A phenomenon where microbe-generated gas bubbles create granular fluctuations at the wet sandy floors of rivers, oceans, and lakes has revealed more about the distribution of materials at the bottom of waterbodies. Tohoku University Researchers dubbed this the “microbial Brazil nut effect.” Details of their research were published in the journal Soft Matter on October 6, 2021. The Brazil Nut Effect (BNE) happens when a granular mixture subjected to shaking results in bigger particles ending up on top. The name…
Submarine groundwater discharge is a process by which water exits coastal aquifers and enters the ocean. This can be terrestrial freshwater or salty seawater that intruded into the porous aquifer at the ocean’s edge. A new study, published in Nature Scientific Reports by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa researchers, showed that while precipitation and sea level drive coastal groundwater levels, it is sea level, especially tides, that play gatekeeper on the amount of groundwater discharging to Hawai‘i’s coastal zone. Groundwater…
New computer model simulations identify widespread changes in climate variability under sustained anthropogenic forcing. There is growing public awareness that climate change will impact society not only through changes in mean temperatures and precipitation over the 21st century, but also in the occurrence of more pronounced extreme events, and more generally in natural variability in the Earth system. Such changes could also have large impacts on vulnerable ecosystems in both terrestrial and marine habitats. A scientific exploration of projected future…
German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to Fund the 18 Partners in the AgiloDrive2 Research Project with a Total of 16.4 Million Euros until 2024. Although electric mobility is becoming increasingly important, the general conditions for car manufacturers remain uncertain: What volumes can be expected? Which technologies are suitable? To solve this, scientists from KIT, the company Schaeffler, and 16 other industrial partners are addressing the question of how electric motors can be manufactured flexibly and yet economically…
The number of young corals can reveal how reefs are recovering from coral bleaching. A new study from the University of Bremen, which was recently published in “PLOS ONE” journal, has shown this. The warming of the oceans due to climate change and the subsequent increase in frequency and severity of coral bleaching are the worldwide biggest threats to coral reefs. Thus, how quickly coral reefs can recover from such bleaching is of great interest and the number of young…
For the first time, scientists show a causal link between tissue repair, mitochondrial metabolism, and the activation and function of macrophages (scavenger cells) / Publication in ’Cell Metabolism’. A Cologne-based research team has discovered that the metabolism of mitochondria, the energy suppliers of cells, in macrophages coordinate wound healing to a significant degree. Macrophages belong to the white blood cells and are also known as scavenger cells. Professor Dr. Sabine Eming and her collaborators and colleagues at the CECAD Cluster…
Liquid acts across multiple scales to reorganize connectivity in networks of artificial microscopic cells. The Science Networks of cells in nature have inspired researchers to develop their own materials made of interconnected microscopic circles, squares, triangles, and other shapes. The way cells in these materials are connected and arranged leads to novel energy transport and chemical reaction capabilities. Biological materials constantly adapt by merging, fusing, and redefining the boundaries of their cells. In synthetic materials, existing methods can stretch or…
Flue gas level low-concentration carbon dioxide high-efficiency conversion made possible. Economically feasible electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion achieved. A Korean research team has developed a technology that can produce carbon monoxide (CO), which has various applications in industry, by direct conversion of flue gas level low-concentration carbon dioxide (CO2). The Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Seok-jin Yoon) announced that the research team of Dr. Da Hye Won and Dr. Ung Lee at Clean Energy Research Center and Professor…
The coastal zone is home to over a billion people. Rising sea levels are already impacting coastal residents and aggravating existing coastal hazards, such as flooding during high tides and storm surges. However, new research by assistant professor Tina Dura and professor Robert Weiss in the College of Science‘s Department of Geosciences indicates that future sea-level rise will also have impacts on the heights of future tsunamis. “In 50 to 70 years, sea level is going to be significantly higher around the world,”…
Retreating glaciers in the Pacific mountains of western North America could produce around 6,150 kilometers of new Pacific salmon habitat by the year 2100, according to a new study. Scientists have ‘peeled back the ice’ from 46,000 glaciers between southern British Columbia and south-central Alaska to look at how much potential salmon habitat would be created when underlying bedrock is exposed and new streams flow over the landscape. Modeling glacier retreat under different climate change scenarios, researchers discovered that, under…
The movement of water masses in the ocean, its circulation, is an essential component of the global climate system. In a study recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), researchers were able to show that circulation in the deep ocean was significantly slowed down during the last glacial period. Analyses of sediment samples show that the decomposition of organic carbon in the water masses of the deep sea consumed the oxygen available there. Scientists…
A 1,000-year-old supernova has been captured in 3D images that reveal yet unseen details of the elements that are ejected when a star explodes. Analysis of data from the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) and X-shooter at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), offers new insights into how stars self-destruct. The new study authored by Josefin Larsson, an astrophysicist at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, in collaboration with researchers at Stockholm University, the University of Warwick…
Research team with new development pipeline for RNA-based drugs successful in Europe-wide competition. Viruses are a major problem for human health worldwide – and not just since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Despite successful vaccine development, there are still no effective drugs for most viral diseases. This should change as quickly as possible. With the project “iGUARD (integrated Guided Ultrafast Antiviral RNAi Drug development)”, a research team led by Professor Dr. Dr. Axel Schambach, head of the Institute for…
A new paper in Genome Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, maps out for the first time how Hydra, which are a group of small aquatic animals, can regenerate their own heads by changing the way that their genes are regulated, known as epigenetics. Hydra belong to the group of animals that consists of about 10,000 species divided into two major groups: Anthozoa (comprising of sea anemones, corals, and sea pens) and Medusozoa (sea wasps, jellyfish, and hydra)….
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: a man-made crystal that can be attached to antibodies and then supercharge them with potent drugs or imaging agents that can seek out diseased cells with the highest precision, resulting in fewer adverse effects for the patient. However, that is precisely what researchers from the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases at Monash University in collaboration with the TU Graz (Austria) have developed: the world’s first metal-organic framework (MOFs) antibody-drug delivery system that…
Scientists at Hokkaido University and Texas A&M University have identified a key mechanism used by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to evade host immune systems. Researchers in Japan and the United States have found SARS-CoV-2 can knock out an important molecular pathway linked to an immune complex called MHC class I. The finding should help scientists better understand how COVID-19 infection takes hold. “Our discovery reveals how the virus can evade the human immune defense system and might help to explain why…
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