A team of scientists from the University of Bern (Switzerland) and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and their partners have characterized multiple functions of benzoxazinoids in wheat: The toxic form of the substances makes the plant directly resistant to lepidoptera … | Continue reading
New research suggests that people with a narcissistic self-view are more likely to demonstrate lower support for democracy. | Continue reading
The conservation of animals relies heavily on estimates of their numbers. Without knowing how many individuals there are, it is impossible to know whether a population is thriving or dying out—and whether conservation efforts are getting the job done. But making those estimates i … | Continue reading
In 2018, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 229 new plant and animal species to our family tree, enriching our understanding of Earth's complex web of life and strengthening our ability to make informed conservation decisions. The new species include 120 wasp … | Continue reading
Cells have in place a number of mechanisms to protect the integrity of the genome, including processes that repair mistakes that may occur during DNA replication. The enzyme Dna2 participates in DNA repair, but little is known about the consequences of its absence on chromosome i … | Continue reading
Rates of deforestation in war zones increase dramatically once peace is declared, according to a study from the University of Waterloo. | Continue reading
A new paper published in AI Communications provides a comprehensive look at the development of an ethical framework, code of conduct, and value-based design methodologies for AI researchers and application developers in Europe. The "Barcelona Declaration for the Proper Developmen … | Continue reading
The SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (SSO) has been successfully installed at the Paranal Observatory and has obtained its first engineering and calibration images—a process known as first light. After finishing this commissioning phase, this new array of planet-hunting telescopes … | Continue reading
Hydrogen-powered vehicles emit only water vapor from their tailpipes, offering a cleaner alternative to fossil-fuel-based transportation. But for hydrogen cars to become mainstream, scientists need to develop more efficient hydrogen-storage systems. Now, researchers reporting in … | Continue reading
The Earth formed relatively quickly from the cloud of dust and gas around the Sun, trapping water and gases in the planet's mantle, according to research published Dec. 5 in the journal Nature. Apart from settling Earth's origins, the work could help in identifying extrasolar sys … | Continue reading
An ancient, dolphin-like marine reptile resembles its distant relative in more than appearance, according to an international team of researchers that includes scientists from North Carolina State University and Sweden's Lund University. Molecular and microstructural analysis of … | Continue reading
Botryllus schlosseri, a marine invertebrate that lives in underwater colonies resembling fuzzy pinheads clinging to rocks, has a blood-forming system with uncanny similarities to that of humans, according to scientists at Stanford University. | Continue reading
As 2018 draws to a close, the pharmaceutical industry is celebrating a prosperous year of new investments and therapeutic breakthroughs. These successes were driven by cutting-edge science and progress in finally translating long-standing technology into actual products, accordin … | Continue reading
Even in this digital age, paper is still everywhere. Often, printed materials get used once and are then discarded, creating waste and potentially pollution. Now, scientists report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces the development of an easy-to-make "rewritable" paper that ca … | Continue reading
Oil and water don't mix. But our aqueous blood is full of different types of hydrophobic lipids—including cholesterol. In order to travel via the bloodstream, those lipids need to hitch a ride on an amphipathic carrier. In a recent paper in the Journal of Lipid Research, scientis … | Continue reading
The wonders of graphene are numerous—it can enable flexible electronic components, enhance solar cell capacity, filter the finest subatomic particles and revolutionize batteries. Now, the "supermaterial" may one day be used to test for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS—a prog … | Continue reading
For the physics community, the discovery of new particles like the Higgs Boson has paved the way for a host of exciting potential experiments. Yet, when it comes to such an elusive particle as the Higgs Boson, it's not easy to unlock the secrets of the mechanism that led to its c … | Continue reading
The British Parliament has released some 250 pages worth of documents that show Facebook considered charging developers for data access. | Continue reading
BepiColombo, the joint ESA/JAXA spacecraft on a mission to Mercury, is now firing its thrusters for the first time in flight. | Continue reading
