The world's wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, the charity Oxfam said on Monday, as it called on nations to resist the ultra-rich's influence over tax policy. ⌘ Read more
The world's wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, the charity Oxfam said on Monday, as it called on nations to resist the ultra-rich's influence over tax policy. ⌘ Read more
The 10 wolves set loose in Colorado in December 2023 as part of a historic state-led reintroduction are doing well, but the humans charged with orchestrating the multi-year effort addressed concerns this week about a lack of transparency about the releases. ⌘ Read more
Indonesia's Mount Marapi erupted again on Sunday, spewing smoke and ash high into the air, but no casualties were reported. ⌘ Read more
A Washington-based conservation group filed a petition with federal regulators Wednesday, requesting that they list Alaska king salmon as an endangered species. ⌘ Read more
River basins around the world that were once regularly snowbound are increasingly seeing their snowpack shrink and climate change is to blame, a new study found. ⌘ Read more
Modeling is a dream occupation for many young women, but for those who make modeling a career, finding work can be a traumatic, sexualized nightmare, a Rutgers University-New Brunswick study finds. ⌘ Read more
From a spin state perspective, metal complex catalysts are classified into two types: closed-shell catalysts (lacking unpaired electrons, typically based on noble metals like palladium) and open-shell catalysts (with unpaired electrons, often based on Earth-abundant metals such as iron). ⌘ Read more
In an experiment that could help the development of new spintronics devices with low energy consumption, researchers from RIKEN and collaborators have used heat and magnetic fields to create transformations between spin textures—magnetic vortices and antivortices known as skyrmions and antiskyrmions—in a single crystal thin plate device. Importantly, they achieved this at room temperature. ⌘ Read more
If we want to slow down global warming, we need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Among other things, we need to do without fossil fuels and use more energy-efficient technologies. ⌘ Read more
Beaches and dunes are becoming increasingly trapped between rising sea levels and infrastructure. Dutch researchers have found that nowadays, when dropped on a random beach around the world, you only need to walk 390 meters on average to find the nearest road or building. While that short walking distance may seem convenient if you want a day at the beach, it's bad news for our protection against rising sea levels, d ... ⌘ Read more
A recent University of Houston white paper, titled "Carbon Dioxide Pipelines: Role in Responding to Carbon Emissions," spotlights the indispensable role of carbon dioxide pipelines in advancing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) systems worldwide. The paper delves into the economic and logistical advantages that pipelines offer in the transportation of carbon dioxide, emphasizing t ... ⌘ Read more
MYC is the shapeless protein responsible for making the majority of human cancer cases worse. UC Riverside researchers have found a way to rein it in, offering hope for a new era of treatments. ⌘ Read more
A multi-national team of scientists (China, U.S., New Zealand, Italy, and France) analyzes the temperature of the Earth annually. These scientists have found a fever that increases every year: For the past decade, each year has been hotter than the prior year in the ocean, and there are other changes in the ocean that also matter. ⌘ Read more
Scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew together with international partners present their annual pick of the top 10 plants and fungi described as new to science in 2023. ⌘ Read more
Peatlands, which contain about one-third of the global soil carbon stock, are important carbon sinks. Their net carbon uptake is equivalent to ~1% of human fossil fuel emissions or 3%–10% of the current net sink of natural terrestrial ecosystems. However, the carbon sink function may be altered under global change. ⌘ Read more~
The frigid Arctic Ocean is far removed from the places most people live, but even so, "forever chemicals" reach this remote landscape. Now, research in Environmental Science & Technology Letters suggests that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) won't stay there indefinitely. Instead, they are transported in a feedback loop, with the Arctic Ocean potentially exporting as many PFAS to the North Atlantic Ocean as it receives ... ⌘ Read more
The North Arabian Desert oases were inhabited by sedentary populations in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. A fortification enclosing the Khaybar Oasis—one of the longest known going back to this period—has just been revealed by a team of scientists from the CNRS and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU). ⌘ Read more
A new publication featured in Veterinary Sciences will guide future wildlife rescue and rehabilitation after Australian bushfires. These findings provide critical information for improving koala care during subsequent fire seasons. ⌘ Read more
In fields such as physics and engineering, partial differential equations (PDEs) are used to model complex physical processes to generate insight into how some of the most complicated physical and natural systems in the world function. ⌘ Read more
