Culture

Researchers in Italy have demonstrated the feasibility of quantum communications between high-orbiting global navigation satellites and a ground station, with an exchange at the single photon level over a distance of 20,000km.

The milestone experiment proves the feasibility of secure quantum communications on a global scale, using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). It is reported in full today in the journal Quantum Science and Technology.

 Katarzyna Pisanski et al., writing in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, have found that women lower their voice when competing for a man.

Astronauts in low-earth orbit could use a fresh salad to brighten up all those freeze-dried meals. But the microgravity space environment can affect plant growth in ways we're only beginning to understand. In research presented in a recent issue of Applications in Plant Sciences, Drs.

DALLAS, Dec. 19, 2018 -- Nearly a fifth of heart disease deaths in adults aged 25-69 in 2011 may be attributed to high sodium diets in a large province in China. Reducing salt intake in the region could potentially save thousands of lives, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

An active ingredient in eye drops that were being developed for the treatment of a form of eye disease has shown promise for treating an aggressive form of blood cancer. Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge, University of Nottingham and their collaborators have found that this compound, which targets an essential cancer gene, could kill leukaemia cells without harming non-leukemic blood cells.

Our homes are supposed to be safe havens from the outside world. However, studies have shown that household air is more polluted than either office or school air, exposing children and home workers to higher levels of carcinogens than the general population. Now, researchers have made a genetically modified houseplant that can efficiently remove at least two toxins from the air. They report their results in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

We like to keep the air in our homes as clean as possible, and sometimes we use HEPA air filters to keep offending allergens and dust particles at bay.

But some hazardous compounds are too small to be trapped in these filters. Small molecules like chloroform, which is present in small amounts in chlorinated water, or benzene, which is a component of gasoline, build up in our homes when we shower or boil water, or when we store cars or lawn mowers in attached garages. Both benzene and chloroform exposure have been linked to cancer.

A University of Wyoming researcher and his team have discovered that separating male and female mice, over time, changes the way they smell.

The study investigates how the olfactory sensory receptors in mice change as a function of exposure to odors emitted from members of the opposite sex, says Stephen Santoro, an assistant professor in the Department of Zoology and Physiology.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A key step in retroviral growth inside a cell, as described by Jamil Saad, Ph.D., and colleagues, is portrayed on the cover of The Journal of Biological Chemistry. It is a visual image, in molecular detail, of their journal article inside that looks at avian sarcoma virus, or ASV.

Claims of a 'pause' in observed global temperature warming are comprehensively disproved in a pair of new studies published today.

An international team of climate researchers reviewed existing data and studies and reanalysed them. They concluded there has never been a statistically significant 'pause' in global warming. This conclusion holds whether considering the `pause' as a change in the rate of warming in observations or as a mismatch in rate between observations and expectations from climate models.

To counteract the damage hurricanes have caused to their canopies, trees appear to adjust key characteristics of their newly grown leaves, according to a year-long field study presented at the British Ecological Society's annual conference today.

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico last year, the worst natural disaster on record to affect the U.S. territory, it stripped numerous trees bare of their leaves and consequently disrupted their ability to absorb the light needed for growth and survival.

Plant scientists at the University of East Anglia have succeeded in unravelling the complete genome sequence of the common primrose -- the plant whose reproductive biology captivated the Victorian naturalist Charles Darwin.

The research team has identified, for the first time, the landscape of genes which operate within the primrose's two different flowering forms that are involved in the reproductive process. This adds fresh insight to a puzzle that scientists have been grappling with for over 150 years.

Impulse online shopping, downloading music and compulsive email use are all signs of a certain personality trait that make you a target for malware attacks. New research from Michigan State University examines the behaviors - both obvious and subtle - that lead someone to fall victim to cybercrime involving Trojans, viruses, and malware.

TORONTO, ON (Canada) - New research by scientists at the University of Toronto (U of T) offers novel insights into why and how wind-pollinated plants have evolved from insect-pollinated ancestors.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- In 2003, the Human Genome Project revealed to the world the three billion chemical units within human DNA. Since that time, scientists have designed many ways to organize and assess this overwhelmingly large amount of information. Now, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have determined that evolution can help guide these efforts.