Новости за 31.08.2022

The American River Basin in central California expects to see increasing temperatures and a declining snowpack through the end of the 21st century. The Bureau of Reclamation released the American River Basin Study today, which also found an increased variability of fall and winter precipitation that will amplify the severity of droughts and flooding in the basin. The report is available on Reclamation's Basin Study website.

Jennifer Choy makes atom-size antennas. They bear no resemblance to the telescoping rod that transmits pop hits through a portable stereo. But functionally, they're similar. They're quantum sensors, picking up tiny electromagnetic signals and relaying them in a way we can measure.

The Rutgers New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center has gathered data to determine how common gun ownership has become in New Jersey and how gun owners store and use their weapons.

In the last 50 years, oxygen-deficient zones in the open ocean have increased. Scientists have attributed this development to rising global temperatures: Less oxygen dissolves in warmer water, and the tropical ocean's layers can become more stratified.

Phosphorus is one of the elements that is crucial for the construction of organisms and their metabolism. Its cycle across the environments is also one of the best understood. However, it occurred to the Czech paleontologists Peter Kraft and Michal Mergl that there could still be some white spaces on the map of our understanding of such a fundamental process. Their publication, which takes a new view of the changes in the phosphorus cycle over geological time, was recently published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

Today it only takes one and a half hours to make a superconducting particle accelerator at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory colder than outer space.

A French-Japanese research collaboration has fabricated metal nanocomposite coatings that improve the insulating properties of window glasses. The new coating prevents a significant portion of near-infrared (NIR) and ultraviolet rays (UV) from passing through, while at the same time admitting visible light. The findings were reported in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.

Qubits are the building blocks of quantum computers, which have the potential to revolutionize many fields of research by solving problems that classical computers can't.

When lightning ignited the bone-dry foothills of the Sierra Nevada last year, forestry crews fanned out across Sequoia National Park to defend an ancient grove of California redwoods from wildfire.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Subject to memorization in school and known as the definitive planetary lineup, Pluto was included in the list until the International Astronomical Union determined it did not meet qualifications in 2006.

Leaders of teacher groups who were thought of as humble helped improve professionalism and collaboration among team members, new research has shown.

A new classification of the world's coastlines has been released to improve coastal climate change adaptation at the local, regional and national level and strengthen coordinated climate action worldwide. The classification builds on the Coastal Hazard Wheel that is a universal coastal management framework and is developed by the Coastal Hazard Wheel initiative involving Deltares, the UN Environment Programme-DHI Centre (UNEP-DHI Centre) and the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, with contributions from University of Copenhagen... Читать дальше...

Individuals who actively choose to save for retirement via so-called sustainable funds are not only driven by values of equality, justice and the environment. They also have a tendency to prioritize authority, and attach less importance to wealth. This is shown by a new study from the University of Gothenburg.

Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Dartmouth College, Babson College, and LUISS University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that shows how to de-escalate customer anger on social media sites by using language that signals active listening and empathy.

Reverse osmosis (RO) has attracted wide attention for its extensive applicability in brackish water and seawater desalination. Thin-film composite (TFC) polyamide (PA) RO membranes consisting of a dense separating layer and a porous support layer have been the leading products of this field. However, relatively low permeability-selectivity of PA RO membrane and membrane fouling of TFC RO membrane limit the widespread applicability of TFC PA RO membranes.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute in Haifa have developed an innovative technology that enables the growth of "enriched seaweed" infused with nutrients, proteins, dietary fiber, and minerals for human and animal needs.

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and European research institutions are calling for better protections for juvenile emperor penguins, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers listing the species under the Endangered Species Act and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) considers expanding the network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean.

Saffron is the world's most expensive spice. Usually obtained from the stigma of Crocus sativa flowers, it takes 150,000–200,000 flowers to produce one kilogram of saffron. Now, KAUST researchers have found a way to use a common garden plant to produce saffron's active ingredient, a compound with important therapeutic and food industry applications.

A review of 22 previously published studies suggests that taking micro-breaks—discontinuing a task for periods of 10 minutes or less—is generally associated with reduced fatigue and increased vigor. Patricia Albulescu of the West University of Timioara, Romania, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 31, 2022.

On the red and dusty surface of Mars, nearly 100 million miles from Earth, an instrument the size of a lunchbox is proving it can reliably do the work of a small tree.

In a discovery that challenges over a century of evolutionary conventional wisdom, corals have been shown to pass somatic mutations—changes to the DNA sequence that occur in non-reproductive cells—to their offspring. The finding, by an international team of scientists led by Penn State biologists, demonstrates a potential new route for the generation of genetic diversity, which is the raw material for evolutionary adaptation, and could be vital for allowing endangered corals to adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions.

The difference between a desirable, vibrant neighborhood and one that is stagnant and moribund can depend on the strength of its local associations. These groups often act as the engine of local public life, organizing the kinds of sporting activities, cookouts, festivals and holiday celebrations that tighten the community fabric.

Cilia are tiny, hair-like structures on cells throughout our bodies that serve a variety of functions including clearing our airways, circulating cerebrospinal fluid in our brains and transporting eggs in fallopian tubes. While researchers understand their function, they do not fully understand how they generate the specialized motions to carry out those functions.

There's a new, immersive way to explore some of the first full-color infrared images and data from NASA's JWST—through sound. Listeners can enter the complex soundscape of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, explore the contrasting tones of two images that depict the Southern Ring Nebula, and identify the individual data points in a transmission spectrum of hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b.

Researchers have developed a ground-breaking technology to culture natural tissue from female fetal fallopian tubes and uteri, potentially paving the way to help women born with reproductive abnormalities to attain normal function through the growth of their own cells.