Science In flow

Juvenile bigclaw snapping shrimp can clamp their claws nearly twenty times faster than their parents. The acceleration is similar to a bullet leaving a gun and even faster than mantis shrimp from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/uTDObxM

Researchers have discovered what they believe is the earliest use of steel in Europe -- on Iberian stone pillars from the Final Bronze Age. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/pAkBXOt

Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/1klLX2f

Sharpshooters eliminate up to 300 times their body weight in liquid waste each day, and save energy through a phenomenon called superpropulsion from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/nRX9Zv4

Water levels at lakes in East Africa are rising alarmingly fast, flooding homes and farmland and displacing people. It is an unanticipated consequence of global warming – and it is being repeated around the globe from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/1m0idVa

Researchers describe how gut-on-a-chip devices can bridge lab models and human biology. Modeling the microbiome is particularly difficult because of its unique environmental conditions, but through creative design, gut-on-a-chip devices can simulate many of these properties, such as the gut's anaerobic atmosphere, fluid flow, and pulses of contraction/relaxation. Growing intestinal cells in this environment means that they more closely resemble human biology compared to standard laboratory cell cultures. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/XYJPKoc

Dinosaur claws had many functions, but now a team has shown some predatory dinosaurs used their claws for digging or even for display. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/MUrsEhQ

Have you ever bitten into a plump, red strawberry, only to find it bland and watery? Certain pesticides might be responsible. A team has found that two common strawberry fungicides can impact cellular mechanisms, creating berries with subdued flavor and sweetness, as well as a lower nutritional value. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/o5Y6fM9

By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and humans. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/GLDF8ow

Glaciers -- giant blocks of moving ice -- along Antarctica's coastline are flowing faster in the summer because of a combination of melting snow and warmer ocean waters, say researchers. On average, the glaciers travel at around one kilometre a year. But a new study has found a seasonal variation to the speed of the ice flow, which speeded up by up to 22 % in summer when temperatures are warmer. This gives an insight into the way climate change could affect the behaviour of glaciers and the role they could play in raising sea levels. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/H1aNOGz

The first simulation of a wormhole on a quantum computer made headlines, but a new study brings into question whether it was an accurate representation from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/fJ1pvOk

A walrus that visited the south and east coasts of England in December has now been spotted on a floating pier in east Iceland from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/Uq1LOWt

Twenty-two countries are in the midst of an outbreak, but an additional 21 nations could be at risk amid a worldwide surge in infections from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/57HS1Ux

Pigeons are usually the preferred prey of peregrine falcons in London, but during the covid-19 lockdown in 2020, the falcons caught more starlings and parakeets instead from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/0k29gFt

A team has developed a new software tool to help researchers across the life sciences more efficiently analyze animal behaviors. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/Iermbt5

A research team presents technology that enhances photoacoustic computed tomography using a deep-learning approach. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/9jwU6Re

Influenza viruses are becoming increasingly resilient to medicines. For this reason, new active ingredients are needed. Important findings in this regard have been provided: for the virus to proliferate, the polymerase of the influenza A virus has to be modified many times through enzymes in the host cells. The team of researchers was able to produce a comprehensive map of types of modification. Medicines directed against the enzymes woud be resilient to rapid mutations in the virus, thus offering great potential for the future. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/6vatLg1

Growing wheat in drought conditions may be easier in the future. Researchers found the right number of copies of a specific group of genes can stimulate longer root growth, enabling wheat plants to pull water from deeper supplies. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/XhG8I3S

High-resolution microscopy techniques, for example electron microscopy or super-resolution microscopy, produce huge amounts of data. The visualization, analysis and dissemination of such large imaging data sets poses significant challenges. Now, these tasks can be carried out using MoBIE, which stands for Multimodal Big Image Data Exploration, a new user-friendly, freely available tool. This means that researchers such as biologists, who rely on high-resolution microscopy techniques, can incorporate multiple data sets to study the processes of life at the very smallest scales. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/OK5bAlM

