Earth
Scientists have identified the highest recorded microplastics ever found on Earth - at an altitude of more than 8,000metres, close to the summit of Mount Everest.
Samples collected on the mountain and in the valley below it revealed substantial quantities of polyester, acrylic, nylon, and polypropylene fibres.
The materials are increasingly being used to make the high performance outdoor clothing commonly used by climbers, as well as the tents and climbing ropes used in attempts to climb the mountain.
New York, NY--November 20, 2020--Forests can help mitigate climate change, by taking in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and storing it in their biomass (tree trunks, roots, etc.). In fact, forests currently take in around 25-30% of our human-generated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Certain rainforest regions, such as the Amazon, store more carbon in their biomass than any other ecosystem or forest but when forests become water-stressed (not enough water in the soil, and/or air is extremely dry), forests will slow down or stop photosynthesis.
The impact of sea surface temperature variations in the tropical Pacific on global climate has long been recognized. For instance, the episodic warming of the tropical Pacific during El Niño events causes melt of sea ice in far-reaching parts of the Southern Ocean via its effect on the global atmospheric circulation. A new study, published this week in the journal Science Advances by an international team, demonstrates that the opposite pathway exists as well.
The research, carried out using a wearable cuff, provides a new method for monitoring movements in babies, and new insights into how babies' reflexes - like kicking - develop. These insights and the cuff could also be used to spot early signs of motor disorders such as cerebral palsy.
The research, published today in Science Advances, was done in collaboration with the Santa Lucia Foundation and Casilino Hospital in Rome.
The vision of the future of miniaturisation has produced a series of synthetic molecular motors that are driven by a range of energy sources and can carry out various movements. A research group at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has now managed to control a catalysis reaction using a light-controlled motor. This takes us one step closer to realising the vision of a nano factory in which combinations of various machines work together, as is the case in biological cells. The results have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
The Indian subcontinent is a hotspot for wild felines. A new study headed by Uppsala University now shows that only 6-11 per cent of the areas where three rare cat species have their habitat are protected. Lack of knowledge about these species has been an obstacle to understanding their needs for reserves. The research is presented in the journal Scientific Reports.
ITHACA, N.Y. - Floods of unimaginable magnitude once washed through Gale Crater on Mars' equator around 4 billion years ago - a finding that hints at the possibility that life may have existed there, according to data collected by NASA's Curiosity rover and analyzed in joint project by scientists from Jackson State University, Cornell University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Hawaii.
The research, "Deposits from Giant Floods in Gale Crater and Their Implications for the Climate of Early Mars," was published Nov. 5 in Scientific Reports.
The cell membrane is impermeable to viruses: to get inside and infect a cell, they use a range of strategies to exploit the cellular and biochemical properties of the membranes. The thiol-mediated uptake of organic molecules similar to alcohols, where oxygen is replaced by a sulphur atom, is one of the entry mechanisms, with its use by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) demonstrated a few years ago. No effective inhibitor is currently available because of the robustness of the chemical reactions and bonds at work.
While the broad architecture and organization of the human brain is universal, new research shows how the differences between how people reimagine common scenarios can be observed in brain activity and quantified. These unique neurological signatures could ultimately be used to understand, study, and even improve treatment of disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Nov. 20, 2020) -- For more than a decade, scientists studying epigenetics have used a powerful method called ChIP-seq to map changes in proteins and other critical regulatory factors across the genome. While ChIP-seq provides invaluable insights into the underpinnings of health and disease, it also faces a frustrating challenge: its results are often viewed as qualitative rather than quantitative, making interpretation difficult.
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Cells move constantly throughout our bodies, performing myriad operations critical to tissue development, immune responses and general wellbeing. This bustle is guided by chemical cues long studied by scientists interested in cellular migration.
Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University and Saratov State University teamed up with colleagues from Taiwan and proposed to make a laser 'blade' for a medical scalpel with a specified curved shape using a photonic 'hook'. Currently there are laser scalpels only with an axisymmetric focus area, i.e., with a cylindrical blade. According to scientists, changing the shape of the blade will expand the possibilities of using the laser in medicine, while it is about two times thinner than the cylindrical option.
Washington State University scientists have developed a new way to classify the ocean's diverse environments, shedding new light on how marine biomes are defined and changed by nature and humans.
Newly published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, research by Alli Cramer, a 2020 doctoral graduate of WSU's School of the Environment, now at the University of California Santa Cruz, and WSU Professor Stephen Katz revealed a new approach which sorts biomes based on their life-supporting potential and stability of the sea floor.
A team of researchers has amplified 3D graphene's electrical properties by controlling its curvature.
"Our research showed the conservation and the degradation of the ultra-low dissipative transport of Dirac electrons on the 3D curved surface for the first time," said Yoichi Tanabe, leading author of the study.
Graphene is a 2D atomic-layer material, shaped like honeycombs, which possesses excellent electrical, chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties for a wide range of applications such as semiconductors, electrical batteries, and composites.
University of Virginia Cancer Center researchers have identified a gene responsible for the spread of triple-negative breast cancer to other parts of the body - a process called metastasis - and developed a potential way to stop it.