As holidays near, people are sneaking shakes of their presents to try to figure out what they're getting. But present shakers might be a little less sly than they think. New research shows it's incredibly easy for people watching others shake boxes to tell what they're up to. | Continue reading
Through our burning of fossil fuels and other activities, we humans have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations more than 40 percent in the last 150 years. This increase in CO₂, and in another greenhouse gas—methane—has warmed the planet more than 1°C. | Continue reading
Plastic is one of the important materials in modern society, with approximately 460 million tons produced annually and with expected production reaching approximately 1.23 billion tons in 2060. However, since 1950, plastic waste totaling more than 6.3 billion tons has been genera … | Continue reading
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. More specifically, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning that within its central region, there is a bar shape off of which the spirals emanate. About two-thirds of spiral galaxies are barred spirals, and astronomers have thought this difference i … | Continue reading
Most of the times astronomers reported dramatic, cataclysmic events like neutron star mergers or the creation of a black hole; they are taking place light years away, typically in in another galaxy. While we can observe their destructive power through the light they emit, they ha … | Continue reading
Several years ago, Ajume Wingo was riding a bus in his home country of Cameroon when the vehicle made an unexpected stop. | Continue reading
Research published in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business has taken a close look at the innovation dynamics within Baja California's flourishing wine and craft beer industries. The work focuses specifically on the impact good label design can have on … | Continue reading
A new Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) report has been released by the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) to the High Energy Physics program of the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation's Division of Physi … | Continue reading
Sometimes going online can feel like an entirely new world. Whether it's a reference you don't understand, a running joke or a parody image, it's not uncommon to feel lost no matter your age. Still, there's hope for managing the memes. | Continue reading
High-throughput phenotyping has significantly advanced plant data collection in agriculture. However, challenges arise when accurately segmenting overlapping plants in field images. Current methods, such as neural networks and K-means-assisted training, effectively process images … | Continue reading
Tomato is a widely cultivated crop, valued for both culinary and medicinal purposes. Its vulnerability to various pests and diseases, especially affecting leaves, poses a challenge for growers. Traditional methods of disease identification, based on subjective human judgment, hav … | Continue reading
In agricultural and remote sensing research, accurately estimating wheat's Leaf Area Index (LAI) using unmanned aerial vehicle-based multispectral data is essential for monitoring crop health and growth. Traditionally, LAI measurement is accurate but laborious. | Continue reading
Broad host range (BHR) synthetic biology aims to capitalize on a wide range of microbial phenotypes to expand biodesign applications not confined to traditional model organisms. Despite the ever-expanding genetic toolkit, reliance on a small number of model hosts has limited inno … | Continue reading
Researchers at the University of Houston say major state-level shifts in social and legal rights available to women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals are affecting interstate migration attitudes and may have negative impacts on states' economies and wo … | Continue reading
Climate change is worsening the planet's biodiversity crises, making environments more deadly for thousands of species and accelerating the precipitous decline in the number of plants and animals on Earth, according to an international organization that tracks species health. | Continue reading
How does climate change affect food security in Central Asia? | Continue reading
Current food systems don't sustainably provide healthy diets for all, and novel alternative proteins—such as lab-grown meat, protein-rich foods created from microorganisms and plant-based foods that imitate the taste and texture of meats—could be part of a wider effort to improve … | Continue reading
Many nations around the world have agreed to protect 30% of the land and sea by the year 2030. | Continue reading
A research team led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) recently revealed how TMED10, a type of transmembrane protein, regulates muscle stem cell differentiation through mediating the secretion of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2). This provides potent … | Continue reading
Startling new insights into the catastrophic impact of one of the most devastating events in Earth's history have been revealed by a team led by researchers with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. More than deepening our understanding of the end-Triassic mass … | Continue reading
Rich countries need to stop using coal by 2030 and oil and gas by 2040, with poorer nations following a decade behind, to give the world a chance of limiting warming to 1.5C, climate scientists told the UN Friday. | Continue reading
A central component of the human immune system, the NLRP3 inflammasome plays an important role in fighting off infections. However, its chronic activation is also implicated in a variety of common diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, atherosclerosis, go … | Continue reading
Ammonia (NH3) is regarded as a promising carbon-free energy carrier, but its energy-intensive production process still challenges global scientists. A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently engineered a bimetallic alloy as an ultrathin nanocatalyst tha … | Continue reading
Marine organisms play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. Phytoplankton absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it in organic matter that sinks to the deep ocean where it can be stored for long periods of time. Until now, this process—the biological carbon … | Continue reading
