Showing 20 articles starting at article 1
Categories: Biology: Biotechnology, Geoscience: Geography
Published New images reveal global air quality trends
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The global concentrations of one of the main air pollutants known to affect human health have been graphically illustrated for the first time by a team of scientists.
Published Scientists call for an update in environmental decision making that takes human rights into account
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers argue that to protect human wellbeing global decisions with the potential to impact the environment must be guided by our understanding of the inseparable connection between humans and nature. The article's authors are aiming to support fair and inclusive decision-making for a healthy ocean for people and planet.
Published Fisheries research overestimates fish stocks
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The state of fish stocks in the world's ocean is worse than previously thought. While overfishing has long been blamed on fisheries policies that set catch limits higher than scientific recommendations, a new study reveals that even these scientific recommendations were often too optimistic. The result? Far more global fish stocks are overfished or have collapsed than we thought.
Published Revealing DNA behavior in record time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Studying how single DNA molecules behave helps us to better understand genetic disorders and design better drugs. Until now however, examining DNA molecules one-by-one was a slow process. Biophysicists have developed a technique that speeds up screening of individual DNA molecules at least a thousand times. With this technology, they can measure millions of DNA molecules within a week instead of years to decades.
Published Creature the size of a dust grain found hiding in California's Mono Lake
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mono Lake is a beautiful but harsh environment, its salty and arsenic-laced water home to brine shrimp, alkali flies and little else. Scientists recently discovered an unsuspected resident, however, a microscopic creature -- a choanoflagelatte -- that forms colonies that harbor their own unique bacterial microbiomes. The creature, part of the sister group to all animals, could shed light on the evolution of animals' intimate interactions with bacteria and the rise of multicellular life.
Published Engineers design lookalike drug carrier to evade lung's lines of defense
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Managing hard-to-treat respiratory illnesses like asthma and pulmonary fibrosis just got easier if a new drug-carrying molecule is as sneaky as its inventors think.
Published Air pollution harms mental health worse in New York's historically redlined neighborhoods
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The statewide study found that the link between pollutants and ER visits is more pronounced in communities that were once denied mortgages due to race.
Published Antarctica vulnerable to invasive species hitching rides on plastic and organic debris
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study reveals how ocean biology and marine pollution can end up on Antarctica's shoreline.
Published Next time you beat a virus, thank your microbial ancestors
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source When you get infected with a virus, some of the first weapons your body deploys to fight it were passed down to us from our microbial ancestors billions of years ago. According to new research, two key elements of our innate immune system came from a group of microbes called Asgard archaea.
Published Life from a drop of rain: New research suggests rainwater helped form the first protocell walls
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research shows that rainwater could have helped create a meshy wall around protocells 3.8 billion years ago, a critical step in the transition from tiny beads of RNA to every bacterium, plant, animal, and human that ever lived.
Published A deep dive for environmental data on coastal oceans
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study addresses the lack of data on how much human-generated carbon dioxide is present in coastal oceans -- the saltwater ecosystems that link the land and sea. Capturing this data is crucial to calculating how much emissions must be cut in the future.
Published Human-wildlife overlap expected to increase across more than half of land on Earth by 2070
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Human-wildlife overlap could increase across about 57% of the global lands by 2070 and could lead to more conflict between people and animals. Understanding where the overlap is likely to occur -- and which animals are likely to interact with humans in specific areas -- will be crucial information for urban planners, conservationists and countries that have pledged international conservation commitments.
Published Highest prediction of sea-level rise unlikely
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study challenges as highly unlikely an alarming prediction of sea-level rise that -- while designated as low likelihood --earned a spot in the latest UN climate report for its projection that the collapse of polar ice sheets could make the world's oceans up to 50 feet higher by 2300. But researchers found that the model is based on inaccurate physics of how ice sheets retreat and break apart, though they stress that the accelerating loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctica is still dire.
Published New study reveals devastating power and colossal extent of a giant underwater avalanche off the Moroccan coast
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has revealed how an underwater avalanche grew more than 100 times in size causing a massive trail of destruction as it traveled 2000km across the Atlantic Ocean seafloor off the North West coast of Africa. Researchers provide an unprecedented insight into the scale, force and impact of one of nature's mysterious phenomena, underwater avalanches.
Published Using AI to link heat waves to global warming
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers used machine learning to determine how much global warming has influenced extreme weather events in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years. Their approach could change how scientists study and predict the impact of climate change on extreme weather.
Published Research shows reducing future global flooding hinges on cutting greenhouse gas emissions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Pioneering research forecasts worldwide flooding is likely to be significantly worse in future decades if countries fail to meet official pledges to cut carbon emissions.
Published 'DNA scavengers' can stop some antibiotic resistance from spreading
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For nearly a century, scientists have waged war on antibiotic-resistant microbes. Researchers say they've found a new way to prevent it -- by unleashing 'DNA scavengers' in wastewater treatment plants.
Published Engineered Bacteria make thermally stable plastics similar to polystyrene and PET
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Bioengineers around the world have been working to create plastic-producing microbes that could replace the petroleum-based plastics industry. Now, researchers have overcome a major hurdle: getting bacteria to produce polymers that contain ring-like structures, which make the plastics more rigid and thermally stable. Because these molecules are usually toxic to microorganisms, the researchers had to construct a novel metabolic pathway that would enable the E. coli bacteria to both produce and tolerate the accumulation of the polymer and the building blocks it is composed of. The resulting polymer is biodegradable and has physical properties that could lend it to biomedical applications such as drug delivery, though more research is needed.
Published Benefits and downside of fasting
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers identified a signaling pathway in mice that boosts intestinal stem cells' regeneration abilities after fasting. When cancerous mutations occurred during this regenerative period, mice were more likely to develop early-stage intestinal tumors.
Published Surprising mechanism for removing dead cells identified
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A tandem signaling process turns ordinary cells into an efficient cleanup crew.