New research led by Stanford University scientists predicts life can persist in extremely salty environments, beyond the limit previously thought possible. ⌘ Read more
Rock art is one of the most intriguing records of the human past—it directly represents how our ancestors viewed their world. This provides a fundamentally different perspective compared to other archaeological items, such as stone artifacts. ⌘ Read more
For the first time, researchers from Tel Aviv University have determined that due to the ongoing deforestation in the Amazon basin in recent decades, the number of thunderstorms in the region has decreased significantly, and the area over which they occur has shrunk. ⌘ Read more
Researchers from Aarhus University have carried out complex genetic analyses of hundreds of pigs and humans to identify differences and similarities. This new knowledge can be used to ensure healthier pigs for farmers and can help the pharmaceutical industry breed better laboratory pigs for testing new medicines. ⌘ Read more
One Sunday morning in February of 2021, Dave Duffy's kids told him they had just seen a bobcat through the window of their home near the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience outside St. Augustine, Florida. They knew their dad would want to know because they had helped him countless times take samples of animal tracks in hopes of studying the creatures that left them. ⌘ Read more
The quantum Cheshire cat effect draws its name from the fictional Cheshire Cat in the Alice in Wonderland story. That cat was able to disappear, leaving only its grin behind. ⌘ Read more
A team of astronomers including McGill Professor Nicolas Cowan has unraveled the enigmatic atmosphere of the exoplanet HAT-P-18 b, shedding light on its intriguing blend of gases, clouds, and even the effects of its star's activity ⌘ Read more
Chemical recycling of widely used vinyl polymers (VPs) is one of the key technologies required for realizing a sustainable society. In this regard, a team of researchers from Shinshu University have recently reported a new chemical process that facilitates the depolymerization of cyclic styrene-based VPs, resulting in the recovery of a monomer precursor. ⌘ Read more
China successfully launched a satellite into space on Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV said. ⌘ Read more
Butterfly populations in Catalonia in northern Spain are better than their UK counterparts at regulating their body temperature by basking in the sunshine, but rising global temperatures due to climate change may put Spanish butterflies at greater risk of extinction. ⌘ Read more
Every 10 years since 1801—save for a wartime interruption in 1941—the UK government has conducted a national census of England and Wales. This is a big event. The data collated in the last survey, in 2021, is still being published, with final reports only scheduled for 2025. Yet, doubts have emerged about whether the next one—in 2031—will actually take place. ⌘ Read more
Universe Today has examined the potential for sending humans to Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, the planet Venus, and Saturn's largest moon, Titan, all despite their respective harsh environments and vast distances. These conversations with planetary science experts determined that humans traveling to these worlds in the foreseeable future could be possible, despite the harsh conditions and travel time, specifically to Titan. ⌘ Read more
It's astonishing to reflect on the swift technological progress that has reshaped the educational landscape in just the past year. In this age of creativity and innovation, the incorporation of AI into classrooms has emerged as a vital conversation. ⌘ Read more
When marine scientist Ian Enochs jumped into the water at Cheeca Rocks, a small reef in the Florida Keys known for vibrantly colorful corals, what he saw shook him to the core. ⌘ Read more
Research shows that three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases are passed from animals to humans; an illness of this type is known as zoonosis (plural: zoonoses). Farm animals, especially pigs and poultry, pose a high risk of zoonotic infection. ⌘ Read more
The origin of Earth and the solar system inspires scientists and the public alike. By studying the present state of our home planet and other objects in the solar system, researchers have developed a detailed picture of the conditions when they evolved from a disk made of dust and gas surrounding the infant sun some 4.5 billion years ago. ⌘ Read more
The first person to spot it was a shovel operator working the overnight shift, eyeing a glint of white as he scooped up a giant mound of dirt and dropped it into a dump truck. ⌘ Read more
Aftershocks threatened to bury more homes and block roads crucial for relief shipments, as the death toll from the earthquakes that rattled Japan's western coastline this past week rose to 126 on Saturday. ⌘ Read more
It's the futuristic year 2024! Where is the power loom that natural philosophers have been promising me? What's that? Edmund Cartwright already made one? In 1785? And it revolutionized industrial weaving? Sorry, it's been so long since the last Saturday post that I've completely lost track of the progress of science. Here are a few stories to launch into the new year. ⌘ Read more
Forecasters warned on Friday that a deluge of snow and wintery conditions could bring travel chaos to the US northeast this weekend, with some 25 million people subject to a storm warning. ⌘ Read more
