Science In flow

A scientific consortium has found that ancient El Niño-like weather patterns were the primary drivers of environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 620 thousand years - the critical time-frame for the evolution of our species. The group found that these ancient weather patterns had more profound impacts in sub-Saharan Africa than glacial-interglacial cycles more commonly linked to human evolution. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3p7rfK3

New findings demonstrate that expanding research into different ancestries yields more and better results, as well as ultimately benefiting global patient care. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3p76XAp

Climate change caused 37 per cent of the heat-related deaths globally in the past three decades according to a new study – a reminder that global warming is already having severe impacts from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3coWyLB

Between 1991 and 2018, more than a third of all deaths in which heat played a role were attributable to human-induced global warming, according to a new article. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3p3wUB2

With increasing public awareness of crises associated with degraded environments and mounting pressure to act, governments worldwide have begun to examine environmentally sustainable policies. However, there are many questions about whether enacting these policies will negatively affect economic growth. Now, a model suggests that sustained GDP growth is possible even after spending to clean up pollution as it is created, providing hope that a zero-emission society is an achievable goal. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vC6HvK

ASMR videos give those watching a real and measurable elevation in mood.  But what exactly is ASMR and what does it do to our brain? In this week’s Science with Sam we look at the science of ASMR. from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2QQxllz

A detector in Italy has observed what seem to be hints of strange dark matter particles for more than 20 years – but a similar detector in Spain is throwing doubt on the results from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3yPJ9FE

The quantum internet will keep bank details secure but also let people plot crimes in complete secrecy unless democratic leaders swiftly improve their record on policing digital privacy from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fXphb5

It is hard to know where people are directing their attention during video calls, but eye-tracking software could help from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3c5hVkQ

During the era of commercial whaling, fin whales were hunted so intensively that only a small percentage of the population in the Southern Hemisphere survived, and even today, marine biologists know little about the life of the world's second-largest whale. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3fRKV0u

A new study shows how a novel consortium of bacteria that live in the digestive tracts of healthy individuals can be used to prevent and treat aggressive colitis in humanized mouse models. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3p0R0M0

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical arm Janssen, which is a single-dose vaccine, has now been approved by the UK medicines regulator from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3yNrVZs

The next generation of electric vehicle batteries, with greater range and improved safety, could be emerging in the form of lithium metal, solid-state technology. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2RJgZvz

While investigating a disease outbreak in a Queensland botanical gardens, researchers discovered a new species of bacteria that causes a fatal disease in palms. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3wBGuh5

Since the 1960s, the Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile Valley, present-day Sudan) has become the emblem of organised warfare during prehistory. Re-analysis of the data, however, argues for a succession of smaller conflicts. Competition for resources is probably one of the causes of the conflicts witnessed in this cemetery. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vxdSFp

The Menetries' tiger moth (Arctia menetriesii) is one of the rarest, most poorly studied Palaearctic moth species. Researchers have now documented the species' biology under laboratory conditions and described its immature stages. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3uz1nbc

Cats, dogs and farm animals host coronaviruses that have been studied for decades. That research could provide valuable insights in the fight against covid-19, including whether our vaccines can end the pandemic from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3vw7cYk

Understanding every step in the life cycle of a virus is crucial for identifying potential targets for treatment. Now, scientists were able to show how a virus from the retrovirus family - the same family as HIV - protects its genetic information and becomes infectious. Furthermore, they show an unexpected flexibility of the virus. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vvTDIp

Plastic pollution has been found in seawater, on beaches and inside marine animals at the Galapagos Islands. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2R1nEkn

Researchers have created the largest ever map of dark matter, the invisible material thought to account for 80 per cent of the total matter in the universe from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fyZ1VL

Analysis of a 1700-year-old jawbone found in a catacomb in Rome suggests it belonged to someone who grew up beyond southern margins of the Roman Empire, perhaps in what is now Sudan from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2RTdx1d

