Earth

When you remember a particular experience, that memory has three critical elements -- what, when, and where. MIT neuroscientists have now identified a brain circuit that processes the "when" and "where" components of memory.

This circuit, which connects the hippocampus and a region of the cortex known as entorhinal cortex, separates location and timing into two streams of information. The researchers also identified two populations of neurons in the entorhinal cortex that convey this information, dubbed "ocean cells" and "island cells."

Horses need help when it comes to insect pests like flies. But, unfortunately, horse owners are in the dark about how best to manage flies because research just hasn't been done, according to a new overview of equine fly management in the latest issue of the Journal of Integrated Pest Management, an open-access journal that is written for farmers, ranchers, and extension professionals.

There is no association between coffee consumption and an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, according to research published in the open access journal BMC Medicine. The research includes a meta-analysis of four other studies, making it the largest study its kind, involving nearly 250,000 individuals over the course of 12 years.

Moderate coffee consumption has been associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Its association with atrial fibrillation (AF), a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate, has been unclear.

When you think of the world's greatest athletes, names like Usain Bolt generally spring to mind, but scientists have discovered the best athletes could well be found in the water, covered in scales.

Scientists have discovered that fish are far more effective at delivering oxygen throughout their body than almost any other animal, giving them the athletic edge over other species.

In a study published in the research journal Global Change Biology, climate scientists from the University of California, NatureServe and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) conclude that a warmer future with normal rainfall on California's coast will leave coast redwoods south of San Francisco Bay with significantly different climate than they have experienced for decades.

Physicists from France and Russia have discovered magnetic disturbances in 2D superconductor layer, resembling little oscillating stars. These star-like excitations are caused by a single magnetic atom put into the layer of superconducting material. What they mean is that now the Yu-Shibo-Rusinov chains are proved to exist not only in theory. Moreover, it was found out that in the two-dimensional systems the magnetic disturbances spread on longer distances and seem to be more sustainable - which brings us a step closer towards the long-awaited quantum computers.

In the latest advance to boost the speed of the Internet, a research team including, the City College of New York, University of Southern California, University of Glasgow, and Corning Incorporated, has demonstrated a way to increase the data speeds of optical fibers - considered the Internet's backbone.

Today, the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, or NSAC, publicly released "Reaching for the Horizon, The 2015 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science." The new plan was unanimously accepted by NSAC, a committee composed of eminent scientists who have been tasked by DOE and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide recommendations on future research in the field. A new plan, which serves as advice to both DOE and NSF, is generally prepared every five-seven years to assure that priorities reflect the current knowledge in the field.

Tropical Storm Champi was over Guam and the Marianas Islands when NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of the storm. On October 16, Champi was moving farther away from Saipan and Tinian in a westerly direction.

Tropical Storm 02P developed about 300 miles away from Fiji as NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of the storm.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite saw Tropical Storm 02P on October 16 at 0220 (Oct. 15 at 10:20 p.m. EDT). The visible-light VIIRS image showed a band of thunderstorms southwest to southeast of the center of circulation.

Extraordinary progress in the past decade has brought 1.6 percent of the world's ocean to a category of "strongly protected," researchers say in a new analysis, but the accomplishments are still far behind those that have been achieved on land, and those that are urgently needed.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.-- Chemists have long believed that inserting nitrogen -- a beneficial ingredient for making many pharmaceuticals and other biologically active molecules -- into a carbon-hydrogen bond requires a trade-off between catalyst reactivity and selectivity. But a new manganese-based catalyst developed by University of Illinois chemists has given researchers both in one efficient, lower-cost package.

For many people, the best start to the day is a nice, fresh cup of joe. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 15 find that honey bees find caffeinated beverages--er, nectar--irresistible too.

In fact, it appears that bees may select caffeinated nectar over an uncaffeinated but otherwise equal-quality alternative. As a result, the researchers say, plants may be lacing their nectar with caffeine as a way to pass off cheaper goods.

MIAMI - A University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric-led study challenges the prevailing wisdom by identifying the atmosphere as the driver of a decades-long climate variation known as the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO). The findings offer new insight on the causes and predictability of natural climate variations, which are known to cause wide-ranging global weather impacts, including increased rainfall, drought, and greater hurricane frequency in many parts of the Atlantic basin.

A new material with micropores might be a way to fight climate change. Scientists have created crystals that capture carbon dioxide much more efficiently than previously known materials, even in the presence of water. The research was recently published in a report in the scientific journal Science.