A study of the oil, gas and petroleum industry has found that "quiet firing" by employers is associated with higher levels of "quiet quitting" among employees, while strong workplace relationships can weaken that effect. The research appears in the International Journal of Business Information Systems. [...]
As women go through menopause, their voices tend to become deeper. This is partly because the vocal folds may swell and the surrounding muscles lose elasticity, resulting in a lower pitch. Age-related physiological changes can also affect the pronunciation of certain vowels. [...]
Scientists are increasingly exploring carbon dioxide (CO₂) hydrogenation—where CO₂ reacts with hydrogen over a catalyst to produce products like methanol—to convert CO₂ into useful chemicals and fuels. However, it involves thousands of tiny chemical steps happening on the catalyst surface. [...]
Research by INRAE and AgroParisTech suggests that global warming could have an overall positive effect on sorghum yields in Europe. Sorghum is a promising alternative to maize in livestock feed. Additionally, the crop requires less water and can tolerate higher temperatures. The researchers carried out simulations that used past climate data and future climate scenarios with the broader goal of developing new strategies for European agriculture. Their results were published in Earth's Future. [...]
A new species of extinct crocodile from Egypt has been discovered, sharing more than just its home with the Great Sphinx. Herugavialis cairensis was found in the very same rocks used to build the iconic monument. And, just as the Sphinx is famously missing the tip of its nose, the fossil crocodile is also missing the tip of its snout. [...]
For Dr. Jamaluddin Jompa, the ocean has never been simply a subject of scientific study. He was born in Takalar, a coastal region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and his connection with the sea was forged early. Witnessing the degradation of Indonesia's coastal waters made him wonder: What happens when the ecological relationships that sustain marine ecosystems begin to break down and, more importantly, can they be restored? [...]
Magnesium (Mg) alloys offer a pathway to lighter, more efficient aerospace and defense structures because of their low density, high specific strength and excellent damping capacity. However, their hexagonal close-packed (HCP) crystal structure makes deformation highly dependent on crystallographic orientation. [...]
Transporting material from Earth to the moon is an expensive proposition: By some estimates, moving a single kilogram (2.2 pounds) can cost more than $1 million. Any plan to build a permanent human habitat up there will depend on bringing that sky-high cost down. [...]
Four decades after the 1986 nuclear disaster, researchers at Leibniz University Hannover and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) examined six tiny, highly radioactive fragments that were released from the destroyed reactor in Ukraine in the wake of the incident. Analyses show that these "hot particles" are far more stable than had previously been assumed. The findings could allow for more precise assessments of the health risks posed by such radioactive particles. The paper is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. [...]
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is commonly associated with both health concerns and poor visibility. However, these two effects do not necessarily improve or worsen at the same time. [...]
Where did the energy come from to power the chemical origin of life, and how did phosphate come to be the universal energy currency of cells? Biologists from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have uncovered a new source of energy that drove primordial chemical reactions on the early Earth forward to kick-start metabolism. Their findings, now published in The FEBS Journal, identify phosphite and palladium, substances that naturally occur in H2-producing hydrothermal vents, as an inorganic precursor of ATP. [...]
When organizations undergo major shifts, such as restructuring or adopting new working systems, employees often face uncertainty about how to understand and respond to those changes. [...]
Imagine you're an infant. Just a few months in the world, trying to gather your faculties, testing gravity—you're pretty helpless and fully reliant on the people around you. As a result, one of your primary tasks as a new person—even before hand-eye coordination and responding to your own name—is to figure out how the people you've just met are connected to each other. [...]
Smectites are clay minerals that can contain large amounts of structural iron. Unlike iron oxides, they do not dissolve when their iron is reduced, so they can be reduced and reoxidized many times. This makes them a recyclable pool of redox-active iron that supports microbial respiration, transforms contaminants and influences nutrient and trace element cycling. [...]
"Is there enough water? What's happening with climate change? How do I operate my hydro plant? In a world of water problems, there are problems that we need a good model to solve," says Colin Gleason, a hydrologist in the Riccio College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. But the models are only as good as the math that they're based on, and short of measuring every river in the world, there is no way to check this on a global scale. [...]
