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Primate habitat endangered by climate change mapped around the globe
Researchers have projected the effects current and estimated future global temperature increases would have on the precise territories that were home to particular primate species, based on projected emissions of CO2. Specifically, she looked at annual average temperatures to see if they would exceed the pre-industrial seasonal maximum temperature (PSMT), or if they already had.…
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NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite reveals shape, depth of Antarctic ice shelf fractures
When a block of ice the size of Houston, Texas, broke off from East Antarctica’s Amery Ice Shelf in 2019, scientists had anticipated the calving event, but not exactly where it would happen. Now, satellite data can help scientists measure the depth and shape of ice shelf fractures to better predict when and where calving…
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To do or not to do: Cracking the code of motivation
By manipulating the dopamine receptors of monkeys and studying their behavior, scientists reveal how our brain makes us feel motivated. Why do we do things? What persuades us to put an effort to achieve goals, however mundane? What, for instance, drives us to search for food? Neurologically, the answer is hidden in the reward system…
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Running may have made dinosaurs’ wings flap before they evolved to fly
Before they evolved the ability to fly, two-legged dinosaurs may have begun to flap their wings as a passive effect of running along the ground. The findings, published in PLOS Computational Biology, provide new insights into the origin of avian flight, which has been a point of debate since the 1861 discovery of Archaeopteryx. While…
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A new single-atom catalyst can produce hydrogen from urea at an exceptional rate
A new single-atom catalyst can produce hydrogen from urea at an exceptional rate. Liquid nitrogen quenching introduces tensile-strain on the surface of oxide support, stabilizing ultra-high loading of single metal atom sites. To save energy for hydrogen generation, replacing sluggish water electrolysis with urea oxidation reaction (UOR) offers a great promise, due to thermodynamically favorable…
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Nanotech and AI could hold key to unlocking global food security challenge
‘Precision agriculture’ where farmers respond in real time to changes in crop growth using nanotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) could offer a practical solution to the challenges threatening global food security, a new study reveals. Climate change, increasing populations, competing demands on land for production of biofuels and declining soil quality mean it is becoming…
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‘Fungal ghosts’ protect skin, fabric from toxins, radiation
Synthetically created melanin can be used as a toxin adsorbent when applied to fabric. New material protected fabric from nerve gas penetration. Examples in nature lead researchers to believe these materials ‘exist out there’. When Nathan Gianneschi’s lab set out to synthesize melanin that would mimic that which was formed by certain fungi known to…
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Blue color tones in fossilized prehistoric feathers
Examining fossilized pigments, scientists have uncovered new insights into blue color tones in prehistoric birds. For some time, paleontologists have known that melanin pigment can preserve in fossils and have been able to reconstruct fossil colour patterns. Melanin pigment gives black, reddish brown and grey colours to birds and is involved in creating bright iridescent…
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Discovering molecular ‘team-work’ underlying nitrate assimilation in a unicellular red alga
The mechanisms suppressing nitrate assimilation in plants under nitrogen-repleted condition are poorly known, but researchers may have made a breakthrough. They have recently studied the transcription of nitrate assimilating genes in a unicellular red alga and found that deletion of the negative domain of transcription factor CmMYB1 or a previously unknown protein CmNDB1 is responsible…
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Not all meat is created equal: How diet changes can sustain world’s food production
An environmental engineer has created a model that predicts how several different conservation approaches could reduce demand for a nonrenewable resource that is absolutely vital for feeding the world: phosphorus. Phosphorus is an essential mineral to grow food, but research suggests that this is being mined unsustainably. If reserves run low, food production will be…