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Rainfall strongly affects infectious Vibrio bacteria in Ala Wai Canal
In the Ala Wai Canal in Waikiki, Hawai’i, the abundance of Vibrio vulnificus, an infectious bacterium, is strongly influenced by the amount of rainfall in the surrounding areas, according to a recently published study. Study authors Olivia Nigro, then a graduate student in the oceanography at UHM and now an assistant professor at HPU, and…
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Can reactor fuel debris be safely removed from Fukushima Daiichi?
Decommissioning and clean-up are ongoing at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP); however, many difficult problems remain unaddressed. Chief amongst these problems is the retrieval and management of fuel debris. One of the materials in nuclear reactors that can lower the number of neutrons interacting with uranium-235 is boron carbide (B4C). This was used…
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Blueprint for proteins: How mRNA gets its final shape
Proteins need to interact in a complex manner for a so-called ‘messenger RNA’ (mRNA) to be created in human cells from a precursor molecule. mRNA provides a blueprint for proteins; the first vaccines against the coronavirus are also based on mRNAs. Scientists have now discovered how an essential final step in the production of mRNA…
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Pathway for green ammonia opens in a combined experimental and computational study
A combined experimental and computational study shows promising results for a new class of catalysts producing ammonia under mild conditions. There are several means of producing ammonia, but the Haber-Bosch process remains the most prevalent, accounting for about 90 % of total production. In any case, Haber-Bosch and the other processes involved in industrial-scale production…
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Sharing the love helps male acorn woodpeckers father more chicks
A new long-term study finds that male acorn woodpeckers breeding polygamously in duos or trios of males actually fathered more offspring than males breeding alone with a single female, contrary to conventional thinking among biologists that monogamous males necessarily produce more offspring than those in polygamous groups. For females, polygamy is less of a slam…
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Rare bacterial strain isolated and sequenced
Certain types of bacteria are unable to survive and thrive outside host organisms. This makes their isolation and identification technically challenging. Recently, a researcher successfully isolated a new bacterial strain of the candidate bacterial group, Candidatus phylum Dependentiae, from a pond. «Initially we sampled Risoukai Park in the Noda Campus of TUS with the aim…
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Mass extinctions of land-dwelling animals occur in 27-million-year cycle
Mass extinctions of land-dwelling animals—including amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds — follow a cycle of about 27 million years, coinciding with previously reported mass extinctions of ocean life, according to a new analysis. The study also finds that these mass extinctions align with major asteroid impacts and devastating volcanic outpourings of lava called flood-basalt eruptions…
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How rocks rusted on Earth and turned red
How did rocks rust on Earth and turn red? A new study has shed new light on the important phenomenon and will help address questions about the Late Triassic climate more than 200 million years ago, when greenhouse gas levels were high enough to be a model for what our planet may be like in…
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Recordings of the magnetic field from 9,000 years ago teach us about the magnetic field today
New research has uncovered findings regarding the magnetic field that prevailed in the Middle East between approximately 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. Researchers examined pottery and burnt flints from archaeological sites in Jordan, on which the magnetic field during that time period was recorded. The research was conducted under the leadership of Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef…
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A potential explanation for urban smog
The effect of nitric acid on aerosol particles in the atmosphere may offer an explanation for the smog seen engulfing cities on frosty days. Based on the findings, nitrogen compounds can, depending on the circumstances, either slow down or accelerate the growth of aerosol particles. This means that reducing sulphur dioxide is not on its…