Fat gets a bad rap, but it is key to making enjoyable foods like confit pork. You can also use the confit method for parsnips, says Sam Wong from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/z5PpuU4

Experts are calling for more to be done to limit the potentially harmful impact of toxic tire particles on health and the environment. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/ldBPRAJ

Scientists have built and tested for a thousand cycles a lithium-air battery design that could one day be powering cars, domestic airplanes, long-haul trucks and more. Its energy storage capacity greatly surpasses that possible with lithium-ion batteries. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/sfg6dpP

Biologists use current and historical bird surveys to reveal how land use change has amplified -- and in some cases mitigated -- the impacts of climate change on bird populations in Los Angeles and the Central Valley over the past century. The study found that urbanization and much hotter and drier conditions in L.A. have driven declines in more than one-third of bird species in the region. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/QfDn6ej

Officials reported that thousands of fish died within days of the chemical spill caused by a derailed train, potentially due to contamination of local waterways from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/nai4dvo

When scientists disabled a single regulatory gene in a species of sea anemone, a stinging cell that shoots a venomous miniature harpoon for hunting and self-defense shifted to shoot a sticky thread that entangles prey instead, according to a new study. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/LEx2qzc

Researchers have provided the first experimental evidence that a species of endangered sea star protects kelp forests along North America's Pacific Coast by preying on substantial numbers of kelp-eating urchins. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/O1Li8FT

A digital perspective tweak improves how people judge distance in images and doing this in video games and CGI movies could make them feel more immersive from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/APvdnOG

The derailment of a freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, involved an overheated wheel bearing, say US government investigators from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/hbzNXDw

New research suggests aquatic plants can be utilized as a tool to enhance the co-existence between aquatic invertebrates and their fish predators in urban ponds. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/IsAYKbp

A new study integrates climate, land use, and socioeconomic data to explain and predict malaria dynamics at the village level. The approach could inform health care practitioners and make control strategies more efficient and cost-effective. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/Hij9Xd2

Scientists recently announced the invention of a nanowire 10,000 times thinner than a human hair that can be cheaply grown by common bacteria and tuned to 'smell' a vast array of chemical tracers -- including those given off by people afflicted with a wide range of medical conditions, such as asthma and kidney disease. Thousands of these specially tuned wires, each sniffing out a different chemical, can be layered onto tiny, wearable sensors, allowing healthcare providers an unprecedented tool for monitoring potential health complications. Since these wires are grown by bacteria, they are organic, biodegradable and far greener than any inorganic nanowire. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/A3PeYnZ

The derailment of a freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, was caused by an overheated wheel bearing, say US government investigators from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/FmD1bJR

The notion that our ancestors’ shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming was disastrous for our health is well established, but a new study should prompt a rethink, says Michael Marshall from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/TDGPCuj

A tour round the world's oldest trees is a brilliant idea for a book, but its delivery can be pretty uneven from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/oBZFTHX

Aquaculture, or the farming of aquatic plants and animals, contributes to biodiversity and habitat loss in freshwater and marine ecosystems globally, but when used wisely, it can also be part of the solution, new research shows. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/oEfGKph

Historically dry and hot weather in Argentina and neighbouring countries is being driven by the La Niña weather system and exacerbated by climate change from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/AjgUtKh

Countless meteorites have struck Earth in the past and shaped the history of our planet. It is assumed, for example, that meteorites brought with them a large part of its water. The extinction of the dinosaurs might also have been triggered by the impact of a very large meteorite. It turns out that the marketing 'gag' of the 'Domaine du Météore' winery is acutally a real impact crater. Meteorite craters which are still visible today are rare because most traces of the celestial bodies have long since disappeared again. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/9q5AgGt

A new model offers a possible solution to the scientific question of why neutral sequences, sometimes referred to as 'junk DNA', are not eliminated from the genome of living creatures in nature and continue to exist within it even millions of years later. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/51NSLU8

The world's forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon due to increasingly 'unstable' conditions caused by humans, a landmark study has found. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/gHTwuM5

