105 articles from TUESDAY 2.5.2023
Dredged lake sediment could nourish new crops
Every year, farmers fertilize their crops with nitrogen and phosphorus to ensure a good harvest. And every year some of that fertilizer inevitably makes its way into ponds and lakes, where it can trigger ecosystem-wrecking algal blooms. According to a new study published last month in
Science of the Total Environment
, though, there may be a relatively simple way to close...
Climate change: life in ocean ‘twilight zone' at risk from warming
Scientists found the vital habitat was home to far less life during warmer times on Earth
An AI-powered solution for accurately diagnosing tomato leaf diseases
Plant diseases have posed a major threat to farmers since the early days of agriculture. Today, despite our improved understanding of the causes and treatment of these diseases, they continue to cause significant economic losses. Although detecting plant diseases early is a farmer's best bet to minimize their impact, manual inspection of each plant is a monumental task and is prone to errors. Only...
Using plasma against toxic PFAS chemicals
Harmful PFAS chemicals can now be detected in many soils and bodies of water. Removing them using conventional filter techniques is costly and almost infeasible. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB are now successfully implementing a plasma-based technology in the AtWaPlas joint research project.
Scientists create high-resolution poverty maps using big data
A team of researchers from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) and Central European University (CEU) created more-detailed poverty maps using computational tools that bring together survey information, and data and images provided by public sources such as Google and Meta (Facebook).
New video series captures team working on NASA's Europa Clipper
Destined for Jupiter's icy moon Europa, the Europa Clipper spacecraft—the largest NASA has ever flown on an interplanetary mission—is being readied to launch in October 2024. Between now and then, thousands of hours of work will go into assembling and testing the spacecraft to ensure it's hardy enough to survive a six-year 1.6-billion-mile (2.6 billion kilometer) journey and sophisticated...
Exploring how the hallucinogenic substance in psilocybin mushrooms works on the molecular level
Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic compound found in about 200 mushroom species, including the liberty cap (Psilocybe semilanceata). For millennia, our ancestors have known and used this substance, and in recent years, it has received renewed interest from scientific researchers and therapists.
Moss-covered forest ditches could provide another tool to combat climate change
According to a study by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the University of Tampere and the University of Helsinki, ditches in forestry-drained peatlands release less methane into the atmosphere than what has previously been estimated. The study showed that methane emissions are particularly low in moss-covered ditches. The proportion of such ditches from all forest ditches is...
Chances of eliminating HIV infection increased by novel dual gene-editing approach
- ScienceDaily
- 23/5/2 21:54
Gene-editing therapy aimed at two targets -- HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, and CCR5, the co-receptor that helps the virus get into cells -- can effectively eliminate HIV infection, new research shows. The study combines a dual gene-editing strategy with antiretroviral drugs to cure animals of HIV-1.
'Golden' fossils reveal origins of exceptional preservation
- ScienceDaily
- 23/5/2 21:54
A recent study found that many of the fossils from Germany's Posidonia shale do not get their gleam from pyrite, commonly known as fool's gold, which was long thought to be the source of the shine. Instead, the golden hue is from a mix of minerals that hints at the conditions in which the fossils formed. The discovery is important for understanding how the fossils -- which are among the world's...
Air pollution may increase risk of dementia, complicated by genetics
- ScienceDaily
- 23/5/2 21:54
Researchers describe how exposure to ambient air pollution, such as car exhaust and power plant emissions -- is associated with a measurably greater risk of developing dementia over time.
Deep neural network provides robust detection of disease biomarkers in real time
- ScienceDaily
- 23/5/2 21:54
A lab has developed a deep neural network that improves the accuracy of their unique devices for detecting pathogen biomarkers.