Tech
Clown fish are unable to genetically adapt to changes in their environment. Such is the conclusion of a study, unprecedented in the field of submarine environmental research, by a group of CNRS scientists* and their Australian, Saudi, Chilean, and American colleagues. Their findings are published in Ecology Letters (26 November 2019). For over ten years, the researchers observed clown fish in the lagoons of Kimbe Island, a hot spot of biodiversity in Papua New Guinea.
The automatic identification of complex features in images has already become a reality thanks to artificial neural networks. Some examples of software exploiting this technique are Facebook's automatic tagging system, Google's image search engine and the animal and plant recognition system used by iNaturalist. We know that these networks are inspired by the human brain, but their working mechanism is still mysterious.
Animals evolved from single-celled ancestors before diversifying into 30-40 distinct anatomical designs. When and how animal ancestors made the transition from single-celled microbes to complex multicellular organisms is unclear. But a new scientific study suggests animal-like embryological traits developed long before animals themselves.
Scientists from Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, and Melbourne Center for Nanofabrication developed an ultrasensitive detector based on black silicon. The device is able to detect trace amounts of nitroaromatic compounds and can be applied to identify the majority of explosives or highly toxic pollutants for medical and forensic evaluations. The related article was published in ACS Sensors.
Tufted puffins regulate their body temperature thanks to their large bills, an evolutionary trait that might explain their capacity to fly for long periods in search for food.
In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers from McGill University and the University of California, Davis, used thermal imaging cameras to measure heat dissipation off the bodies and beaks of wild tufted puffins in the minutes after flying.
Since 2013, a European Union (EU) moratorium has restricted the application of three neonicotinoids to crops that attract bees because of the harmful effects they are deemed to have on these insects. Yet researchers from the CNRS, INRA, and the Institut de l'Abeille (ITSAP) have just demonstrated that residues of these insecticides--and especially of imidacloprid--can still be detected in rape nectar from 48% of the plots of studied fields, their concentrations varying greatly over the years.
Oil and gas pipelines have become polarizing issues in Canada, but supporters and detractors alike can agree that the safer they are, the better.
Topological materials have become a hot topic in quantum materials research, as they have potential applications for quantum information and spintronics. This is because topological materials have strange electronic states in which an electron’s momentum is connected to its spin orientation, something that can be exploited in new ways to encode and transmit information. One type of topological material, called a magnetic Weyl semimetal, is attracting interest because of its potential ability to be manipulated with magnetic fields.
Some community parks are square, a reflection of the city block where they're located -- but irregularly shaped parks reduce the mortality risk of residents who live near them, concluded a study by Huaquing Wang, a Ph.D. Urban and Regional Sciences student and Lou Tassinary, professor of visualization.
Glycosylation -- the attachment of sugars to proteins -- plays a critical role in both cellular function and in the development of therapeutics, like vaccines.
But because researchers have used mammalian cells to create the biosynthetic pathways (sets of enzyme catalysts) to build and study these sugar structures, the process has historically taken a long time and has required specialized laboratory equipment.
For decades, scientists have speculated about the origin of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from celestial regions that host black holes and neutron stars--the most mysterious objects in the universe.
Astrophysicists believe that this high-energy radiation--which makes neutron stars and black holes shine bright--is generated by electrons that move at nearly the speed of light, but the process that accelerates these particles has remained a mystery.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Storm Kammuri in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and found several areas of very strong thunderstorms.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard Suomi NPP provided an infrared image of the storm on Nov. 27 at 0424 UTC (Nov. 26 at 11:24 p.m. EST). Infrared imagery reveals cloud top temperatures, and the higher the cloud top, the colder it is, and the stronger the storm.
Active cooling is crucial in most modern technologies, ranging from microprocessors in data centers to turbines and engines. Forced convection cooling, which circulates a coolant fluid over the surface of a hot object, is effective for meeting such cooling requirements but demands a pumping power to send the coolant through the heat generating section. However, active cooling ? fast removal of a large quantity of thermal energy in the heat source under a large temperature difference ?
NUS researchers have made a breakthrough in the field of cognitive computational neuroscience, by discovering a key aspect of how the brain encodes short-term memories.
Animated shows with animal characters can increase public interest in real wildlife, including boosting donations to conservation programs at zoos. A new national analysis in Japan highlights the potential of entertainment-conservation partnerships to increase public interest in the natural world even as communities become increasingly urbanized.