An international research team led by the University of Vienna has produced, for the first time, high-resolution global maps of invasion risk for thousands of alien plant species under current conditions and future climate and land use scenarios. Their results show that global hotspots of plant invasion risk will shift geographically, with temperate regions facing increasing risks, while risks may decline in some subtropical areas. The study was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. [...]
As bubbles rippled across the frigid Finnish lake, diver Daan Jacobs emerged from a hole carved out of the thick, crackling ice. [...]
Peri-urban agriculture in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) is in a critical situation after decades of decline. A new study conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) highlights the dramatic reduction of peri-urban farming in the region, with losses of up to 70% of agricultural land, largely driven by urban expansion, real estate speculation, and the low profitability of the agricultural sector. Currently, only 8.5% of the metropolitan region is devoted to agriculture, equivalent to about 16 square meters per inhabitant. [...]
Archaeologists working in Egypt's Nile Delta may have discovered a tomb or temple dating back around 2,600 years while testing a new technology designed to locate structures buried deep beneath the surface. The team was studying the Buto (Tell el-Fara'in) site, the ruins of an ancient city that was occupied from the Predynastic period (around 3800 BCE) to the Early Islamic era (7th century CE). [...]
Proteins are far more than nutrients we track on a food label. Present in every cell of our bodies, they work like nature's molecular machines. They walk, stretch, bend, and flex to do their jobs, pumping blood, fighting disease, building tissue, and many other jobs too small for the eye to see. Their power doesn't come from shape alone, but from how they move. [...]
A multi-institutional team of scientists, co-led by Northwestern University, has taken a crucial step toward implantable "living pharmacies"—tiny devices containing engineered cells that continuously produce medicines inside the body. In a new study published in Device, the team engineered cells to simultaneously produce three different biologics—an anti-HIV antibody, a GLP-1-like peptide used to treat type 2 diabetes, and leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite and metabolism. When implanted under the skin of a small animal model, the device kept drug-producing cells alive and stably delivered all three therapies at once. [...]
Personality tests are widely used in workplaces to shape recruitment, leadership training and team building. But what if artificial intelligence could make them faster, smarter and more accurate? New research from the University of East London (UEL) suggests that machine learning could significantly improve the way organizational psychologists and managers use one of the most widely used personality tools, the DISC assessment. [...]
A luminous swirl set against the deep black of space, the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glows with a soft, ethereal light in this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Month image. IC 486 lies right on the edge of the constellation Gemini (the Twins), about 380 million light-years from Earth. Classified as a barred spiral galaxy, it features a bright central bar-shaped structure from which its spiral arms unfurl, wrapping around the core in a smooth, almost ring-like pattern. [...]
How do cells ensure that the "blueprints" of genetic information-RNA are accurate and intact before they are exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm for protein production? A study led by Professor Yongsheng Shi's team at the University of California, Irvine, published in the journal Molecular Cell, has unveiled a previously undefined key mechanism within the cell: the LENG8 protein. [...]
Since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February, Iran has retaliated by targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting down the narrow channel of water. [...]
With petrol and diesel prices soaring, we're hearing more reports of alleged fuel thefts from petrol stations, farms, trucks and even parked cars. The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association's chief executive officer, Rowan Lee, told AAP this week that fuel theft from service stations had increased by between 8–30% nationally since the start of the Middle East war. Even before the conflict began, fuel theft was costing retailers around A$80 million a year. [...]
A research team led by Professor Jaehoon Kim at Sungkyunkwan University and Dr. Dong Ki Lee at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has developed a highly efficient catalytic process that electrochemically converts lignin, a key component of woody biomass, into value-added aromatic compounds and cyclohexene-based compounds. [...]
Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle continues to amaze us with its long journey across northern Australia. This cyclone began life near the Solomon Islands on March 16, when moist air rose rapidly and created a low-pressure zone. [...]
A central question in molecular biology is how cells protect their chromosomes from damage during repeated cell division. At the heart of this protective process is an enzyme called telomerase. Now an international research team has mapped the three-dimensional structure of telomerase in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a widely used model organism in genetics. [...]
A German-Bulgarian research team led by SNSB paleontologist Christian Bartel has discovered a new species of harvestman in 35-million-year-old Ukrainian and Baltic amber. The animal is related to harvestmen that are now extinct in Europe. The researchers published their findings in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. [...]
