Tech
According to ecotoxicologist from Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), from the 90s and during 2000s in the tissues of Russian Far Eastern mussels the concentration of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) that had been globally used in agriculture in the mid-twentieth century has increased about ten times. OCPs pollute and affect badly the ecosystems of the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Bering Sea. A related review was published in Water Research.
As cutting edge as electric vehicles are, they're still vulnerable to an Achilles heel - the very source that gives them power.
One of the common types of batteries used in electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries - or Li-ion batteries - is susceptible to catching on fire or exploding as a result of a crash or other major impact exerted onto the vehicle. The impact results in the internal short-circuit of electrodes. The small fire can spread throughout the battery and to other parts of the car through "thermal runaway."
Some fungi and bacteria live in close association, or symbiosis, with tree roots in forest soil to obtain mutual benefits. The microorganisms help trees access water and nutrients from the atmosphere or soil, sequester carbon, and withstand the effects of climate change. In exchange, they receive carbohydrates, which are essential to their development and are produced by the trees during photosynthesis.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT researchers have devised a novel method to glean more information from images used to train machine-learning models, including those that can analyze medical scans to help diagnose and treat brain conditions.
A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, has made a breakthrough in the field of noninvasive robotic device control. Using a noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI), researchers have developed the first-ever successful mind-controlled robotic arm exhibiting the ability to continuously track and follow a computer cursor.
Being able to noninvasively control robotic devices using only thoughts will have broad applications, in particular benefiting the lives of paralyzed patients and those with movement disorders.
It's a well-known fact that the ocean is one of the biggest absorbers of the carbon dioxide emitted by way of human activity. What's less well known is how the ocean's processes for absorbing that carbon change over time, and how they might affect its ability to buffer climate change.
A new Gender, Work & Organization analysis of U.S. data from 1997-2016 provides new insights into workplace sexual harassment.
The National Academies of Sciences and Medicine from South Africa, Brazil, Germany, and the United States of America have joined forces to issue an urgent call to action on harmful air pollution. They are calling for a new global compact to improve collaboration on the growing problem, and for governments, businesses and citizens to reduce air pollution in all countries.
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have discovered how a dangerous parasite maintains a steady supply of nutrients while replicating inside of its host cell: it calls for delivery.
Researchers at the JCU Turtle Health Research Facility have conducted a first-of-its-kind study using what's known as phage therapy as an option for bacterial infections in green sea turtles.
Phage therapy uses so-called 'good viruses' (bacteriophages) that occur naturally in the environment and kill bacteria.
"Green turtles rely on 'good bacteria' in their gut to extract nutrients from food," said Dr Robert Kinobe, one of the researchers involved in the study.
Researchers have presented a new strategy for efficiently producing fatty acids and biofuels that can transform glucose and oleaginous microorganisms into microbial diesel fuel, with one-step direct fermentative production.
The newly developed strain, created by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee and his team, showed the highest efficiency in producing fatty acids and biodiesels ever reported. It will be expected to serve as a new platform to sustainably produce a wide array of fatty acid-based products from glucose and other carbon substrates.
Postural sway is an independent risk factor for bone fractures in postmenopausal women, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital. Women with the highest postural sway had a two times higher fracture risk compared to women with the lowest postural sway.
In addition, a combination of high postural sway and low bone mineral density was associated with a five times higher overall fracture risk and an 11 times higher osteoporotic fracture risk. The results were published in Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
Plants are susceptible to stress, and with the global impact of climate change and humanity's growing demand for food, it's crucial to understand what causes plant stress and stress tolerance. When plants absorb excess light energy during photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species are produced, potentially causing oxidative stress that damages important structures. Plants can suppress the production of reactive oxygen species by oxidizing P700 (the reaction center chlorophyll in photosystem I).
A new study by a pair of researchers in the US and Japan has found that, when gravity is combined with quantum mechanics, symmetry is not possible.
A new study shows how marine life around Antarctica returned after the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
A team led by British Antarctic Survey studied just under 3000 marine fossils collected from Antarctica to understand how life on the sea floor recovered after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction 66 million years ago. They reveal it took one million years for the marine ecosystem to return to pre-extinction levels. The results are published today (19 June 2019) in the journal Palaeontology.