A flash flood can devastate a community for years in a matter of minutes. These disasters account for roughly 85% of floods and cause thousands of deaths annually worldwide, with water levels capable of shooting up 30 feet (9 meters) and receding to normal levels in the span of a single, unpredictable day, according to the National Weather Service. [...]
Creating a quantum device often begins by intentionally damaging a crystal. Scientists fire an ultrafast laser pulse into a material, knocking atoms out of place and leaving behind tiny imperfections called vacancies. Far from being flaws, these vacancies can behave as qubits—the fundamental building blocks of quantum information. [...]
A research team has developed a highly sensitive electrochemical biosensor capable of rapidly and accurately diagnosing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks that may occur following head surgery or trauma. The team established a diagnostic platform that uses enzymes to detect subtle differences in sugars attached to protein surfaces and converts these differences into measurable electrical signals. [...]
The freshwater polyp Hydra oligactis is essentially immortal and reproduces asexually by cloning itself. Except when it gets too cold: then the animal switches to sexual reproduction, begins to age, and eventually dies. A research team at the University of Innsbruck has now investigated the metabolic changes that accompany this process. One of the findings: the aging process is accompanied by a sharp decline in taurine. [...]
Fabrice Diangoné Bi Tra, a doctoral student in the 100 Ph.D.s for Africa program of the UM6P-EPFL Excellence in Africa initiative, has published a new study in Agriculture. [...]
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, mitochondria in our cells churn out energy from the food we eat, which keeps our bodies functioning. Much of this work happens along cristae—deep pockets in the mitochondria's inner membrane. To work properly, cristae must maintain their shape while carefully controlling which molecules enter and exit. At their narrow entrances sits a protein complex called MICOS, which helps stabilize these pockets and acts as a molecular filter. When this architecture is disrupted, the consequences can include neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. But exactly how MICOS works has remained unclear. [...]
Alongside words, humans have a treasure trove of nonverbal tools to help express themselves. We chuckle, sigh and gasp to communicate our feelings without uttering a word. What has amazed researchers for ages is how we rarely stop to think about how we know which sound belongs in which situation. Could unwritten social rules guide these everyday nonverbal sounds? [...]
In today's digital world, everything from medical images and financial records to personal photos and secure communications depends on encryption systems that can protect sensitive information. But real-world technologies rarely operate under perfect conditions. Measurements can be imprecise, hardware introduces small errors, and communication channels are often affected by noise. [...]
Anyone who has ever tried and failed to swat a fly has experienced the speed of a tiny nervous system. Now, a new review brings together evidence that its secret lies partly in microscopic movements and shape changes within sensory cells and neurons, challenging conventional views of how brains process information. [...]
Ever felt a sudden wave of cringe toward someone you were into—all because they wore questionable shoes or chewed a bit too loudly? Congratulations, you've caught "the ick." [...]
Many outdoor enthusiasts have spent hours in front of a computer, racing to reserve a campsite, backpacking permit or national park entrance ticket. A recent study suggests that the way these reservation systems are designed can favor higher-income visitors. [...]
A newly released panorama captured by NASA's Curiosity rover offers the most detailed view yet of distant, wind-carved Martian cliffs, highlighting features the mission's scientists have long been waiting to see up close. The scene was snapped at 8:30 a.m. local Mars time, showing striking blue hues in the foreground as bright morning light illuminates crags known as yardangs on the horizon. [...]
Why do the gut microbiomes of people from industrialized and nonindustrialized regions differ? A study by the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the University of Trento (Italy) and the University of Tübingen shows that diet alone does not explain these differences. [...]
A study from the Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), one of the centers under the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), presents a new method to reveal hidden material disorder reflected in complex photoluminescence spectra, paving the way for new optical diagnostics of material disorder in two-dimensional semiconductors and related light-emitting materials. [...]
Mākaka (native broom) and kōwhai seeds might be able to survive the heat of fires, new research shows. Scientists heated native and exotic seeds in a lab oven to temperatures they may face in the soil during a fire, expecting only the exotics—which often experience fires in their homelands—to survive. However, mākaka and kōwhai seeds survived up to 80°C, and mākaka seeds even sprouted in response. Māhoe, tī kōuka (cabbage tree) and matagouri seeds died after heating, while invasive gorse survived 100°C and sprouted. As fires get more common in NZ, it's important to understand if any native seeds could survive and grow back, the researchers say. [...]