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Categories: Ecology: Trees, Physics: Quantum Physics

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As the climate and wildfire crises have intensified, so too have concerns regarding the loss of carbon captured and stored in forests from decades to centuries of tree growth. A new study describes where to optimize ongoing wildfire mitigation efforts and reduce carbon loss due to wildfire, benefitting communities and climate at the same time. The study evaluated where living trees and the carbon they store are at risk of burning in the future. They then compared these areas to communities that are vulnerable to wildfire as identified in the Forest Service's Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Areas of overlap highlight 'opportunity hot spots' where action can reduce the risk from wildfire to both carbon and communities.

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Researchers report that the flexible shoulders and elbows that allow us to throw a football or reach a high shelf may have evolved as a natural braking system that let our primate ancestors get out of trees without dying. The researchers used sports-analysis software to compare the climbing movements of chimpanzees and small monkeys called mangabeys. While the animals climb up trees similarly, the researchers found that the shallow, rounded shoulder joints and shortened elbow bones that chimps have -- similar to humans -- allow them to fully extend their arms above their heads when climbing down, holding onto branches like a person going down a ladder to support their greater weight. When early humans left forests for the grassy savanna, these versatile appendages would have been essential for gathering food and using tools for hunting and defense. The findings are among the first to identify the significance of 'downclimbing' in the evolution of apes and early humans.

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By adding a naturally-occurring polymer that makes wood more porous, scientists have engineered trees easier to disassemble into simpler building blocks.

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Scientists demonstrated a conceptual breakthrough by fabricating atomically precise quantum antidots using self-assembled single vacancies in a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide.

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Researchers have mathematically derived the fundamental limit of heat current flowing into a quantum system comprising numerous quantum mechanical particles in relation to the particle count. Further, they established a clearer understanding of how the heat current rises with increasing particle count, shedding light on the performance constraints of potential future quantum thermal devices.

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Tropical forests in South America lose their ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere when conditions become exceptionally hot and dry, according to new research. For a long time, tropical forests have acted as a carbon sink, taking more carbon out of the air than they release into it, a process that has moderated the impact of climate change. But new research found that in 2015 -- 2016, when an El Niño climate event resulted in drought and the hottest temperatures ever recorded, South American forests were unable to function as a carbon sink.

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Digital information exchange can be safer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly with the help of a new type of random number generator for encryption. The researchers behind the study believe that the new technology paves the way for a new type of quantum communication.

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In 2012, when the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) arrived in the U.S. from its home in China, scientists, land managers, and growers were understandably concerned that the sap-feeding insect would damage native and commercial trees. New long-term research has discovered that hardwood trees, such as maple, willow and birch, may be less vulnerable than initially thought.

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Researchers have been able to substantially improve photoclick chemistry. They were able to boost the reactivity of the photoclick compound in the popular PQ-ERA reaction through strategic molecular substitution. They now report a superb photoreaction quantum yield, high reaction rates and notable oxygen tolerance.

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Researchers have developed a new approach to building quantum repeaters, devices that can link quantum computers over long distances. The new system transmits low-loss signals over optical fiber using light in the telecom band, a longstanding goal in the march toward robust quantum communication networks.

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New work could help forest managers predict which forests are most at risk from drought and which will survive.

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Quantum physics has allowed for the creation of sensors far surpassing the precision of classical devices. Now, several new studies show that the precision of these quantum sensors can be significantly improved using entanglement produced by finite-range interactions. Researchers were able to demonstrate this enhancement using entangled ion-chains with up to 51 particles.

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A new article found that overhunting of gorillas, elephants, and other large fruit-eating seed-dispersers make tropical forests less able to store or sequester carbon.

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The Mpemba effect is originally referred to the non-monotonic initial temperature dependence of the freezing start time, but it has been observed in various systems -- including colloids -- and has also become known as a mysterious relaxation phenomenon that depends on initial conditions. However, very few have previously investigated the effect in quantum systems. Now, the temperature quantum Mpemba effect can be realized over a wide range of initial conditions.

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It has long been known that graphene has excellent electronic properties. However, it was unclear until now how stable these properties are. Are they destroyed by disturbances and additional effects, which are unavoidable in practice, or do they remain intact? Scientists have now succeeded in developing a comprehensive computer model of realistic graphene structures. It turned out that the desired effects are very stable. Even graphene pieces that are not quite perfect can be used well for technological applications.

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Physicists have developed a technique to precisely control the alignment of supermoiré lattices by using a set of golden rules, paving the way for the advancement of next generation moiré quantum matter.

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Researchers have implemented a quantum-based method to observe a quantum effect in the way light-absorbing molecules interact with incoming photons. Known as a conical intersection, the effect puts limitations on the paths molecules can take to change between different configurations. The observation method makes use of a quantum simulator, developed from research in quantum computing, and offers an example of how advances in quantum computing are being used to investigate fundamental science.

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Many songbirds use the earth's magnetic field as a guide during their migrations, but radiowaves interfere with this ability. A new study has found an upper bound for the frequency that disrupts the magnetic compass.

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Scientists have developed a new method for detecting mid-infrared (MIR) light at room temperature using quantum systems.

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Using a trapped-ion quantum computer, the research team witnessed the interference pattern of a single atom caused by a 'conical intersection'. Conical intersections are known throughout chemistry and are vital to rapid photo-chemical processes such as light harvesting in human vision or photosynthesis.