Culture
Although pollen has covered cars for weeks and allergy sufferers have been sneezing, we think of sex as being the realm of animals. But plant sex can be quite interesting, especially in species that can have male or female flowers.
More than 90 percent of flowering plant species combine both sexes in one plant. In the less than 10 percent of species where female and male flowers exist on separate plants, they typically remain female or male throughout their lifetime. But it isn't always this simple.
Compostable food containers seem like a great idea: They degrade into nutrient-rich organic matter, reducing waste and the need for chemical fertilizers. But much of this packaging relies on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to repel water and oil. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology Letters have shown that PFAS can leach from the containers into compost. However, the potential health effects of applying this material to crops are unknown.
The calcareous soils that pervade the southern region of the country pose a challenge for plants: though iron is abundant in the soil, plants are unable to acquire it due to the high pH levels in said soil, making iron only slightly soluble and, therefore, hard to absorb. To tackle this iron deficiency, plants activate a series of responses, such as developing new roots to span more soil or freeing protons to acidify or solubilize iron.
The "loser effect" - which causes animals to shy away from violence after losing a fight - evolves independently of any change in fighting ability, new research suggests.
Scientists studied male broad-horned flour beetles, which regularly fight over females, to see how long they avoided fights after a defeat.
Living in a warzone is linked with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke among civilians, even years after the conflict ends, a study has found.
The findings come from the first systematic review of the effects of armed conflict on heart disease risk, carried out by researchers at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The immune system is programmed to rid the body of biological bad guys--like viruses and dangerous bacteria--but its precision isn't guaranteed. In the tens of millions of Americans suffering from autoimmune diseases, the system mistakes normal cells for malicious invaders, prompting the body to engage in self-destructive behavior. This diverse class of conditions, which includes Type I diabetes, lupus, and multiple sclerosis, can be very difficult to treat.
Financial education often stresses the importance of earning and saving, but new research suggests that one of the most valuable lessons parents can teach their children about money might be how to appropriately give it away.
The study, led by University of Arizona researcher Ashley LeBaron and published in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues, explores how financial-giving habits are passed down through generations, and how early life lessons in giving may contribute to personal and financial well-being later on.
Service providers for youth experiencing homelessness typically focus on the big three: food, shelter and health care. But a new study from Portland State University Community Psychology graduate student Katricia Stewart shows overall well-being is just as important.
ITHACA, N.Y. - By adding utility-scale solar farms throughout New York state, summer electricity demand from conventional sources could be reduced by up to 9.6 percent in some places.
But Cornell University engineers caution that upstate winters tell a different tale. With low energy demand around midday in the winter, combined with solar-electricity production, New York's power system could face volatile swings of "ramping" - which is how power system operators describe quick increases or decreases in demand.
St. Paul, MN (May, 2019)--The chemical compound chloropicrin was first synthesized in 1848 by Scottish chemist John Stenhouse and first applied to agriculture in 1920, when it was used to cure tomato "soil sickness." Over the next decade, it was used to restore pineapple productivity in Hawaii and to address soil fungal problems in California. Over time, it began to be widely used as a fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, and nematicide.
Mammals have adapted to live in the darkest of caves and the deepest oceans, and from the highest mountains to the plains. Along the way, mammals have also adapted a remarkable capacity in their sense of hearing, from the high-frequency echolocation calls of bats to low frequency whale songs. Even our best friend companion animals, dogs, have developed a hearing range twice as wide as people.
Elephants are essential to savannah and forest ecosystems and play an important role in ecotourism in Africa - yet poaching has contributed to a rapid decline in elephant populations in recent decades. An international research team has now released a study presenting a more positive perspective: Severin Hauenstein and Prof. Dr. Carsten Dormann from the Department of Biometry and Environmental Systems Analysis at the University of Freiburg, together with Dr. Colin Beale from the University of York/England as well as Dr. Mrigesh Kshatriya and Dr.
BOSTON--A new study of patients reading the visit notes their clinicians write, report positive effects on their use of prescription medications. The study, Patients Managing Medications and Reading their Visit Notes: A survey of OpenNotes participants, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, shows that when patients read their notes, they report significant benefits, including feeling more comfortable with and in control of their medications, a greater understanding of medication's side effects, and being more likely to take medications as prescribed.
(San Antonio, May 28, 2019) -- UTSA criminal justice professor Dylan Jackson recently published one of the first studies to explore emerging drug use in the form of adolescent vaping and its association with delinquency among 8th and 10th grade students across the nation.
DURHAM, N.C. - Aging adults often show signs of slowing when it comes to managing their finances, such as calculating their change when paying cash or balancing an account ledger.
These changes happen even in adults who are cognitively healthy. But trouble managing money can also be a harbinger of dementia and, according to new Duke research in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease, could be correlated to the amount of protein deposits built up in the brain.