Humans aren't the only targets for viruses. Like us, bacteria become infected by many types of viruses. In fact, across billions of years, bacteria and viruses have engaged in a non-stop evolutionary arms race for survival that includes countless innovations and counter-adaptatio … | Continue reading
Clearcutting and wildfires decimated the red spruce, once the dominant, high-elevation tree species in West Virginia, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Nowadays, only 10% of the state's historic red spruce coverage remains and it faces a new threat in climate change. | Continue reading
Polymer brush films consists of monomer chains grown in close proximity on a substrate. The monomers, which look like "bristles" at the nanoscale, form a highly functional and versatile coating, such that it can selectively adsorb or repel a variety of chemicals or biological mol … | Continue reading
In its heyday, UIUC's Blue Waters was one of the world's top supercomputers. Anyone who was curious could drop by its 30,000-square-foot machine room for a tour, and spend half an hour strolling among the 288 huge black cabinets, supported by a 24-megawatt power supply, that hous … | Continue reading
The Antarctic region is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and studies have shown that the melting of Antarctic ice sheets has accelerated considerably in recent years. As a result, sea levels continue to rise globally, threatening the lives of coastal inhabitants. | Continue reading
As much of Europe bakes in a third heatwave since June, fears are growing that extreme drought driven by climate change in the continent's breadbasket nations will dent stable crop yields and deepen the cost-of-living crisis. | Continue reading
They are hunters, farmers, harvesters, gliders, herders, weavers, and carpenters. They are ants, and they are a big part of our world, comprising over 14,000 species and a large fraction of animal biomass in most terrestrial ecosystems. Like other invertebrates, ants are import … | Continue reading
Researchers have developed and demonstrated the potential benefit of a simple set of physical gestures that participants in online group video meetings can use to improve their meeting experience. Paul D. Hills of University College London, U.K., and colleagues from University Co … | Continue reading
It was just a piece of junk sitting in the back of a lab at the MIT Nuclear Reactor facility, ready to be disposed of. But it became the key to demonstrating a more comprehensive way of detecting atomic-level structural damage in materials—an approach that will aid the developmen … | Continue reading
Roger Derry, 80, and his son have lived together in the tiny scenic hamlet of Klamath River in Northern California for more than 40 years. | Continue reading
The Dutch government declared a national water shortage Wednesday caused by the hot, dry summer that is parching much of Europe, and formed a national team to draw up measures to manage supplies, while asking the public to also chip in with savings. | Continue reading
A volcano erupted in Iceland near the capital Reykjavik on Wednesday, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said as live images on local media showed lava spewing out of a fissure in the ground. | Continue reading
Near-record amounts of seaweed are smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados, killing fish and other wildlife, choking tourism and releasing stinky, noxious gases. | Continue reading
Time is flying. Literally. | Continue reading
A pair of researchers, one with the Max Planck Institute of Brain Research, the other with Imperial College, has found more efficient ways to mix two fluids using simulations run on a supercomputer. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, Maximilian Eggl a … | Continue reading
Efficient adsorbents for industrial wastewater treatment are important to minimize potential environmental damage. In particular, organic dyes, as a significant group of industrial pollutants, are usually highly water soluble, non-degradable and many are toxic to carcinogenic. Ch … | Continue reading
The worldwide distribution of one of the most important cereal pathogens is the result of human activity. Researchers at the University of Zurich have traced the history and spread of wheat powdery mildew along wheat trade routes and found that mixing of genetic ancestries of rel … | Continue reading
NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) 3655 helps biopharmaceutical manufacturers perform measurements of glycan molecules in their protein drug products, including the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that currently dominate the biopharma market. Because differences in glycan struct … | Continue reading
Yeasts play a key role in converting ("fermenting") sugars from plants into ethanol fuel. But not all yeasts are created equal. Some are better fermenters than others because they can tolerate the harsh conditions of the bioreactors in which they're used. | Continue reading
Seattle weather was in the sunny 70s in mid-July when weather forecasters saw the heat wave that has driven 90-degree highs last week was on its way. | Continue reading
Researchers at the Universities of Bayreuth and Linköping have produced two surprising compounds of nitrogen and the rare earth metal yttrium under very high pressure. The new polynitrides contain ring- and spiral-shaped crystal structures of nitrogen that have never before been … | Continue reading
Scientists have created a novel technology that can help to tackle climate change and address the global energy crisis. | Continue reading
Research on RNA diversity in human tissues, led by scientists from the New York Genome Center and the Broad Institute, is described in a recent study published in Nature. When the genetic code is transcribed to RNA, one gene typically produces several different forms of RNA molec … | Continue reading
Over 1 million dams and culverts (tunnels that encircle rivers passing under roads) block the movements of fish and other wildlife in Europe. Scientists estimate that less than 1% of catchments in the U.K. are free of obstruction. A report released in 2020 showed the effect this … | Continue reading
