Culture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Nearly half of all respondents in some states report food insecurity in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, according to new research from University of Arkansas sociologists.

Results of an online survey of 10,368 adults taken the last week of March indicated that respondents from Southern and mid-Southern regions were more "food insecure" than the U.S. average, while Midwestern and Northeastern states typically reported less food insecurity. Full results of the survey are available on the U of A's Community and Family Institute web site.

A common soil fungus might be enlisted as a powerful partner by corn producers to suppress pests and promote plant growth, according to Penn State researchers, who suggest promoting the fungus could be an especially valuable strategy for organic growers who struggle with insect control.

The mammalian cell lines that are engineered to produce high-value recombinant-protein drugs also produce unwanted proteins that push up the overall cost to manufacture these drugs. These same proteins can also lower drug quality.

Rochester Institute of Technology scientists have developed the first three-dimensional mass estimate to show where microplastic pollution is collecting in Lake Erie. The study examines nine different types of polymers that are believed to account for 75 percent of the world's plastic waste.

How do mountains form? What forces are needed to carve out a basin? Why does the Earth tremble and quake?

Earth scientists pursue these fundamental questions to gain a better understanding of our planet's deep past and present workings. Their discoveries also help us plan for the future by preparing us for earthquakes, determining where to drill for oil and gas, and more. Now, in a new, expanded map of the tectonic stresses acting on North America, Stanford researchers present the most comprehensive view yet of the forces at play beneath the Earth's surface.

When two scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) brought black lights and glow powder into the Maryland State Police crime lab, they weren't setting up a laser tag studio or nightclub.

Instead, their aim was to study the way drug particles get spread around crime labs when analysts test suspected drug evidence. Their study, recently published in Forensic Chemistry, addresses safety concerns in an age of super-potent synthetic drugs like fentanyl, which can potentially be hazardous to chemists who handle them frequently.

Fructans are naturally occurring plant polymers composed of fructose molecules. They are found in approximately 15% of flowering plant species, including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Fructans serve important physiological roles in plant stress tolerance as well as in human diets. Given the importance of wheat in diets across the world, targeting increases in wheat fructan levels through breeding would facilitate the development of climate-resilient, nutritionally improved wheat cultivars.