A common ingredient -- salt -- could have a big role to play in the energy transition to lower carbon energy sources. A study describes how large underground salt deposits could serve as hydrogen holding tanks, conduct heat to geothermal plants, and influence CO2 storage. It also highlights how industries with existing salt expertise, such as solution mining, salt mining, and oil and gas exploration, could help. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/eVswGu1

Researchers have generated the first induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from bats, gaining valuable insights into the close relationship between bats and viruses. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/1FgHKVQ

Scientists fabricate sensitive nanostructured silver surfaces to detect arsenic, even at very low concentrations. The sensors make use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy: As a molecule containing arsenic adheres to the surface, it's hit with a laser and the arsenic compound scatters the laser light, creating an identifiable signature. The technique is a departure from existing methods, which are time-consuming, expensive, and not ideally suited to on-site field assays. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/jZSpcyd

Trees with fungal infections produce odours that attract bark beetles, which burrow into the bark and can devastate entire forests from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/hHLe1s9

Two people with upper body paralysis caused by stroke partially regained arm movements after receiving electrical stimulation of neurons in their spinal cord from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/rSdGsub

A new study explores 'balancing selection' by analyzing thousands of modern human genomes alongside ancient hominin groups, such as Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes. The research has 'implications for understanding human diversity, the origin of diseases, and biological trade-offs that may have shaped our evolution,' says evolutionary biologists. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/4wZhlcn

Fertility declines with age in most female mammals, but naked mole rats can develop new eggs as adults, enabling them to remain fertile throughout their lives from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/4glDOGp

An artificial intelligence can identify sites of Mesopotamian remains with 80 per cent accuracy – it could help archaeologists quickly work out where to dig from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/jB2lgv3

Quantum computers can currently only run small programs but a trick for reducing a quantum program's size could boost their power for running AI algorithms from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/WNhC72A

A new technique provides fresh insight into the process by which the materials that formed Earth's core descended into the depths of our planet, leaving behind geochemical traces that have long mystified scientists. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2HPRB5K

Two people with upper body paralysis due to stroke partially regained arm movements after electrical stimulation of neurons in the spinal cord from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/9MnXtJr

Scientists have identified a volatile pheromone emitted by the tsetse fly, a blood-sucking insect that spreads diseases in both humans and animals across much of sub-Saharan Africa. The discovery offers new insights into how the flies communicate with one another and could yield new methods for controlling their populations and the harmful diseases they carry. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/aD3ygR8

Geckos can use their tongue to differentiate their own odor from that of other members of their species, as researchers have shown in a new experimental study. The findings show that geckos are able to communicate socially, meaning that they are more intelligent than was previously assumed. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/8Cg7Aba

Scans show that the spine and ribs of Tiktaalik, one of the first fish to crawl on land, had features that are more like those of early land animals than fish from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/FNTALbg

You can contribute to a worldwide map of ocean microplastic pollution by conducting a scientific survey on your local beach, says Layal Liverpool from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/OuqCNIs

A study shows that an irreversible loss of the ice sheets, and a corresponding acceleration of sea level rise, may be imminent if global temperature cannot be stabilized below 1.8 degrees Celsius. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/BA6uv57

A modelling study suggests that the proportion of cases involving pneumonia-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics has increased amid the covid-19 pandemic from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/dEuxBjq

Astronaut Cady Coleman playing duets with her Earth-bound son is among the moving and candid moments from The Longest Goodbye, Ido Mizrahy's poignant exploration of the psychology of space travel from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/gpGMXt3

People in the US who purchased a gun during the pandemic were more likely to support extreme political beliefs and engage in violent behaviour than people who bought a gun before March 2020 from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/kvnPCKE

US president Joe Biden has spoken publicly for the first time about the objects recently shot out of the sky above North America. In a press conference, he outlined how the country would deal with potential spy balloons in the future from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/1lyHONs