The Hidden Beauty of Seeds and Fruits by photographer Levon Biss showcases a branch of botany dedicated to the study of seeds and fruit called carpology from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3frtfcY

Despite the universal nature of menopause for half the planet's population, there is an information vacuum. Gynaecologist Jen Gunter's new book is a great start for tackling it from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fttR1H

Lead paint and leaded gasoline have been banned for decades, but unsafe levels of lead remain in some urban soils, a new study finds. The researchers mapped soil lead concentrations along 25 miles of streets in Durham, N.C. Though contamination generally has declined since the 1970s, soil collected near houses predating 1978 still averaged 649 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, well above the 400 mg/kg threshold associated with health risks to children. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3wyPvHu

Scientists have used gene technology to understand more about the make-up of the evolution of brassicas - paving the way for bigger and more climate resilient yields from this group of crops that have been grown for thousands of years. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2SAn9hk

To survive in a reduced pH environment, marine organisms have to adjust their physiology which, at the molecular level, is achieved by modifying the expression of genes. The study of such changes in gene expression can aid in revealing the adaptive mechanisms of life under predicted future ocean acidification conditions. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vthOXL

With global warming decreasing the size of New Zealand's alpine zone, a new study found out what this means for our altitude-loving kea. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3oVCVzH

Inhalable nanobodies targeting the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 can prevent and treat severe COVID-19 in hamsters, according to new research. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yLRaf1

Solitary river otters in Brazil use a rich repertoire of vocalizations during play and conflict, according to a new study. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3bYFV9k

Bacteria called methylotrophs can use methane and methanol as fuel; in doing so, they produce large amounts of formaldehyde during growth, but until recently no one knew how they detected and responded to this toxic compound. Researchers describe their discovery of a novel formaldehyde sensor in the bacterium Methylorubrum extorquens, and other methylotrophs. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/34mmlzo

Scientists have observed early RNA transcription dynamics by recording where, when and how RNA polymerase enzymes kick off transcription by binding to a DNA sequence. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3oWVX8C

Over 4300 years ago, people living in what is now Syria built an earthen monument filled with human remains, which were seemingly grouped into foot soldiers and charioteers. It was flooded in 1999 but now new details have emerged from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2SxQQ2T

The first ever vaccine target for trypanosomes, a family of parasites that cause devastating disease in animals and humans, has been discovered. By targeting a protein on the cell surface of the parasite Trypanosoma vivax, researchers were able to confer long-lasting protection against animal African trypanosomiasis (AAT) infection in mice. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3urhsj6

With the expansion of oxygen-depleted waters in the oceans due to climate change, some species of foraminifera (forams, a type of protist or single-celled eukaryote) that thrive in those conditions could be big winners, biologically speaking. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3uy0zDG

For decades, wealthy nations have transported plastic trash, and its environmental problems, to poorer countries, but researchers have found a potential bright side to this seemingly unequal trade: plastic waste may provide an economic boon for the lower-income countries. Researchers analyzed 11 years of data on the global plastics trade against economic measures for 85 countries. They found plastic waste import was associated with growth in GDP per capita in lower-income countries. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3hYpH3Q

The explosions of supernovae are so powerful they can be seen with the naked eye. The physics behind them is harder to uncover, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3vvJpHO

A new fungus strain bred in a lab could provide a chemical-free method for eradicating mites that kill honey bees. Varroa destructor mites play a large role in Colony Collapse Disorder, which destroys thousands of bee colonies every year. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3fKdo8m

If a ban were introduced on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, and they were replaced by electric cars, the result would be a great reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. That is the finding of new research, looking at emissions from the entire life cycle - from manufacture of electric cars and batteries, to electricity used for operation. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3wDB8SA

Killer flies can reach accelerations of over 3g when aerial diving to catch their prey - but at such high speeds they often miss because they can't correct their course. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vtkcho