Morning-blooming morning glories and flowers that release fragrance at night seem as if they know the time. A KAIST research team has uncovered, at the molecular level, the workings of a "biological clock" aligned with insect behavior. This study suggests potential applications in technologies for controlling flowering time and fragrance. [...]
Although volcanic eruptions are spectacular natural events that occur around the world every day, most volcanoes spend the majority of their time not erupting. To accurately forecast volcanic activity, it's important to characterize the magma before an eruption is imminent. [...]
Scientists are working to understand how magnetic currents from the sun spread beneath Earth's crust when the northern lights dance across the sky. Their goal is to tame its "dark twin" and prevent damage to our power grid. [...]
A new study published in Nature Communications finds that worldwide, people with higher levels of education are more culturally similar to those in Canada, the U.S., U.K., and other Anglo, industrialized countries and countries in Western Europe. [...]
Dark matter, a type of matter that does not emit, reflect or absorb light, is predicted to account for most of the matter in the universe. As it eludes common experimental techniques for studying ordinary matter, understanding the nature and composition of dark matter has so far proved very challenging. One hypothesis is that it is made up of hypothetical particles known as quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axions. These are theoretical elementary particles that would interact very weakly with ordinary matter and are predicted to be extremely light, highly stable and electrically neutral. [...]
The magma reservoir of the largest volcanic eruption of the Holocene is refilling. This Kobe University insight on the Kikai caldera in Japan allows us to understand giant caldera volcanoes like Yellowstone or Toba more generally and gets us closer to predicting their behavior, too. [...]
Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, newly hatched sea turtles emerged on a Gabonese beach to embark on the treacherous 10-meter (33-foot) scramble across the sand to the ocean. [...]
New research by MIT Sloan School of Management finds that global leaders who participate in facilitated engagements using an interactive climate policy simulator, En-ROADS, demonstrated a stronger understanding of climate solutions, felt more personally connected to the issue, and were more likely to take climate-related action or advocate for change in their governments, businesses, organizations, or communities. Most reported that the interactive aspects of simulations enhanced learning compared to conventional, more passive approaches. [...]
In 2014, Felicity Newell joined the Florida Museum of Natural History as a doctoral student, then promptly left the country in search of a tropical spring. It's a concept she started thinking about while doing biological surveys in Honduras. There, a colleague told her about the work of Alexander Skutch, a renowned ornithologist who spent 20 years studying the breeding habits of birds in Costa Rica. Based on this work, he became "convinced that the birds … have a definite nesting season, and its beginning coincides with the return of spring." [...]
Amebiasis is a parasitic disease caused by the microscopic protozoan Entamoeba histolytica. Infection occurs through the ingestion of cysts from contaminated water or food. Worldwide, approximately 50 million symptomatic cases are estimated annually, mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. [...]
It seems like every day a new study finds tiny plastic particles called microplastics where they should not be: in our bodies and our food, water and air. [...]
Analysis of Australia's highest-volume pesticide use has revealed that the majority of products widely used in Australian agriculture are banned in other parts of the world, according to a new study. Researchers from Griffith's School of Environment and Science analyzed 45 pesticide products used in volumes of more than 100 metric tons per year, identified through the Australian Government's now archived Agricultural Chemical Usage Database. [...]
Just as an antenna interacts with radio waves, light interacts with metallic nanostructures. Therefore, understanding how a structure influences field oscillations provides valuable insights into the structure's physical properties. An international research team, including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), is investigating the changes in field oscillations that occur when light interacts with indium tin oxide (ITO) nanocrystals. This will deepen our understanding of how the interaction between light and these nanocrystals depends on time. [...]
A new paper investigates how raptors, or birds of prey like hawks and eagles, act as a sentinel species that can reveal the level of forever chemicals in the local environment. The forever chemicals, or PFAS, are especially high in species that eat fish. The review titled, "Raptors as Sentinels: Unveiling the Environmental and Health Risks of Pfas Contamination," published in Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, provides a comprehensive analysis of the current scientific data on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a persistent environmental contaminant of global concern. [...]
Wide swaths of American workers are more meaningfully involved than in the past in organizing around and pushing back against artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies in the workplace, a Rutgers study has found. Rutgers researchers examined the 2023 contract for the labor union Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). Their research highlights strategies for workers to use to push back through forming workers collectives around technology, developing more people-centered policies and forging solidarities with transnational labor. [...]