Coyotes may be building dens and having litters of pups near you, according to new research from the University of Georgia. But chances are you won't see them—even if they are denning right next door. In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers followed 48 urban coyotes fitted with GPS tracking collars and located 20 dens throughout Atlanta. They found that more than half of the dens were in natural structures like burrows and fallen tree trunks. The work is published in Ecology and Evolution. [...]
Carbon trading limits the amount of carbon dioxide an organization can emit. To emit more, organizations must buy unused carbon emission allowances from others. A global study has found that in the fight against climate change, carbon trading is more effective than carbon taxes—fees levied based on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted—in reducing carbon emissions. [...]
Navigating monolithic icebergs, massive ocean waves and sub-zero snowstorms, CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator is a workhorse for Antarctic science. In just over 11 years and spread across seven voyages, the vessel has now spent the equivalent of one full year, or more than 10% of its time, at sea delivering crucial research in Antarctic waters. [...]
One particularly well-known fact about the moon is that it doesn't have much of a magnetosphere to speak of. There's no blanket to protect it from the solar wind ravaging its surface, blowing away its atmosphere and charging the notoriously dangerous dust particles that make up its regolith. However, scientists have also known for around 60 years that some parts of the moon do experience sudden spikes in a magnetic field—some of which are up to 10 times stronger than the background magnetization. [...]
Ticketmaster was seemingly not ready for the influx of hopeful Taylor Swift fans logging onto the digital ticketing platform when sales for the Eras Tour launched Nov. 15, 2022. Within minutes of the first "verified fan" presales opening, the Ticketmaster site began crashing, and the situation worsened throughout the day. A corporate crisis was unfolding—but communication from the company was minimal and defensive. Even Taylor Swift herself was moved to apologize to fans and demand accountability. [...]
Maize serves as a vital model species for advancing our understanding of plant biology, yet many mysteries remain about the intricate processes governing how DNA works and organizes itself in the genome. A team of FSU researchers together with colleagues at North Carolina State University has made a breakthrough in understanding how DNA replicates in maize, uncovering the existence of two distinct subcompartments in the nucleus that hold genetic material. This discovery not only advances the fundamental knowledge of plant genomics but may have broad implications for gene regulation and crop improvement. [...]
It has long been known that our bodies derive energy from sugar. Researchers at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau have now discovered that sugar breakdown produces an intermediate product that is also crucial for the motility of human cells. The new findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, are likely to be relevant for understanding several biological processes, including cell migration in embryonic development, the migration of metastatic cancer cells and wound healing. [...]
Potato dry rot leads to significant losses during storage and postharvest handling, making management of this disease critically important for potato farmers. Colorado State University researchers in the San Luis Valley—one of the top regions for potato production in the U.S.—have identified multiple fungal species causing dry rot in Colorado. By analyzing structural and molecular features, plant pathologists at CSU's San Luis Valley Research Center have identified four Fusarium species associated with potato dry rot in the valley—including one that hadn't previously been found in the U.S. [...]
An international team led by researchers from the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Germany, has used advanced electron microscopy technologies to capture key cellular mechanisms of stress resistance with near-atomic precision. They were able to show that the protein mHsp60, which helps other proteins to adopt their functional form, remodels its structure under stress conditions and thereby increases its activity to ensure mitochondrial functionality. [...]
Reliable and scalable water level prediction is crucial in hydrology for effective water resources management, especially when considering challenges owing to climate change, urbanization, improper land use, and high-water demand. It directly impacts the availability and distribution of freshwater in rivers and reservoirs. Therefore, accurate forecasting via early warning systems is a highly useful technique for flood mitigation, agricultural irrigation, ecosystem and environmental sustainability, and numerous other applications. [...]
Chocolate produced in the Amazon is internationally recognized for its unique flavor. A study by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil has shown that it could be even more valuable. The analysis indicates that postharvest practices such as fermenting the beans from the fruit, combined with the appropriate choice of cultivar, can improve the nutritional quality and flavor of the chocolate, thereby expanding the market potential of the product. [...]
Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a promising new way to deliver treatment directly to cholangiocarcinoma tumors, a rare and aggressive bile duct cancer with limited treatment options, using milk-derived nanoparticles that act like guided delivery vehicles. The findings, published in JHEP Reports, point to a potential targeted genetic therapy designed to attack cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. [...]
Sharks are often viewed as solitary, but a new study—carried out on the Shark Reef Marine Reserve in Fiji—has found that rather than mixing at random, bull sharks have "active social preferences" and choose their social partners. The research was carried out by the University of Exeter, University of Lancaster, Fiji Shark Lab, and Beqa Adventure Divers. [...]
