Новости за 17.10.2022

Imagine taking a star twice the mass of the sun and crushing it to the size of Manhattan. The result would be a neutron star—one of the densest objects found anywhere in the universe, exceeding the density of any material found naturally on Earth by a factor of tens of trillions. Neutron stars are extraordinary astrophysical objects in their own right, but their extreme densities might also allow them to function as laboratories for studying fundamental questions of nuclear physics, under conditions that could never be reproduced on Earth.

A research team affiliated with the Laboratory of Polymeric Materials and Biosorbents at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Araras, São Paulo state, Brazil, has produced and is testing cellulose-based materials for enhanced-efficiency fertilizers to improve the supply of nutrients to crops and reduce the release of non-biodegradable chemicals into the ecosystem.

An analysis of obsidian artifacts excavated during the 1960s at two prominent archaeological sites in southwestern Iran suggests that the networks Neolithic people formed in the region as they developed agriculture are larger and more complex than previously believed, according to a new study by Yale researchers.

It isn't even Halloween, and some retailers already are putting out Christmas merchandise and promoting gift buying. Manufacturers and retailers often put out cards for Valentine's Day, chocolate eggs for Easter and a plethora of pumpkin-spiced treats ahead of Halloween and Thanksgiving many weeks ahead of the holidays.

Stumbling upon a new source of underwater caffeine was just an added bonus of a new study examining the impact of chemical compounds that corals release into the seawater.

There's a "sweet spot" for how much employees should be digitally connected to their jobs after hours, a new study suggests.

A new analysis led by researchers with the University of California has found the 2020 wildfires in the state, the most disastrous wildfire year on record, put twice as much greenhouse gas emissions into the Earth's atmosphere as the total reduction in such pollutants in California between 2003–2019.

Eating fire ants might prepare a lizard's immune system to be stung by the ants, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State. The study comprehensively assessed how the immune system responds to lizards eating and being stung by these ants and might help researchers understand how other native species respond and adapt to the invasive insects.

A new study recently published in The ISME journal has revealed that diazotrophs, a group of marine cyanobacteria that are able to convert nitrogen gas (N2) from the atmosphere into nutrients for primary producers in the ocean, contribute directly to the carbon export and sequestration on the seafloor.

Foot bones that are separate in small hopping rodents are fused in their larger cousins, and a team of researchers at the University of Michigan and University of California, San Diego wanted to know why.

In January 2019, a seizure of 3.3 tons of ivory in Uganda turned up something surprising: markings on some of the tusks suggested that they may have been taken from a stockpile of ivory kept, it was thought, strictly under lock and key by the government of Burundi.

New research finds that flooding can affect food security for more than 5.6 million people across several African nations. The work comes at a time when floods have also devastated Pakistan, India, and large parts of the European Union and the United States.

A new study published on October 17 in the journal PNAS, led by a CNRS researcher, has for the first time used zinc isotope analysis to determine the position of Neanderthals in the food chain. Their findings suggest that they were in fact carnivores.

Current international human space exploration roadmaps envisage month-long crew stays on the moon within the next few decades, with crewed missions to Mars the long term goal. The psychological effects of human spaceflight, especially in the sense of isolation and confinement, need to be explored ahead of deep space crewed missions.

Methanol-to-olefins (MTO) conversion, one of the most important reactions in C1 chemistry, has proven to be the most successful non-petrochemical industrialized routes for producing light olefins. Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been dedicated to the R&D of the MTO reaction for the past four decades.

Functional telomeres protect chromosome ends and play essential roles in stem cell maintenance and differentiation. Over the past decade, telomeres have attracted increasing attention due to their role in fertility. Short telomeres negatively impact germ cell development and can contribute to age-associated infertility.

An enormous number of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) orbit around the sun, and among them, 2,072 NEAs are recorded in the Minor Planet Center (MPC) database as potential hazardous near-Earth asteroids (PHAs). These PHAs frequently make close approaches to Earth's orbit, and therefore, the hazard caused by PHAs is still a very real and ever-present threat. Faced with potential threats of PHA impacts, asteroid defense has been discussed with growing interest. Monitoring for and early warning about those PHAs is the premise of planetary defense.

A recent Science Bulletin paper compiled by Prof. Huadong Guo and his team discusses the potential and utility of Big Earth Data through a number of case studies to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The case studies demonstrate that, in light of the lack of relevant data in many countries, the availability of growing multi-source data and rapid advancements in big data methods and infrastructure provide unique opportunities to mitigate these data challenges.

Syngas conversion, as the core technology for efficient and clean utilization of carbon resources such as coal, natural gas, CO2 and biomass, has received extensive attention from both academia and industry. An increasing number of studies demonstrate that OXZEO (oxide-zeolite) bifunctional catalyst concept provides an effective technology to tackle the selectivity challenge encountered in the conventional syngas conversion processes.

With more than half of the world's population living in urban areas and urban areas continuing to expand, the role of urban vegetation in carbon sequestration becomes more important. A common assumption about the gross primary production (GPP) of vegetation—a measure of the amount of carbon captured by vegetation—is that it would decrease as urban areas increased, as more concrete, asphalt and other impervious surfaces would mean fewer trees, bushes and other plants.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, contributing more than 20% of global warming since preindustrial times. Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an important methane sink, reducing methane emission from various environments to the atmosphere. Methylomirabilota bacterium (Methylomirabilis oxyfera) that can use nitrite as the electron acceptor to drive AOM has been recently reported.

How are species richness and the characteristics of running waters related worldwide? This question is being addressed by a team led by IGB scientist Sami Domisch. The researchers have developed the highest-resolution map of the world's river systems ever produced. The map provides a basis for the detailed analysis of what characterizes riverine habitats and how they are interconnected.

Genetic and genomic technologies have tremendous potential for protecting marine life, but are currently being underutilized, argue Madeleine van Oppen of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Melbourne and Melinda Coleman with the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Australia in an essay publishing on October 17 in the open access journal PLOS Biology.

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk.

Terrestrial agriculture provides the backbone of the world's food production system. An opinion article publishing October 17 in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Charles H. Greene at University of Washington, Friday Harbor, Washington, U.S., and Celina M. Scott-Buechler at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, U.S., makes the case for increased investment in algae aquaculture systems as a means of meeting nutritional needs while reducing the ecological footprint of food production.