Some people seem to possess unlimited get-up-and-go, while others can barely muster enough drive to leave the couch. Here's what science tells us about motivation – and how to cultivate it from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2SxyjDE

Researchers are finding new details on the complex dynamics involved in how organisms sense an infection from pathogens. The researchers found that worms can sense changes in their metabolism in order to unleash protective defenses, even if they don't directly sense an incursion from pathogens. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3wDEMvs

Researchers combine phylogenetic reconstructions and computational behavioral analysis to show that army ant mass raiding evolved from group raiding through the scaling effects of increasing colony size. The transition evolved tens of millions of years ago and is perfectly correlated with a massive increase in colony size. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3bXL6WT

The android that paints itself, plus an area equivalent to over 1000 Mona Lisas and the music of Nǽnøĉÿbbœrğ Vbëřřħōlökäävsŧ in Feedback’s weird weekly round-up from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3p2UQEI

Military drones may have autonomously attacked humans for the first time ever during a conflict in Libya last year, according to a United Nations report from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3uvy8G5

A military drone may have autonomously attacked humans for the first time ever during a conflict in Libya last year, according to a United Nations report from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3wEBUyK

The original complex cells may have been less like amoebas and more like the cells of fungi that contain many nuclei, each with a copy of the genome from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3bWIF6Z

Archaeology and genetics may seem worlds apart, but they are combining to produce astonishing insights, says Alice Roberts from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3wzEPIQ

Cities including Tokyo, New York, London, Rio de Janeiro and Singapore have their own distinct microbiomes, according to a vast survey of microbes in 60 urban areas worldwide from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2SyHq7e

Pulses of laser light moving through a jet of plasma can surf a wave to travel faster or slower than the speed of light without breaking the laws of physics from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fLPWaR

Cities including New York, London, Rio de Janeiro and Singapore have their own distinct microbiomes, according to a vast survey of microbes in 60 urban areas worldwide from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3vCXseE

One of the most important and widespread reef-building corals, known as cauliflower coral, exhibits strong partnerships with certain species of symbiotic algae, and these relationships have persisted through periods of intense climate fluctuations over the last 1.5 million years, according to a new study. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/34mM4rC

Crystals are wonders of nature and science with important applications in electronics and optics. Scientists have new insights into how gallium nitride crystals grow. Gallium nitride crystals are in wide use in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and may form transistors for high-power switching electronics to make electric grids more energy efficient and smarter. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3bVXOpg

A cross-disciplinary collaboration found that a majority of the U.S. public is supportive of soil carbon storage as a climate change mitigation strategy, particularly when that and similar approaches are seen as 'natural' strategies. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vCQvu4

Red-handed tamarins change their calls to sound more like pied tamarins where the two species share the same patches of forest, and doing so may help the two species understand each other from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3bWSd1M

To increase the amount of CO2 trees can remove from the atmosphere, a tree-planting scheme is testing whether the addition of soil microbes from established forests can improve growth> from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fMEfAP

New research confirms people visit places more frequently when they have to travel shorter distances to get there. The study establishes a 'visitation law' and could help in urban planning. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3wAVCLD

Researchers have conducted two of the first studies in New England to collectively show that toxic human-made chemicals called PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances), found in everything from rugs to product packaging, end up in the environment differently after being processed through wastewater treatment facilities -- making it more challenging to set acceptable screening levels. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yGl7wP

Fishery and aquaculture have given rise to an enormous uniformity in the diversity of bivalves along the more than 18,000 kilometer long Chinese coast, biologists report. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2Stby3V

Inspired by insects that suck nutrients directly from plant veins, physicists have studied whether valuable chemical substances can be harvested directly from the cells of plants. Using a harvester measuring only a few microns, they have now achieved a technological breakthrough. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vkTsiW

Newly discovered plant fossils from China, dating back more than 125 million years, may help to establish which seed plants evolved into modern flowering plants from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3oUuC6Z