On the right side of its body, the bird flaunted the typical blue plumage and black head of the male Green Honeycreeper. On the left, it was a beautiful grass green. ⌘ Read more
Desiccation is typically fatal for plant vegetative tissues, but a small number of land plants have evolved vegetative desiccation tolerance (VDT), allowing them to dry without dying through a process called anhydrobiosis. ⌘ Read more
Six months ago, an explosion ripped apart Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine, unleashing floods that killed 58 people, devastated the landscape along the Dnipro River and cut off water to productive farmland. ⌘ Read more
In 2023, as floodwaters rushed toward the San Joaquin Valley city of Corcoran—home to roughly 20,000 people and a sprawling maximum-security state prison—emergency workers and desperate local officials begged the state for help raising their levee. ⌘ Read more
A research team consisting of members of the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute and the Functional Materials Engineering Laboratory at the Toyohashi University of Technology, has developed a novel high-performance photoelectrode by constructing a zinc oxide nanopagoda array with a unique shape on a transparent electrode and applying silver nanoparticles to its surface. ⌘ Read more
China and India scored moon landings, while Russia, Japan and Israel ended up in the lunar trash heap. ⌘ Read more
The integration of mechanical memory in the form of springs has for hundreds of years proven to be a key enabling technology for mechanical devices (such as clocks), achieving advanced functionality through complex autonomous movements. Currently, the integration of springs in silicon-based microtechnology has opened the world of planar mass-producible mechatronic devices from which we all benefit, via ... ⌘ Read more
The World Bank is working to slash how long it takes to get financing projects off the ground as part of a push to speed up and scale up the 79-year-old development lender, its president told AFP on Wednesday. ⌘ Read more
Africa is on fire. It has been for thousands of years. The continent contains more than 50% of the total area on Earth that is burning, on average, and there is no sign of it stopping; indeed, the migrating, hemisphere-hopping African wildfire season is steadily increasing. ⌘ Read more
The rapidly developing field of green energy constantly seeks improvements, and recent advances in dual-atom catalysts hold the potential to revolutionize energy conversion technologies. ⌘ Read more
A new synthetic antibiotic developed by University of Liverpool researchers is shown to be more effective than established drugs against "superbugs" such as MRSA, a new study shows. ⌘ Read more
It was nearly four years ago but the memory of the landslip that sent 60,000 tons of old mining debris sliding down a Welsh hillside still haunts former miner Jeff Coombes. ⌘ Read more
Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year—a decline at the ocean's edge that well outpaces global sea level rise, confirms new research from Virginia Tech and the U.S. Geological Survey. ⌘ Read more
Researchers are actively engaged in the dynamic manipulation of quantum systems and materials to realize significant energy management and conservation breakthroughs. ⌘ Read more
A series of powerful earthquakes that hit western Japan have left at least 48 people dead and damaged thousands of buildings, vehicles and boats. Officials warned that more quakes could lie ahead. ⌘ Read more
Just as healthy organs are vital to our well-being, healthy organelles are vital to the proper functioning of the cell. These subcellular structures carry out specific jobs within the cell; for example, mitochondria power the cell, and lysosomes keep the cell tidy. ⌘ Read more
Heterocyclic compounds are organic molecules with a ring structure comprising at least two or more elements. In most cases, these rings are composed of carbon atoms along with one or more other elements such as nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur. They are highly sought after as raw materials in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, owing to their versatility and excellent physiological activities. ⌘ Read more
During the pandemic, a third of people in the UK reported that their trust in science had increased, we recently discovered. But 7% said that it had decreased. Why is there such variety of responses? ⌘ Read more
When was the last time you saw a frog? Perhaps you came across one in your garden and wondered at its little hands, glossy skin, and what looked very much like a contented smile. ⌘ Read more
Travel deep enough below Earth's surface or inside the center of the sun, and matter changes on an atomic level. ⌘ Read more
Huge surf was battering the US West Coast on Friday, with forecasters warning of more danger ahead after a rogue wave swept pedestrians off their feet and swamped a hotel. ⌘ Read more
A study led by researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, assessed the perspectives of 76 diverse South Florida climate adaptation professionals. The study titled, "Practitioner perspectives on climate mobilities in South Florida" was published in the December issue of the journal Oxford Open Climate Change, and explores the expectations and concerns of practitioners from ... ⌘ Read more
