Новости за 04.02.2022

The deep-ocean floor is the least explored ecosystem on the planet, despite covering more than 60 percent of the Earth surface. Largely unknown life in abyssal sediments, from benthic animals to microbes, helps to recycle and/or sequester the sinking (in)organic matter originating from pelagic communities that are numerically dominated by microscopic plankton. Benthic ecosystems thus underpin two major ecosystem services of planetary importance: the healthy functioning of ocean food-webs and the burial of carbon on geological timescales... Читать дальше...

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have gained insight into a fundamental process found throughout the universe. They discovered that the magnetic fields threading through plasma, the charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei, can affect the coming together and violent snapping apart of the plasma's magnetic field lines. This insight could help scientists predict the occurrence of coronal mass ejections, enormous... Читать дальше...

A lot is measured and weighed in biological research. Researchers from Wageningen Marine Research and partners published measurements of more than 3000 individuals of 29 species of marine animals from the polar regions in the scientific journal Polar Biology. Relationships between the length and weight of animals, and between different body parts, were also analyzed in this study.

A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has demonstrated tiny concentric nanocircles that self-assemble into an optical material with precision and efficiency.

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are a type of programmable structure that can be used to control the propagation of electromagnetic waves, by changing the electric and magnetic properties of the surface. They provide a new approach to improving the performance of wireless communications systems: change the propagation environment rather than adapting to it.

The Standard Model of Cosmology describes how the universe came into being according to the view of most physicists. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now studied the evolution of galaxies within this model, finding considerable discrepancies with actual observations. The University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Charles University in the Czech Republic were also involved in the study. The results have now been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Area-based conservation targets aimed at stopping and reversing global biodiversity loss are set to form an integral part of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework discussions later this year. An international team of researchers have however found that strictly protecting global land area for conservation could have an adverse impact on human health and food security in some parts of the world.

QUT Ph.D. researcher Lauren Ashwood has studied sea anemones' venom makeup extensively, in particular, Telmatactis stephensoni a reef-based sea anemone that can grow from 8 to 10 cm.

Could satellites be able to help track and map the marine plastic waste befouling our oceans? Research teams from across Europe returned to a Netherlands-based ocean wave test facility to try and detect floating plastic. Using a suite of microwave and optical instruments, the researchers are assessing if orbital monitoring of plastic might be practical in the future.

Researchers at ICMAB present a study on new nanovesicles, known as quatsomes, which have been successfully engineered to encapsulate and deliver microRNAs for the treatment of tumors. These nanovesicles are produced by a simple GMP compliant process, an unavoidable requirement for the clinical use of new drug candidates. The study, published in Small, has been highlighted in the Women in Materials Science issue of Advanced Materials.

One of the world's largest freshwater wetlands—the Pantanal—spreads across a bowl-shaped plain where Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. During the rainy season in most years, floodwater drains from several swollen South American rivers into this vast inland delta, replenishing swamps and marshes. The region is home to thousands of plant and animal species, including rare and endangered jaguars, hyacinth macaws, and giant river otters.

The postcards and posters from most Winter Olympics call attention to the thick powder and ice-covered mountains we expect from winter mountain sports. But this year will be a little different.

In humid savanna on Cape York Peninsula, February 5, 1922, a man was on the hunt with a local Indigenous guide. They had just heard their quarry calling among the tall grass—a low "oomm, oomm, oomm"—before it burst into view with a flurry of wingbeats. A loud shotgun blast, and the bird dropped to the ground.

Analyzing as many as one billion proton collisions per second or tens of thousands of very complex lead collisions is not an easy job for a traditional computer farm. With the latest upgrades of the LHC experiments due to come into action next year, their demand for data processing potential has significantly increased. As their new computational challenges might not be met using traditional central processing units (CPUs), the four large experiments are adopting graphics processing units (GPUs).

About 200 million years ago, much of Europe was transformed by a huge flood. What had been land, occupied by early dinosaurs and other reptiles, was covered by shallow seawater, from Poland in the east to Wales and south-west England in the west.

A polymer that catalyzes its own formation in an environmentally friendly solvent-free process has been developed by an all-RIKEN team of chemists. The discovery could lead to the development of inherently recyclable polymer materials that are made using a sustainable process.

"The long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been."

Los Angeles had oil wells pumping in its neighborhoods when Hollywood was in its infancy, and thousands of active wells still dot the city.

"Cheetahs have become faster and faster because they have realized that it is necessary"—this statement should make teachers sit up and take notice when they teach the principles of evolution. Many students have incorrect ideas about it. They fail to recognize the principle of random variations that represent a survival advantage and instead assume that evolutionary processes are directed towards a goal, that a species has unchanging traits, that useful characteristics are inherited, or they anthropomorphise... Читать дальше...

A previously undiscovered wreck has been found outside of Fjällbacka on the Swedish west coast. Analysis of wood samples shows that it is the oldest shipwreck ever found in the province of Bohuslän. This is also one of the oldest cogs that has yet to be found in Europe.

A new study led by UC Santa Cruz found that most California cities still have a long way to go in addressing equity as part of their climate action plans, and researchers identified common pitfalls that may be holding back progress on these efforts.

Many island bats are at risk of extinction, yet bats are proving essential in the survival of one of the world's most unusual plant species.

Heat-shrinkable technology developed by an all-RIKEN team could allow solar cells and touch sensors to be attached to objects whose shapes make them challenging to laminate.

More than two billion people face severe water shortages and a similar number have been affected by flooding over the past 20 years, with these challenges expected to rise in coming years due to climate change, growing populations and increased economic activity. Therefore, a global initiative led by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and coordinated by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) will enable communities across the world to better adapt to our changing water cycle.

Quantum magnets can be studied using high-resolution spectroscopic studies to access magnetodynamic quantities including energy barriers, magnetic interactions, and lifetime of excited states. In a new report now published in Science Advances, Sascha Brinker and a team of scientists in advanced simulation and microstructure physics in Germany studied a previously unexplored flavor of low-energy spin excitation for quantum spins coupled to an electron bath. The team combined time-dependent and many-body... Читать дальше...