An interdisciplinary research team, led by Assistant Prof. Jun Nishida and Associate Prof. Takashi Kumagai at the Institute for Molecular Science, has successfully observed vibrational spectra of single proteins, consisting of approximately 500 amino acid residues, using advanced … | Continue reading
Men rate visual jokes more highly than women do, whereas women prefer jokes that involve political commentary or the dynamics of close relationships, a new study of print cartoons dating from 1930-2010 finds. | Continue reading
Peatlands are affected more by drought than expected. This is concerning, as these ecosystems are an important ally in the fight against climate change. Following long periods of drought, peat is able to absorb little to no extra carbon (CO2). Increasing biodiversity also does li … | Continue reading
A new study published in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation evaluates the impact of Vermont's Linking Learning to Careers (LLC) program on service usage patterns and outcomes of participating high school students with disabilities, compared to a control group. | Continue reading
Once upon a cosmic time, scientists assumed that stars apply an eternal magnetic brake, causing an endless slowdown of their rotation. With new observations and sophisticated methods, they have now peeked into a star's magnetic secrets and found that they are not what they expect … | Continue reading
In any group of red knots, respective individuals exhibit a remarkable array of distinct character types. Birds with an exploratory character are motivated to investigate their environment and readily explore unfamiliar areas. Meanwhile, birds with inactive character types are co … | Continue reading
Researchers from the GenX Exposure Study detected PFAS originating from a fluorochemical manufacturing plant—including Nafion byproduct 2 and GenX—in nearby private wells in Bladen and Cumberland Counties, N.C. PFAS refers to a group of chemicals called per and poly-fluoroalkyl s … | Continue reading
Titanium (Ti), often hailed as the wonder metal for its remarkable properties, has many applications in aerospace, marine, and biomedicine industries. Known for their low density, high strength, high ductility, great corrosion resistance, and excellent biocompatibility, Ti and it … | Continue reading
Scientists have identified the intricate meteorological drivers that led to an intense heat wave across East Antarctica in from 15-19 March 2022. The heat wave, which affected an area of the size of India (3.3 million km2), was driven by the most intense 'atmospheric river' ever … | Continue reading
The presence of plastics in our oceans and waterbodies is one of the most significant threats to marine ecosystems. In 2022, plastic production exceeded 400 million tons globally, which continues to rise. The presence of microplastics, ranging in size from 100 nanometers to 5 mil … | Continue reading
Procambarus clarkii is a crustacean species native to American freshwater bodies. Brought to Japan in the 1920s as a feed for frogs, this crustacean has slowly taken over the Japanese freshwaters by predation and propagation. In fact, in 2023, the red-swamp crayfish was designate … | Continue reading
Beta Pictoris, a young planetary system located just 63 light-years away, continues to intrigue scientists even after decades of in-depth study. It possesses the first dust disk imaged around another star—a disk of debris produced by collisions between asteroids, comets, and plan … | Continue reading
Many edible, medicinal, and poisonous mushrooms that we are familiar with belong to the order Agaricales, which is a group of fungi with important economic and ecological value. Understanding the phylogenetic relationships of Agaricales can help us to know their evolutionary hist … | Continue reading
In the chaotic environment of open star clusters, strong gravitational interactions between bodies can launch individual stars far outside the cluster, even outside our galaxy, the Milky Way. Now, for the first time researchers have mapped several of those stars, which exist outs … | Continue reading
Record heat across the world profoundly impacted the global water cycle in 2023, contributing to severe storms, floods, megadroughts and bushfires, new research from The Australian National University (ANU) shows. | Continue reading
Lectures continue to dominate university teaching, but especially when it comes to big introductory courses, more group work and alternative assignments, such as making podcasts, can have a positive effect. | Continue reading
Insects are among the most prolific and successful invaders of new habitats, but not all regions are equal in the numbers of insects that have spread beyond their borders. | Continue reading
A new study from researchers at the University of Ottawa's School of Political Studies paints a stark picture for minority candidates' success in Canada's federal elections, with the Liberal Party and Conservative Party particularly guilty of positioning their minority candidates … | Continue reading
While most scientific research fields maintain open-access data policies, access to forestry data remains limited. | Continue reading
Urban agriculture has the potential to decentralize food supplies, provide environmental benefits like wildlife habitat, and mitigate environmental footprints, but researchers have identified knowledge gaps regarding both the benefits and risks of urban agriculture and the social … | Continue reading
A team of researchers from TU Delft has succeeded in long-term mapping of beach topography to within a few centimeters. The unique dataset provides insights into coastal changes for every hour, for three years. This data is important for dune maintenance and to keep the hinterlan … | Continue reading
New developments on a nearly century-old concept for a "self-eating" rocket engine capable of flight beyond the Earth's atmosphere could help the U.K. take a bigger bite of the space industry. | Continue reading
The intense changes in our modern society and the associated challenges are constantly increasing, not least due to the meta-crisis of climate change. Yet our approach to cultural heritage is still strongly influenced by the narrative of preservation. | Continue reading
Hummingbirds use two distinct sensory strategies to control their flight, depending on whether they're hovering or in forward motion, according to new research by University of British Columbia (UBC) zoologists. | Continue reading
