Even low-level traffic noise can reduce birdsong's stress-relieving effects
Traffic noise disrupts recognized benefits of birdsong and other sounds from nature, a new study from the University of Surrey reports.
Traffic noise disrupts recognized benefits of birdsong and other sounds from nature, a new study from the University of Surrey reports.
Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues from Harbin Institute of Technology in China and ITMO University in Russia have devised a way to deposit elaborate geometric patterns of carbon nanotubes without wasting material. Such patterns are used in advanced optical devices and mechanical strain sensors for structural integrity monitoring.
Texans often view prickly pear cactus as a nuisance, but researchers with Texas A&M AgriLife Research are seeking opportunity. Susanne Talcott, Ph.D., a molecular researcher and professor in the Texas A&M Department of Food Science and Technology, leads a multidisciplinary team studying how prickly pear cactus can serve as a source of biofuels and functional food ingredients.
For the first time in Finland, population-level norm values have been established for estimating life expectancy adjusted for health-related functional capacity and productivity. The new study provides Finnish norm values for both everyday functioning and work ability, as well as for a newly developed measure, productivity-adjusted life expectancy.
The European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) was once widespread but has now become so scarce in the North Sea that it no longer forms ecologically functioning reefs. Along with the demise of the flat oyster, the three-dimensional structures that provide habitat for more than 100 marine species have disappeared. Restoration therefore focuses not only on the return of the European flat oyster itself but also on the reef and its associated biodiversity.
Intelligent people tend to perform better at school and at work, as numerous studies have shown. But what happens in domains where incentives such as good grades or financial rewards don't apply and where socioeconomic status is not a significant factor? Wine knowledge is a case in point. Intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University has investigated whether intelligence can predict the acquisition of deep knowledge in a specialized domain. The findings have now been published in the journal Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities in an article co-authored with Professor of Psychology Timothy C. Bates of the University of Edinburgh.
Even as the scientific community has reached a broad consensus that infectious pathogens, such as viruses, can spread through virus-laden aerosols, one fundamental challenge remains: How can scientific evidence be transformed into public understanding—and ultimately into meaningful action for effective airborne disease control and prevention?
ζ-Carotene, a key intermediate in lycopene biosynthesis, is widely found in plants and photosynthetic microorganisms, but its isomer-specific properties remain poorly understood due to isolation and purification challenges. Researchers have now developed a purification strategy to obtain high-purity geometric isomers and systematically characterized, for the first time, their isomer-specific spectral properties, photoisomerization behavior, UV-shielding capacity, antioxidant activity and skin-related biological activities—highlighting ζ-carotene's promise as a natural ingredient for skin health and photoprotection.
A 30-year conservation effort has helped the critically endangered Galápagos snapdragon (Galvezia leucantha subsp. leucantha) recover from just six individuals to a small, carefully tended wild population. Following tireless conservation efforts and the planting of 94 nursery-propagated plants that were reintroduced to Playa Tortuga Negra and Caleta Tagus, the wild adult population has grown from six individuals in 2007 to 28 healthy adults today—20 at Playa Tortuga Negra and 8 at Tagus Cove.
Researchers at the University of St Andrews have gained unprecedented insight into marine mammal behavior when they become tangled in fishing nets. In a paper published Aug. 26 in Royal Society Open Science, researchers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit and Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews discovered that their passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems, deployed on a gill net, had unintentionally recorded a bycatch event. This is thought to be the first time this kind of recording has taken place in such detail.