Studying vampire bats to predict the next pandemic
In June, Virginia Tech Assistant Professor Luis Escobar led a team of students into the Andes Mountains and lowlands of Colombia to understand how vampire bats can help predict and prevent the next big epidemic. Escobar is an expert in assessing how.....»»
How do you pronounce “hockey”? US players say it with “fake Canadian” accent.
They don't want to sound Canadian, but like a hockey player—a "linguistic persona." Enlarge (credit: Tommy Gilligan/USMA PAO/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) University of Rochester linguist Andrew Bray started out studying the evolut.....»»
Data-driven model rapidly predicts dehydrogenation barriers in solid-state materials
Researchers have developed a data-driven model to predict the dehydrogenation barriers of magnesium hydride (MgH2), a promising material for solid-state hydrogen storage. This advancement holds significant potential for enhancing hydrogen storage tec.....»»
Five things to know about how NASA"s tiny twin polar satellites will study the Arctic and Antarctic
Twin shoebox-size climate satellites will soon be studying two of the most remote regions on Earth: the Arctic and Antarctic. The NASA mission will measure the amount of heat the planet emits into space from these polar regions—information that's k.....»»
Quantum geometry offers new insights into "smart" materials with switchable electric polarity
Quantum theorists at the University of British Columbia have proposed a new approach to studying stacking ferroelectricity—spontaneous electric polarization—in layered, two-dimensional lab-grown materials......»»
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.....»»
Finding the chink in coronavirus"s armor—experiment reveals how the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 protects itself
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in millions of deaths. Despite an unparalleled collaborative research effort that led to effective vaccines and therapies being produced in record-breaking time, a complete understanding of the structure and lifecycle o.....»»
Wildlife traffickers carried on their illegal trade during COVID lockdown—what can we learn from their resilience?
The world literally stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. But while countries locked down to keep coronavirus at bay, wildlife traffickers carried on their illegal activities. Global risk governance and criminology academics Annette Hübschle and Mer.....»»
Why are auroras so hard to predict? And when can we expect more?
On Saturday evening before Mother's Day, Australians witnessed a rare celestial spectacle: a breathtaking display of aurora australis, also known as the southern lights......»»
TESS discovers a rocky planet that glows with molten lava as it"s squeezed by its neighbors
UC Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane had to double-check his calculations. He wasn't sure the planet he was studying could be as extreme as it seemed......»»
Unearthing the impacts of hydrological sensitivity on global rainfall
Georgia Tech researcher Jie He set out to predict how rainfall will change as Earth's atmosphere continues to heat up. In the process, he made some unexpected discoveries that might explain how greenhouse gas emissions will impact tropical oceans, af.....»»
A multi-stream network for retrosynthesis prediction
Retrosynthesis aims to predict a set of reactants for producing given molecules, which plays a significant part in the biochemistry field, such as molecular pathway design and drug discovery. Most existing methods only benefit from one kind of inform.....»»
An adjuvant made in yeast could lower vaccine cost and boost availability
Vaccines save lives, as proven during the recent pandemic, but one component of most vaccines—including the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine—goes unheralded: a molecule or other compound that primes the immune system to mount a more robust defense agains.....»»
The big lesson from past pandemics? Avoid panic buying, says new research
COVID-19 upended almost every aspect of daily life, including consumer and retailer behavior. However, it was not the first pandemic that changed how we shop......»»
How do emotions help construct our cultural identity in music festivals?
2022 was a record year for music festivals in Spain, hitting historic highs just two years after the entire country was locked down due to the pandemic. Spain boasts close to a thousand music festivals and a live music industry that earned 459 millio.....»»
As business districts evolve post-pandemic, repurposing old or empty spaces should be on the drawing board
The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears of urban center "ghost towns" may have been premature, many cities around the worl.....»»
The US Is Cracking Down on Synthetic DNA
Synthetic DNA could be used to spark a pandemic. A move by President Biden aims to create new standards for the safety and security of mail-order genetic material......»»
The COVID-19 pandemic changed our patterns and behaviors, which in turn affected wildlife
The Earth now supports over eight billion people who collectively have transformed three-quarters of the planet's land surface for food, energy, shelter and other aspects of the human enterprise......»»
Do earthquake hazard maps predict higher shaking than actually occurred? Research finds discrepancy
A new study by Northwestern University researchers and coworkers explains a puzzling problem with maps of future earthquake shaking used to design earthquake-resistant buildings. The research was published May 1 in the journal Science Advances in a p.....»»
Satellite images of plants" fluorescence can predict crop yields
Cornell researchers and collaborators have developed a new framework that allows scientists to predict crop yield without the need for enormous amounts of high-quality data—which is often scarce in developing countries, especially those facing heig.....»»
Improved AI process could better predict water supplies
A new computer model uses a better artificial intelligence process to measure snow and water availability more accurately across vast distances in the West, information that could someday be used to better predict water availability for farmers and o.....»»