Chia, a cryptocurrency intended to be a green alternative to bitcoin, has led to hard disc shortages – much to the surprise of Gene Hoffman, the president of Chia Network from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fSFChs

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2RF56qv

Researchers have found strong evidence that warm ice - that is, ice very close in temperature to zero degrees Celsius - may fracture differently than the kinds of ice typically studied in laboratories or nature. A new study takes a closer look at the phenomenon. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/34hzB8q

The cause of Earth's deepest earthquakes has been a mystery to science for more than a century, but a team of scientists may have now cracked the case. New research provides evidence that fluids play a key role in deep-focus earthquakes -- which occur between 300 and 700 kilometers below the planet's surface. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3uo38If

Researchers parsing the mechanism that in June 2020 transported a massive dust plume from Saharan Africa to the Caribbean and U.S. Gulf Coast. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yDKqzJ

By applying mass spectrometry, scientists provide some of the most detailed data on how mitochondrial proteins cluster into supercomplexes - a process that makes mitochondria more efficient at producing energy. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2QZiVja

Researchers have discovered that the frass of the horned passalus beetle is teeming with antibiotic and antifungal chemicals similar to the ones that humans use to ward off bacterial and fungal infections. Understanding the symbiotic relationship between bessbug beetles, actinomycetes and their antimicrobial compounds could help speed the search for new antibiotic drugs, and help doctors create better strategies for preventing the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3usUVCp

Researchers show in a new study that a single material, a layered crystal consisting of the elements rhenium and silicon, turns out to be the gold standard of transverse thermoelectric devices. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3fNlDk3

Danish one-year-olds carry several hundred antibiotic resistant genes in their bacterial gut flora according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. The presence of these genes is partly attributable to antibiotic use among mothers during pregnancy. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3up9qXW

Several vaccines are less effective at preventing symptomatic infections by new variants, which is concerning because any degree of escape at this point could prevent countries from achieving herd immunity from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/34kv45c

A new report finds small modular reactors could provide competitively priced electricity in Washington state's future electricity market. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/34n6gtn

Researchers hope industry and governments worldwide will use the SSSAFE model to help early warning systems mitigate landslide risks from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3flfA7e

Researchers have used an advanced high-spatial resolution isotope mapping technique called 'SIMS' (secondary ion mass spectrometry) to chart for the first time how long it takes for labelled carbon produced by microalgae to be transferred to the bacteria they are growing with. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/34hhAav

Great leaps are already being made in creating a super secure quantum internet. It could overturn the role of information in our lives and give us a globe-spanning quantum supercomputer from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/34k1NI0

The director-general of the World Health Organization has called for a massive drive to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of every country in the world by September, and 30 per cent by the end of the year from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fHgMAV

Advanced microscope technology and cutting-edge geological science are giving new perspectives to an old medical mystery: How do kidney stones form, why are some people more susceptible to them and can they be prevented? from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3umtTN5

Garden bird feed is the single most common food source found in a sample of blue tit faeces collected across Scotland from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2T9WQyS

Efforts to rid fish farms of blood-sucking aquatic lice by using chemical pesticides have ended up giving the pests increasing resistance, leading to widespread infestations from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3yBJUlD

After a wildfire, soils in burned areas often become water repellent, leading to increased erosion and flooding after rainfall events - a phenomenon that many scientists have attributed to smoke and heat-induced changes in soil chemistry. But this post-fire water repellency may also be caused by wildfire smoke in the absence of heat, according to a new article. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3fJ2fVf

Researchers recently developed an innovative technique to capture the unused solar energy that illuminates a solar panel. They created special holograms that can be easily inserted into the solar panel package. This method can increase the amount of solar energy converted by the solar panel over the course of a year by about five percent. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3ufOkva

As antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more prevalent, silver has seen steep growth in its use in things like antibacterial coatings. Still, a better understanding can provide clues on how to best apply it. Researchers have now monitored the interaction of silver nanoparticles with a nearby E. coli culture and found the silver undergoes several dramatic changes. Most notably, the E. coli cells caused substantial transformations in the size and shape of the silver particles. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yBZ3U4