US president Joe Biden has spoken publicly for the first time about the objects recently shot out of the sky above North America. In a press conference, he outlined how the country would deal with potential spy balloons in the future from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/1lyHONs

A focus on revolutionary solutions like carbon capture and geoengineering is slowing the uptake of existing answers to the problems of climate change, air pollution and energy security, says environmental engineer Mark Jacobson from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/tIRfnQu

From cancer cures to the Kama Sutra, the word "quantum" has been comprehensively hijacked. A book by physicist Chris Ferrie explores why and sets out to fight back from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/dUO5MBv

Ginger has a reputation for stimulating the immune system. New results now support this thesis. In laboratory tests, small amounts of a pungent ginger constituent put white blood cells on heightened alert. The study also shows that this process involves a type of receptor that plays a role in the perception of painful heat stimuli and the sensation of spiciness in food. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/l9GeTkc

After a train carrying hazardous chemicals partially derailed and set fire in Ohio on 3 February, questions are being asked about what could have gone wrong from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/L3RV9np

What role could rifted margins play in the transition to a carbon-neutral economy? Researchers summarize the current state of knowledge about the so-called rifting of continents. Rifting is the term researchers use to describe the process by which continental plates break and new oceans are formed. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/4Z2tQ3k

From Mexico to Canada, mountain plants are moving upslope to cooler elevations. In some mountain ranges, the upward climb is as fast as 112 metres per decade from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/vrFMRxH

An F-16 fighter jet controlled by AI has taken off, taken part in aerial fights against other aircraft and landed without human help from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/nDCEteF

Scientists have provided evidence for the cognitive control of learning in rats, showing they can estimate the long-term value of learning and adapt their decision-making strategy to take advantage of learning opportunities. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/RPIzu9E

The UK's 200,000 kilometres of waterway are in crisis. New Scientist's Save Britain's Rivers campaign reveals how crucial they are for the nation's health, wealth and resilience from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/ghJQCbK

Comprehending that other people might think differently from you is a form of intelligence known as theory of mind – what does it mean that the artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT can do as well on tests of it as a 9-year-old child? from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/xD9hdCG

A train derailed and caught fire in eastern Ohio, releasing hazardous chemicals into the air, soil and water – and raising concerns about health effects for residents from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/JmKP50f

The wheat contains less of the amino acid asparagine, which produces the potentially carcinogenic compound acrylamide when cooked at high temperatures from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/yNe2KAW

A review of studies on mycorrhizal fungi finds there is insufficient evidence for the popular idea that trees communicate and share resources via these underground networks from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/3CEHngf

Vaginal microbiome transplants are helping treat bacterial vaginosis and shedding light on the importance of this intimate ecosystem in women's health from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/Wke5yEn

Aetosaurs had a small head and a crocodile-like body. The land dwellers were up to six meters long and widely distributed geographically. They died out about 204 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic. In Germany, an assemblage of 24 Aetosaurus ferratus individuals, only between 20 and 82 centimeters long, was discovered in 1877. Since then, scientists have been puzzling over whether they were juveniles or small adults. A team has now solved the mystery: Bone examination of two specimens shows that they are juveniles. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/MHF5cPX

Orange, starchy sweet potatoes are great mashed, cut into fries or just roasted whole. But you likely haven't considered grinding them into a flour and baking them into your next batch of cookies -- or at least, not yet! Recent research has reported the best method to turn sweet potatoes into gluten-free flours that are packed with antioxidants and perfect for thickening or baking. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/vV7EAlg

Military interest in balloon surveillance had been increasing even before a Chinese-launched balloon wandered across the continental US from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/t4CZpfz

A Swiss vision of a low-energy society set a goal that is irresistibly simple: consume energy at a rate of just 2000 watts. It’s a great way to push us to use less power - good for the purse and the planet from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/GgeLkl3

Make your garden more enticing for wildlife with a few log piles, says Clare Wilson, and you may glimpse some stunning beetles from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/OU82Xy1

Make your garden more enticing for wildlife with a few log piles, says Clare Wilson, and you may glimpse some stunning beetles from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/OU82Xy1