Thermonuclear reaction rates power the models that explain how stars live, explode and create the elements. A new study co-authored by NC State faculty member Richard Longland provides a comprehensive, statistically grounded reevaluation of these rates, offering a stronger foundation for interpreting astronomical observations and simulating stellar environments. [...]
Here is a problem that has been quietly gnawing at astronomers for decades. The standard approach to detecting life on other worlds involves scanning exoplanet atmospheres for oxygen, methane, and ozone, whose presence is difficult to explain without biology. It's a clever idea, but it carries a hidden flaw. That entire shopping list was written by studying Earth. It is, inevitably, a search for life like us. [...]
Optical frequency combs—laser sources that emit evenly spaced colors of light—are foundational, ubiquitous tools for precision measurement, found in optical clocks, gas-sensing spectrometers, and instruments that detect the light signatures of exoplanets. Traditionally, frequency combs are produced by large, fiber-laser systems ranging from the size of a shoebox to a refrigerator. [...]
Europa is not supposed to look the way it does. Jupiter's icy moon is scarred by a chaotic patchwork of fractured terrain, crisscrossed ridges, and disrupted surface regions that suggest something dynamic is happening beneath its frozen shell. Scientists have long suspected that a vast liquid ocean, kept warm by the gravitational kneading of Jupiter's enormous gravity, lies hidden beneath that ice. Now, a new study using the James Webb Space Telescope is adding a crucial piece to the puzzle, and the implications reach right to the heart of astrobiology. [...]
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors—a small, gas-rich galaxy visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere, and bound to our galaxy by gravity, alongside its companion, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). All three galaxies have been interacting for hundreds of millions of years. [...]
A new study published in The Lancet Global Health reveals a previously underappreciated tension at the heart of international climate negotiations: policies designed to protect developing countries from bearing an unfair share of the cost of cutting carbon emissions could inadvertently deprive those same countries of millions of life-saving air quality improvements. The leaders of the study also identify a promising way to resolve this dilemma. [...]
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have succeeded in detecting laser-assisted electron scattering (LAES) using circularly polarized light for the first time. The use of circularly polarized light promises valuable insights into how atomic scale "helicity" impacts how electrons interact with matter and light. [...]
Livestock breeders could soon have more tools to improve the health and quality of their animals, thanks to a recent study that sheds new light on regulatory elements in the sheep genome. [...]
Across Europe, education has become one of the biggest dividing lines in politics, and educational qualifications are now one of the best predictors of vote choice in Britain. This is particularly the case for new parties that compete more on cultural issues, including Reform and the Greens, who attract voters from different ends of the educational spectrum. [...]
Winter in Antarctica is long and dark. Temperatures remain well below freezing. In many places, the sun sets in April and does not rise above the horizon again until August. Without sunlight, photosynthetic life such as plants, mosses and algae cannot make energy. But that's not to say all life stops. [...]
For decades, lab-grown cells have been studied in materials that don't reflect the softness and flexibility of human tissue. Now researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a water-rich, Jell-O-like material that more closely mimics how real tissues move, stretch and relax; and whose liquid or solid state can be precisely controlled by light. The work was recently published in the journal Matter and was directed by Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth. [...]
An extensive computational study by researchers from Finland's University of Jyväskylä predicts that gold nanoclusters could selectively recognize chiral biomolecules. This property may help in detecting certain diseases directly from a blood sample. The work is published in the journal ACS Nano. [...]
Nanobodies—miniature proteins—derived from camel antibodies demonstrated powerful potential to accurately and safely deliver radioisotopes as specialized cancer treatments in a project at ORNL. [...]
Research is actively underway to develop a "dream memory" that can reduce heat generation in smartphones and laptops while delivering faster performance and lower power consumption. Korean researchers propose a new possibility for controlling magnetism using the exchange interaction of electron orbitals—the motion of electrons orbiting around an atomic nucleus—rather than relying on the conventional exchange interaction of electron spin, the rotational property of electrons inside semiconductors. [...]
Why do widely supported solutions to major problems, such as climate change, so often struggle to gain real traction? A new study suggests that part of the answer lies in understanding why people resist change, and how the combination of their preferences and social networks can help overcome that resistance. [...]
The genomes of phages—viruses that infect bacteria—are largely composed of "dark matter": genes that encode proteins whose functions remain unknown. Less than four years ago, a team led by Prof. Rotem Sorek at the Weizmann Institute of Science identified a new type of protein within this viral dark matter and dubbed it a "sponge." Viral sponge proteins are porous and specialize in trapping molecules within deep pockets—much like a sponge that absorbs water. [...]
In the fight against the climate crisis, countries are pinning great hope in reforestation projects. In a new study, ETH Zurich researchers show that the location in which reforestation is taking place is usually more important than the number of trees planted. If forests are strategically positioned, the same cooling effect could be achieved using half the area of land. [...]