Новости за 02.07.2021

Hurricane Elsa churned through the Caribbean Friday, bringing powerful winds and threatening to pile further misery on violence-wracked Haiti.

For the first time in the UAE, researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi have used nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to determine the structure of a specific nanobody, Nb23, potentially leading to a better understanding of how this small protein derived from an antibody type, found only in camelids (i.e camels, llamas, and alpacas) and sharks, can fight diseases ranging from rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and psoriasis to lymphoma and breast cancer.

Research led by Kansas State University's Suprem Das, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, in collaboration with Christopher Sorensen, university distinguished professor of physics, shows potential ways to manufacture graphene-based nano-inks for additive manufacturing of supercapacitors in the form of flexible and printable electronics.

There are plenty of negatives associated with smart technology—tech neck, texting and driving, blue light rays—but there is also a positive: the digital age is not making us stupid, says University of Cincinnati social/behavioral expert Anthony Chemero.

When the U.S. Space Force's Tactically Responsive Launch-2 (TacRL-2) mission launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on June 13, it carried a payload designed and built in record time by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

Hot vents in the deep sea are home to microbes that feed on ethane. They were discovered recently from scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology. Now the researchers from Bremen succeeded in finding an important component in the microbial conversion of the gas. They were able to decode the structure of the enzyme responsible for the ethane fixation. The structure highlights some common traits with the methane-fixing counterpart, but also revealed the key features for ethane specialization. Читать дальше...

In his Ph.D. thesis, EPFL researcher Martí Bosch proposes a method for spatially quantifying the impact of mitigation measures—planting green spaces and using different building materials—on the urban heat island effect.

During the course of evolution, animals have adapted to the particular demands of their local environments in ways that increased their chances of survival and reproduction. This is also true of diverse aspects of the sensory systems that enable species to perceive their surroundings. In the case of the visual system, these adaptations have shaped features such as the positioning of the eyes and the relative acuity of different regions of the retina.

Plastics are a growing problem for natural ecosystems around the globe, and in particular for our marine and freshwater environments. Rivers are the leading source of plastic pollution, as it has been estimated that they deliver several million metric tons of plastic annually to our oceans from poor land-based waste management. The problem is that the estimates made for plastics flowing from the rivers are tens to hundreds of times higher than the quantity of plastics floating on the ocean's surface. Читать дальше...

NIMS and Harvard University jointly developed a technique capable of measuring the viscosity of both liquids and gasses using the same device. This device can be used to identify unknown fluids based on their viscosities and may potentially be used to analyze biological fluids (e.g., breath and blood) for health monitoring and medical checkups. The device may also be used to investigate the physical properties and phase transitions of liquid/gas mixtures in basic research.

The flavor of a tomato is an interaction between its taste and aroma. Now, researchers from Japan and the United States have revealed that the pigments that determine the colors of tomatoes also affect their flavor.

In the 19th century, the notorious pathogen Phytophthora infestans caused a large famine in Ireland and other parts of Western Europe. To this day, it continues to pose a major threat to global food production. It has long been a mystery how this microscopically small organism and other members of the Phytophthora genus mechanically gain entry through the protective layer on the leaves of crops. In a unique collaboration, Wageningen University & Research experts in plant pathology, cell biology... Читать дальше...

Microorganisms produce natural products, for example, as disease-causing virulence factors or as defense substances against predators and competitors. A team led by Dr. Robin Teufel and first author Ying Duan from the Institute of Biology II at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Freiburg, together with researchers from the University of Bonn, have now discovered a novel enzyme that is crucial for the production of so-called bacterial tropone natural products. The researchers presented their... Читать дальше...

More efficient use of phosphorus fertilizers would make it possible to meet food demand in 2050, without using more of the world's land for agriculture. This is what environmental scientists José Mogollón and colleagues have discovered by working out various future scenarios for food production and trade. This could be achieved with only 7% more phosphorus fertilizer. And if our future is more sustainable, we would need even less.

As the health of Australia's environment continues to decline, the federal government is wagering on the ability of private markets to help solve the problem. So is this a wise move? The evidence is not at all encouraging.

Any cat lover who has watched an allergic friend react to a beloved pet knows the dark powers that lurk in that luxurious feline fur. Within minutes, an allergic human exposed to a cat can begin sneezing and wheezing. Eyes water and itch. The misery is obvious.

A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Japan, and one in Norway has found evidence that suggests domesticated pig genes in pig-boar hybrids living in the Fukushima exclusion zone are diminishing. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes their genetic study of tissue samples taken from wild boar, pigs and hybrids in the exclusion zone.

A pair of researchers from the University of Newcastle and the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research has documented a water scavenger beetle walking on the undersurface of a body of water. In their paper published in the journal Ethology, John Gould and Jose Valdez describe the beetle and suggest some theories to explain the unique behavior.