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).....»»
Agricultural soils are efficient ice nucleating particles in the southern great plains
INPs are a rare subset of atmospheric aerosol that can initiate ice formation in clouds. There is a significant gap between scientists' ability to measure INPs and to predict their concentrations and variability in large-scale weather and climate mod.....»»
Genomewide prediction: A promising approach for improving russet formation in apple breeding programs
A research team has demonstrated that genomewide prediction is a promising approach for targeting russet formation in apple breeding programs. This method effectively predicts the russet trait, which is a complex quantitative trait controlled by many.....»»
Astronomers explain rapid formation of organic macromolecules in protoplanetary disks around young stars
An international team of researchers led by the University of Bern has used observation-based computer modeling to find an explanation for how macromolecules can form in a short time in disks of gas and dust around young stars. These findings could b.....»»
A blue miracle in the Eifel: How sapphires formed in volcanoes
Researchers at Heidelberg University are studying the formation of this characteristically blue-colored crystal in volcanic melts.....»»
Saturday Citations: E-bike accident spike; epigenetics in memory formation; Komodo dragons now scarier
This week, we reported on new epigenetic findings in memory formation as well as a dramatic spike in micromobility-related head injuries, so there's a whole lot of head-related science on the front burner these days. There were new findings regarding.....»»
Ice 0: Researchers discover a new mechanism for ice formation
Ice is far more complicated than most of us realize, with over 20 different varieties known to science, forming under various combinations of pressure and temperature. The kind we use to chill our drinks is known as ice I, and it's one of the few for.....»»
New research underscores the close relationship between Saharan dust and hurricane rainfall
Giant plumes of Sahara Desert dust that gust across the Atlantic can suppress hurricane formation over the ocean and affect weather in North America. But thick dust plumes can also lead to heavier rainfall—and potentially more destruction—from la.....»»
Biologists discover human-infecting parasite produces sterile soldiers like ants and termites
New research from scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds a tiny freshwater parasite known to cause health problems in humans defends its colonies with a class of soldiers that cannot reproduce......»»
Stress granules found to play an unsuspected role in blood vessel formation
The behavior of the cells that make up our blood vessels is crucial to our well-being. Conditions such as inflammation, oxygen deprivation and viral infection can stress these cells and disrupt the formation of new, often pathological, blood vessels......»»
Next generation biosensor reveals gibberellin"s critical role in legume nitrogen-fixation
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have demonstrated that the plant hormone gibberellin (GA) is essential for the formation and maturation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules in legumes and can also increase nodule size. They identified the speci.....»»
380-million-year-old rocks provide insights into past climate and geothermal energy
Rocks undergo changes over millions of years. Yet it is possible to extract information from them about the climate at the time of their formation......»»
Spontaneous supercrystal discovered in switching metal-insulator
A supercrystal formation previously unobserved in a metal-insulating material was discovered by a Cornell-led research team, potentially unlocking new ways to engineer materials and devices with tunable electronic properties......»»
How mantle hydration changes over the lifetime of a subduction zone
Because of interactions with Earth's hot mantle, water-logged oceanic plates release water as they slide beneath less dense overriding plates in subduction zones. This water rises and hydrates the mantle above it, contributing to the formation of vol.....»»
Scientists identify brain circuits tied to the behavior of schooling fish
A flock of migrating geese glides through the summer sky in an unmistakable "V" formation… a thundering herd of bison rumbles across the plains as a formidable group... and a massive school of sardines swims mesmerizingly in unison......»»
Former OpenAI researcher’s new company will teach you how to build an LLM
Karpathy's Eureka Labs will pair human-made curriculum with an AI-powered assistant. Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) On Tuesday, former OpenAI researcher Andrej Karpathy announced the formation of a new AI learning platfo.....»»
Geophysics research finds microplastic pollution increases sea foam height and stability
From cloud formation to sea temperatures, sea foam plays many roles in the dynamic interactions that occur at the surface level of the world's oceans......»»
Not just space rocks: Six things we"ve learned about Earth from meteorites and comets
Apart from the sun, its planets and their moons, our solar system has vast amounts of space rocks—fragments left over from the formation of the inner planets......»»
Surprising ring sheds light on galaxy formation
The question of what triggers the extremely rapid star formation within Hyper Luminous Infrared Galaxies (HyLIRGs), as yet unknown, is of much interest to guide our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies in the universe. A new photo.....»»
Study: Consumption-tracking technology mixed bag for consumers
Penalty fees for consumers are prevalent in many service industries such as banking and cellular phone service, accounting for billions of dollars in "junk fees" that annually eat away at consumers' wallets like termites......»»
Insight into one of life"s earliest ancestors revealed in new study
An international team of researchers led by the University of Bristol has shed light on Earth's earliest ecosystem, showing that within a few hundred million years of planetary formation, life on Earth was already flourishing......»»