108 articles from MONDAY 6.2.2023

Long-term restoration of a biodiversity hotspot hinges on getting seeds to the right place at the right time

New research shows that degraded savanna ecosystems can reap lasting benefits from a single seeding of native understory plants. Once a diverse understory of savanna plants became established, its long-term persistence was relatively unaffected by environmental factors -- with one exception. Higher temperatures during the height of the growing season were associated with poorer long-term survival...

Loss of reptiles poses threat for small islands where humans may have caused extinctions

A new examination of ancient and current species of reptiles conducted by paleobiologists reveals the serious impact of the disappearance of even a few species of reptiles in some island areas. The study has startling conclusions about how, on smaller islands in the Caribbean where human impact was greatest, extinctions have led to the loss of up to two-thirds of the supports for the ecosystem...

'Thrifty' low-energy budgets of primary cancer tumors quantified

In five different types of cancers, researchers found that tumors were successful at proliferating on low-energy budgets in part because they neglect normal tissue functions that healthy organs carry out for the benefit of the body as a whole. The discovery has vast implications for anti-cancer strategies because it directs our attention to slow energy metabolism.

Early human migration to Americas linked to climate change

Researchers have pinpointed two intervals when ice and ocean conditions would have been favorable to support early human migration from Asia to North America late in the last ice age, a new paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows.

International group of scientists warns nuclear radiation has devastating impacts on ecosystems

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened the use of "tactical" nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine, but nuclear weapons of any kind would cause widespread devastation, according to a new position paper by a group of renowned scientists from around the world. They want to make policymakers and the public aware of the ecosystem impacts and long-lasting consequences of nuclear radiation.

Why was the Turkey-Syria earthquake so deadly?

A combination of factors made the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria early Monday particularly deadly, including its timing, location, relatively quiet fault line and the weak construction of the collapsed buildings, experts said.

New viruses infecting hibiscus plants on Oʻahu

Two new viruses are infecting hibiscus plants in Hawaiʻi and could pose a threat to the state flower, according to researchers in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Their findings were published in Viruses.

The original startup behind Stable Diffusion has launched a generative AI for video

Runway, the generative AI startup that co-created last year’s breakout text-to-image model Stable Diffusion, has released an AI model, called Gen-1, that can transform existing videos into new ones by applying any style specified by a text prompt or reference image. In a demo reel posted on its website, Runway shows how its software can turn people on a street into claymation puppets, and...

Loss of reptiles poses threat for small islands where humans may have caused extinctions

A new examination of ancient and current species of reptiles conducted by a University of Texas at Austin paleobiologist reveals the serious impact of the disappearance of even a few species of reptiles in some island areas. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has startling conclusions about how, on smaller islands in the Caribbean where human impact was...

The plants seeking refuge across our dynamically changing planet

Plants, like animals and people, seek refuge from climate change. And when they move, they take entire ecosystems with them. To understand why and how plants have trekked across landscapes throughout time, researchers at the forefront of conservation are calling for a new framework. The key to protecting biodiversity in the future may be through understanding the past.

Documenting plant organ development

In living organisms, development is a combination of multiple coordinated processes that interact in time and space over the course of growth. One false note in the delicate symphony can have catastrophic consequences. However, the precise score of this biological music is often a mystery to scientists. One solution is to use advanced microscopy techniques to observe organ growth in real time. The...

Going for an immediate transition to a green economy pays off, even if such a transition is very unlikely to happen

Nicola Botta of PIK Potsdam, Germany, and colleagues have developed a new method for assessing how much decisions matter in situations in which the consequences of such decisions are highly uncertain. Applying the method to a stylized greenhouse-gas emission problem reveals that opting for an early transition to a decarbonized society is rational even when the probability of actually realizing...

Why icicles are rippled

Winter is coming to an end; the last nights of below zero temperatures are here. In the morning, one still spots the occasional icicle on a gutter or car bumper. When you look at these icicles carefully, you may notice that they show a characteristic pattern of ripples—always around one centimeter wide. What causes these ripples? Using an icicle machine of their own design, physicists and...

Are tropical forests threatened by democracy?

Democracy may lead to more deforestation in the tropics. So write environmental scientist Joeri Morpurgo and his colleagues in Biological Conservation. They found that competitive elections are associated with more loss of tropical rainforest than elections without competition. "We must prevent politicians from exploiting the remaining rainforest for political power."