Fish that live in rivers, ditches, and streams are better able to withstand warming water than fish in the sea. This is the conclusion of research by ecologist Wilco Verberk of Radboud University. "It is important not to group freshwater and marine fish together when predicting the consequences of climate-change-driven warming." [...]
The coastline of South Australia has been affected for nearly a year by an unprecedented harmful algal bloom which has led to the deaths of millions of fish and sharks, impacted marine mammals and birds and affected the health of some people. The origins of this event remain the topic of intense discussion and investigation among both the public and scientific community. [...]
Japanese red elder plants safeguard their own survival when they drop fruits infested by Heterhelus beetle larvae, as well as the survival of these larvae. A Kobe University study changes the narrative on how a plant and its pollinator can keep benefits balanced. [...]
When the densest objects in the universe collide and merge, the violence sets off ripples, in the form of gravitational waves, that reverberate across space and time, over hundreds of millions and even billions of years. By the time they pass through Earth, such cosmic ripples are barely discernible. [...]
On April 8, 2024, people across the world witnessed a solar eclipse, a relatively rare event in which the moon occults (blocks out) light from the sun. To capture this event, volunteers at 143 observatories across the U.S. trained their equipment on it as part of NASA's Eclipse Megamovie citizen science project. The images they took were groundbreaking and provided some of the most detailed images to date of the sun's corona. After nearly two years of production and editing, the Eclipse Megamovie team has released the dataset from this project. [...]
In the face of climate change, permafrost peatland wildfires could play more of a role in the destructive cycle of global warming, University of Alberta research suggests. [...]
Urban greenery—like trees and other green spaces in what are otherwise concrete jungles—can help cool down cities, clean the air and encourage foot traffic, which might have the added benefit of reducing vehicle traffic. In this way, greening our cities is an important tool in our fight against climate change. [...]
A new study finds that the greater the amount of populist rhetoric in a nation, the less likely entrepreneurs are to register their businesses—dodging both taxes and government regulations. "Populist rhetoric refers to political language that focuses on the 'will of the people' and taking action against a 'corrupt elite,'" says Tim Michaelis, an assistant professor of psychology at North Carolina State University. [...]
Physicists in China have uncovered new evidence that chiral phonons and magnons can interact strongly inside magnetic crystals. Using neutron spectroscopy, a team led by Song Bao at Nanjing University mapped magnetic signatures linked to chiral phonons in a ferrimagnetic material, revealing a previously elusive relationship between lattice vibrations and magnetic excitations. Reported in Physical Review Letters, the results could help researchers better understand how heat, sound and spin interact in quantum materials. [...]
As the U.S. plans to return to the moon with the upcoming Artemis II mission, a question endures: What will future lunar explorers eat? According to new research from The University of Texas at Austin, the answer might be chickpeas. [...]
Researchers from the University of Bologna and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) along with other institutes have proposed a new way to address the Hubble tension by comparing estimates of the universe's age rather than its expansion rate. Using precise stellar data, they determined ages for carefully selected very old Milky Way stars and found a most likely age of about 13.6 billion years. [...]
The bubonic plague, which swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353, is estimated to have killed up to one half of the continent's population. The sudden loss of life led to the abandonment of farms, villages and fields, creating what researchers describe as a massive historical "rewilding" event. However, the devastation caused by the Black Death in medieval Europe may not have delivered the environmental benefits that could be assumed to follow large-scale human decline, according to new research. [...]
Healable spacecraft structures could soon be possible thanks to cutting-edge composite technology. Swiss companies CompPair and CSEM with Belgian company Com&Sens have partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA) to modify their self-healing carbon fiber product for use in space transportation. [...]
When most people think of a supernova, they're thinking of a Type II core-collapse supernova. These are massive stars that have reached the end of their time on the main sequence. They've used up their supply of hydrogen and continue fusing heavier elements until the star can't support its own mass. The core collapses and they explode, outshining their entire host galaxy for months. [...]
