Earth
The concentration of mercury in the fish in Alaska's Yukon River may exceed the EPA's human health criterion by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are not constrained, according to scientific research funded in part by NASA. This first of its kind research estimates potential releases of mercury from thawing permafrost under high and low carbon emissions scenarios. The researchers predict that by 2200, the mercury emitted into both the atmosphere and water annually by thawing permafrost will compare with current global anthropogenic mercury emissions.
In everyday life, measuring temperature is pretty straightforward. But in the quantum world, which deals with the super small and the ultra-cold, determining how hot or cold something is starts to get more challenging. Now, in a collaboration between the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, researchers have described a quantum process that uses a single atom as a thermometer to sensitively measure the temperature of an ultra-cold gas.
A U of A biologist is part of an international team of researchers building a volunteer network of citizen scientists to help monitor the abundance of dragonflies and damselflies.
Recent studies have indicated that insect species in general are declining throughout the world and could be headed toward collapse due to intensive agricultural practices, climate change and habitat loss. For many species, however, there isn't enough baseline data to determine trends in insect abundance.
The concentration of mercury in fish in Alaska’s Yukon River may exceed EPA mercury criterion by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are not constrained, according to new scientific research led by the National Snow and Ice Data Center’s (NSIDC) Kevin Schaefer. This first of its kind research estimates potential releases of mercury from thawing permafrost in high and low emissions scenarios.
Along three scenic drives through Colorado's Rocky Mountains in fall, tourists will see less of a brilliant golden tree in the next 100 years, researchers from North Carolina State University projected in a new study.
Using computer modeling, researchers simulated how the distribution of quaking aspen, or Populus tremuloides, a native tree known for its brilliant yellow and orange foliage in fall and the sound of its trembling leaves, will change amid rising temperatures over the next 100 years.
Every time we eat, the glucose level in our body goes up. This spurs our pancreatic machinery into action and through intricate physiological mechanisms, appropriate amounts of insulin are produced, our blood glucose levels are controlled, and we remain healthy. But when a person indulges in high-fat food repeatedly over the long term, their pancreas is consistently overstimulated, eventually contributing to its damage and impairing its function. This increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, in which glucose level control mechanisms become lopsided.
The amount of synthetic microfiber we shed into our waterways has been of great concern over the last few years, and for good reason: Every laundry cycle releases in its wastewater tens of thousands of tiny, near-invisible plastic fibers whose persistence and accumulation can affect aquatic habitats and food systems, and ultimately our own bodies in ways we have yet to discover.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the South China Sea and captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Noui as it continued to organize and intensify.
Noul formed from a low-pressure area that began on the eastern side of the Philippines. The low crossed the Philippines and developed into Tropical Depression 13W in the Sulu Sea. The depression intensified, consolidated and became a tropical storm renamed Noul.
Out of any other racial group, African American men have the lowest five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer (CRC). A major factor contributing to this dire situation is low adherence to recommended early detection screening, like colonoscopy and home-based stool testing kits. Yet, published research on effective strategies to increase screening for this group specifically are minimal. These findings were published today in a special health inequities and disparities issue of the journal PLOS ONE.
In the popular imagination, Vikings were fearsome blonde-haired warriors from Scandinavia who used longboats to carry out raids across Europe in a brief but bloody reign of terror. But the reality is more complex, says SFU Archaeology Prof. Mark Collard.
Collard is a member of an international team of researchers that has just published the results of the world's largest DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons, in this week's edition of Nature.
Vaccines have curtailed the spread of several infectious diseases, such as smallpox, polio and measles. However, vaccines against some diseases, including HIV-1, influenza and malaria, don't work very well, and one reason could be the timing of antigen and adjuvant presentation to the immune system. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science developed an injectable hydrogel that allows sustained release of vaccine components, increasing the potency, quality and duration of immune responses in mice.
The photon jet effect was discovered in the early 2000s. The jet is an electromagnetic wave focused at the surface of a quartz glass microsphere, which is at lens focus. This jet has a unique transverse dimension, which is less than the diffraction limit. This feature of the photon jet drew the attention of scientists. As a result, in 2011, a nanoscope based on the effect of a photonic jet was developed. It pushed the envelope of traditional optical microscopes limitation with a maximum resolution of 200 nanometers and made possible to observe up to 50 nanometers.
The Northwest Sub-basin (NWSB) is an indispensable and essential part of the South China Sea (SCS) since it is one of three sub-basins of the SCS. In this paper, researchers used 11 OBSs' data along the profile OBS2006-2 (Fig. 1) by means of the latest data converting programs, elaborated the velocity structures of extinct spreading ridge by the employ of forward/inverse modeling software (RayInvr and Tomo2d), and then clarified the formation mechanism of the Double-peak seamount in the NWSB.
Researchers at the Babraham Institute have used their understanding of cellular signalling to highlight a pitfall in an emerging treatment for cancer and inflammation. A new review just published in Biochemical Society Transactions summarises the researchers' current knowledge, which includes details of their research published in Nature Communications earlier this year. Developing awareness around these findings will prevent wasted effort and resource being spent on further drug discovery research relating to this drug target by commercial pharmaceutical companies.
"Our study is very significant for understanding how organisms, in this case the common swift, can migrate from one part of the world to another, where access to food is much better at a given time", says Susanne Åkesson, professor at Lund University and principal investigator of the study.