People have always been fascinated by life. We dream about revealing all its mysteries and are even searching other planets trying to find some forms of life there. Philosophies around the world have tried to define and understand life long before science even existed. But some o … | Continue reading
To extract minerals from host rocks, mines grind down rock into fine sand. Once the mineral is extracted, most of this fine sand remains as a by-product called tailings. Every mining operation produces a unique tailings stream and local conditions dictate storage options. | Continue reading
UPM researchers are working on seasonal weather forecasts and crops based on data provided by the water surface temperature of the oceans. | Continue reading
A team of scientists led by Jingmai O'Connor from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported the first occurrence of medullary bone in Enantiornithes, the dominant clade of birds during the Cretaceous. The findings … | Continue reading
In canteens and supermarkets, plant-based substitute products for chicken escalopes and beef steaks have become standard fare. Together with colleagues from TU Berlin, researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are examining how these products are manufactured. Their … | Continue reading
In a groundbreaking study, researchers have successfully developed a method that could lead to unprecedented advances in computer speed and efficiency. | Continue reading
Scientists from the European project Laser4Surf are currently developing a multi-beam optical module to treat the metallic surfaces of dental implants to achieve the best cell adhesion and antibacterial properties. "Surface treatment allows either a bigger surface in contact betw … | Continue reading
Fauna & Flora International (FFI) works with several companies leading the development of major infrastructure projects, and with the development banks that fund them. Back in 2016, when FFI suggested that one of its corporate partners in Africa should be thinking about its poten … | Continue reading
Results of a new study on Antarctic seabirds shows a larger percentage of their populations inhabit important nesting sites around Ryder Bay, close to British Antarctic Survey's Rothera Station than previously thought. The study has also led to a call for protection of these impo … | Continue reading
Brand activism has become the new marketing tactic of choice, and a brand's stance on societal and political issues can offer a differentiating factor in a fast-paced corporate marketplace. | Continue reading
The Trump administration will propose scrapping an Obama-era mandate that new coal-fired power plants use carbon-capture technology, removing a major barrier to constructing the facilities, according to a person familiar with the plans. | Continue reading
A list of 26 ways that AI can contribute to education shows that distance learning is one of the most promising avenues for the application of AI in the field of education. This type of learning focuses on the mobility of learners, who can access learning materials anytime and an … | Continue reading
Scientists at the University of Oxford may have solved one of the biggest questions in modern physics, with a new paper unifying dark matter and dark energy into a single phenomenon: a fluid which possesses 'negative mass." If you were to push a negative mass, it would accelerate … | Continue reading
When a dense sheet of electrons is accelerated to almost the speed of light, it acts as a reflective surface. Such a 'plasma mirror' can be used to manipulate light. Now an international team of physicists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, LMU Munich, and Umeå Univ … | Continue reading
Insecticides are applied in large volumes across the United States to protect agricultural crops from insect pests. As has been shown before through studies e.g. by the USGS or the U.S. EPA, these substances can be transported from agricultural fields into adjacent water bodies v … | Continue reading
Producing realistic animated film figures is a highly complex technical endeavour. ETH researchers have now shown how drones can be used to greatly reduce the effort required in the process. | Continue reading
The election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil not only marks the rise of another populist nationalist leader on the world stage. It's also a turning point for the global politics of climate change. | Continue reading
Researchers have succeeded in converting human skin cells into blood stem cells in an international collaboration project. "This is a first step on the way to generating fully functional blood stem cells in a petri dish which, in the future, could be transplanted into patients wi … | Continue reading
New research from UBC Sauder School of Business associate professor Thomas Davidoff could help combat Vancouver's housing affordability problem. In new research published in the Canadian Tax Journal, Davidoff outlines how a new model for calculating property tax could help renter … | Continue reading
Scientists have solved the mystery of why some closely-related species of an iconic reef fish have vastly different colour patterns, while others look very similar. | Continue reading