Showing 20 articles starting at article 461

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Ecology: Endangered Species, Physics: Quantum Physics

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A lot has changed in the world since the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted 50 years ago in December 1973. Experts are now discuss how the ESA has evolved and what its future might hold. 

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Lights could soon use the full color suite of perfectly efficient organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, that last tens of thousands of hours. The new phosphorescent OLEDs, commonly referred to as PHOLEDs, can maintain 90% of the blue light intensity for 10-14 times longer than other designs that emit similar deep blue colors. That kind of lifespan could finally make blue PHOLEDs hardy enough to be commercially viable in lights that meet the Department of Energy's 50,000-hour lifetime target. Without a stable blue PHOLED, OLED lights need to use less-efficient technology to create white light.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international research team recently demonstrated how magnetism can be actively changed by pressure.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered that plants send tiny, innocuous-seeming lipid 'bubbles' filled with RNA across enemy lines, into the cells of the aggressive mold. Once inside, different types of RNA come out to suppress the infectious cells that sucked them in.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Insect decline is being driven by losses among the locally more common species, according to a new study. The meta-analysis of 923 locations around the world notes two significant trends: 1) the species with the most individuals (the highest abundance) are disproportionately decreasing in number, and 2) no other species have increased to the high numbers previously seen. This likely explains the frequent observation that there are fewer insects around now than ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. 

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered that flowering plants growing in farmland are increasingly doing without insect pollinators. As reproduction becomes more difficult for them in an environment depleted in pollinating insects, the plants are evolving towards self-fertilization.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A study appearing in Nature Communications based on field and greenhouse experiments at the University of Kansas shows how a boost in agricultural yield comes from planting diverse crops rather than just one plant species: Soil pathogens harmful to plants have a harder time thriving. While crop rotation and other farming and gardening practices long have reflected benefits of a mix of plants, the new research puts hard data to one important mechanism underpinning the observation: the numbers of microorganisms in the soil that eat plants.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have developed a method to extract the spectral density for molecules in solvent using simple resonance Raman experiments -- a method that captures the full complexity of chemical environments.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Plants often develop communities with microorganisms in their roots, which influences plant health and development. Although the recruitment of these microbes is dictated by several factors, it is unclear whether the genetic variation in the host plants plays a role.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Humans have wiped out around 1,400 bird species -- twice as many as previously thought -- with major implications for the ongoing biodiversity crisis, a new study has found. The estimated extinctions would mean almost 12 per cent of bird species have died out over modern human history, since the Late Pleistocene around 130,000 years ago, with the vast majority of them becoming extinct directly or indirectly due to human activity.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers developed a way to quickly calculate the transition state structure of a chemical reaction, using machine-learning models.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For the first time, scientists publish results on a new chip composed of diamond and lithium niobate. The results demonstrate the combination as a promising candidate for quantum devices.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Plants emit odors for a variety of reasons, such as to communicate with each other, to deter herbivores or to respond to changing environmental conditions. An interdisciplinary team of researchers carried out a study to investigate how biodiversity influences the emission of these substances. For the first time, they were able to show that species-rich forests emit less of these gases into the atmosphere than monocultures. It was previously assumed that species-rich forests release more emissions. The Leipzig team has now been able to disprove this assumption experimentally.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Accurately counting manatee aggregations within a region is crucial yet challenging. Harnessing the power of AI, researchers are using a deep learning-based crowd counting approach to automatically count the number of manatees in a designated region, using images captured from CCTV cameras, which are readily available, as input. The pioneering study not only addresses the technical challenges of counting in complex outdoor environments but also offers potential ways to aid endangered species. 

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Simulations integrate historical records, fossils, and ancient DNA to reveal why the European bison nearly went extinct, and pinpoint optimal areas for conservation.   Since the near-extinction of the European bison, enormous conservation efforts have helped to restore wild populations, and its numbers are on the rise. However, the study authors argue that ensuring the species's long-term protection and recovery requires understanding why they nearly went extinct in the first place.    'Our study also suggests areas where rewilding attempts are most likely to be successful,' said lead author July Pilowsky, currently a disease ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Pilowsky completed the research while working on their PhD at University of Adelaide and University of Copenhagen.   

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a study that could help fill some holes in quantum theory, the team recreated a 'quantum bomb tester' in a classical droplet test.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It may soon be time to wake up and smell the lab-grown coffee made from cultured plant cells. But it's not clear whether drinks from this product replicate coffee beans' complex flavors. Now, a study found that some of the comforting aromas and tastes of a conventional cup of coffee could be reproduced by roasting and brewing coffee cell cultures.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Increasing urbanization worldwide is a growing threat to biodiversity. At the same time, flowering plants are often more diverse in cities than in the countryside. This is due to flowering plants and agricultural crops, which are increasingly being grown in cities. A recent study shows that the interactions between plants and pollinators, which are important for agricultural production, are surprisingly dynamic. For example, the plant and bee species involved in pollination vary greatly between the seasons.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers re-examined a plant fossil found decades ago in Colombia and realized that it wasn't a plant at all: it's a fossilized baby turtle. It's a rare find, because juvenile turtles' shells are soft and often don't fossilize well.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Two nanotechnology approaches converge by employing a new generation of fabrication technology. It combines the scalability of semiconductor technology with the atomic dimensions enabled by self-assembly.