Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

A window of opportunity for climate change and biodiversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

World leaders must take advantage of a pivotal window of opportunity for forging a much-needed joined-up approach to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, say scientists. Without this, work on tackling either crisis could inadvertently harm progress on the other.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science
Published

Tropical plant species are as threatened by climate change as widely feared, study confirms      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Biologists who set out to better understand the effects of climate change on plant species in tropical mountain regions found that even small variations in temperature and moisture can have massive impacts, threatening not only plants that live there, but also the ecosystems they support. A study based on labor-intensive fieldwork and analysis in tropical mountain regions shows that a warmer and drier climate will lead to massive losses of plant species.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Groundcherry gets genetic upgrades: Turning a garden curiosity into an agricultural powerhouse      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Imagine a small fruit that tastes like a cross between a tomato and a pineapple, wrapped in its own natural paper lantern. That's the groundcherry (Physalis grisea) -- a little-known relative of tomatoes that's been quietly growing in gardens and small farms across North America for centuries. Now, this humble fruit is getting a 21st-century upgrade thanks to some cutting-edge genetic research.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

The courtship of leopard seals off the coast of South America      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A pioneering study has unveiled the first paired observations of sexual behavior and vocalizations in wild leopard seals. The study on the mysterious leopard seal represents a major advance in understanding the behavior of one of the most difficult apex predators to study on Earth.

Physics: General Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Powerful new particle accelerator a step closer with muon-marshalling technology      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New experimental results show particles called muons can be corralled into beams suitable for high-energy collisions, paving the way for new physics.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Physicists develop new theory describing the energy landscape formed when quantum particles gather together      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of physicists has proven new theorems in quantum mechanics that describe the 'energy landscapes' of collections of quantum particles. Their work addresses decades-old questions, opening up new routes to make computer simulation of materials much more accurate. This, in turn, may help scientists design a suite of materials that could revolutionize green technologies.

Computer Science: General Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Paving the way to extremely fast, compact computer memory      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have demonstrated that the layered multiferroic material nickel iodide (NiI2) may be the best candidate yet for devices such as magnetic computer memory that are extremely fast and compact. Specifically, they found that NiI2 has greater magnetoelectric coupling than any known material of its kind.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Physics: General Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Breakthrough in quantum microscopy: Researchers are making electrons visible in slow motion      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Physicists are developing quantum microscopy which enables them for the first time to record the movement of electrons at the atomic level with both extremely high spatial and temporal resolution. Their method has the potential to enable scientists to develop materials in a much more targeted way than before.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research
Published

History shows that humans are good for biodiversity... sometimes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Humans have been an important driver of vegetation change over thousands of years, and, in some places, had positive impacts on biodiversity, according to a new study.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature
Published

Building a roadmap to bioengineer plants that produce their own nitrogen fertilizer      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Nitrogen fertilizers make it possible to feed the world's growing population, but they are also costly adn harm ecosystems. However, a few plants have evolved the ability to acquire their own nitrogen with the help of bacteria, and a new study helps explain how they did it, not once, but multiple times.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

How plant cold specialists can adapt to the environment      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Evolutionary biologists studied spoonworts to determine what influence genome duplication has on the adaptive potential of plants. The results show that polyploids -- species with more than two sets of chromosomes -- can have an accumulation of structural mutations with signals for a possible local adaptation, enabling them to occupy ecological niches time and time again.

Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Light-induced Meissner effect      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a new experiment capable of monitoring the magnetic properties of superconductors at very fast speeds.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Wild plants and crops don't make great neighbors, research finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Native plants and non-native crops do not fare well in proximity to one another, attracting pests that spread diseases in both directions, according to two new studies.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

A breakthrough on the edge: One step closer to topological quantum computing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum materials, potentially setting the stage for advancements in topological superconductivity and robust quantum computing.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature
Published

Not so simple: Mosses and ferns offer new hope for crop protection      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Mosses, liverworts, ferns and algae may offer an exciting new research frontier in the global challenge of protecting crops from the threat of disease.

Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General
Published

Wolves' return has had only small impact on deer populations in NE Washington      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Wolves returned to Washington state in 2008. A new study shows that, despite their rising numbers, wolves are not having much of an impact on white-tailed deer, one of their primary prey. Scientists report that the biggest factor shaping white-tailed deer populations in northeast Washington is the quality of habitat available, which is largely determined by human activity. Cougars were second in their impact. Wolves were a distant third.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Tackling the challenge of coca plant ID: Wild vs cultivated for cocaine      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new paper reveals that it's not as straightforward as it might seem. Despite decades of data collection by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has been valuable to monitor changes in areas occupied by illegal coca plantations in South America, there is no reliable scientific method to distinguish between different types of coca plants.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Archaeologists report earliest evidence for plant farming in east Africa      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A trove of ancient plant remains excavated in Kenya helps explain the history of plant farming in equatorial eastern Africa, a region long thought to be important for early farming but where scant evidence from actual physical crops has been previously uncovered.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Computer Science: Quantum Computers Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Moving from the visible to the infrared: Developing high quality nanocrystals      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, quantum dots have a wide variety of applications ranging from displays and LED lights to chemical reaction catalysis and bioimaging. These semiconductor nanocrystals are so small -- on the order of nanometers -- that their properties, such as color, are size dependent, and they start to exhibit quantum properties. This technology has been really well developed, but only in the visible spectrum, leaving untapped opportunities for technologies in both the ultraviolet and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.