A widely used COVID-19 drug may be driving the appearance of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, sparking concerns it could prolong and even reinvigorate the pandemic. The drug, molnupiravir, produced by Merck & Co., is designed to kill the virus by inducing mutations in the viral genome. A survey of viral genomes reported in a new preprint, however, suggests some people treated with the drug...

While microplastics have received significant attention in recent years for their negative environmental impacts, a new study from Oregon State University scientists found microfibers from synthetic materials as well as cotton impacted the behavior and growth of water organisms.

In 2020, amid the first pandemic lockdowns, a scientific conference scheduled to take place in India never happened.

A special issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment lays the foundation for pursuing structural diversity as a new research direction in ecology. The issue also describes the digital data collection methods that enable the new research direction, and the applications of the work in various ecosystems.

The mysterious ‘neutrino’ has a nickname: the ‘ghost particle.’ Benjamin Tam is finishing his PhD in Particle Astrophysics at Queen’s University. He takes us two kilometres deep below the earth’s surface where he and fellow scientists hope to watch neutrinos finally explain the universe’s...

Neanderthals may have lived in larger groups than previously believed, hunting massive elephants that were up to three times bigger than those of today, according to a new study.

125,000-year-old bones of 70 animals – each about three times the size of today’s Asian elephants – discovered near HalleNeanderthals may have lived in larger groups than previously believed, hunting massive elephants that were up to three times bigger than those of today, according to a new study.The researchers reached their conclusions, published in the journal Science Advances on...

There are hundreds of minor earthquakes each year in Missouri's New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), but most of them are too small for people living in the area to feel. While several major earthquakes—magnitude 7.0 or greater—occurred between 1811-1812 in the NMSZ, none have happened since then, creating a knowledge gap in earthquake preparedness among people now residing in that area of...

In Antarctica, the second drilling campaign of the Beyond EPICA—Oldest Ice project, at the remote field site Little Dome C, has been successfully completed. This project is an unprecedented challenge for paleoclimatology studies and its goal is to go back 1.5 million years in time to reconstruct past temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations through the analysis of an ice core extracted...

A process for extracting nutritious antioxidant dietary fibers from corn starch production waste could turn tons of nearly-worthless bran into a valuable, circular resource.

Quails could be the unknown reservoir of the Toscana virus (TOSV) and the Sandfly Fever Sicilian virus (SFSV), mosquito-borne pathogens that can infect domestic animals and also cause disease in humans. This conclusion is drawn from a study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, and led by Jordi Serra-Cobo, professor at the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute...

While residents in California are still dealing with damage from last month's floods—after years of devastating droughts—UBC Okanagan engineers are looking at better ways to manage the delivery of safe drinking water to homes.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, a new group of "war tourists" has emerged—those who are fighting on a virtual front.

The early pandemic years overlapped with some of California's worst wildfires on record, creating haunting, orange-tinted skies and wide swaths of burned landscape. Some of the impacts of these fires are well known, including drastic declines in air quality, and now a new study shows how these wildfires combined with midwinter drought conditions to accelerate snowmelt.

Many of New Mexico's largest sources of climate and health-damaging air pollutants are not required to cut emissions at rates necessary to meet the state's climate targets, according to a new analysis from researchers at the University of New Mexico and PSE Healthy Energy.

Mangroves have been recognized globally as one of the most carbon (C) rich ecosystems although they only occupy about 0.1% of the Earth's land surface. Mangroves are regarded as an important C sink due to their waterlogged conditions, high sedimentation rates, high primary productivity, unique root structures, and anoxic soils resulting in low C decomposition rates. In recent decades, nitrogen (N)...

Neuroscientist Katharina von Kriegstein from Technische Universität Dresden and Brian Mathias from the University of Aberdeen have compiled extensive interdisciplinary findings from neuroscience, psychology, computer modeling and education on the topic of "learning" in a recent review article in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

Nautiloids were once quite plentiful throughout the oceans, based upon the fossil record. Today, they are represented by just a handful of species, including the newly described Nautilus vitiensis of Fiji, Nautilus samoaensis of American Samoa, and Nautilus vanuatuensis of Vanuatu. These descriptions highlight the concept of allopatric speciation, or biogeographic isolation, where populations are...

The statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack—the source of nearly one-third of California's water supply—is at its highest level since 1995, boosting hopes that an end to the drought is near, but also raising concerns that a few warm spring storms could melt it too early and trigger major flooding.

Phoebastria immutabilis, commonly known as the Laysan albatross, is a large seabird native to the North Pacific Ocean. Owing to the decrease in their population size, this species has been listed as "Near Threatened" in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Laysan albatrosses, like other birds, have a symbiotic relationship with feather mites, a species of highly...

As drought and climate change continue to wreak havoc on California's water supply, an environmental advocacy group is calling on the state to limit the cultivation of thirsty crops like almonds and alfalfa, saying the agriculture industry is guzzling most of the state's supplies at the expense of residents.

Women account for only 34% of graduates in the EU in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The percentage is even lower in the STEM fields that are not directly related to care. The fact is that girls are systematically discouraged from studying these disciplines throughout their education, which limits their opportunities for access to these fields as adults.

Scientists have found the secret behind a property of solid materials known as ferroelectrics, showing that quasiparticles moving in wave-like patterns among vibrating atoms carry enough heat to turn the material into a thermal switch when an electrical field is applied externally.