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Categories: Energy: Technology, Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published Creepy crawlies protect apples when flowers are planted on farms



Bugs including hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds play an important role in keeping Britain's apples healthy, a new study has shown.
Published Double trouble at chromosome ends



New findings suggest the end-replication problem, an old standby of biology textbooks, is twice as intricate as once thought.
Published Change in gene code may explain how human ancestors lost tails



A genetic change in our ancient ancestors may partly explain why humans don't have tails like monkeys.
Published Researchers look at environmental impacts of AI tools



As artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in radiology, researchers caution that it's essential to consider the environmental impact of AI tools.
Published Low-Temperature Plasma used to remove E. coli from hydroponically grown crops



In a new study, a team sterilized a hydroponic nutrient solution using low-temperature plasma generated from electricity and the oxygen in the atmosphere. This new sterilization technique may allow farmers to grow crops without the use of chemical pesticides, representing an important advance in agricultural technology for sustainable crop production.
Published Researchers use Hawk supercomputer and lean into imperfection to improve solar cell efficiency



Solar energy is one of the most promising, widely adopted renewable energy sources, but the solar cells that convert light into electricity remains a challenge. Scientists have turned to the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart to understand how strategically designing imperfections in the system could lead to more efficient energy conversion.
Published Microbial comics: RNA as a common language, presented in extracellular speech-bubbles



Decoding the conversations between microbes of hypersaline environments reveals deep insights into the origins of complex life.
Published What will it take for China to reach carbon neutrality by 2060?



To become carbon neutral by 2060, China will have to build eight to 10 times more wind and solar power installations than existed in 2022, according to a new study. Reaching carbon neutrality will also require major construction of transmission lines.
Published New world record for CIGS solar cells



A new record for electrical energy generation from CIGS solar cells has been reached. Scientists have achieved a 23.64 percent efficiency.
Published Predatory fish use rapid color changes to coordinate attacks



Striped marlin are some of the fastest animals on the planet and one of the ocean's top predators. When hunting in groups, individual marlin will take turns attacking schools of prey fish one at a time. Now a new study helps to explain how they might coordinate this turn-taking style of attack on their prey to avoid injuring each other. The key, according to the new work, is rapid color changes.
Published Lab-spun sponges form perfect scaffolds for growing skin cells to heal wounds



A new technique for electro-spinning sponges has allowed scientists to directly produce 3D scaffolds -- on which skin grafts could be grown from the patient's own skin.
Published Researchers harness 2D magnetic materials for energy-efficient computing



Researchers used ultrathin van der Waals materials to create an electron magnet that can be switched at room temperature. This type of magnet could be used to build magnetic processors or memories that would consume far less energy than traditional devices made from silicon.
Published Scientists can tell where a mouse is looking and located based on its neural activity



Researchers have paired a deep learning model with experimental data to 'decode' mouse neural activity. Using the method, they can accurately determine where a mouse is located within an open environment and which direction it is facing, just by looking at its neural firing patterns. Being able to decode neural activity could provide insight into the function and behavior of individual neurons or even entire brain regions.
Published Method identified to double computer processing speeds



Scientists introduce what they call 'simultaneous and heterogeneous multithreading' or SHMT. This system doubles computer processing speeds with existing hardware by simultaneously using graphics processing units (GPUs), hardware accelerators for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), or digital signal processing units to process information.
Published High resolution techniques reveal clues in 3.5 billion-year-old biomass



To learn about the first organisms on our planet, researchers have to analyze the rocks of the early Earth. These can only be found in a few places on the surface of the Earth. The Pilbara Craton in Western Australia is one of these rare sites: there are rocks there that are around 3.5 billion years old containing traces of the microorganisms that lived at that time. A research team has now found new clues about the formation and composition of this ancient biomass, providing insights into the earliest ecosystems on Earth.
Published Butterfly and moth genomes mostly unchanged despite 250 million years of evolution



Comparison of over 200 high-quality butterfly and moth genomes reveals key insights into their biology, evolution and diversification over the last 250 million years, as well as clues for conservation.
Published An awkward family reunion: Sea monsters are our cousins



The sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares. A new study discovered that the hindbrain -- the part of the brain controlling vital functions like blood pressure and heart rate -- of both sea lampreys and humans is built using an extraordinarily similar molecular and genetic toolkit.
Published New water batteries stay cool under pressure



A global team of researchers has invented recyclable 'water batteries' that won't catch fire or explode. The team use water to replace organic electrolytes -- which enable the flow of electric current between the positive and negative terminals -- meaning their batteries can't start a fire or blow up -- unlike their lithium-ion counterparts.
Published Giant new snake species identified in the Amazon



A team of scientists on location with a film crew in the remote Amazon has uncovered a previously undocumented species of giant anaconda.
Published Physicists develop more efficient solar cell



Physicists have used complex computer simulations to develop a new design for significantly more efficient solar cells than previously available. A thin layer of organic material, known as tetracene, is responsible for the increase in efficiency.