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| New technology enables rapid sequencing of entire genomes of plant pathogens Posted: 15 May 2021 06:11 AM PDT Next-generation sequencing technology has made it easier than ever for quick diagnosis of plant diseases. |
| Fibre-optics used to take the temperature of Greenland Ice Sheet Posted: 15 May 2021 06:11 AM PDT Scientists have used fibre-optic sensing to obtain the most detailed measurements of ice properties ever taken on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Their findings will be used to make more accurate models of the future movement of the world's second-largest ice sheet, as the effects of climate change continue to accelerate. |
| Harvesting light like nature does Posted: 15 May 2021 06:11 AM PDT A new class of bio-inspired two-dimensional (2D) hybrid nanomaterials mimic the ability of photosynthetic plants and bacteria. |
| People at high genetic risk for colorectal cancer benefit more from lifestyle changes Posted: 15 May 2021 06:11 AM PDT People with a high polygenic risk score for colorectal cancer could benefit more at preventing the disease by leading healthy lifestyles than those at lower genetic risk, according to a new study. |
| Path of light in photosynthesis traced Posted: 15 May 2021 06:11 AM PDT Three billion years ago, light first zipped through chlorophyll within tiny reaction centers, the first step plants and photosynthetic bacteria take to convert light into food. |
| New cyanobacteria species spotlights early life Posted: 15 May 2021 06:09 AM PDT Cyanobacteria first evolved to perform photosynthesis about 2.4 billion years ago, pumping tons of oxygen into the atmosphere - a period known as the Great Oxygenation Event - which enabled the evolution of multicellular life forms. Researchers have discovered a new species of cyanobacteria, Anthocerotibacter panamensis, which could help illuminate how photosynthesis evolved to create the world as we know it. |
| Virtual reality warps your sense of time Posted: 14 May 2021 10:42 AM PDT Psychology researchers found that playing games in virtual reality creates an effect called 'time compression,' where time goes by faster than you think. The research team compared time perception during gameplay using conventional monitors and virtual reality to determine that this effect is uniquely linked to the virtual reality format. |
| Our dreams' weirdness might be why we have them, argues new AI-inspired theory of dreaming Posted: 14 May 2021 10:42 AM PDT Why we dream is a divisive topic within the scientific community, and the neuroscience field is saturated with hypotheses. Inspired by techniques used to train deep neural networks, a neuroscience researcher argues for a new theory of dreams: the overfitted brain hypothesis. The hypothesis suggests that the strangeness of our dreams serves to help our brains better generalize our day-to-day experiences. |
| Mammals can use their intestines to breathe Posted: 14 May 2021 10:42 AM PDT Rodents and pigs share with certain aquatic organisms the ability to use their intestines for respiration, finds a study publishing May 14th in the journal Med. The researchers demonstrated that the delivery of oxygen gas or oxygenated liquid through the rectum provided vital rescue to two mammalian models of respiratory failure. |
| Earth's oldest minerals date onset of plate tectonics to 3.6 billion years ago Posted: 14 May 2021 10:41 AM PDT Scientists provide new evidence that modern plate tectonics, a defining feature of Earth and its unique ability to support life, emerged roughly 3.6 billion years ago. The study uses zircons, the oldest minerals ever found on Earth, to peer back into the planet's ancient past. |
| Climate change threatens one-third of global food production Posted: 14 May 2021 10:41 AM PDT New research assesses just how global food production will be affected if greenhouse gas emissions are left uncut. |
| Researchers develop 3D-printed jelly Posted: 14 May 2021 10:41 AM PDT 3D-printable gels with improved and highly controlled properties can be created by merging micro- and nano-sized networks of the same materials harnessed from seaweed. The findings could have applications in biomedical materials - think of biological scaffolds for growing cells - and soft robotics. |
| Which animals will survive climate change? Posted: 14 May 2021 10:41 AM PDT Climate change is exacerbating problems like habitat loss and temperatures swings that have already pushed many animal species to the brink. But can scientists predict which animals will be able to adapt and survive? Using genome sequencing, researchers show that some fish, like the threespine stickleback, can adapt very rapidly to extreme seasonal changes. Their findings could help scientists forecast the evolutionary future of these populations. |
| Where on Earth is all the water? Posted: 14 May 2021 10:41 AM PDT High-temperature and high-pressure experiments involving a diamond anvil and chemicals to simulate the core of the young Earth demonstrate for the first time that hydrogen can bond strongly with iron in extreme conditions. This explains the presence of significant amounts of hydrogen in the Earth's core that arrived as water from bombardments billions of years ago. |
| Few realistic scenarios left to limit global warming to 1.5°C Posted: 14 May 2021 10:40 AM PDT Of the over 400 climate scenarios assessed in the 1.5°C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), only around 50 scenarios avoid significantly overshooting 1.5°C. Of those only around 20 make realistic assumptions on mitigation options, for instance the rate and scale of carbon removal from the atmosphere or extent of tree planting, a new study shows. All 20 scenarios need to pull at least one mitigation lever at 'challenging' rather than 'reasonable' levels. |
| Solar wind from the center of the Earth Posted: 14 May 2021 10:40 AM PDT High-precision noble gas analyses indicate that solar wind particles from our primordial Sun were encased in the Earth's core over 4.5 billion years ago. Researchers have concluded that the particles made their way into the overlying rock mantle over millions of years. The scientists found solar noble gases in an iron meteorite they studied. Because of their chemical composition, such meteorites are often used as natural models for the Earth's metallic core. |
| Charting the expansion history of the universe with supernovae Posted: 14 May 2021 10:35 AM PDT An international research team analyzed a database of more than 1000 supernova explosions and found that models for the expansion of the Universe best match the data when a new time dependent variation is introduced. If proven correct with future, higher-quality data from the Subaru Telescope and other observatories, these results could indicate still unknown physics working on the cosmic scale. |
| Epigenetic changes drive the fate of a B cell Posted: 13 May 2021 02:35 PM PDT B cells are the immune cells responsible for creating antibodies, and most produce antibodies in response to a pathogen or a vaccine. A small subset of B cells instead spontaneously make antibodies that perform vital housekeeping functions. Understanding how epigenetics spur these differences in such similar cells is an important fundamental question in immunology. |
| Force-sensing PIEZO proteins are at work in plants, too Posted: 13 May 2021 02:35 PM PDT A family of proteins that sense mechanical force--and enable our sense of touch and many other important bodily functions--also are essential for proper root growth in some plants, according to a study led by scientists at Scripps Research and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. |
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