For decades, science fiction authors have imagined scenarios in which life thrives on the harsh surfaces of Mars or our moon, or in the oceans below the icy surfaces of Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa. But the study of habitability—the conditions required to support and sustain life—is not just confined to the pages of fiction. As more planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond are investigated for their potential to host conditions fav ... ⌘ Read more
A team of pathologists, geneticists, immunologists and engineers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has found a previously unrecognized diversity of protists in the Parabasalia phylum in both mice and humans. In their paper published on the open-access site of the journal Cell, the group describes their study of the differences between species of protists living in the guts of mice an ... ⌘ Read more
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket blasted back into space on Thursday night to ferry the US military's secretive X-37B drone to a research mission. ⌘ Read more
According to media reports, in 2023 the UK experienced an unprecedented wave of shoplifting. The theory goes that the cost of living crisis and poor police responses are driving a crime wave. ⌘ Read more
A juvenile sperm whale that appeared to be in poor health was euthanized Wednesday after stranding on a North Carolina beach. ⌘ Read more
The idea that we can comfortably manage all the different facets of life—work, family, other responsibilities—is certainly appealing. But in reality, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to work-life balance—especially for older workers. ⌘ Read more
Christmas, we're told, is the most wonderful time of the year. For many of us, however, it is preceded by one of the least wonderful times: the awkward social spectacle of the office Secret Santa or Kris Kringle, where employees agree to purchase a gift for a randomly allocated colleague. ⌘ Read more
The temperature has dropped, the nights have drawn in. The winter holidays have started, families are gathered—so where can you go to fuel the imagination and get some fresh air? A zoo might not be your first thought—but with some offering reduced ticket prices and smaller crowds than in summer, your nearest zoo on a cold, crisp winter's day might be just the place. ⌘ Read more
Retail activity has been a defining facet of cities since antiquity. The Greek Agora and Roman Forum may be viewed as the original CBDs—central business districts, or what urban planners call activity centers. ⌘ Read more
After a journey spanning almost two decades, Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser reusable spaceplane, named Tenacity, is officially undergoing environmental testing at NASA's Neil Armstrong Test Facility located at NASA's Glenn Research Center in anticipation of its maiden flight to the International Space Station (ISS), currently scheduled for April 2024. ⌘ Read more
Testing interplanetary landers means putting them in an environment as close to their destination as possible. Mars landers are often tested in the "Mars Yard" at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in South California, and now ESA is looking to build a similar test bed for the moon. They are mining a material in Greenland known as anorthosite to create the largest lunar test bed yet. ⌘ Read more
Non-human primates (NHPs) have a high degree of similarity to humans compared to other animal models. These similarities manifest at the genetic, physiological, socio-behavioral, and central nervous system levels, making NHPs uniquely suitable for research into stem cell therapy and increasingly used in preclinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of biotechnology ther ... ⌘ Read more
A team of international scientists, led by Dr. Rebecca Hamilton at the University of Sydney, has found that rather than dry savannah in South East Asia dominating during the Last Glacial Maximum more than 19,000 years ago, there was a mosaic of diverse closed and open forest types, upending previous scientific consensus. ⌘ Read more
Barley seedlings grow on average 50% more when their root system is stimulated electrically through a new cultivation substrate. In a study published in the journal PNAS, researchers from Linköping University have developed an electrically conductive "soil" for soilless cultivation, known as hydroponics. ⌘ Read more
Antarctica is often imagined as the last untouched wilderness. Unfortunately, avian influenza ("bird flu") is encroaching on the icy continent. The virus has already reached the sub-Antarctic islands between the Antarctic Peninsula and South America. It's only a matter of time before it reaches the Antarctic continent. ⌘ Read more
The former OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sets off on a journey to study asteroid Apophis and take advantage of the asteroid's 2029 flyby of Earth, the likes of which hasn't happened since the dawn of recorded history. ⌘ Read more
A new study from a University of Colorado Boulder researcher, conducted with colleagues in Argentina, sheds new light on how the introduction of horses in South America led to rapid economic and social transformation in the region. ⌘ Read more
Even during a cost of living crisis, with interest rates and inflation high, the average spending per person for Christmas 2023 in the U.K. is expected to reach as much as £974. Retailers, advertisers and a sense of tradition continue to encourage us towards ever greater levels of consumption. ⌘ Read more