Scientists have used seismic 'CT' scans and supercomputers to reveal the inner workings of a region off the coast of New Zealand known to produce slow motion tremors, also called slow slip earthquakes. The insights help scientists pinpoint why tectonic energy at subduction zones is sometimes released gently as slow slip, and other times as devastating, high-magnitude earthquakes. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yAMokn

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2SlCCBX

True photographic memory is yet to be proved but some people have a very rare condition which allows them to recall past events in detail from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fZOmlZ

The director-general of the World Health Organization has called for a massive drive to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of every country in the world by September, and 30 per cent by the end of the year from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3fHgMAV

ASMR videos give those watching a real and measurable elevation in mood.  But what exactly is ASMR and what does it do to our brain? In this week’s Science with Sam we look at the science of ASMR. from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/2QQxllz

For the first time geoglyphs have been found in India, and one of the images dwarfs anything from Peru’s famous Nazca Lines – but it isn’t clear who made it or when from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3yFKoHI

Road verges cover 1.2% of land in Great Britain - an area the size of Dorset - and could be managed to help wildlife, new research shows. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yCB0o5

A new technique using chemically-sensitive 'soft' X-rays offers a simpler, non-disruptive way of gaining insight into nanocarriers. Currently researchers have to rely on attaching fluorescent dyes or heavy metals to label parts of organic nanocarrier structures for investigation, often changing them in the process. Researchers have demonstrated the capability of the new X-ray method on a smart drug delivery nanoparticle and a polysoap nanostructure intended to capture crude oil spilled in the ocean. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3fNhtIO

Diseases carried to the Amazon by European settlers after 1492 are thought to have brought about the 'Great Dying', but new research suggests climate change may already have been affecting indigenous populations before this. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3flLC3c

Rove beetles have glands in their abdomen that secrete a toxin, and they are made up of just two cell types that evolved together – which may be how other animal organs originated from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3ue5l9b

A comparison between geological records of asteroid impacts and mass extinctions suggests that only space rocks that strike an area rich in a certain mineral have a cataclysmic effect on life, no matter their size from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/34eoBsn

For the first time geoglyphs have been found in India, and one of the images dwarfs anything from Peru’s famous Nazca Lines – but it isn’t clear who made it or when from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3yFKoHI

Non-kosher fish was on the menu in what is now Israel and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula while Judaism was developing in the region and the Hebrew Bible was being written there from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3wyIOpc

Using DNA from greenhouse-grown plants representing all species and hundreds of varieties of watermelon, scientists discovered that watermelons most likely came from wild crop progenitors in northeast Africa. The study corrects a 90-year-old mistake that had previously tied watermelons to South Africa. The genetic research is consistent with newly interpreted Egyptian tomb paintings that suggest the watermelon may have been consumed in the Nile Valley as a dessert more than 4,000 years ago. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vkJNJ8

Scientists have used a new conservation strategy to give the bridled nailtail wallaby a head start in life. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vkI0nl

UK energy firm Drax wants to transform a biomass power plant in the north of England into a facility to capture and store carbon, but has seen a strong pushback on environmental and economic grounds from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3hQtekD

Researchers report the climate clues that can be found by analyzing the magnetic fossil particles, or magnetofossils. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3bNgk2H

Scientists report that it is possible to detect and predict heat damage in crops by measuring the fluorescent light signature of plant leaves experiencing heat stress. If collected via satellite, this fluorescent signal could support widespread monitoring of growth and crop yield under the heat stress of climate change, the researchers say. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3uhZ78a

CT scans of a 25 million year-old fossil skull show the Aetiocetus weltoni had both teeth and baleen, unlike modern whales. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3hRSB5A

