176 articles from THURSDAY 9.3.2023

Biden backs science in his 2024 budget plan. But don’t bank on those numbers

The 2024 spending plan President Joe Biden unveiled today continues his administration’s pattern of asking for large increases at major U.S. research agencies. But as with all presidential budgets, Biden’s $6.8 trillion request is simply the starting point for negotiations with Congress over everything from taxes to countering China’s growing economic and...

Iconic Nile River Delta faces existential threats, according to new study

Large-scale heavy metal pollution, coastal erosion and seawater intrusion pose an existential threat to the Nile River Delta and endanger 60 million people (about twice the population of Texas) in Egypt who depend on its resources for every facet of life, according to new research from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Furthermore, the Nile River Delta is a critical stopover for migrating...

Agricultural certification stimulates compliance with environmental legislation by coffee farms in Brazil

Agricultural certification can act as an incentive for coffee growers and other farmers to comply with laws designed to protect the environment, promoting their alignment with the current demands of society and the market, although it does not necessarily contribute to a reduction in deforestation or an increase in natural regeneration of plant cover in rural properties, according to a study...

Expert on violence assesses police brutality and mass shootings in America

Tage Rai is a psychologist and assistant professor of management at UC San Diego's Rady School of Management who studies ethics and violence. He co-authored the book "Virtuous Violence," outlining research that finds that most acts of violence are driven by moral motives on the part of perpetrators. That is, perpetrators believe they are doing the right thing when they hurt and kill their victims.

New study shares the intimate details of sea otter surrogacy, affirms its effectiveness to rehabilitate orphaned pups

Monterey Bay Aquarium provides insights on the best practices for releasing orphaned southern sea otter pups to the wild in a new study. The study affirms the effectiveness of the Aquarium's innovative sea otter surrogate-rearing methods, and finds the primary factors affecting individual sea otters' abilities to reacclimate to the wild occurred after release.

Standard model of electroporation refuted

Strong electric fields can be used to create pores in biomembranes. The method is known as electroporation. Inducing such defects in membranes in a targeted manner is an important technique in medicine and biotechnology, but also in the treatment of foodstuffs.

Deconstructing tough, woody lignin

It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. In this case, the 'job' is the breakdown of lignin, the structural biopolymer that gives stems, bark and branches their signature woodiness. One of the most abundant terrestrial polymers on Earth, lignin surrounds valuable plant fibers and other molecules that could be converted into biofuels and other commodity chemicals -- if we could only get past...

Diverse approach key to carbon removal

Researchers find that 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide may need to be pulled from Earth's atmosphere and oceans annually to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. A diverse suite of carbon dioxide removal methods will be key.

The world's atmospheric rivers now have an intensity ranking like hurricanes

Atmospheric rivers, which are long, narrow bands of water vapor, are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. A new study demonstrates that a recently developed scale for atmospheric river intensity (akin to the hurricane scale) can be used to rank atmospheric rivers and identify hotspots of the most intense atmospheric rivers not only along the U.S. West Coast but also worldwide.

Scientists call for global push to eliminate space junk

As almost 200 countries agree a legally-binding treaty to protect the High Seas, a collaboration of experts in ocean plastic pollution and satellite technology has urged world leaders to learn lessons from the management of the High Seas and act now to protect Earth's orbit.

3D bioprinter to print human meniscus on the space station

The knee is not only one of the largest and most complex joints in the body—it is also easily injured. In fact, one of the most common orthopedic injuries is the tearing of the meniscus, a half-moon-shaped piece of cartilage in the knee. Each knee has two menisci that allow the joint to move freely. Current treatments for a torn meniscus are less than ideal, involving removing or repairing the...

High-fidelity simulation offers insight into 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor

On the morning of Feb. 15, 2013, a small asteroid exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, sending a loud shockwave and sonic boom across the region, damaging buildings and leaving around 1,200 people injured. The resulting meteor, with a diameter of approximate 20 meters (roughly the size of a six-story building), was one of the largest to be detected breaking up in the Earth's atmosphere in more than...