Scientists map soil RNA to fungal genomes to understand forest ecosystems
If a tree falls in the forest—whether or not anyone registers the sound—one thing is for sure: there are lots of fungi around. Within a forest's soil, hundreds of species decompose debris, mobilize nutrients from that decay, and deliver those nut.....»»
Tiger beetles fight off bat attacks with ultrasonic mimicry
Bats, as the main predator of night-flying insects, create a selective pressure that has led many of their prey to evolve an early warning system of sorts: ears uniquely tuned to high-frequency bat echolocation. To date, scientists have found at leas.....»»
Exploring interface phenomena for more durable and effective nickel–tungsten alloys
Alloying is a key process in creating new materials. By combining metals with desirable traits, scientists can produce alloys with suitable properties. For example, stainless steel, formed by combining iron with chromium, nickel, and other elements i.....»»
Researchers identify nutrient enrichment driven by canopy rainfall redistribution
Precipitation deeply couples with nutrient cycling through its interactions with atmospheric deposition and canopy interception, which alters its own chemical properties. Throughfall and stemflow carry numerous elements into the soil, not only affect.....»»
Scientists develop an affordable sensor for lead contamination
Engineers at MIT, Nanytang Technological University, and several companies have developed a compact and inexpensive technology for detecting and measuring lead concentrations in water, potentially enabling a significant advance in tackling this persi.....»»
Reducing distrust in social media is not straightforward, computer scientists warn
Are anti-misinformation interventions on social media working as intended? It depends, according to a new study led by William & Mary researchers and published in the Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24)......»»
Scientists unlock mysteries of orangutan communication
In a study published in PeerJ, scientists have revealed the intricate vocal patterns of Bornean orangutans, shedding new light on the complexities of their communication. Titled "Vocal Complexity in the Long Calls of Bornean Orangutans," the research.....»»
Study discovers distinct population of "troublemaker" platelet cells appear with aging
As people age, they become more prone to blood clotting diseases, when blood cells called platelets clump together when they don't need to and can cause major issues such as strokes and cardiovascular disease. For decades, scientists have studied why.....»»
Using AI to speed up and improve the most computationally-intensive aspects of plasma physics in fusion
The intricate dance of atoms fusing and releasing energy has fascinated scientists for decades. Now, human ingenuity and artificial intelligence are coming together at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) t.....»»
Scientists develop sticky pesticide to combat pest insects
Researchers from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and Leiden University have engineered a biological barrier that protects plants from diseases and pests. It concerns a sticky substance that is sprayed on leaves, to which pests stick......»»
Scientists create an "optical conveyor belt" for quasiparticles
Using interference between two lasers, a research group led by scientists from RIKEN and NTT Research have created an "optical conveyor belt" that can move polaritons—a type of light-matter hybrid particle—in semiconductor-based microcavities. Th.....»»
Persistent strain of cholera defends itself against forces of change, scientists find
A deadly strain of cholera bacteria that emerged in Indonesia back in 1961 continues to spread widely to this day, claiming thousands of lives around the world every year, sickening millions, and with its persistence, baffling scientists......»»
Exploring the ultrasmall and ultrafast through advances in attosecond science
A team of scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are developing new methods to probe the universe's minute details at extraordinary speeds......»»
Chinese fruit fly genomes reveal global migrations, repeated evolution
Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), which humans have inadvertently spread around the globe, arrived in China roughly 4,000 years ago, according to a new population genomics study that adds to our understanding of the insect's global migration, de.....»»
Nitrogen pollution is less harmful to mixed forests, study shows
In a study published in the journal Plant and Soil, researchers from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have shown that mixed larch and deciduous forests are more resistant to soil acidification—a decrease in soil p.....»»
Non-photosynthetic vegetation helps improve accuracy of wind erosion impact assessment
The process of soil wind erosion is influenced by vegetation cover. From a functional point of view, vegetation can be divided into photosynthetic vegetation (PV) and non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV). The NPV represents dormant and dead vegetation.....»»
Indian Ocean sea-surface temperatures found to be accurate predictor of dengue outbreaks
A team of Earth scientists, health care workers and meteorologists affiliated with several institutions in China, and working with several international partners, reports that global dengue severity in Asia and South America can be predicted by sea-s.....»»
Researchers uncover mechanism for short-distance vesicle movements
Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have thrown new light on the mechanism for how vesicles move short distances within specific parts of the cell, an area not understood by scientists......»»
Researchers breed tomato plants that contain the complete genetic material of both parent plants
In a new study published in Nature Genetics, led by Charles Underwood from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, scientists established a system to generate clonal sex cells in tomato plants and used them to design.....»»
Researchers develop algorithms to understand how humans form body part vocabularies
Human bodies have similar designs. However, languages differ in the way they divide the body into parts and name them. For example, English speakers have two words for foot and leg, whereas other languages express the concepts foot and leg in one wor.....»»
Anticipating future discoveries: Scientists explore nontrivial cosmic topology
In a new Physical Review Letters (PRL) study, scientists explore the possibility of nontrivial or exotic topologies in the universe for explaining some of the anomalies seen in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)......»»