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
The origin of the vertebrate skull is a topic of much debate among evolutionary biologists. Some believe that the vertebrate head has developed as a result of modification of the segmental elements of the trunk, such as the vertebrae and somites. On the other hand, others believe … | Continue reading
Did you know that, according to a recent study, there are more than 300 ways to work flexibly? The list of possible flexible work practices used by an increasingly diverse and aging workforce has grown significantly since many people were forced to work from home during COVID loc … | Continue reading
A multidisciplinary team of researchers from LMU, the University of Bath, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have analyzed changes in the use of language on social media in Ukraine before and during the Russian war of aggression. | Continue reading
We tend to just think of viruses in terms of their damaging impacts on human health and lives. The 1918 flu pandemic killed around 50 million people. Smallpox claimed 30% of those who caught it, and survivors were often scarred and blinded. More recently, we're all too familiar w … | Continue reading
Climate scientists don't like surprises. It means our deep understanding of how the climate works isn't quite as complete as we need. But unfortunately, as climate change worsens, surprises and unprecedented events keep happening. | Continue reading
The ocean plays a crucial role in the storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). The so-called marine biological carbon pump is an important research topic in this context. However, according to Dr. Ivy Frenger, climate researcher at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel, … | Continue reading
The evolution of animal heads is a remarkable example of how various anatomical features co-evolved to adapt to different ecological niches, behaviors and functions. But the intricate details of why vertebrate head shapes vary so greatly have remained elusive. | Continue reading
Gray wolves were reintroduced to Colorado in December 2023, the latest attempt in a decades-long effort to build up wolf populations in the Rocky Mountain states. SciLine interviewed Joanna Lambert, professor of wildlife ecology and director of the American Canid Project at the U … | Continue reading
In China children are taught to steer clear of this plant. The plant, Thunder god vine (Chinese: 雷公藤), which in China has earned the nickname "Seven Steps to Death," is so poisonous that a person risks death only a few steps after consuming it. | Continue reading
Spring, summer, fall and winter—the seasons on Earth change every few months, around the same time every year. It's easy to take this cycle for granted here on Earth, but not every planet has a regular change in seasons. So why does Earth have regular seasons when other planets d … | Continue reading
The acidity of Antarctica's coastal waters could double by the end of the century, threatening whales, penguins and hundreds of other species that inhabit the Southern Ocean, according to new research from the Univeristy of Colorado Boulder. | Continue reading
A team of biologists, historians, and Earth and environmental scientists affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. has found evidence that contradicts historical accounts of the size and feeding habits of the now-extinct California grizzly bear. In their project, reported … | Continue reading