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Categories: Ecology: Nature, Physics: Optics
Published Climate change to shift tropical rains northward
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Atmospheric scientists predict that unchecked carbon emissions will force tropical rains to shift northward in the coming decades, which would profoundly impact agriculture and economies near the Earth's equator. The northward rain shift would be spurred by carbon emissions that influence the formation of the intertropical convergence zones that are essentially atmospheric engines that drive about a third of the world's precipitation.
Published Light-controlled artificial maple seeds could monitor the environment even in hard-to-reach locations
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed a tiny robot replicating the aerial dance of falling maple seeds. In the future, this robot could be used for real-time environmental monitoring or delivery of small samples even in inaccessible terrain such as deserts, mountains or cliffs, or the open sea. This technology could be a game changer for fields such as search-and-rescue, endangered species studies, or infrastructure monitoring.
Published Projected loss of brown macroalgae and seagrasses with global environmental change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers predict that climate change will drive a substantial redistribution of brown seaweeds and seagrasses at the global scale. The projected changes are alarming due to the fundamental role seaweeds and seagrasses in coastal ecosystems and provide evidence of the pervasive impacts of climate change on marine life.
Published Ammonites' fate sealed by meteor strike that wiped out dinosaurs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ammonites were not in decline before their extinction, scientists have found.
Published Common plastics could passively cool and heat buildings with the seasons
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By restricting radiant heat flows between buildings and their environment to specific wavelengths, coatings engineered from common materials can achieve energy savings and thermal comfort that goes beyond what traditional building envelopes can achieve.
Published Invasive ants spread by hitchhiking on everyday vehicles
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ants might spread to new locations by stowing away on everyday vehicles. Previously, this was thought to occur mostly on agricultural equipment.
Published Why the harsh Snowball Earth kick-started our earliest multicellular ancestors
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Why did multicellularity arise? Solving that mystery may help pinpoint life on other planets and explain the vast diversity and complexity seen on Earth today, from sea sponges to redwoods to human society. A new article shows how specific physical conditions -- especially ocean viscosity and resource deprivation -- during the global glaciation period known as Snowball Earth could have driven eukaryotes to turn multicellular.
Published Solar technology: Innovative light-harvesting system works very efficiently
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers are reporting progress on the road to more efficient utilization of solar energy: They have developed an innovative light-harvesting system.
Published A chip-scale Titanium-sapphire laser
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source With a single leap from tabletop to the microscale, engineers have produced the world's first practical Titanium-sapphire laser on a chip, democratizing a once-exclusive technology.
Published Ocean's loss of oxygen caused massive Jurassic extinction: Could it happen again?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have found a chemical clue in Italian limestone that explains a mass extinction of marine life in the Early Jurassic period, 183 million years ago. Volcanic activity pumped out CO2, warming oceans and lowering their oxygen levels. The findings may foretell the impact climate change and oxygen depletion might have on today's oceans.
Published A new study highlights potential of ultrafast laser processing for next-gen devices
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study uncovers the remarkable potential of ultrafast lasers that could provide innovative solutions in 2D materials processing for many technology developers such as high-speed photodetectors, flexible electronics, biohybrids, and next-generation solar cells.
Published An optical lens that senses gas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A research team has developed a small optical lens, only a few millimeters in size, whose refractive behavior changes in the presence of gas. This 'intelligent' behavior of the micro-lens is enabled by the hybrid glass material from which it is made. The molecular structure of the lens consists of a three-dimensional lattice with cavities that can accommodate gas molecules, thereby affecting the optical properties of the material.
Published Plankton researchers urge their colleagues to mix it up
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new article encourages researchers to focus their attention on mixoplankton, providing a set of methodologies to help expand our understanding of this critically important component of the marine ecosystem.
Published Light-weight microscope captures large-scale brain activity of mice on the move
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source With a new microscope that's as light as a penny, researchers can now observe broad swaths of the brain in action as mice move about and interact with their environments.
Published Frog 'saunas' a lifeline for endangered frog populations
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New biologist-designed shelters will help endangered frogs survive the devastating impacts of a deadly fungal disease by regulating their body temperature to fight off infections.
Published Non-stop flight: 4,200 km transatlantic flight of the Painted Lady butterfly mapped
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In October 2013 a researcher made a surprising discovery of Painted Lady Butterflies on the Atlantic beaches of French Guiana -- a species not typically found in South America. This unusual sighting prompted an international study to investigate the origin of these butterflies.
Published Moving objects precisely with sound
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have succeeded in directing floating objects around an aquatic obstacle course using only soundwaves. Their novel, optics-inspired method holds great promise for biomedical applications such as noninvasive targeted drug delivery.
Published Fuel treatments reduce future wildfire severity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source There is a common belief that prescribed burning, thinning trees, and clearing underbrush reduce risks of the severity of future fires. But is that true? A new project analyzing 40 studies where wildfire burned into different vegetation treatments, spanning 11 western states. Researchers found overwhelming evidence that in seasonally dry mixed conifer forests in the western U.S., reducing surface and ladder fuels and tree density through thinning, coupled with prescribed burning or pile burning, could reduce future wildfire severity by more than 60% relative to untreated areas.
Published Novel application of optical tweezers: Colorfully showing molecular energy transfer
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Using a novel non-contact approach, a research team has successfully controlled the speed and efficiency of Forster resonance energy transfer between fluorescent molecules by varying the intensity of a laser beam.
Published New tomato, potato family tree shows that fruit color and size evolved together
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new family tree of the plant genus Solanum helps explain the striking diversity of their fruit color and size. This genus includes tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and other economically important plants.