All life forms are endowed with the ability to sense gravity. However, the mechanism is not well-understood in acoels, a group of marine flatworms that represent a primitive invertebrate (without backbone) lifeform. In a new study, zoologists suggest necessary conditions for this ability to develop in hatchlings of an acoel species native to Okayama sea coasts, opening doors to understanding evolution better and pathology treatment applications in humans. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3bTaY6l

Researchers proposed five strategies to untangle the impacts of colonialism on research and thinking in ecology. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3uihidN

As climate change intensifies, wildfires in the West are behaving in ways that were unimaginable in the past -- and the common disaster response approaches are woefully unprepared for this new reality. Researchers now proposed a framework for simulating dire scenarios, which the authors define as scenarios where there is less time to evacuate an area than is required. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3hQyh4r

Scientists analyzed ground movements measured by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) satellite data and GPS stations to precisely model where magma intruded and how magma influx changed over time, as well as where faults under the flanks moved without generating significant earthquakes. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3hQEaPa

Two species of sand-stabilizing beachgrasses introduced to the Pacific Northwest starting in the early 1900s are hybridizing, raising new questions about impacts to the coastal ecosystems the non-native plants have been engineering for more than a century. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3fgdnKk

The devastating Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 displaced some 500,000 people to evacuation shelters. A research team that conducted regular visits to shelters to assess their status and inhabitants well-being have analyzed their data and found that about half of shelters had inadequate clean tap water and toilets, leading to worsening health outcomes for inhabitants. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2QKZZ7u

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3feOleE

Researchers explore a novel organic Rankine system for converting waste heat into electricity. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3ulXru9

Optogenetics involves modifying cells to make them sensitive to light – and now the first results of a treatment using the technique to restore sight have been published from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3vgDNkE

As Greenland’s ice grinds up underlying rocks it frees up the toxic mercury they contain, potentially contaminating the aquatic life that Indigenous communities rely on for food from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3yzVhui

For many diseases, overweight and obesity are risk factors. But now a study shows that a higher BMI may be linked to higher survival rates in patients hospitalized for severe bacterial infections. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3fdQDuv

Forensic archaeologists and anthropologists have started to recover the bodies of victims executed by the Franco regime at the end of the Spanish Civil War during an excavation in the Ciudad Real region of Spain. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yJ97Lh

A critical process in the infection cycle of viruses has been revealed for the first time in dynamic detail using pioneering plant-based technology. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vcdZ9n

New developments in recreational fishing technology -- from the use of aerial drones and social media scouting reports to advances in hook design -- are creating challenges for fisheries management and effective policy making, according to a new study. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3bOQf3B

Absentee property ownership in many small college football towns has a negative impact on permanent residents of those communities, according to a new study. The research is the first known attempt to quantify and map local geographies of gameday home investments. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3ueDqWE

One of the first studies to examine telomere length (TL) in childhood finds that the initial setting of TL during prenatal development and in the first years of life may determine one's TL throughout childhood and potentially even into adulthood or older age. The study also finds that TL decreases most rapidly from birth to age 3, followed by a period of maintenance into the pre-puberty period, although it was sometimes seen to lengthen. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3wIki55

Scientists are investigating whether rising global temperatures may lead to more stillbirths, saying further study is needed on the subject as climates change. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3yCua1Z

Using a unique historical baseline (1983-2019), scientists have discovered dramatic changes in the chemistry and composition of Sargassum, floating brown seaweed, transforming this vibrant living organism into a toxic 'dead zone.' Results suggest that increased nitrogen availability from natural and anthropogenic sources, including sewage, is supporting blooms of Sargassum and turning a critical nursery habitat into harmful algal blooms with catastrophic impacts on coastal ecosystems, economies, and human health. Globally, harmful algal blooms are related to increased nutrient pollution. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3vlxOv8

Vaccinating everyone around the world is the best way to reduce the risk of further coronavirus variants emerging and bringing this pandemic to an end from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3hW5iMq