Новости за 26.04.2022

In recent years, the golden word in precious metals is palladium.

Working with tiny bacteria, Michigan State University researchers led by Lee Kroos have made a discovery that could have big implications for biology.

April in Siberia is a month when mites awaken and find their first victims. Traditional reservoirs of mite‐transmitted infections are rodents and wild animals: rabbits, foxes, squirrels, and others. A Russian Science Foundation-supported research team has discovered that a major role in the transmission cycle of mite‐transmitted infections is played by rock lizards, which can be found in the south of Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia, and Turkey, and in other countries with a warm climate. The study is published in Journal of Vector Ecology.

Microorganisms that efficiently convert plant biomass into renewable biofuels and biochemicals play a major role in the sustainable society of the future. However, the efficiency of these microbial cell factories is inhibited by several compounds that are released as biomass is degraded into sugars, which the cell factories then convert. How can these bioprocesses be improved? Researchers in industrial biotechnology at Chalmers University are now one step closer to a solution and have published their results in Biotechnology Advances.

Even the smallest organism can have a major influence on the evolution of life on Earth. Microscopic algae that inhabit the sunlit waters of the ocean surface are not only responsible for about half of the photosynthesis on the planet but are also valuable as a nutrient-rich food source sustaining the entire marine ecosystem. In their study, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Itay Halevy and Dr. Shlomit Sharoni from the Weizmann Institute of Science's Earth... Читать дальше...

As a new wildfire season approaches, many Canadians are reflecting on the devastating losses of last season, and considering what they can do to protect themselves and the places where they live.

Washington University in St. Louis is part of a collaboration that has yielded new insight into one of the universe's primordial reactions that made all life on Earth possible.

A deposit of nearly pure argon left undisturbed since Earth's formation is about to help physicists understand more about the universe.

If we compare the right to the left hand, we can see these are specular images—that is, like symmetrical shapes reflected in a mirror—and they cannot superimpose on each other. This property is chirality, a feature of the matter that plays with the symmetry of biological structures at different scales, from the DNA molecule to the tissues of the heart muscle.

The outer-core size of tropical cyclones (TCs) is vital for evaluating their destructive potential. It is usually defined as the radius of gale-force wind (R17), but accurately forecasting R17 is challenging owing to our incomplete understanding of the physical mechanism that determines it. Nonetheless, there is a general consensus that the TC outer-core size is mainly regulated by the TC's outer spiral rain bands. The factors conducive to the development and organization of convection in the outer-core... Читать дальше...

The first demonstration of the laser in 1960 was rapidly followed by the birth of a new research field: nonlinear optics. The unique coherence properties of stimulated emission, the fundamental physical process of laser radiation, has enabled intensities that exceed those of incoherent sources by many orders of magnitude. The high intensities drive electrons so strongly that they oscillate with frequencies different from those of the driving light field. The subsequent dipole emission can be extremely colorful. Читать дальше...

Freshwater pearl mussels are found in rivers in Japan. They are in severe decline, however, and are on the endangered Red List designated by the Ministry of the Environment. Freshwater pearl mussels are known to play an important role in the biochemical ecosystem of river nutrients in the area and downstream. Kayano Takeuchi, graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, and her father Motoi Takeuchi, strived to collect water samples and biofilm from 14 rivers throughout Japan in... Читать дальше...

A survey has found that endangered and threatened insects and spiders, as well as common species that provide valuable ecological services, can be easily purchased– without adequate oversight—through basic internet searches, according to a new Cornell study.

Viruses are among the most protean entities in nature, ceaselessly mutating and acquiring new characteristics. These tiny entities follow a simple and relentless imperative:  infect as many host organisms as possible. Occasionally, a virus' genomic alterations enable it to leap from one species to another, in a process known as spillover.

The domestic cat is one of our most popular pets. In Norway alone, 5.4 million people own approximately 770,000 cats. But where do our four-legged friends go? The cat wants to go outside, you open the door, it leaves and disappears. After a while it returns, but where was it in the meantime?

Trees of the species Pouteria bullata, which is endemic to Brazil and whose common name is guapeva-vermelha, are found solely in the Atlantic Rainforest biome and produce sweet succulent fruit.

Using new analyses, scientists have just found the last two of the five informational units of DNA and RNA that had yet to be discovered in samples from meteorites. While it is unlikely that DNA could be formed in a meteorite, this discovery demonstrates that these genetic parts are available for delivery and could have contributed to the development of the instructional molecules on early Earth. The discovery, by an international team with NASA researchers, gives more evidence that chemical reactions... Читать дальше...

The world's coral reefs are becoming extinct due to many factors such as global warming and accelerated urbanization in coastal areas, which places tremendous stress on marine life. "The rapid decline of coral reefs has increased the need for exploring interdisciplinary methods for reef restoration," explains Natalie Levy, a Ph.D. student at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. "Examining how to conserve the biodiversity of coral reefs is a key issue, but there is also an urgent need to invest in technology... Читать дальше...

Italian nurse Daniela Poggiali was arrested and convicted of murdering two hospital patients in 2014. Her case attracted the attention of Leiden statistician Richard Gill. After his investigation, together with an Italian colleague, Poggiali was acquitted last autumn. Together with fellow statisticians, Gill is trying to prevent this type of statistical error in the future.

Meat substitutes are on the rise: While they used to have a niche existence in health food stores or organic stores, wheat salami, tofu schnitzel or soy mince can now be found in every well-stocked supermarket. "We wanted to know why consumers choose these alternatives," explains Jeanette Klink-Lehmann, who is doing her doctorate at the Institute of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Bonn in the department of Prof. Dr. Monika Hartmann.

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have caused Earth's climate to change—and in Arctic regions, air temperatures are warming twice as fast as the global average. Permanently frozen Arctic soils located in tundra ecosystems store approximately twice the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere. This frozen organic matter is thawing, thus increasing microbial decomposition, which releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Arctic climate change can also lead to more droughts, lower air moisture... Читать дальше...

When the global community is expected to meet for the second part of the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, in autumn, it must also adopt the next generation of UN biodiversity targets. These will then replace the Aichi Targets that were aimed for until 2020—and have hardly been achieved. Twenty-one "Post-2020 Action Targets for 2030" have already been pre-formulated. While they still have to be finally agreed, they aim to reduce potential threats to biodiversity, improve the well-being of humans... Читать дальше...

Wettability of a material is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface, and it is proportional to hydrophilicity and inversely proportional to hydrophobicity. It is one of the most important properties of a solid, and understanding the wettability of different substrates is essential for various industrial uses, such as desalination, coating agents, and water electrolytes.

The Drake equation is one of the most famous equations in astronomy. It has been endlessly debated since it was first posited in 1961 by Frank Drake, but so far has served as an effective baseline for discussion about how much life might be spread throughout the galaxy. However, all equations can be improved, and a team of astrobiologists and astronomers think they have found a way to improve this one.

China plans to develop a system for monitoring asteroids that pose a threat to earth, highlighting the nation's growing ambitions for its space program.