A team of researchers located at Helmholtz Munich reports on a novel function of vitamin K, which is generally known for its importance in blood clotting. The researchers discovered that the fully reduced form of vitamin K acts as an antioxidant efficiently inhibiting ferroptotic … | Continue reading
The third time really was the charm for Dude Perfect co-founder Coby Cotton. | Continue reading
What drives youth to run away from foster care placements? In a new study conducted by University of Kansas researchers, youth reported running away to have a say in their own lives, to connect with family and to escape untenable placement environments. And sometimes, they ran si … | Continue reading
Every year for the past three decades, California State University, Northridge marine biologist Peter Edmunds has traveled to the Caribbean island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands to document the life history of fire corals. | Continue reading
An international research team has deciphered the mechanism by which the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is resistant to fungus-specific drugs. It is a yeast-like fungus that can infect humans. Specific drugs, named antifungals, are available for treatment, but they don't always w … | Continue reading
Over 140 documents from notebooks and reports that feature first-person accounts of glacial landscapes from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are now available to the public through the CU Digital Library. | Continue reading
Countless studies have sought to quantify various aspects of human impacts on the planet, but sorting through that data to get answers about the effect we're actually having can be a challenge for researchers, policymakers, and the public alike. A team of researchers has centrali … | Continue reading
A specially trained wooly astronaut, Shaun the Sheep, has been assigned a seat on the Artemis I mission to the Moon. Shaun's assignment was announced by ESA's Director for Human and Robotic Exploration Dr. David Parker. | Continue reading
Scientists at Utrecht University have discovered a new mechanism antibiotics use to kill bacteria. The antibiotic teixobactin uses a dual molecular strategy: it blocks the bacterial cell wall synthesis and destructs the cell membrane, the researchers write in the scientific journ … | Continue reading
Researchers from the Gerlich Group at IMBA—Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences—discovered a molecular mechanism that confers special physical properties to chromosomes in dividing human cells to enable their faithful transport to the progeny. … | Continue reading
A strain of E. coli bacteria called enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) is known to cause several gastrointestinal disorders, which include bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, by damaging the intestinal lining. When accompanied with fatal systemic complications, it can even cause … | Continue reading
Scientists from The University of Manchester have developed a novel yet simple method for producing vertical stacks of alternating superconductor and insulator layers of tantalum disulphide (TaS2). The findings, from a team led by Professor Rahul Nair, could speed up the process … | Continue reading
Neuroscientists at Goethe University, Frankfurt have discovered a feedback loop that modulates the receptivity of the auditory cortex to incoming acoustic signals when bats emit echolocation calls. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers show th … | Continue reading
Researchers at the University of Bristol and Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre have discovered that super-eruptions occur when huge accumulations of magma deep in the Earth's crust, formed over millions of years, move rapidly to the surface disrupting pre-existi … | Continue reading
A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Georgia Institute of Technology has 3D printed a dual-phase, nanostructured high-entropy alloy that exceeds the strength and ductility of other state-of-the-art additively manufactured materials, which could … | Continue reading
As if the tumultuous din of battle is not horrendous enough, over the ages humans have discovered plenty of ways to exploit sound in warfare. I found an astonishing variety of ancient acoustic weapons while researching my book "Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Uncon … | Continue reading
Physicists have been trying to determine the ground states of 2D electron systems at extremely low densities and temperatures for many decades now. The first theoretical predictions for these ground states were put forward by physicists Felix Bloch in 1929 and Eugene Wigner in 19 … | Continue reading
In the past week alone, we've seen two separate incidents of space debris hurtling back to Earth in unexpected places. | Continue reading
A byproduct of landfilling, livestock farming, coal mining and other human activities, methane emissions are one of the key drivers of climate change. | Continue reading
As enrollments climb and urban spaces become more crowded, some Australian schools have been left with less play space per student than a prison cell. | Continue reading
COVID-19 Lockdowns provided an opportunity for many more people to bring a pet into their lives but new research has found that rudeness towards veterinary staff is linked to increased levels of anxiety and depression, alongside a greater risk of burnout and may prompt some to re … | Continue reading
As demand for solar energy rises around the world, scientists are working to improve the performance of solar devices—important if the technology is to compete with traditional fuels. But researchers face theoretical limits on how efficient they can make solar cells. | Continue reading
Warmer waters are flowing towards the East Antarctic ice sheet, according to our alarming new research which reveals a potential new driver of global sea-level rise. | Continue reading
Phytoplankton need light and nutrients to grow. The microscopic algae rarely find both at the same time in sufficient quantities in the ocean. In the upper water layers, they usually lack nutrients, and further down, they lack light. A new study led by the Helmholtz Center Hereon … | Continue reading