Military interest in balloon surveillance had been increasing even before a Chinese-launched balloon wandered across the continental US from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/JjMdowq

Scientists have been using powerful computer models combined with laboratory experiments to study how a kind of clay can soak up carbon dioxide and store it. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/ilVjJWR

Excessive use of fossil fuels leads to undesired carbon dioxide (CO2) generation, accelerating climate change. One way to tackle this is by converting CO2 into value-added chemicals. On this front, researchers have recently utilized a novel redox couple, for the purpose. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/R6xTPAd

Acesulfame is a sweetener in sugar-free drinks and foods. As it cannot be metabolized in the human body, the sweetener ends up in wastewater after consumption and remains largely intact even in sewage treatment plants. A new study shows that the persistence of the sweetener varies with temperature as the concentration of the sweetener in wastewater varies with the seasons. The environmental geosciences team analyzed how groundwater flows can be traced based on these seasonal fluctuations. Since residues of the sweetener end up in drinking water, acesulfame serves as an indicator of the origin and composition of our drinking water. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/MlaoKcg

Goffin’s cockatoos are the second non-human animal shown to transport more than one tool to retrieve some food, after chimpanzees from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/6wLalGE

Along the shores of Africa's Lake Victoria in Kenya roughly 2.9 million years ago, early human ancestors used some of the oldest stone tools ever found to butcher hippos and pound plant material, according to new research. The study presents what are likely to be the oldest examples of a hugely important stone-age innovation known to scientists as the Oldowan toolkit, as well as the oldest evidence of hominins consuming very large animals. Excavations at the site, named Nyayanga and located on the Homa Peninsula in western Kenya, also produced a pair of massive molars belonging to the human species' close evolutionary relative Paranthropus. The teeth are the oldest fossilized Paranthropus remains yet found, and their presence at a site loaded with stone tools raises intriguing questions about which human ancestor made those tools. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/WyV8GdQ

About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/rI41U6R

Living on Mars will take enormous work, but urban planner Justin Hollander is already on the case in this guide to settling the Red Planet from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/M5W06dI

Killing ticks in an area reduces the number carrying the main bacterium that causes Lyme disease, but a large study found it does not lead to fewer reports of people getting sick from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/oLW0Nhr

A soft symphony of sounds eminates from the soil within a forest and the more thriving the ecosystem, the greater the diversity of noise from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/ROQT01P

Launching a million tonnes of moon dust around Earth could dim sunlight across our planet by 1.8 per cent. This would reduce the global temperature, but whether it would be worth the resources, and the risks involved in such a strategy, are unclear from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/Ywq6GAa

Researchers have identified a brain pathway in mice that governs the development of opioid tolerance. If the same exists in humans, treatments that inhibit it could prevent opioid addiction from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/vKe1dJP

Dust launched from the moon's surface or from a space station positioned between Earth and the sun could reduce enough solar radiation to mitigate the impacts of climate change. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/9taRg8o

The infamous spike proteins on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 help it bind to and enter human cells. Because of their important role in spreading infection, these spike proteins are one of the main targets for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. But those remedies gradually lose effectiveness when certain segments of the spike proteins mutate. Now, researchers report that they have discovered small molecules that successfully target other segments that mutate less. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/g327IGW

Penguins generate centripetal force when turning by pointing their belly inwards and moving their wings asymmetrically. New findings shed light on the previously unknown mechanisms that these birds rely on to perform their underwater turns by a single wingbeat, paving the way to a more comprehensive knowledge of their swimming maneuvers. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/z0N7v5p

Burial chamber from time of King Midas reveals there was a severe three-year drought around the time Hittite cities were abandoned from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/r4nAatD

Quaoar, a dwarf planet in our solar system, has a ring of debris orbiting it that is far further out than we thought the laws of physics allow from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/H1TrAe9

Artificial intelligence is being used to detect harassment in verbal communications for gaming and VR platforms, but such AIs face challenges in keeping up with evolving forms of extreme speech from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/0p8i7v5