Populations of suburban deer have been on the rise across the U.S. for the last 50 years. Suburban landscapes are like buffet tables with their plentiful lawns, shrubs, and gardens that tempt the animals into human territory. But in many places—like Tennessee, Ohio, Maryland, Iowa, North Carolina, and Delaware—deer have become problematic. They cause traffic accidents, disrupt yards and flora, damage crops, and contribute to the spread of Lyme disease by hosting the ticks that carry the bacteria. In Massachusetts, for example, deer-related traffic accidents have gone up by 50% over the last 10 years, prompting calls for action. [...]
Recent University of Toronto Ph.D. graduate Gabrielle Migliato Marega (CivMin) has developed an improved tool for estimating how much water from heavy rains ends up in sanitary sewers. The tool is particularly useful in areas where accurate data about sewer flow rates is difficult to find, such as in low- and middle-income countries, where many new sewer systems are being built. [...]
To address persistent concerns about harassment, boundary violation and user safety in digital dating spaces, a research team led by the University of Waterloo has launched an interactive Safety Map to coincide with International Women's Day. [...]
For more than a decade, Evan Economo's lab has been using micro-CT machines to scan insect specimens. The resulting X-ray images help researchers study the form and structure of insects—a subfield of entomology known as morphology—but the process is costly and time-consuming. [...]
What happens when a solar superstorm hits Mars? Thanks to the European Space Agency's Mars orbiters, we now know: glitching spacecraft and a supercharged upper atmosphere. [...]
Electrons can be "kicked across" solar materials at almost the fastest speed nature allows, scientists have discovered, challenging long-held theories about how solar energy systems work. The finding could help researchers design more efficient ways of harvesting sunlight and converting it into electricity. The research is published in Nature Communications. [...]
Catalysts are essential to modern industry, accelerating reactions used to produce everything from fertilizers and fuels to medicines and hydrogen energy. But until now, scientists could not directly observe how reactions unfold across real catalyst surfaces. [...]
A Japanese startup's third attempt to put a satellite in orbit failed on Thursday after its rocket spiraled back to Earth shortly after takeoff. [...]
Punch the baby orphan macaque is outgrowing the orangutan plushie that comforted him through early rejection from his mother and other monkeys. [...]
Protein activity can be precisely regulated via subtle changes in temperature using heat-sensitive switches. Underlying this capability is a novel modular design strategy developed by researchers at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology of Heidelberg University. The strategy allows the integration of sensory domains in various proteins regardless of function or spatial structure. [...]
With desert cities like Phoenix and Tucson bracing for their allotments of Colorado River water to be slashed dramatically, San Diego County's water agency could for the first time sell some of its water to other states by drawing on its ample supplies from the nation's largest desalination plant. [...]
A research team composed of plant virologists from the Plant Virus Department at Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, the Italian National Research Council and BASF-Nunhems Italy, has recently published the findings of a scientific collaboration on investigating the occurrence of resistance-breaking strains of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in tomato and pepper fields. The results, which prove for the first time the emergence of double resistance-breaking strains (D-RB) of TSWV in agricultural settings, have been published in Virology. [...]
In 2009, a scandal was exposed at a cemetery just outside of Chicago. Workers at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, were accused of exhuming old graves, dumping the remains elsewhere on the cemetery grounds, and reselling the burial plots. When the case went to trial in 2015, one key piece of evidence was a tiny clump of moss. [...]
Just like in the modern world, people in ancient times wanted to know how to live a long and healthy life. [...]
The implementation of green axes and the reduction of motorized traffic in cities is effectively consolidating itself as a strategy to significantly lower environmental noise levels. A study conducted in the city of Barcelona shows that, one year after pedestrianizing several streets, the average daily sound level decreased by 3.1 decibels (dB). [...]
Initial tests with a natural dye produced by the Amazonian fungus Talaromyces amestolkiae show that eco-friendly cosmetics, such as face creams, gel sticks, and shampoos, can be developed with antioxidant and antibacterial properties. This finding is significant because microbial dyes, which are still underexplored in cosmetic research, can serve as a sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes. [...]