Culture
The main question addressed by the study is: Does greater biodiversity increase the economic value of managed ecosystems? "We have found that the possible relationships between economic value and biodiversity are varied," says Professor Thomas Knoke, Head of the Institute of Forest Management at the TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan.
It all depends on the purpose
Computer scientists at the University of Waterloo have found a novel approach that significantly improves the storage efficiency and output speed of computer systems.
Current data storage systems use only one storage server to process information, making them slow to retrieve information to display for the user. A backup server only becomes active if the main storage server fails.
HOUSTON - (Jan. 30, 2020) - In your cells, it's almost always spring. Or at least springy.
Bioscientists have known for some time that chromosomes tend to express their protein products in bursts, rather than in a steady manner. A new theoretical study by Rice University scientists, detailed in the Biophysical Journal, aims to better explain the process that combines chemical reactions and mechanical forces.
Biomedical scientists at KU Leuven have discovered that a defect in the ATP13A2 gene causes cell death by disrupting the cellular transport of polyamines. When this happens in the part of the brain that controls body movement, it can lead to Parkinson's disease.
We react less negatively to extreme manifestations of economic disparity, such as homelessness, if we think the economic system is fair and legitimate, and these differences in reactivity are even detectable at the physiological level, finds a team of psychology researchers. The research, which appears in the journal Nature Communications, offers new insights into why we have varying reactions to inequality.
First introduced in the 1980s, stereolithography (SL) is an additive manufacturing process that prints 3D objects by the selective curing of liquid polymer resin using an ultra-violet (UV) light source in a layer-by-layer fashion. The polymer employed undergoes a photochemical reaction which turns it from liquid to solid when exposed to UV illumination. Today, SL is touted as one of the most accurate forms of 3D printing that is accessible to consumers, with desktop models (e.g., liquid crystal display variants) costing as little as USD 300.
A new study on meta reinforcement learning algorithms helps us understand how the human brain learns to adapt to complexity and uncertainty when learning and making decisions. A research team, led by Professor Sang Wan Lee at KAIST jointly with John O'Doherty at Caltech, succeeded in discovering both a computational and neural mechanism for human meta reinforcement learning, opening up the possibility of porting key elements of human intelligence into artificial intelligence algorithms.
New antiviral materials made from sugar have been developed to destroy viruses on contact and may help in the fight against viral outbreaks.
This new development from a collaborative team of international scientists shows promise for the treatment of herpes simplex (cold sore virus), respiratory syncytial virus, hepatitis C, HIV, and Zika virus to name a few. The team have demonstrated success treating a range of viruses in the lab - including respiratory infections to genital herpes.
The number of plant species that extract organic nutrients from fungi could be much higher than previously assumed. This was discovered by researchers from the University of Bayreuth and the University of Copenhagen through isotope investigations on Paris quadrifolia, otherwise known as Herb Paris or True Lover's Knot. This forest-floor plant, which is widespread in Europe, is regarded in botany as a prototype for plants that have a specific exchange relationship with fungi, which in fact accounts for around 40 percent of all plant species.
These days, many people are concerned about plastic waste; however, the convenience, mechanical properties and cost of plastic food packaging are hard to beat. But now, a growing number of innovators and entrepreneurs are trying to make edible packaging and tableware from foods like seaweed, milk proteins and potato starch, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, produced in collaboration with ACS Central Science.
Tougher early lives could help captive-bred game birds develop survival skills for adulthood in the wild, new research suggests.
Captive-bred pheasants and partridges start life in unnatural conditions, in sheds and pens with no adult birds, more densely packed and eating different food than they would in the wild.
They may grow well and avoid disease and predators for the first six to eight weeks, but then they are released into the wild - and they may be unprepared for this dramatic change in their living conditions.
Unlike the case in many developed countries, the Russian government is ready to provide financial support to all people who are registered unemployed. That said, the amount of benefits paid is so small that most unemployed simply disregard it. This approach by the state serves as motivation for them to hurry in finding a new job rather than hang around doing nothing. Researchers from the HSE Centre for Labour Market Studies undertook a study of how the unemployed are treated in other countries and proposed measures for improving the situation on Russia's labour market.
With the help of new genomic sequencing and assembly tools, plant scientists can learn more about the function and evolution of highly destructive plant pathogens that refuse to be tamed by fungicides, antibacterial, and antivirals.
Suicide in children under age 20 has been increasing in the U.S., with rates almost doubling over the last decade. Between 2007 to 2016, nearly 21,000 children ages 5-19 years old died by suicide. While the reasons for the increase are not well understood, new research from Boston Children's Hospital shows a link between poverty and suicide in children and teens nationwide.
WASHINGTON - Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory discovered a new platform for quantum technologies by suspending two-dimensional (2-D) crystals over pores in a slab of gold. This new approach may help develop new materials for secure communication and sensing technologies based on the unique laws of physics at the atomic levels.