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Categories: Environmental: Water, Offbeat: General
Published 'Tube map' around planets and moons made possible by knot theory
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have developed a new method using knot theory to find the optimal routes for future space missions without the need to waste fuel.
Published How soil microbes survive in harsh desert environments
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall -- how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by microbiologists. The study reveals that desert soil bacteria are highly adapted to survive the rapid environmental changes experienced with each rainfall event.
Published Study finds iron-rich enamel protects, but doesn't color, rodents' orange-brown incisors
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Chattering squirrels, charming coypus, and tail-slapping beavers -- along with some other rodents -- have orange-brown front teeth. Researchers have produced high-resolution images of rodent incisors, providing an atomic-level view of the teeth's ingenious enamel and its coating. They discovered tiny pockets of iron-rich materials in the enamel that form a protective shield for the teeth but, importantly, don't contribute to the orange-brown hue -- new insights that could improve human dentistry.
Published Two-dimensional nanomaterial sets record for expert-defying, counter-intuitive expansion
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Engineers have developed a record-setting nanomaterial which when stretched in one direction, expands perpendicular to the applied force.
Published Making crops colorful for easier weeding
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts. This could involve altering the crops' genomes so that they express pigments that are already produced by many plants, for example, anthocyanins, which make blueberries blue, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange. Then, they say, weeding robots could be trained to remove only the weeds using machine learning.
Published Coral reef microbes point to new way to assess ecosystem health
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study shows that ocean acidification is changing the mix of microbes in coral reef systems, which can be used to assess ecosystem health.
Published Trash to treasure -- researchers turn metal waste into catalyst for hydrogen
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have found a way to transform metal waste into a highly efficient catalyst to make hydrogen from water, a discovery that could make hydrogen production more sustainable.
Published Huge database gives insight into salmon patterns at sea
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A massive new analysis of high seas salmon surveys is enhancing the understanding of salmon ecology, adding details about where various species congregate in the North Pacific Ocean and their different temperature tolerances. The project integrates numerous international salmon studies from the North Pacific dating back to the 1950s.
Published Older males out-compete young males outside breeding pairs, bird study shows
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Young male blue tits are less successful in fathering offspring outside their breeding pair, not because of a lack of experience, but because they are outcompeted by older males, researchers report.
Published Plastic pollution can kill variety of ocean embryos
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source High levels of plastic pollution can kill the embryos of a wide range of ocean animals, new research shows.
Published Florida Wildlife Corridor eases worst impacts of climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Florida is projected to lose 3.5 million acres of land to development by 2070. A new study highlights how Florida can buffer itself against both climate change and population pressures by conserving the remaining 8 million acres of 'opportunity areas' within the Florida Wildlife Corridor (FLWC), the only designated statewide corridor in the U.S. Interactions between the FLWC and climate change had not been previously examined until now. Findings show substantial climate resilience benefits from the corridor, yielding a much higher return on investment than originally thought. About 90 percent of Floridians live within 20 miles of the corridor.
Published Most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy found
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have identified the most massive stellar black hole yet discovered in the Milky Way galaxy. This black hole was spotted in data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission because it imposes an odd 'wobbling' motion on the companion star orbiting it. Astronomers have verified the mass of the black hole, putting it at an impressive 33 times that of the Sun.
Published A single atom layer of gold: Researchers create goldene
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For the first time, scientists have managed to create sheets of gold only a single atom layer thick. The material has been termed goldene. According to researchers, this has given the gold new properties that can make it suitable for use in applications such as carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen production, and production of value-added chemicals.
Published Can animals count?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery regarding number sense in animals by confirming the existence of discrete number sense in rats, offering a crucial animal model for investigating the neural basis of numerical ability and disability in humans.
Published Hidden threat: Global underground infrastructure vulnerable to sea-level rise
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As sea levels rise, coastal groundwater is lifted closer to the ground surface while also becoming saltier and more corrosive. A recent study compiled research from experts worldwide showing that in cities where there are complex networks of buried and partially buried infrastructure, interaction with this shallower and saltier groundwater exacerbates corrosion and failure of critical systems such as sewer lines, roadways, and building foundations.
Published How Pluto got its heart
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The mystery of how Pluto got a giant heart-shaped feature on its surface has finally been solved by an international team of astrophysicists. The team is the first to successfully reproduce the unusual shape with numerical simulations, attributing it to a giant and slow oblique-angle impact.
Published Unlocking the 'chain of worms'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of scientists has published a single-cell atlas for Pristina leidyi (Pristina), the water nymph worm, a segmented annelid with extraordinary regenerative abilities that has fascinated biologists for more than a century.
Published Microplastics make their way from the gut to other organs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have found that microplastics -- are having a significant impact on our digestive pathways, making their way from the gut and into the tissues of the kidney, liver and brain.
Published Evolution's recipe book: How 'copy paste' errors cooked up the animal kingdom
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A series of whole genome and gene duplication events that go back hundreds of millions of years have laid the foundations for tissue-specific gene expression, according to a new study. The 'copy-paste' errors allowed animals to keep one copy of their genome or genes for fundamental functions, while the second copy could be used as raw material for evolutionary innovation. Events like these, at varying degrees of scale, occurred constantly throughout the bilaterian evolutionary tree and enabled traits and behaviours as diverse as insect flight, octopus camouflage and human cognition.
Published Switch to green wastewater infrastructure could reduce emissions and provide huge savings according to new research
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have shown that a transition to green wastewater-treatment approaches in the U.S. that leverages the potential of carbon-financing could save a staggering $15.6 billion and just under 30 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions over 40 years.