Feng Guo, an associate professor of intelligent systems engineering at the Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, is addressing the technical limitations of artificial intelligence computing hardware by developing a new hybrid computing system—which has been dubbed "Brainoware"—that combines electronic hardware with human brain organoids. ⌘ Read more
Every holiday season, Americans buy nearly 30 million live Christmas trees. Many families enjoy not only having a live tree inside their homes but also smelling the fresh fragrance it creates. That smell comes from chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, little is known about how much is emitted and whether they have any health impacts. ⌘ Read more
Residents of the small Icelandic fishing village near where a volcano erupted were told Friday they could return home. ⌘ Read more
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become a rapidly growing threat to public health. Each year, they account for more than 2.8 million infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Without new antibiotics, even common injuries and infections harbor the potential to become lethal. ⌘ Read more
Emerging from woods in a quiet corner of rural England, a small band of anti-foxhunting campaigners have just one goal: to confuse the pack of dogs chasing a fox and prevent its death. ⌘ Read more
Attempts to turn string theory into a workable theory of nature have led to the potential conclusion that our universe is a hologram—that what we perceive as three spatial dimensions is actually composed of only two. The greatest realization of this hologram-led program is a proposal that goes by the awkward and clunky name of the AdS/CFT correspondence, first proposed by string theorist Juan Maldacena in the late 199 ... ⌘ Read more
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) spacecraft Einstein Probe is ready to launch in January 2024. Equipped with a new generation of X-ray instruments with high sensitivity and a very wide view, this mission will survey the sky and hunt for powerful blasts of X-ray light coming from mysterious celestial objects such as neutron stars and black holes. ⌘ Read more
Italian astronomers have performed high-resolution spectroscopic observations of a young open cluster known as Messier 39. Results of the observational campaign, presented in a paper published Dec. 14 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield essential information about the cluster's chemical composition. ⌘ Read more
More low temperature records tumbled across China on Thursday, as the country endures a persistent cold snap that has crowned a year of extreme weather. ⌘ Read more
An international astronaut will join U.S. astronauts on the moon by decade's end under an agreement announced Wednesday by NASA and the White House. ⌘ Read more
At many winter holiday tables, cranberries have pride of place as an accompaniment to roast turkey and an ingredient in sparkling cocktails. ⌘ Read more
When did archery arise in the Americas? And what were the effects of this technology on society? ⌘ Read more
Microscopic magnetic probes that change shape in response to their environment may greatly enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, producing the probes, which are still experimental and have not yet been used in humans, has required access to a clean room and expertise in nanofabrication, limiting their widespread use. ⌘ Read more
Editors and reviewers of the journal Green Chemistry have highlighted a new study from the University of Texas at Arlington investigating how to make common chemical techniques more environmentally friendly as one of its "hot" articles for 2023. ⌘ Read more
The cosmos comes alive in an all-sky time-lapse movie made from 14 years of data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Our sun, occasionally flaring into prominence, serenely traces a path through the sky against the backdrop of high-energy sources within our galaxy and beyond. ⌘ Read more
Traces of sunscreen agents were found at the North Pole, on the glaciers of the Svalbard archipelago. They were mainly deposited in winter, when night falls over the Arctic. ⌘ Read more
Rivers of lava spewed from a fissure in the mountainside, snaking downwards and erupting in fountains of red and gold molten rock when the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted this week near a small fishing town in southwestern Iceland. ⌘ Read more
Toxic chemicals produced from oil emissions and wildfire smoke have been found in muscle and liver samples from Southern Resident killer whales and Bigg's killer whales. ⌘ Read more
Chromosomes are long DNA molecules that collectively form a genome, containing all the genetic material of an organism. Advances in technology have allowed scientists to redesign and construct different chromosomal sequences, facilitating the study of the link between gene variations and traits. ⌘ Read more
Researchers at Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China, have announced the discovery of a new species within the hedgehog genus Mesechinus. The eastern China hedgehog species was found to be distinct from other regional hedgehogs across morphological and phylogenetic characteristics. ⌘ Read more
NASA on Monday announced it had used a state-of-the-art laser communication system on a spaceship 19 million miles (31 million kilometers) away from Earth—to send a high-definition cat video. ⌘ Read more