Fifteen million people around the world are at risk from flooding caused by glacial lakes, with just four countries -- India, Pakistan, China and Peru -- accounting for more than half of those exposed. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/8KTCqcJ

The teeming life in the Southern Ocean, which encircles Antarctica, contributes to brightening the clouds that form there, according to a new study. The clouds are bright because of their high density of water droplets, due in turn to a chain of atmospheric processes that eventually connects back to the Southern Ocean's extraordinary phytoplankton productivity. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/oCnwusl

A Chinese balloon that was travelling over the US, including over military sites, was shot down by a fighter jet on 4 February from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/thZ87O3

In a new study, researchers claim that the energy payback period of using phase change materials, new technology in the construction industry, is the shortest in a colder climate. The optimal location for their usage is the interior on the northern side of the building. The study provides informed answers regarding the application of PCMs to improve buildings' energy efficiency. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/CkXuO8Z

Researchers have pinpointed two intervals when ice and ocean conditions would have been favorable to support early human migration from Asia to North America late in the last ice age, a new paper shows. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/TD3bday

The gene variants that lead to Gaucher disease helps immune cells kill tuberculosis bacteria, at least in zebrafish from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/QNKCv0D

In a small study, memory recall was better in people with more severe damage to a brain region involved with memory, compared with those with milder damage. With severe damage, other parts of the brain may take on the damaged region's function from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/U5oQZT4

The distinct branching patterns and stripes on the shells of three kinds of nautiluses have been used to identify them as separate species from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/VmMh5fk

At least 1500 people have died in Turkey and Syria after a 7.8 magnitude quake followed by a 7.5-magnitude quake in the same region less than 10 hours later from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/nZkAMIj

After several months of the covid-19 pandemic, interest in immunity was at an all-time high. Keeping that interest alive is in all our best interests from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/R65tCnk

After several months of the covid-19 pandemic, interest in immunity was at an all-time high. Keeping that interest alive is in all our best interests from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/R65tCnk

The moon’s brightness might frustrate some stargazers, but a closer look will reveal some amazing features, says Abigail Beall from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/enY2qym

Veronica Roth's dystopian take on Sophocles's 2500-year-old tragedy reminds us that human nature is timeless, finds Sally Adee from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/18dP4FB

The ongoing drought in the western US depleted reservoirs and reduced hydropower generation. Fossil fuel power plants filled the gap but that has led to increased air pollution from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/EasKRvD

Energy-efficient ways of cooling buildings and vehicles will be required in a changing climate. Researchers have now shown that electrical tuning of passive radiative cooling can be used to control temperatures of a material at ambient temperatures and air pressure. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/gsKHhtM

Impulse: The science of sex and desire by psychiatrists Jon Grant and Samuel Chamberlain delivers on its bid to answer our hidden questions about sex, but it can be a little perfunctory from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/Gph54bS

Around 12,000 years ago, the Neolithic revolution radically changed the economy, diet and structure of the first human societies in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. With the beginning of the cultivation of cereals -- such as wheat and barley -- and the domestication of animals, the first cities emerged in a new social context marked by a productive economy. Now, a study analyses the evolution of wheat spikes since its cultivation began by the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia -- the cradle of agriculture -- between the Tigris and the Euphrates. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/FD5LJ14

Researchers show that brain organoids -- clumps of lab-grown neurons -- can integrate with rat brains and respond to visual stimulation like flashing lights. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/Wpq1BTx

Mysterious ripples in the sun’s plasma have gone unexplained for decades, but they may be caused by strange beams of high-energy electrons fired inward by solar flares from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/9uQW27o

Higher consumption of ultra-processed foods may be linked to an increased risk of developing and dying from cancer, an observational study suggests. from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/cgJWuif

A study of more than 1.5 million tweets over one year suggests that people in San Francisco feel disgusted when at hardware stores and Londoners are most joyful at motels from New Scientist - Home https://ift.tt/iOBGdFJ