A 50% decline in the Gulf of Carpentaria dugong population estimate is a wake-up call for urgent action to protect dugongs in the Gulf, based on surveys undertaken by researchers from James Cook University, Charles Darwin University and Indigenous Ranger groups.
The Pacific islands will face food shortages, and drinking water will be affected by rising seas, scientists said Wednesday, as a U.N. report found the world would fail to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is usually discussed as something the world needs to get rid of. Activities such as the burning of fossil fuels for daily use, including electricity and transportation, and industrial applications release significant amounts of CO₂, and the gas enters the atmosphere. Researchers are now asking whether this road could have a roundabout. What if CO₂, which is at the center of the climate crisis, could be turned into something useful and put back into the industrial cycle?
As proteins are made in a cell, they are folded into the 3D structure that allows them to work, but sometimes this process can go wrong. When it does, the misfolded proteins lose some or all of their function and usually get tagged by the cell's quality assurance and maintenance crews, which try to repair the proteins or, if they can't, strip them to recycle their parts.
In a quiet summer garden, a caterpillar perches on a branch, munching serenely on leaves. A moment later, it freezes. It senses danger—and just in time. From behind, a wasp approaches, sizing up its prey.
A research team from INRAE and the University Clermont Auvergne has shown that trees are capable of correcting a curvature they detect in their stems through a specific biological process. In the study, young trees with bent stems were placed in an experimental set-up that prevented them from sensing their orientation relative to light and gravity. The only sense remaining to the trees was the perception of their own curvature. Under these conditions, the scientists observed the formation of a particular type of wood, known as tension wood, which acts like a muscle to correct the curvature of the stem, allowing it to realign within a few weeks.
Using an engineered metasurface that traps light, Cornell researchers have demonstrated a new way to generate strong static magnetic fields without using external magnets or magnetic materials—an approach that could advance spintronics, quantum and photonic computing, and data storage.
Copper roofs lose their reddish color over time because a pale green layer of copper oxide forms on their surface, protecting the roof from further corrosion for many years. But what exactly happens during the first steps of this process? Might it even be possible to stop it? This question has become increasingly urgent since copper containers have come to be regarded as one of the best options for storing nuclear waste.
Nearly half of people living in Europe on an average income can only afford to buy the equivalent of a one-bedroom apartment or studio apartment, while 39% of Europeans cannot afford to rent a property this size.
RNA-based therapeutics use RNA as a blueprint that enables cells to produce specific proteins—including proteins that can precisely modify genes. For this to work, the RNA must reach the inside of the cell intact. Delivery systems currently used for this purpose include virus-derived vehicles and lipid nanoparticles, tiny particles made of fat-like molecules. Both approaches have limitations. Researchers are therefore working on new mechanisms that can deliver RNA into cells more efficiently and, in the future, more selectively.