In a study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS) on Dec. 6, Prof. Ming Xue and his team from the University of Oklahoma spearhead research focusing on harnessing the power of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite "R-series" (GOES-R) lightning flash obser … | Continue reading
About 6 million years ago, in the deep forests of eastern Africa, something spectacular happened. Chimpanzees, our closest relative in the animal kingdom, evolved in one direction, while our earliest ancestors continued in another. | Continue reading
A multi-institutional team of geoscientists has discovered a deep, ancient underground pool of fresh water underneath part of the Sicilian mountains. In their study, reported in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the group used publicly available data gathered from o … | Continue reading
In primates, the biggest, bossiest males usually get to father the most offspring; and for a long time it was thought that this rule applied to orangutans too. Male orangutans openly compete; and it's the older males with hefty cheek pads, known as "flanges," who usually get thei … | Continue reading
Every day, throughout the world, people put huge quantities of food out at feeding stations for birds and other wild animals. | Continue reading
Biocrusts, comprised of diverse organisms such as mosses, lichens, and cyanobacteria, have an enormous influence on soil carbon dynamics. Therefore, understanding the function and response of biocrusts to environmental stressors is essential for ecosystem prediction and managemen … | Continue reading
Existing flu vaccines provide only limited, seasonal protection because they target highly changeable proteins on the virus. Scripps Research scientists have now designed a vaccine that should work broadly against influenza A strains—one of the two types of flu virus that normall … | Continue reading
Until recently, archaeologists have mostly relied on what they can see at the sites of ancient ruins to unlock the secrets of the past. But lately, new methods have started to allow researchers to use other senses to explore these sites in different ways. | Continue reading
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, discovered a mechanism that controls the identity of stem cells. When this mechanism fails, embryonic stem cells revert back in time and become totipotent. | Continue reading
Self-propelled nanoparticles could potentially advance drug delivery and lab-on-a-chip systems—but they are prone to go rogue with random, directionless movements. Now, an international team of researchers has developed an approach to rein in the synthetic particles. | Continue reading
How much stress do pipes undergo when a liquid flows through them, and how does it depend on the degree of curvature of the pipe? | Continue reading
One of the biggest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily vanish as an asteroid passes in front of it to produce a one-of-a-kind eclipse. | Continue reading
The head of UN climate talks pressed nations Friday to move fast to deliver an "unprecedented" pact on tackling global warming, as negotiators scrambled to bridge differences over phasing out fossil fuels. | Continue reading
California has committed to substantially reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2045. The pledge is key to Gov. Gavin Newsom's claims of climate leadership, which featured prominently in his recent visits to China and the United Nations. | Continue reading
A new study from Oregon State University estimates that wildfire and drought caused $11.2 billion in economic losses to privately owned timberland in California, Oregon and Washington over the past two decades. | Continue reading
Two-dimensional materials, which are only a few atoms thick, can exhibit some incredible properties, such as the ability to carry electric charge extremely efficiently, which could boost the performance of next-generation electronic devices. | Continue reading
Antibodies (immunoglobulins) are Y-shaped proteins that recognize and neutralize specific pathogens. Their ability to target specific molecules or cells has made them promising candidates for future drug development. However, their light chains—parts of the antibody that contribu … | Continue reading
Human beings first disturbed moon dust on Sept. 13, 1959, when the USSR's unmanned spacecraft Luna 2 alighted on the lunar surface. In the following decades, more than a hundred other spacecraft have touched the moon—both crewed and uncrewed, sometimes landing and sometimes crash … | Continue reading
Decade-long ocean warming that impacts ocean circulation, a decrease in oxygen levels that contributes to changes in salinification and nutrient supply, and ocean acidification are just some of the challenges the world's oceans are facing. | Continue reading
Vocal fry has a bad reputation in American English. A subtype of creaky voice, a feature of speech that sounds gravelly and pulse-like, this manner of speech is sometimes used to form judgment about the speaker. In many languages, the creaky tone changes the meaning of words, as … | Continue reading
A challenge among three housemates to identify species around their inner-Brisbane home has resulted in an academic research paper, showcasing the rich biodiversity in urban landscapes. | Continue reading
Most ornamental crops can be classified as long-day, short-day, or day-neutral plants based on their flowering responses to the photoperiod (which is the day length), or the skotoperiod (which is the night length). Chrysanthemum is a common ornamental crop with an obligate short- … | Continue reading
In the colorful world of avian courtship, the ruff (Calidris pugnax) is in a league of its own. Breeding in marshes and wet meadows across Eurasia, the males of this medium-sized sandpiper species are well-known for their distinctive mating strategies, which range from flamboyant … | Continue reading
Chemicals—from antibiotics used to keep livestock healthy to pesticides that shield crops from insects and other pests—play an important role in modern agriculture. However, many of these substances accumulate in cow manure used as fertilizer, where they contaminate crops, leach … | Continue reading