and carbon sequestration.

How social networks point the way to your next holiday hotspot

Research in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising has investigated how online social networks can influence our choice of holiday destination. The team found that about two-thirds of people interviewed use sites such as Instagram and Facebook to help them decide on the places they would like to visit. LinkedIn had a lot less influence on such decisions, the team found....

Study reveals how phosphorous deficiency induces anthocyanin accumulation in plants

Anthocyanins are one kind of natural pigments commonly found in plants and can act as metabolic markers of nutrient deficiency, especially phosphorous (P) deficiency. Although anthocyanin biosynthesis has been well studied, the molecular mechanism of how plants respond to environmental stresses, such as P deficiency, via anthocyanin synthesis has been rarely reported.

Sharing the burden of carbon dioxide removal

Carbon dioxide removal is key to meeting the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. A new study analyzes what fair and equitable burden-sharing means for nature-based carbon dioxide removal in developing countries.

An Old Yellow Enzyme helps algae combat photooxidative stress

Old Yellow Enzymes (OYEs) were discovered in the 1930s and have been the subject of much research ever since. This is because these biocatalysts -- coloured yellow by an auxiliary molecule -- are capable of performing reactions that are very valuable for the chemical industry, such as producing drug precursors or fragrances. Even though OYEs are found in many organisms, their natural role for...

A new, better technology for X-ray laser pulses

Intense, extremely short-wave X-ray pulses in the nanometer wavelength range are difficult to produce, but now a new, simpler method has been developed: the starting point is not a titanium-sapphire laser, which had mostly been used for this purpose, but an ytterbium laser. The crucial trick is that the light is then sent through a gas in order to change its properties.

The dark cost of being toxic

Scientists have discovered that the striking orange and black wings of monarch butterflies not only send the message to predators that these butterflies are highly toxic, but that the storage of toxins and development of the colorful wings come at a cost to the butterfly's body. The team reared monarch caterpillars on their milkweed food plants that had different levels of toxins. Monarchs that...

Most plastic debris on Seychelles beaches comes from far-off sources

A new modelling study shows that the Seychelles and other islands in the western Indian Ocean are not responsible for most of the plastic waste that accumulates on their beaches. Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka were found to be the main sources of land-based plastic debris. The Seychelles also accumulate significant amounts of plastic debris of marine origin from fisheries and shipping lanes. •...

Early tastings shorten breastfeeding

The earlier infants begin to taste small samples of solid food, the earlier they eat more food and stop breastfeeding. This is shown in a new study, in which the mothers of 1,251 infants from all over Sweden participated. Almost half of the infants received tastings at the age of four months.

The rich meteorology of Mars studied in detail from the Perseverance rover

Perseverance has now completed its investigation of the atmosphere throughout the first Martian year (which lasts approximately two Earth years). Specifically, astronomers have studied seasonal and daily cycles of temperature and pressure, as well as their significant variations on other time scales resulting from very different processes.

Global warming reaches central Greenland

A temperature reconstruction from ice cores of the past 1,000 years reveals that today's warming in central-north Greenland is surprisingly pronounced. The most recent decade surveyed in a study, the years 2001 to 2011, was the warmest in the past 1,000 years, and the region is now 1.5 °C warmer than during the 20th century, as researchers report. Using a set of ice cores unprecedented in length...

A window into the nanoworld: Scientists develop new technique to image fluctuations in materials

Scientists have developed a revolutionary new method for capturing high-resolution images of fluctuations in materials at the nanoscale using powerful X-ray sources. The technique, which they call Coherent Correlation Imaging (CCI), allows for the creation of sharp, detailed movies without damaging the sample by excessive radiation. By using an algorithm to detect patterns in underexposed images,...

Data reveal a surprising preference in particle spin alignment

Given the choice of three different 'spin' orientations, certain particles emerging from collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), an atom smasher, appear to have a preference. Recent results reveal a preference in global spin alignment of particles called phi mesons. Conventional mechanisms -- such as the magnetic field strength or the swirliness of the matter generated in the...