Showing 20 articles starting at article 641

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Biology: Evolutionary, Engineering: Graphene

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

When it comes to fighting off invaders, bacteria operate in a remarkably similar way to human cells, possessing the same core machinery required to switch immune pathways on and off, according to new research.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Around 100 million years ago, a group of land-dwelling turtles took to the oceans, eventually evolving into the sea turtles that we know today. However, the genetic foundations that have enabled them to thrive in oceans throughout the world have remained largely unknown.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Biologists explored how symbiotic relationships between species evolve to become specific or general, cooperative or antagonistic.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

The CT-scanned skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish, pulled from a coal mine in England more than a century ago, has revealed the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Electric space propulsion systems use energized atoms to generate thrust. The high-speed beams of ions bump against the graphite surfaces of the thruster, eroding them with each hit, and are the systems' primary lifetime-limiting factor. Researchers used data from low-pressure chamber experiments and large-scale computations to develop a model to better understand the effects of ion erosion on carbon surfaces -- the first step in predicting its failure.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

As deserts expanded their range over the past 5-7 million years, many plants invaded the new biome and rapidly diversified, producing amazing adaptations to drought and heat. Can plants continue to adapt to increasing aridity caused by climate change? A new study that addressed the origins of desert adaptation concluded that one group of desert plants, rock daisies, came preadapted to aridity, likely helping them survive desert conditions. Not all plants may be so lucky.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A single protein called Gr8a is expressed in different organs in male and female flies and appears to play an inhibitory role in mating decision-making. The findings point to one of the ways that flies could put up behavioral barriers to protect against mating with the wrong kind of partner.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

In situ observation and recording of important liquid-phase electrochemical reactions in energy devices is crucial for the advancement of energy science. A research team has recently developed a novel, tiny device to hold liquid specimens for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation, opening the door to directly visualizing and recording complex electrochemical reactions at nanoscale in real-time at high resolution. The research team believes that this innovative method will shed light on strategies for fabricating a powerful research tool for uncovering the mysteries of electrochemical processes in the future.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research provides rare evidence that natural hybridization can reduce the risk of extinction of species threatened by climate change. Researchers have identified genes that enable Rainbowfish to adapt to climate variations across the Australia using environmental models to work out how much evolution will likely be required for populations to keep pace with future climate change.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Physicists have found a new way to switch superconductivity on and off in magic-angle graphene. The discovery could lead to ultrafast, energy-efficient superconducting transistors for 'neuromorphic' electronics that operate similarly to the rapid on/off firing of neurons in the human brain.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers already knew the atoms in perovskites react favorably to light. Now they've seen precisely how the atoms move when the 2D materials are excited with light. Their study details the first direct measurement of structural dynamics under light-induced excitation in 2D perovskites.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

The speed of environmental change is very challenging for wild organisms. When exposed to a new environment individual plants and animals can potentially adjust their biology to better cope with new pressures they are exposed to -- this is known as phenotypic plasticity. New research shows that early plasticity can influence the ability to subsequently evolve genetic adaptations to conquer new habitats.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Evolution has occurred more rapidly than previously thought in the Chesapeake Bay wetlands, which may decrease the chance that coastal marshes can withstand future sea level rise, researchers at the University of Notre Dame and collaborators demonstrated in a recent publication in Science.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Quasiparticles -- long-lived particle-like excitations -- are a cornerstone of quantum physics, with famous examples such as Cooper pairs in superconductivity and, recently, Dirac quasiparticles in graphene. Now, researchers have discovered quasiparticles in a classical system at room temperature: a two-dimensional crystal of particles driven by viscous flow in a microfluidic channel. Coupled by hydrodynamic forces, the particles form stable pairs -- a first example of classical quasiparticles, revealing deep links between quantum and classical dissipative systems.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

The mint family of herbs, which includes sage, rosemary, basil, and even woody plants like teak, offers an invigorating jolt to our senses of smell and taste. Researchers have found that these plants have diversified their specialized natural characteristics through the evolution of their chemistry, which could lead to potential future applications that range from medicine to pesticide production.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have created an AI system capable of generating artificial enzymes from scratch. In laboratory tests, some of these enzymes worked as well as those found in nature, even when their artificially generated amino acid sequences diverged significantly from any known natural protein.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

The structure of two-dimensional titanium oxide brakes-up at high temperatures by adding barium; instead of regular hexagons, rings of four, seven and ten atoms are created that order aperiodically. A team has now solved the riddle of two-dimensional quasicrystal formation from metal oxides.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of paleontologists have discovered the first 'unmistakable' Triassic-era caecilian fossil -- the oldest-known caecilian fossils -- thus extending the record of this small, burrowing animal by roughly 35 million years. The find also fills a gap of at least 87 million years in the known historical fossil record of the amphibian-like creature.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers uncover for the first time the mechanism that likely explains how embryos form either a larva or a miniature version of the adult.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

What drives crocodile evolution? Is climate a major factor or changes in sea levels? Determined to find answers to these questions, researchers discovered that while changing temperatures and rainfall had little impact on the crocodiles' gene flow over the past three million years, changes to sea levels during the Ice Age had a different effect.