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32 articles from PhysOrg

A mixture of crops provides ecological benefits for agricultural landscapes, find researchers

There are often too few flowering plants in agricultural landscapes, which is one reason for the decline of pollinating insects. Researchers at the University of Göttingen have now investigated how a mixture of crops of fava beans (broad beans) and wheat affects the number of pollinating insects. They found that areas of mixed crops compared with areas of single crops are visited equally often by...

Vulnerability of red sea urchins to climate change depends on location

A new study of red sea urchins, a commercially valuable species, investigated how different populations respond to changes in their environments. The results show that red sea urchin populations in Northern and Southern California are adapted to their local conditions but differ in their vulnerability to the environmental changes expected to occur in the future due to global climate change and...

Unprecedented levels of high-severity fire burn in Sierra Nevada

High-severity wildfire is increasing in Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade forests and has been burning at unprecedented rates compared to the years before Euro-American settlement, according to a study from the Safford Lab at the University of California, Davis and its collaborators. Those rates have especially shot up over the past decade.

Researchers develop new, more accurate computational tool for long-read RNA sequencing

On the journey from gene to protein, a nascent RNA molecule can be cut and joined, or spliced, in different ways before being translated into a protein. This process, known as alternative splicing, allows a single gene to encode several different proteins. Alternative splicing occurs in many biological processes, like when stem cells mature into tissue-specific cells. In the context of disease,...

Economist examines US debt limit impact

It's not exactly comforting that the United States is running up against its debt limit, as officials announced this week, nor is there immediate cause for concern for the average taxpayer, says University of Michigan economist Daniil Manaenkov.

Statistical physics theorem also valid in the quantum world, study finds

Physicists at the University of Bonn have experimentally proven that an important theorem of statistical physics applies to so-called "Bose-Einstein condensates." Their results now make it possible to measure certain properties of the quantum "superparticles" and deduce system characteristics that would otherwise be difficult to observe. The study has now been published in Physical Review Letters.

Protecting and regenerating tropical mangroves

Mangroves were once seen as inhospitable malarial swamps and were among the fastest disappearing habitats in the world. Now, with input from Bangor University, one community project in Kenya is working to restore mangroves in a project which benefits local communities.

Ripples in fabric of universe may reveal start of time

Scientists have advanced in discovering how to use ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves to peer back to the beginning of everything we know. The researchers say they can better understand the state of the cosmos shortly after the Big Bang by learning how these ripples in the fabric of the universe flow through planets and the gas between the galaxies.

A journey to the birthplace of lager beer

Without barley, hops and yeast, there is no beer. Brewing specialist Dr. Martin Zarnkow and beverage microbiologist Dr. Mathias Hutzler believe that a very special yeast variety might be found in Georgia. So they embarked on a "yeast hunt" and investigated microbiology and brewing traditions in the Caucasus region.

Researchers discover novel mechanism for MRSA virulence

Researchers at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with researchers at New York University, have published a study in Cell Host & Microbe that sheds light on the mechanisms behind the severity, or virulence, of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections.

Citizen science: From the cosmos to the classroom

Citizen science projects offer the general public, or segments of that public such as school students, an opportunity to take part in scientific research. The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project in Italy is a cooperation between particle physicists studying cosmic rays and school students, and their teachers, throughout the country.