Новости за 20.09.2022

Research into the synthesis of new materials could lead to more sustainable and environmentally friendly items such as solar panels and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Scientists from Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University have developed a colloidal synthesis method for alkaline earth chalcogenides. This method allows them to control the size of the nanocrystals in the material. They were also able to study the surface chemistry of the nanocrystals and assess the purity and optical properties of the materials involved. Читать дальше...

Methamphetamine is a stimulant that can be taken as a recreational drug, either by injections or smoking. It is classified as a Class A drug in the UK and its recreational use is criminalized in many countries throughout the world.

In mythologies and origin stories around the world, various cultures and religions point to clay as the vessel of life, the primordial material that creator gods imbued with a self-sustaining existence. Nowadays we have biology to explain how life comes to be, but could these tales of old hit closer to the mark than we think?

In the 1930's when scientists, including Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger, first discovered the phenomenon of entanglement, they were perplexed. Entanglement, disturbingly, required two separated particles to remain connected without being in direct contact. Einstein famously called entanglement "spooky action at a distance," since the particles seemed to be communicating faster than the speed of light.

The zebrafish should be known to many aquarium enthusiasts, mainly because of its striking pigmentation. However, the characteristic black-blue stripes, to which the animal owes its name, only form over time. Its eyelash-sized larvae, on the other hand, are still more or less transparent. Many developmental processes in their bodies can therefore be observed under the light microscope. For this reason, they now serve as a model organism for research groups around the globe.

The discovery of a peculiar protein structure and the quest to confirm it has led to the description of interacting receptor clusters on natural killer (NK) cells. The study by the research team of Dr. Ondřej Vaněk from the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, and his colleagues from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in the center BIOCEV was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

One of the largest volcanic eruptions in the Holocene epoch—as measured by the volume of material ejected—occurred on the Greek island of Santorini, traditionally known as Thera. It is considered a pivotal event in the prehistory of the Aegean and East Mediterranean region, with the city of Akrotiri, buried some 1,600 years before Pompeii, becoming one of the key archaeological sites of the second millennium BCE. That much is uncontested.

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft will crash into asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, executing the first asteroid deflection test that has been years in the planning.

A lack of public appreciation for farmers, and an understanding of the work they do and the pressures they're under contributes to feelings of loneliness, according to a new study. The paper, "It's a lonely old world": Developing a multidimensional understanding of loneliness in farming," is published in the journal Sociologia Ruralis.

Researchers led by Matthew Fuxjager at Brown University, U.S. and Eric Schuppe at Wake Forest University, U.S. have found regions in the woodpecker forebrain that show characteristics that until now have only been associated with vocal learning in animals and language in humans. Publishing in the open access journal PLOS Biology on September 20, the study shows that instead of being related to vocalization, activity in these brain regions is related to the characteristic tree drumming that gives woodpeckers their name.

In recent years, entangled photons—a popular quantum light source—have been widely used in quantum imaging, optical interferometry, quantum computing, quantum communication, and other fields. Spontaneous parametric down-conversion generates the entangled photon pairs with conserved energy and momentum, so that the quantum correlation in space and time is encoded. Such a property enables a quantum advantage that overcomes the diffraction limit of classical pulses in the field of imaging and detection.

Natural gas transported by interstate pipelines contains hazardous air pollutants and known human carcinogens, according to a first of its kind study published in Environmental Research Letters by researchers at the nonprofit research institute PSE Healthy Energy.

Microporous conductive membranes developed at KAUST are expected to help shape the future of microbial electrosynthesis for CO2 conversion technologies. The membranes simultaneously stimulate the growth of CO2-eating microbes and aid separation of the biochemical products.

Thermal scientists from the Iowa State University, Shenzhen University, and Shanghai University of Engineering Science, have developed a new thermal probing technique based on the ratio of two resonance Raman scattering peak intensities.

Molecules of the rare metallic element niobium can be used as molecular building blocks to design electrochemical energy storage materials. Mark Rambaran, Department of Chemistry at Umeå University, presents in his thesis a method for producing solid materials from aqueous solutions containing nano-sized niobium molecules, called polyoxoniobates.

Researchers from Bocconi University, Singapore Management University, and INSEAD published a new article in the Journal of Marketing that shows that disclosure of advertising spending significantly lowers investor and analyst uncertainty and allows them to better understand how a firm is achieving its financial performance.

Students at high schools with prominent security measures have lower math scores, are less likely to attend college and are suspended more compared to students in schools with less surveillance, finds a new Johns Hopkins University study.

Overconfidence in one's ability is not uncommon among humans. It can be observed in areas ranging from driving ability and productivity to calculating returns on investment projects. Overconfidence can also lead people to think that they aren't earning as much as they think they can.

This study was led by Prof. Shaodong Zhou (College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University) and Prof. Xiao-Nan Wu (Department of Chemistry, Fudan University). The experiments were performed by using an ion trap mass spectrometer equipped with a laser vaporization−supersonic expansion ion combined with quantum chemical calculations.

A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona has revealed that plastic degradation contributes to ocean acidification via the release of dissolved organic carbon compounds from both the plastic itself and its additives.

It is a new chemistry found to take place in a cloud droplet, a wet aerosol, or on the surface of a dust particle. All that it takes to get started is natural events like dust storms, ocean wave action, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires, which increase the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere.

When searching for Earth-like worlds around other stars, instead of looking for the "pale blue dot" described by Carl Sagan, new research suggests that a hunt for dry, cold "pale yellow dots" might have a better chance of success. The near balance of land-to-water that has helped life flourish on Earth could be highly unusual, according to a Swiss-German study presented at the Europlanet Science Congress 2022 in Granada.

The Earth is warming up at an increasing rate. A contributing factor is carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, prompting researchers to investigate methods to reduce levels. In her dissertation at the University of Bremen, Dr. Alexandra Klemme discovered that the "enhanced weathering" strategy—which, until now, has been considered a promising method—is not suitable for removing CO2 from tropical peat soils. The research findings have now appeared in Communications Earth & Environment.

Red squirrels are among the most commonly sighted wildlife in European big cities such as Berlin. However, their habitats are more reminiscent of a patchwork quilt full of challenges, a team of scientists led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) found out, with the help of computer models and red squirrel sightings by citizen scientists. The models link sightings to numerous environmental parameters and thus become important tools for urban planning, as they identify... Читать дальше...

We aren't very good at predicting what will make us happy. That is one finding from a study by Basel economists. They investigated the effects of purchasing a home on life satisfaction. The positive effect on happiness did not last as long as people expected.