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Categories: Archaeology: General, Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published Rivers and streams in the Andean Cordillera are hot spots for greenhouse gases emissions


Researchers show that rivers in the Andean mountains contribute 35% and 72% of riverine emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and methane (CH4 ) in the Amazon basin, the world's largest river.
Published New study counts the environmental cost of managing Japanese knotweed


New research has looked at the long-term environmental impact of different methods to control Japanese knotweed. Different ways of trying to control the invasive species have developed over the years but now, as sustainability becomes increasingly important, understanding the effect of these management methods is vital.This new study examines at the entire life cycle and long-term impacts of different management approaches.
Published Fossil site is 'Rosetta Stone' for understanding early life


Leading edge technology has uncovered secrets about a world-renowned fossil hoard that could offer vital clues about early life on Earth. Researchers who analyzed the 400 million-year-old cache, found in rural north-east Scotland, say their findings reveal better preservation of the fossils at a molecular level than was previously anticipated.
Published Electronic skin as flexible as crocodile skin


A research team has developed a crocodile-skin-inspired omnidirectionally stretchable pressure sensor.
Published New approach to harvesting aerial humidity with organic crystals


Researchers have reported a novel method of harvesting water from naturally occurring sources such as fog and dew.
Published Cyprus's copper deposits created one of the most important trade hubs in the Bronze Age


The coveted metal copper and a sheltered location turned the Cypriot village of Hala Sultan Tekke into one of the most important trade hubs of the Late Bronze Age. Recent excavations confirm the importance of the Bronze Age city in the first period of international trade in the Mediterranean.
Published Indigenous Ashaninka DNA helps geneticists write new chapters of pre-colonial history in South America


Geneticists have written new chapters in the reconstruction of pre-colonial Americas history after using DNA from the indigenous Ashaninka people from Amazonian Peru. They have discovered previously unexpected levels of genetic variation in this group and uncovered a strong hint that these people were involved in a South-to-North migration that led to the transition from an archaic to ceramic culture in the Caribbean islands.
Published Recovering tropical forests offset just one quarter of carbon emissions from new tropical deforestation and forest degradation


A pioneering global study has found deforestation and forests lost or damaged due to human and environmental change, such as fire and logging, are fast outstripping current rates of forest regrowth.
Published Designing more useful bacteria


In a step forward for genetic engineering and synthetic biology, researchers have modified a strain of Escherichia coli bacteria to be immune to natural viral infections while also minimizing the potential for the bacteria or their modified genes to escape into the wild.
Published Neolithic ceramics reveal dairy processing from milk of multiple species


A new study has found evidence of cheesemaking, using milk from multiple animals in Late Neolithic Poland.
Published Air pollution impairs successful mating of flies


A research team demonstrates that increased levels of ozone resulting from anthropogenic air pollution can degrade insect sex pheromones, which are crucial mating signals, and thus prevent successful reproduction. The oxidizing effect of ozone causes the carbon-carbon double bonds found in the molecules of many insect pheromones to break down. Therefore, the specific chemical mating signal is rendered dysfunctional. The researchers show this effect in the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster and nine other species of the genus Drosophila. Most remarkably, the disrupted sexual communication also led to male flies exhibiting unusual mating behavior towards ozonated males of their own species.
Published Mirror-image molecules can modify signaling in neurons


With the aid of some sea slugs, chemists have discovered that one of the smallest conceivable tweaks to a biomolecule can elicit one of the grandest conceivable consequences: directing the activation of neurons. The team has shown that the orientation of a single amino acid -- in this case, one of dozens found in the neuropeptide of a sea slug -- can dictate the likelihood that the peptide activates one neuron receptor versus another. Because different types of receptors are responsible for different neuronal activities, the finding points to another means by which a brain or nervous system can regulate the labyrinthine, life-sustaining communication among its cells.
Published The 'Rapunzel' virus: an evolutionary oddity


Extremely long tail provides structural window into how bacteria-infecting viruses called phages assemble.
Published Cleaning up the atmosphere with quantum computing


Practical carbon capture technologies are still in the early stages of development, with the most promising involving a class of compounds called amines that can chemically bind with carbon dioxide. Researchers now deploy an algorithm to study amine reactions through quantum computing. An existing quantum computer cab run the algorithm to find useful amine compounds for carbon capture more quickly, analyzing larger molecules and more complex reactions than a traditional computer can.
Published Microneedle-based drug delivery technique for plants


The agriculture industry is under pressure to adopt sustainable and precise agricultural practices that enable more efficient use of resources due to worsening environmental conditions resulting from climate change, an ever-expanding human population, limited resources, and a shortage of arable land. As a result, developing delivery systems that efficiently distribute micronutrients, pesticides, and antibiotics in crops is crucial to ensuring high productivity and high-quality produce while minimising resource waste. However, current and standard practices for agrochemical application in plants are inefficient. These practices cause significant detrimental environmental side effects, such as water and soil contamination, biodiversity loss and degraded ecosystems; and public health concerns, such as respiratory problems, chemical exposure and food contamination.
Published Lasers and chemistry reveal how ancient pottery was made -- and how an empire functioned


Peru's first great empire, the Wari, stretched for more than a thousand miles over the Andes Mountains and along the coast from 600-1000 CE. The pottery they left behind gives archaeologists clues as to how the empire functioned. In a new study researchers showed that rather than using 'official' Wari pottery imported from the capital, potters across the empire were creating their own ceramics, decorated to emulate the traditional Wari style. To figure it out, the scientists analyzed the pottery's chemical make-up, with help from laser beams.
Published Switching to hydrogen fuel could prolong the methane problem


Hydrogen is often heralded as the clean fuel of the future, but new research suggests that leaky hydrogen infrastructure could end up increasing atmospheric methane levels, which would cause decades-long climate consequences.
Published Researchers find decaying biomass in Arctic rivers fuels more carbon export than previously thought


A new study found that plants and small organisms in Arctic rivers could be responsible for more than half the particulate organic matter flowing to the Arctic Ocean. That's a significantly greater proportion than previously estimated, and it has implications for how much carbon gets sequestered in the ocean and how much moves into the atmosphere.
Published Changing landscapes alter disease-scapes


A new study has?highlighted?how and when?changes to the environment result in?animal-borne disease?thresholds?being breeched, allowing for?a?better understanding and?increased?capacity to?predict?the?risk of?transmissions.
Published Surprising similarities in stone tools of early humans and monkeys


Researchers have discovered artefacts produced by old world monkeys in Thailand that resemble stone tools, which historically have been identified as intentionally made by early hominins. Until now, sharp-edged stone tools were thought to represent the onset of intentional stone tool production, one of the defining and unique characteristics of hominin evolution. This new study challenges long held beliefs about the origins of intentional tool production in our own lineage.