Новости за 28.06.2021

Say "fungus" and most people in the world would probably visualize a mushroom.

With the International Day of Forests 2021 already a fading memory, perhaps it's time to forget them for another year and shift our attention to the next worthy cause. Well, no. If anything, we need to be redoubling our efforts to ensure that they remain permanently in the spotlight, not least the most neglected, threatened and undervalued forest type of all.

Despite greater cultural awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault in recent years, many victims are reluctant to talk about what happened to them.

It's not uncommon to hear teachers and other educators talk about being "June tired" —the way they typically feel in June after a full school year. But this year, educational workers may be experiencing a new, and much deeper, form of fatigue.

Astronomers are on the search for a mysterious signal that could map the early universe.

Scientists from the National University of Science and Technology "MISIS" (NUST MISIS) in cooperation with their colleagues from the Siberian Federal University and the Research and Production Centre of Magnetic Hydrodynamics (Krasnoyarsk) have developed a technology for producing a unique heat-resistant aluminum alloy with improved durability.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are killing more people each year, but scientists are turning to their natural virus predators to treat infections, as well as new vaccines to prevent disease.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. In 2018, there were 18.1 million new cases and 9.5 million cancer-related deaths worldwide. By 2040, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to rise to 29.5 million and the number of cancer-related deaths to 16.4 million.

Imagine you sit down and pick up your favorite book. You look at the image on the front cover, run your fingers across the smooth book sleeve, and smell that familiar book smell as you flick through the pages. To you, the book is made up of a range of sensory appearances.

Life on Earth is most diverse at the equator. This pattern, where species biodiversity increases as we move through the tropics towards the equator, is seen on land and in the oceans, and has been documented across a broad range of animal and plant groups, from mammals and birds, to ants and even trees.

Last week, a group of researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish Museum of Natural History and the Zoological Museum of the University of Turku discovered a horsefly species that hasn't been recorded in Finland before. The species was discovered near Finland's southernmost city Hanko, in the surroundings of Tvärminne Zoological Station.

A few males are enough to fertilize all the females. The number of males therefore has little bearing on a population's growth. However, they are important for purging bad mutations from the population. This is shown by a new Uppsala University study providing in-depth knowledge of the possible long-term genetic consequences of sexual selection. The results are published in the scientific journal Evolution Letters.

Material scientists have developed a fast method for producing epsilon iron oxide and demonstrated its promise for next-generation communications devices. Its outstanding magnetic properties make it one of the most coveted materials, such as for the upcoming 6G generation of communication devices and for durable magnetic recording. The work was published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

It's hard enough to reach base when pitchers like Aroldis Chapman and Jacob deGrom throw the high heat. But what about when nature does?

A cataclysmic cosmic collision takes center stage in this image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The image features the interacting galaxy pair IC 1623, which lies around 275 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (the Whale). The two galaxies are in the final stages of merging, and astronomers expect a powerful inflow of gas to ignite a frenzied burst of star formation in the resulting compact starburst galaxy.

Tuberculosis is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, infecting about one-quarter of the world's population. Although it is treatable, the rise of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis poses a major threat to global health security, and has been declared by the World Health Organization as a global health emergency. Reduced access to diagnosis and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to dramatically increase the number of tuberculosis infections. This will set global efforts to tackle the disease back several years.

Metals with similar chemical properties are usually extracted together, limiting deep separation for high-purity metal. Different metal species show different activities in solvent extraction. It is necessary to learn about the distribution of aqueous metal species for further extraction.

Catalysts could prove to be the key to converting carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into value-added products but their effectiveness depends on them being selective in how they work.

When harmful bacteria or viruses enter the body, immune cells spot telltale proteins known as antigens on the invaders' surfaces and send out armies of antibodies to fend them off. If some of those antibodies have just the right shape, they can latch onto and block the antigens like the key to a padlock.

Engineers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a novel face mask that can diagnose the wearer with Covid-19 within about 90 minutes. The masks are embedded with tiny, disposable sensors that can be fitted into other face masks and could also be adapted to detect other viruses.

A worldwide team led by UC Santa Barbara scientists at Las Cumbres Observatory has discovered the first convincing evidence for a new type of stellar explosion—an electron-capture supernova. While they have been theorized for 40 years, real-world examples have been elusive. They are thought to arise from the explosions of massive super-asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) stars, for which there has also been scant evidence. The discovery, published in Nature Astronomy, also sheds new light on the thousand-year... Читать дальше...

Newly-available scientific evidence, which could prove critical to the success of climate-related lawsuits, is often not produced in court, according to a new study published today by the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme and Environmental Change Institute.

All life on Earth 500 million years ago lived in the oceans, but scientists know little about how these animals and algae developed. A newly discovered fossil deposit near Kunming, China, may hold the keys to understanding how these organisms laid the foundations for life on land and at sea today, according to an international team of researchers.

The self-organization of molecular components into hierarchically ordered nanostructures is an essential part for the development of new materials in emerging nanotechnologies and sustainable plastics. Brigitte Lamers investigated the complex interplay between molecular driving forces for bulk assembly to find structure-property relationships in the area that merges block copolymers and liquid crystals. She defended her Ph.D. on June 23rd.

How hard should it be to earn a college degree?