Новости за 11.02.2022

The Paris Climate Agreement goal to limit global warming this century to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) over pre-industrial temperatures is still within reach, while apocalyptic, worst-case scenarios are no longer plausible, suggests a new CU Boulder analysis.

Wildfires are devastating, but they can also bring new life by clearing existing vegetation and allowing new plants to spring up. Many plants in fire-prone areas actually require exposure to fire for seeds to germinate. In the past decade, scientists have discovered an ancient receptor protein that can detect molecules called karrikins in smoke from burnt plant material. The "smoke detector" protein, called KAI2, initiates molecular signals that speed up germination of seeds.

Star light, star bright, the James Webb Space Telescope has seen its first star (though it wasn't quite tonight)—and even taken a selfie, NASA announced Friday.

Scientists from SANKEN (the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research) at Osaka University measured the thermal effects of ionic flow through a nanopore using a thermocouple. They found that under most conditions, both the current and heating power varied with applied voltage as predicted by Ohm's law. This work may lead to more advanced nanoscale sensors.

Researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) have developed a microsize-gap multiple-shot electroporation (M2E) device that could improve the effectiveness of delivering cancer drugs at a lower cost, globally.

All through history, humans have created and shared stories that ponder the creation of stars—what they are and how the first stars came to be. Now, with new results from the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), a radio telescope located at the South Africa Karoo Astronomy Reserve, MIT scientists are one small, but significant, step closer to understanding that history.

A team of astronomers have made the discovery of a lifetime that will help answer burning questions on the evolution of stars. The group is led by Evolutionary Studies Initiative member and Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Keivan Stassun.

In recent work, researchers from the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences characterized the molecular mechanism of color formation in an orange-fruited tomato inbred line, orange fruited tomato3 (oft3). Using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), they found that oft3 fruit had a markedly reduced carotenoid content, as well as a higher β-carotene/lycopene ratio during ripening. Further genetic analysis through crossing experiments suggested... Читать дальше...

A team of researchers affiliated with a large number of institutions in China has realized direct lithography of composition-tunable perovskite nanocrystals inside of glass. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their experiments that involved direct lithography of colored perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) resulting in desired patterns.

Consider the Biden administration's central climate goal: cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions 50%-52% below 2005 levels by 2030, then zero out emissions by 2050.

Currently, the world's energy demand mainly depends on fossil fuels being a limited resource. The consumption of fossil fuels leads to emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is one of the major greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and climate changes. We need to urgently establish sustainable energy societies based on renewable energy sources. On the other hand, nature has perfected an ultimate solar energy conversion system, photosynthesis, where high-energy molecules such as carbohydrates... Читать дальше...

New research led by the University of Adelaide has found the first tangible evidence that the ancestors of some of Australia's most venomous snakes arrived by sea rather than by land—the dispersal route of most other Australian reptiles.

University of Chicago scientists have been able to create a new kind of quantum object at will in the laboratory: "domain walls."

Just over 12 months ago, we were sitting at Woomera, in the Australian outback, waiting for a streak of light in the sky to testify that the Hayabusa2 spacecraft had returned from its voyage to collect a little piece of a near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu. Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy in Woomera that day and we didn't see the spacecraft come in.

To date, most marker-trait associations have been revealed using QTL and genome-wide association studies (GWAS), demonstrating both their successes and their limitations. Haplotypes are the particular combinations of alleles/markers observed on a chromosomal segment in a given population, and they make it possible to test multiple allelic interaction effects. Haplotypes can also increase the statistical power of GWAS by reducing the number of tests compared to using all SNPs. Alleles within the same... Читать дальше...

The long-held consensus that the more populated and "civilized" a society, the more complex their communication may be more nuanced than previously thought.

In 2020, Prof. Teruo Ono and his colleagues at Kyoto University reported the very first observation of a magnetically controllable, superconducting diode effect in an artificial superlattice. Their findings, published in Nature, paved the way for other studies aimed at moving towards the fabrication of non-dissipative electronic circuits.

Human eggs often contain the wrong number of chromosomes, leading to miscarriages and infertility. A research team led by Melina Schuh at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences has discovered that human eggs are missing an important protein, which acts as a molecular motor. This motor helps to stabilize the machinery that separates the chromosomes during cell division. The researchers' findings open up new avenues for therapeutic approaches that could reduce chromosome segregation errors in human eggs.

Iowans might notice some new uninvited guests crashing their summer barbecues this year.

Analysis of a colossal anthropological dataset that systematically collects characteristics of societies around the world throughout all of human history and prehistory shows that an important bottleneck preventing growth in 'collective computation'—the ability of social groups to solve problems—may be the development of writing systems.

A new study shows that people with migraine or frequent tension headaches have a reduced work ability. The researchers hope that the new knowledge may help workplaces become better at accommodating those suffering from headaches.

Nanowires, used in sensors, transistors, optoelectronic devices and other systems that require subatomic preciseness, like to stick together. Untangling electrical wires can be a difficult task—imagine trying to separate out wires 1/1000 the width of a human hair. The self-attraction of nanowires has been a major problem for quality and efficient bulk fabrication, with the potential to catastrophically short-circuit nanowire-based devices, but researchers in China have now revealed why the components cling to one each other.

More than eight million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year—a serious danger for the environment and health. Biodegradable bioplastics could provide an alternative. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a new method for the production of protein-based plastics that are easily processable, biodegradable, and biocompatible, as well as having favorable mechanical properties.

Precise manipulation and transportation of micro-sized droplets is a challenging task, yet crucial for biomedical and industrial applications. A research team led by a scholar from the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has successfully developed a novel droplet manipulation method called "WRAP" which can transport droplets of different sizes and compositions by electromagnets or programmable electromagnetic fields. The research team believes that this innovative method has great potential in developing... Читать дальше...

Researchers at The University of Manchester may have cleared a significant hurdle on the path to quantum computing, demonstrating step-change improvements in the spin transport characteristics of nanoscale graphene-based electronic devices.