Новости за 30.08.2021

Hydrogels are everywhere. They are water-loving polymers that can absorb and retain water, and can be found in such everyday consumer products such as soft contact lenses, disposable diapers, certain foods, and even in agricultural applications. They are also extremely useful in several medical applications due to their high degree of biocompatibility and their ability to eventually degrade and be reabsorbed into the body.

New research using data from NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, mission, has revealed unexpected behavior in the swaths of charged particles that band Earth's equator—made possibly by GOLD's long-term global view, the first of its kind for this type of measurement.

Crashing waves and water temperature along rocky shorelines strongly influence the growth patterns of the yellowfoot limpet (Cellana sandwicensis), or ʻopihi ʻālinalina, an intertidal species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. That is the primary conclusion of a study published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment by researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR).

Stellarators, twisty magnetic devices that aim to harness on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars, have long played second fiddle to more widely used doughnut-shaped facilities known as tokamaks. The complex twisted stellarator magnets have been difficult to design and have previously allowed greater leakage of the superhigh heat from fusion reactions.

Similar to the well-known human gut-resident microbes, the inside of a plant can also shelter microorganisms. Residing inside roots, stems, leaves, fruits, and even seeds, and developing a synergistic relationship with their host, these "endophytic" microorganisms need not necessarily harm the plant. Instead, they are often beneficial in germination, growth, and defense. However, plant interiors also contain many "secondary metabolites," which are natural bioactive compounds that have strong antimicrobial properties... Читать дальше...

As the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29 approached, New Orleans residents were bracing for another disaster, Hurricane Ida. This year, similar to last, the country will be hit by an above-average number of extreme weather events, including major hurricanes, flooding and wildfires.

Ancient humans could do some impressive things with elephant bones.

As wildfires become commonplace in the western U.S. and around the world, checking the daily air quality warning has become as routine as checking the weather. But what people do with that data—whether it drives them to slip on a mask before stepping outside or seal up their homes against smoke—is not always straightforward or rational, according to new Stanford research.

New archeological research highlights major blind spots in Australia's environmental management policies, placing submerged Indigenous heritage at risk.

Researchers from Nara Institute of Science and Technology and Nanjing University have found that KNUCKLES (KNU), a small multi-functional protein, helps flowers to complete their development correctly and in a timely way. KNU stops a feedback loop between two genes, playing multiple roles to allow the proper formation of flower reproductive organs within a short time frame. This research will be useful for genetic studies of food crops, and food production globally.

The current global climate emergency and our rapidly receding energy resources have people looking out for cleaner alternatives like hydrogen fuel. When burnt in the presence of oxygen, hydrogen gas generates huge amounts of energy but none of the harmful greenhouse gases, unlike fossil fuels. Unfortunately, most of the hydrogen fuel produced today comes from natural gas or fossil fuels, which ultimately increases its carbon footprint.

Global warming will cause extreme sea levels to occur almost every year by the end of the century, impacting major coastlines worldwide, according to new research from an international team of scientists.

In all eukaryotic organisms, genetic material is stored in the cell nucleus in the form of DNA. In order to be used, this DNA is first transcribed into messenger RNA in the cell cytoplasm, then translated into protein with the help of ribosomes, small machines capable of decoding messenger RNA to synthesize the appropriate proteins. However, the speed with which this mechanism takes place is not uniform: it must adapt to allow the protein to adopt the right configuration. Indeed, a deregulation of... Читать дальше...

There's no need to don uncomfortable smartwatches or chest straps to monitor your heart if your comfy shirt can do a better job.

The ReNature project is proud to announce the release of an interactive online toolkit designed to guide experts and non-experts in the implementation of nature-based solutions. The newly launched service is a feature of the ReNature Compendium which identifies a range of nature-based solutions that may be used to tackle societal challenges, associated with environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental justice. When using the ReNature nature-based solutions Compendium... Читать дальше...

For millennia, humanity has observed the changing phases of the Moon. The rise and fall of sunlight reflected off the Moon, as it presents its different faces to us, is known as a "phase curve". Measuring phase curves of the Moon and Solar System planets is an ancient branch of astronomy that goes back at least a century. The shapes of these phase curves encode information on the surfaces and atmospheres of these celestial bodies. In modern times, astronomers have measured the phase curves of exoplanets using space telescopes such as Hubble... Читать дальше...

A simple fish stock assessment model applied to over 500 years of catch data demonstrated that if Canadian authorities had allowed for the rebuilding of northern Atlantic cod stock off Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1980s, annual catches of about 200,000 tons could have been sustained.

HSE University researchers Feodor Uspenskij and Anna Litvina studied the notes of Georg Tectander, a diplomat of the Holy Roman Empire, as collected in the book The Travel to Persia through Muscovy: 1602–1603, and discovered the exact date of birth of Tsar Boris Godunov: August 2 (Julian calendar) or August 12 (Gregorian calendar). The scholars then verified and confirmed this date with other 17th-century sources—in particular, with the notes of Baron Heinrich von Logau, the Empire's ambassador in Moscow. Читать дальше...

European old-growth forests are estimated to occupy only 0.7% of the total forested area; they are of prime ecological value, representing small vestiges of how Europe's past primeval forest may have looked. In addition, old-growth forests provide various and important ecosystem services, such as biodiversity maintenance, long-term carbon storage, and landscape uniqueness. Therefore, old-growth forests represent valuable natural laboratories for evaluating how trees of different dimensions and ages respond to global change drivers... Читать дальше...

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major upheaval, sending students home to remote learning and leaving teachers and parents scrambling to adapt.

Black employees who engage in racial codeswitching—adjusting behaviors to optimize the comfort of others in exchange for a desired outcome—are consistently perceived by both Black and white people as more professional than employees who don't codeswitch, new Cornell research has found.

One consequence of the coronavirus pandemic is showing up in an unlikely place: the space industry.

Cow manure—a longtime agricultural waste headache for dairy farmers—soon may ignite a new sustainable fertilizing trend.

McGill University researchers have discovered a new way to track genetically modified animals using the artificial transgenes they leave behind in the environment. The discovery provides a powerful new tool to locate and manage genetically modified animals that have escaped or been released into the wild.

Astra Space Inc. failed to reach orbit in its rocket launch Saturday, the latest setback for the maker of small rockets used to send satellites into space.