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted jobs across the workforce, including the editorial sector. But a new study from the University of Kansas found it did not significantly affect how copy editors, proofreaders, and fact-checkers felt about their work and that those working in the pro … | Continue reading
Rising temperatures from climate change pose new threats to coral reefs worldwide, but a new study from a Florida Tech lab has found that managing conditions at the local level—such as reducing pollution and macroalgae—can help coral reefs recover after disturbances. | Continue reading
Scientists at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) use innovative technology to study the lifecycle of potatoes (including development, production, and postharvest storage), ensuring a high-quality supply year-round for snack food processing facilities, restaurants, and … | Continue reading
Photonics offers various advantages, including enablement of high-speed and low-loss communication by leveraging light properties in optical data communication, biomedical applications, automotive technology, and artificial intelligence domains. These advantages are realized thro … | Continue reading
In nature, organic molecules are either left- or right-handed, but synthesizing molecules with a specific "handedness" in a lab is hard to do. Make a drug or enzyme with the wrong "handedness," and it just won't work. Now chemists at the University of California, Davis, are getti … | Continue reading
If the Alaska Airlines plane that lost a portion of its fuselage while ascending after takeoff Friday had been flying at normal cruising altitude, its passengers and crew would probably have died from the depressurization event, according to a Northeastern expert. | Continue reading
Alongside the occasional bison and elk, red deer are Europe's largest native wild animal. An international study led by wildlife ecologists from the University of Freiburg has now investigated the factors that affect the red deer population in a particular area. The researchers w … | Continue reading
Tore Olsson put his students in touch with American history through his popular and award-winning class "Red Dead America: Exploring America's Violent Past Through the Hit Video Games." Now this engagement has reached beyond the classroom—the American Historical Review (AHR), has … | Continue reading
Many businesses are making efforts to promote workers' well-being, and numerous interventions are available at the individual and organizational levels. New research published in the Industrial Relations Journal found no evidence that individual-level mental well-being interventi … | Continue reading
Moisture levels in the soil can impact the effects that microplastic pollution has on soil fungi, according to new research published in Environmental Microbiology. | Continue reading
Researchers have described a green method for obtaining copper oxide nanoparticles from the noni plant (Morinda citrifolia), common in Asia. These copper oxide nanoparticles exhibit bactericidal properties. Moreover, antibacterial activity depends on the physical properties of th … | Continue reading
The forests and grasslands of northern tropical Africa take in about as much carbon dioxide in the wet season as they release in the dry season, according to a new study based on observations from aircraft. The findings contradict earlier research that relied on satellite data an … | Continue reading
In a recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have uncovered the impact of the spring atmospheric heat source (AHS) over the Tibetan Plateau on summer precipitation in Nort … | Continue reading
National University of Singapore (NUS) researchers have introduced an upconversion plasmonphore platform to enable precise control over the polarization of isotropic upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). This is achieved by coupling upconversion activators with carefully designed a … | Continue reading
Peatlands, which contain about one-third of the global soil carbon stock, are important carbon sinks. Their net carbon uptake is equivalent to ~1% of human fossil fuel emissions or 3%–10% of the current net sink of natural terrestrial ecosystems. However, the carbon sink function … | Continue reading
You probably don't think about plant roots all that much—they're hidden underground after all. Yet they're continually changing the shape of the world. This process happens in your garden, where plants use invisible mechanisms for their never-ending growth. | Continue reading
Swaths of the United States braced for more snow and punishingly low temperatures Wednesday as millions in the east dug out from a previous round of severe winter weather that left at least five people dead. | Continue reading
Antibiotic overuse can lead to antibiotic resistance, but classic antibiotic resistance might not completely explain why antibiotics sometimes fail. Sub-populations of bacteria called persister cells can survive in the presence of lethal doses of antibiotics for prolonged periods … | Continue reading
The widely used dry-cleaning and degreasing solvent perc can be converted to useful chemicals by a new, clean, safe, and inexpensive procedure. The Kobe University discovery using on-demand UV activation may open the path to upcycling perc and thus contribute to a more sustainabl … | Continue reading
Ancient DNA helps explain why northern Europeans have a higher risk of multiple sclerosis than other ancestries: It's a genetic legacy of horseback-riding cattle herders who swept into the region about 5,000 years ago. | Continue reading
Skoltech researchers have explained why very weak friction obeys different laws than those governing regular friction as we know it from school physics. Among other unexpected and counterintuitive features, the alternative friction laws formulated by the team reveal why increasin … | Continue reading
From intensifying wildfires to record-breaking floods year on year, the effects of climate change have manifested in devastating outcomes on ecosystems that threaten species worldwide. One such ecosystem in peril is coral reefs, which play a major role in sustaining biodiversity … | Continue reading
Free charge carriers in perovskite solar cells likely have a special form of protection from recombination, researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich have discovered by means of innovative photoluminescence measurements. | Continue reading
More than 80% of global land area needed to maintain human well-being and meet biodiversity targets is at risk of conflict with human development, according to a new study led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. | Continue reading