Новости за 29.02.2024

Texas emergency crews were struggling Thursday to contain the largest wildfire in the US state's history, with the blaze leaving at least one person dead and scorching a million acres as it raged out of control.

Fonio (Digitaria exilis), a type of millet, is the oldest indigenous crop in West Africa and one of the fastest-maturing cereals. Despite its low yield, the combination of quick maturation and drought tolerance and its ability to thrive in poor soils make it a useful model for understanding how cereals can adapt to future climate change conditions.

Global melting is prying the lid off methane stocks, the extent of which we do not know. A young researcher from the University of Copenhagen has discovered high concentrations of the powerful greenhouse gas in meltwater from three Canadian mountain glaciers, where it was not thought to exist—adding new unknowns to the understanding of methane emissions from Earth's glaciated regions

Massive volcanic events in Earth's history that released large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere frequently correlate with periods of severe environmental change and mass extinctions. A new method to estimate how much and how rapidly carbon was released by the volcanoes could improve our understanding of the climate response, according to an international team led by researchers from Penn State and the University of Oxford.

What is the origin of genetic diversity in plants? Can new mutations acquired during growth be passed on to seeds? INRAE scientists, in collaboration with CIRAD and the CNRS, have used the French Guiana forest as the setting for their research, leading to a series of discoveries on this fundamental question in biology. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A technique originally devised to extract DNA from woolly mammoths and other ancient archaeological specimens can be used to potentially identify badly burned human remains, according to a new study from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Researchers have clarified the evolutionary history of a previously poorly known group of ferns from the tropical rainforests of America using DNA methods. The study discovered many new fern species, 18 of which have now been given official names and species descriptions.

Using archival data from the Gemini North telescope, a team of astronomers has measured the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes ever found. The merging of two supermassive black holes is a phenomenon that has long been predicted, though never observed. This massive pair gives clues as to why such an event seems so unlikely in the universe.

The report "Towards Resilient Communities," released today (Feb. 29), provides details on the platform developed by researchers at the ARC Center of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) at Swinburne University in partnership with Humanitech at the Australian Red Cross.

Malaria kills more than 600,000 people each year worldwide, and two-thirds are children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists have found a treatment that could prevent thousands of these deaths: trees.

In a new study, scientists have discovered that viruses that infect microbes contribute to climate change by playing a key role in cycling methane, a potent greenhouse gas, through the environment.

Two University of the Sunshine education experts are calling for more parents to "ground" their children—but not as punishment for misdeeds.

Bad weather conditions on the launch corridor for a human spaceflight from Kennedy Space Center have prompted a two-day delay, so SpaceX took the opportunity to roll out and try and shoehorn a launch without humans from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday.

Decades before any probe dips a toe—and thermometer—into the waters of distant ocean worlds, Cornell astrobiologists have devised a novel way to determine ocean temperatures based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from space.

Recycling facilities collect glass and mercury from thrown-away fluorescent bulbs, but discarded lighting could also supply rare-earth metals for reuse. The 17 metals referred to as rare earths aren't all widely available and aren't easily extracted with existing recycling methods.

A project to learn about women's experiences of abuse while out running has found that more than two-thirds of them have been abused in some way.

Scientists and researchers at the ARC Center of Excellence for Climate Extremes have today released "The State of Weather and Climate Extremes 2023" report. The report, co-written by more than 30 of Australia's leading climate scientists, including many of the Center's early career researchers, is designed to help decision makers and the general public understand the complexity of climate extremes.

The likelihood that a girl will participate in high school sports in the United States is driven not so much by individual choice, new research suggests. Instead, decisions made by parents, the wealth of one's family and community, and racial dynamics matter.

When Greg Buchak was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Uber and Lyft were just beginning to spread across the country. Since he didn't own a car, he found the ride-sharing apps convenient for short and long trips. Yet as a financial economist in training who studied borrowing and lending, Buchak began an ongoing debate with his friends: Were these new services actually good for people?

A recent study by scientists at Ohio State University sheds light on the intricate relationship between plant growth regulators and the resilience of creeping bentgrass under varying environmental stressors such as heat stress and salt stress.

A deeper understanding of the relationship between plant benefits, consumer perceptions, and demographic differences is important when shaping marketing strategies for communicating the benefits of plants. In the ornamental plant industry, plant benefits are numerous and diverse; however, their influence on consumer behavior and how that varies by age is not well understood. A new study expands upon the findings from a 2019 study by Hall and Knuth that summarized the research validating the diversity... Читать дальше...

Over the next 25 years, reduced intake of marine food resources due to climate change will likely have a negative impact on the cardiovascular health of First Nations on Canada's Pacific coast, a new study suggests.

Climate change is disrupting the seasonal flow of rivers in the far northern latitudes of America, Russia and Europe and is posing a threat to water security and ecosystems, according to research published in Science.

How do planetary systems such as the solar system form? To find out, CNRS scientists taking part in an international research team studied a stellar nursery, the Orion Nebula, using the James Webb Space Telescope. By observing a protoplanetary disk named d203-506, they have discovered the key role played by massive stars in the formation of such nascent planetary systems.

Using technology akin to a "fitbit" for sharks, a team of researchers has tagged and tracked whale sharks to study the effects of tourism at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia for the first time. In a resounding endorsement of local tourism practices, the research found the activity of boats and divers has minimal impacts.