Новости за 15.12.2022

Anyone who's ever had a dog knows how different one can be from another. For example, they can be reserved or friendly, playful or calm, fearful or bold, and prone to bark or fetch or not. Research has shown that some of these differences are genetically determined. But even within dog breeds, where line breeding and artificial selection have led to the loss of much of the original genetic variation, the behavior of individuals can differ widely.

Advances in gene editing technologies are allowing for the development of potential new strategies for vector-borne disease control, pest management and conservation by genetically modifying organisms in a laboratory. These breakthroughs, including gene drives that are designed to spread specific genes, come with questions about their safety and ethical development.

The nature and properties of materials depend strongly on dimension. Imagine how different life in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional world would be from the three dimensions we're commonly accustomed to. With this in mind, it is perhaps not surprising that fractals—objects with fractional dimension—have garnered significant attention since their discovery. Despite their apparent strangeness, fractals arise in surprising places—from snowflakes and lightning strikes to natural coastlines.

When two water droplets merge on an inclined super-hydrophilic wire, their movement speed increases.

Since not only psilocybin (PSB) but also PSB-containing mushrooms are used for psychedelic therapy and microdosing, it is necessary to know their concentration variability in wild-grown mushrooms. Research, now published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, aimed to determine the PSB, psilocin (PS), baeocystin (BA), norbaeocystin (NB), and aeruginascin (AE) concentrations in a large sample set of mushrooms belonging to genera previously reported to contain psychotropic tryptamines.

Asexual reproduction is common for animals like starfish, deep-sea worms, and stick insects, but among vertebrates, it's a rarity. A process called parthenogenesis allows some female animals to fertilize an egg with their own genetic material, producing offspring by "virgin birth." Scientists have assumed that vertebrates that usually reproduce sexually turn to parthenogenesis as a "hail Mary pass," a last-ditch effort at reproduction when there aren't enough mates to go around.

Low-wage jobs—when are they stepping-stones towards a successful career and when do they become traps? A new study from Umeå University investigated when transitions from low-wage to better-paid jobs are more likely, and what role having highly educated colleagues may play in that process.

Sea urchin larvae raised in high levels of plastic pollution die due to developmental abnormalities, new research shows.

Soft, wearable sensors can improve our lives, but these soft and stretchable electronic devices are nearly impossible to recycle. As a result, this electronic waste usually ends up in landfills or polluting the environment. Polymer scientists from the University of Groningen have now developed a starch-based polymer that makes it possible to create a fully biodegradable soft material for sensors. They published a paper on this new material in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces on December 13.

Normal breeding experiments can take years to come to fruition

Gender and sex assigned at birth are not as decisive in economic decision-making as previously thought, a new study finds.

New research from Harvard University finds that a government policy that delayed rice planting in northwest India may have had an unintended consequence for air quality in the region. The policy, which was first adopted in 2008, required farmers to push back the sowing of rice to take advantage of monsoon rains and decrease the reliance on groundwater-fed irrigation systems.

Psychology and economics can contribute to a better understanding of consumer behavior. While purchasing power depends on real income and wealth, willingness stems from the consumers' confidence and expectations about national and personal economic conditions.

Technology developed at Argonne can help narrow the field of candidates for molten salts, a new study demonstrates.

Comet strikes on Jupiter's moon Europa could help transport critical ingredients for life found on the moon's surface to its hidden ocean of liquid water—even if the impacts don't punch completely through the moon's icy shell.

Scientists have long been puzzled how the bubonic plague bacteria, Yersinia pestis, can cause both stable, enzootic disease among rodents, as well as sudden, lethal epizootic outbreaks that decimate the same rodent populations.

A new study demonstrates how anonymized GPS data from people's smartphones can be used to monitor the public's use of parks and other green spaces in urban areas, which could help inform their management. Alessandro Filazzola of ApexRMS and the University of Toronto, Mississauga, Canada, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology on December 15, 2022.

Body cells burn off fat reserves when nutrient supply from food ceases. A team led by Professor Volker Haucke and Dr. Wonyul Jang from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) has now discovered a previously unknown mechanism for how this "starvation response" is triggered, and what can inhibit it. The results have been published in the journal Science.

The climate crisis challenges our water supply in many ways, from deadly hurricanes to widespread and severe droughts. To combat water scarcity, neighborhoods and communities must reconsider the design of their wastewater systems.

A recent study found that increasing global demand for timber products, as well as paying landowners to store carbon in their trees, could help to dramatically increase the amount of forestland around the world.

Compared to other senses, our sense of smell is often overlooked. Our noses can alert us to risks such as rotten food, gas leaks and burning toast. But for advanced tasks such as detecting bombs or contraband, or diseases such as cancer, we often rely on the superior olfactory ability of dogs.

The heart of the American Midwest was one of the most important ecological and cultural borderland areas in North America for Indigenous people in early American history, according to a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign historian. Situated in a transition zone between woodlands and grasslands, the transformation of the tallgrass prairie landscape created unique opportunities for the people who lived there.

Bright blue water in the Caribbean Sea and smog in Northern India appear in the first global image produced with data from NOAA-21's VIIRS instrument.

Contrary to popular belief, credit rating agencies provide more accurate, timely, conservative and informative credit ratings for higher-risk companies—a discovery that calls into question the conventional wisdom that they cater to their clients, according to new research by a team of Penn State researchers in the Smeal College of Business.

The potentially lethal lymphoproliferative virus (LPDV) is becoming more prevalent among wild turkeys in the Northeast. With wild turkey populations growing, the risk of disease transmission between them, their domesticated counterparts and chickens may increase.