Myth, busted: Formation of Namibia’s fairy circles isn’t due to termites
Plants are "ecosystem engineers" that survive by forming optimal geometric patterns. Enlarge / Drone image of car driving through the NamibRand Nature Reserve, one of the fairy-circle regions in Namibia. (credit: Stephan Getzin).....»»
Smart AirTags lead cops to dumb thief wearing victim"s socks
Police tracked a suspected luggage thief with an AirTag that the owner wisely stashed in his luggage, and busted the bandit wearing the owner's clothes.AirTag on a bagIn yet another incident where AirTags reunited an owner with their suitcase, Jameel.....»»
Mice play virtual reality games to reveal how memories are selected for long-term storage
Neuroscientists watched the brains of mice as they played virtual reality games to elucidate how memory goes from its initial formation in the hippocampus to longer-term storage in the cortex. Reporting in the journal Cell on March 30, they found tha.....»»
"Taffy Galaxies" collide, leave behind bridge of star-forming material
Galaxy collisions are transformative events, largely responsible for driving the evolution of the universe. The mixing and mingling of stellar material is an incredibly dynamic process that can lead to the formation of molecular clouds populated with.....»»
How a polymeric nanoparticle gene delivery system can promote bone formation
Does a "magic bullet" exist in regenerative medicine? Researchers have long wished to design a cutting-edge gene therapy that regenerates tissues damaged by disease or trauma. That wish may come true now that a research team has developed a polymeric.....»»
The fast and the fibrous: Developing the muscles you need for speed
Different types of exercise encourage the formation of different types of muscle fibers, or the cells that make up your muscles. Slow twitch muscle fibers support endurance activities like long-distance running, while fast twitch fibers are needed fo.....»»
Study: Lithosphere architecture controls the formation of orogenic gold deposits
Professor Zhang Haijiang from the School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), in collaboration with academician Hou Zengqian from the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, and Prof.....»»
The Paja Formation: An ecosystem of monsters
What allowed an ecosystem to support toothy predators all over the food chain? Enlarge / A sea turtle of the sort found in the Paja Formation. (credit: Wikimedia Commons) Roughly 130 million years ago, in an area within.....»»
How blocking cell wall formation stops bacterial cell division
Researchers still do not understand exactly how antibiotics kill bacteria. However, this understanding is necessary to develop new antibiotics. And that is precisely what is urgently needed, because bacteria are currently showing more and more resist.....»»
Study uncovers the fundamental mechanisms underlying the formation of polarons in 2D atomic crystals
Polarons are localized quasiparticles that result from the interaction between fermionic particles and bosonic fields. Specifically, polarons are formed when individual electrons in crystals distort their surrounding atomic lattice, producing composi.....»»
Superb fairy wrens picky when helping others in distress, find researchers
Superb fairy wrens are more likely to take risks to help members of their close social circle, according to an international team of researchers including scientists from Monash University and The Australian National University (ANU). The findings ha.....»»
Americans share fake news to fit in with social circles, find researchers
Both conservative and liberal Americans share fake news because they don't want to be ostracized from their social circles, according to research published by the American Psychological Association......»»
Researchers capture early stages of star formation from JWST data
A team of researchers has been able to see inside faraway spiral galaxies for the first time to study how they formed and how they change over time, thanks to the powerful capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope......»»
Tracing the history of water in planet formation back to the interstellar medium
Scientists studying a nearby protostar have detected the presence of water in its circumstellar disk. The new observations made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) mark the first detection of water being inherited into a prot.....»»
Major North American oil source yields clues to one of Earth"s deadliest mass extinctions
The Bakken Shale Formation—a 200,000-square-mile shale deposit below parts of Canada and North Dakota—has supplied billions of barrels of oil and natural gas to North America for 70 years. A new discovery reveals that the rocks also open a unique.....»»
Is the Alpha Wolf Idea a Myth?
The idea that wolf packs are led by a merciless dictator, or alpha wolf, comes from old studies of captive wolves. In the wild, wolf packs are simply families.....»»
Researchers observe solar filament formation caused by oscillation magnetic reconnection
Researchers led by Yan Xiaoli from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Sun Xia and Liang Hongfei from Yunnan Normal University, have clearly observed the formation of an intermediate solar filament cause.....»»
Ford establishes Latitude AI unit to develop automated driving tech
Latitude AI's formation underscores the company's focus on automated technologies that support human drivers in personally owned vehicles......»»
Ford establishes Latitude unit to develop automated-driving tech
Latitude's formation underscores the company's focus on automated technologies that support human drivers in personally owned vehicles......»»
Study finds political campaigns may change the choices of voters—but not their policy views
A new paper in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, published by Oxford University Press, measures the overall impact of electoral campaigns and finds that televised debates have little effect on the formation of voter choice. Information received fro.....»»
Oldest evidence of South American egg-laying mammals found in Patagonia
It was just a tooth and a fragment of jaw bone—discovered in an excavation layer of the Chorrillo Formation, a unique geological formation in Patagonia, Argentina. Field researchers found it amongst fossils of both terrestrial and aquatic mollusks,.....»»