Earth
In a sampling of fish from a creek that flows into San Diego Bay, nearly a quarter contain microplastics, according to a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE. The study, which examined plastics in coastal sediments and three species of fish, showed that the frequency and types of plastic ingested varied with fish species and, in some cases, size or age of fish.
Exotic subatomic particles that are like 'normal' particles apart from one, opposite, property - such as the positron, which is like an electron but positively rather than negatively charged - are collectively known as antimatter. Direct studies of collisions between particles of matter and those of antimatter using giant facilities such as those at CERN can advance our understanding of the nature of matter.
Infants from rural families tend to display negative emotions such as anger and frustration more frequently than their urban counterparts, according to a recent study in the Journal of Community Psychology.
Babies born in big cities, on the other hand, typically are less fussy and not as bothered by limits set by their caregivers.
Irvine, Calif., March 18, 2020 - During the exceptionally warm Arctic summer of 2019, Greenland lost 600 billion tons of ice, enough to raise global sea levels by 2.2 millimeters in two months. On the opposite pole, Antarctica continued to lose mass in the Amundsen Sea Embayment and Antarctic Peninsula but saw some relief in the form of increased snowfall in Queen Maud Land, in the eastern part of the continent.
The next time you eat a bowl of rice you might appreciate the fact that the rice paddy fields that produced the rice might have allowed an inland migratory bird to fuel by feeding on insects during its monumental journey covering thousands of kilometers across oceans.
New Rochelle, NY, March 18, 2020--Researchers have used high-throughput screening of adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector capsid libraries to maximize the likelihood of obtaining AAV variants with desired properties. As a result of these experiments, they gained some unexpected insights, reported in an article published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
WASHINGTON -- Researchers have developed a new type of deformable mirror that could increase the sensitivity of ground-based gravitational wave detectors such as the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Advanced LIGO measures faint ripples in space time called gravitational waves, which are caused by distant events such as collisions between black holes or neutron stars.
PHILADELPHIA -- Early on in each cell, a critical protein known as FoxA2 simultaneously binds to both the chromosomal proteins and the DNA, opening the flood gates for gene activation, according to a new study led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The discovery, published in Nature Genetics, helps untangle mysteries of how embryonic stem cells develop into organs.
To control flowering and fruit ripening, plants release the gaseous hormone ethylene. Environmental conditions, including drought, salinity and pathogens, can also cause levels of the hormone to fluctuate. Therefore, monitoring ethylene's release in real time could provide a farmer with important information about a plant's development and health. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have developed an easy-to-use, robust sensor that can do just that.
Adult Pacific salmon spend a great portion of their life in the ocean. But their life began along the banks of freshwater streams. Their life will end there, as well. These important steps in the lifecycle of salmon play a role in the health of streambank ecosystems.
David D'Amore and a team of scientists studied how different soils respond to the delivery of "salmon-derived nutrients." These nutrients come from adult salmon returning to their home streams, known as spawning. The study sites were forested ecosystems in Alaska's coastal temperate rainforest.
An international team of scientists led by a graduate student at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has demonstrated the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the same computing concept that will empower self-driving cars, to predict and avoid disruptions -- the sudden release of energy stored in the plasma that fuels fusion reactions -- that can halt the reactions and severely damage fusion facilities.
Risk of disruptions
Many people dream of comfortably living out their golden years. A new IIASA study however shows that older Europeans, and especially women, frequently underestimate how many years they have left, which could lead to costly decisions related to planning for their remaining life course.
As Tropical Cyclone Herold intensified, its eye appeared more defined in imagery taken by NASA's Terra satellite.
A Tropical Cyclone Warning class 3 was in force for Rodrigues Island on March 17. Rodrigues is an autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Southern Indian Ocean. It is about 42 square miles (108 square kilometers). Rodrigues Island is located about 350 miles (560 kilometers) east of Mauritius.
Plants, just like humans, have circadian clocks that allow them to tell the time. In humans this cellular clockwork influences when we wake and sleep.
Plants are so dependent on daylight that circadian clocks are even more influential, regulating the rate of photosynthesis, gas exchange, and transpiration, which is the flow of water through the stem and evaporation from leaves.
Now researchers have discovered that these biological clocks play a critical role in the consumption of water, allowing plants to use this precious resource more efficiently.
In a new paper published in Learning and Memory, researchers from Boston University's Center for Systems Neuroscience reveal just how much power scents have in triggering the memory of past experiences--and the potential for odor to be used as a tool to treat memory-related mood disorders.