New sensing techniques can detect drought tolerance in ancient crops, may inform new breeding programs
Drought is the most devastating environmental stress that farmers face worldwide. With the added pressures of climate change, drought years have become less predictable, more frequent and more severe......»»
Study uncovers genetic key to overcoming water stress in cucumbers
Waterlogged conditions, a consequence of heavy rainfall or inadequate drainage, disproportionately affect crops with delicate root systems like cucumbers. These conditions not only impede root respiration and plant development but also threaten agric.....»»
Apple wants you to be able to just point at things to learn about them
Future Apple Watch or iPhone models could detect when you're pointing at a location, or want to buy something from a store window, and show you details about them.Any Apple device with an accelerometer could determine whether you were pointing at som.....»»
Gravesite in France offers evidence of steppe migrant integration with Late Neolithic Europeans
A team of geneticists and archaeologists affiliated with multiple institutions in France has uncovered skeletons in an ancient gravesite not far from Paris that show evidence of steppe migrant integration with Late Neolithic Europeans. The study is p.....»»
The ornate horns of ancient marvel Lokiceratops point to evolutionary insights
What do you get when you cross Norse mythology with a 78-million-year-old ancestor to the Triceratops? Answer: Lokiceratops rangiformis, a plant-eating dinosaur with a very fancy set of horns......»»
A ship found far off Israel"s coast could shed light on the navigation skills of ancient mariners
A company drilling for natural gas off the coast of northern Israel discovered a 3,300-year-old ship and its cargo, one of the oldest known examples of a ship sailing far from land, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Thursday......»»
Improving crops with laser beams and 3D printing
A demonstration of how new technologies can be used in 21st century crop breeding comes from just published research that combines laser scanning and 3D printing to create a detailed 3D model of a sugar beet plant......»»
New training programs will prepare astronauts to perform medicine while thousands of miles away from Earth
In the coming decade, more people will go to space than ever before as human spaceflight enters a new era. NASA, the European Space Agency and other governmental agencies are partnering to develop crewed missions beyond the moon. At the same time, th.....»»
Study reveals stable soil moisture variability within fields, opens door for satellite remote sensing
A multi-institutional study led by University of Illinois and Agroecosystem Sustainability Center (ASC) scientists concluded that, although soil moisture varies significantly both within a single field and from field to field due to varying soil prop.....»»
Southern Africa drought crisis demands fresh solutions
Innovative solutions and emergency funding are critical to help the more than 30 million people in Southern Africa affected by drought who now face severe food insecurity and humanitarian challenges, UN agencies and governments warn......»»
Study explores whether advertising contributes to or leads to declines in happiness
Advertising has long been known to depict a virtual reality of life, leading some people to expect more out of life than is practical. This is driven by idyllic imagery and storytelling, among other techniques such as an emphasis on materialism......»»
T-Mobile price lock guarantee isn’t true and shouldn’t be advertised, says BBB
BBB National Programs – which grew out of the Better Business Bureau – has said that the T-Mobile price lock guarantee is no such thing, and called on the company to stop advertising it. The move follows the company increasing the prices of so.....»»
Apple Developer Academy adding AI training programs later this year
After announcing its suite of new AI features at WWDC, Apple is expanding its Apple Developer Academy program with a new focus on artificial intelligence. In a press release, Apple says that it will “train all Apple Developer Academy students and m.....»»
New method enhances Brillouin optical fiber sensing for infrastructure monitoring
Brillouin scattering is the phenomenon of the inelastic scattering of light by thermally generated acoustic vibrations. Brillouin-based optical fiber sensing can be used to measure temperature and strain distributions by determining how the light sca.....»»
New method enhances X-ray microscopy for detecting tiny defects
X-ray microscopes are essential for examining components and materials because they can be used to detect changes and details in the material. Until now, however, it has been difficult to detect small cracks or tiny inclusions in the images......»»
Marsquakes could reveal whether liquid water exists underground on red planet
If liquid water exists today on Mars, it may be too deep underground to detect with traditional methods used on Earth. But listening to earthquakes that occur on Mars—or marsquakes—could offer a new tool in the search, according to a team led by.....»»
Novel sensor developed for rapid detection of harmful insecticides
A research team led by Prof. Jiang Changlong from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has constructed a visual sensing platform based on DNA aptamer-based sensing system. This sensor can be used for rapid and q.....»»
250-million-year-old fossil seen anew with modern technology
Details of an ancient cousin of modern-day mammals are being revealed for the first time. Hi-tech scanning of an ancient fossil, which was captured in sandstone around 252–254 million years ago, is giving experts valuable insight into the animal's.....»»
Restored rat-free islands could support hundreds of thousands more breeding seabirds
Hundreds of thousands more breeding pairs of seabirds could return to remote island archipelagos if invasive rats were removed and native vegetation restored, a new paper finds......»»
Ancient remedies for modern woes: Traditional Chinese medicine and the fight against African swine fever
African Swine Fever (ASF) poses a grave threat to the swine industry, with the virus causing severe economic and agricultural disruptions since its emergence in China in 2018. The disease, transmitted by the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), has beco.....»»
AI shows how field crops develop: Software can simulate future growth based on a single initial image
Researchers at the University of Bonn have developed software that can simulate the growth of field crops. To do this, they fed thousands of photos from field experiments into a learning algorithm. This enabled the algorithm to learn how to visualize.....»»