Seamounts and the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) are two typical deep-sea habitats that often coexist. However, determining whether the "seamount effect" alters OMZ structure through marine stratification, thereby influencing the deep-sea hypoxic environment and carbon sink processes, remains unconfirmed.
With increasing urgency to address climate change, converting greenhouse gases into valuable resources has become a key focus of sustainable innovation. Microbial conversion offers a sustainable solution, as microbes naturally consume CO₂, producing useful compounds with minimal energy and without relying on expensive catalysts.
Studying the shape of tissues and organs is critical to understanding how they are formed. Embryonic development happens in three dimensions, but many studies are limited by the use of two-dimensional approaches and images to describe three-dimensional processes. To overcome this challenge, researchers at EMBL Barcelona have created LimbLab—an open-source pipeline made for three-dimensional visualization and analysis of growing limb buds.
Global climate models capture many of the processes that shape Earth's weather and climate. Based on physics, chemistry, fluid motion and observed data, hundreds of these models agree that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to hotter global temperatures and more extreme weather. Still, uncertainty remains around how seasonal weather patterns and atmospheric systems like the jet stream will respond to global warming. Some of this uncertainty stems from the way models approximate the effects of relatively short-lived, small-scale phenomena known as gravity waves.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Liège on a large population of Japanese giant salamanders—one of the largest amphibians in the world—reveals that above a certain size, a spectacular transition occurs in the diet of this species, propelling it to the top of the river food chain. The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus)—an endemic and emblematic species of the country—fascinates scientists with its exceptional size, reaching up to 1.5 meters in length.
A French research team led by CNRS scientists has discovered that cells are able to retain a memory of a previous perturbation within the 3D structure of their genome, independently of their DNA sequence. When they are exposed to a transient stimulus that induces changes in the proteins that compact DNA—thereby altering chromosome architecture—cells retain this modified architecture even after the initial cellular conditions have been restored. Moreover, this cellular memory is amplified if the cells are exposed to the same stress again. These findings were published in Nature Genetics on February 4.
Hydrogen is expected to play a central role in future clean energy systems, but storing it efficiently and safely remains one of the biggest challenges to its widespread adoption. Solid-state hydrogen storage, in which hydrogen is absorbed into metals, is considered a promising alternative to high-pressure tanks. However, many hydrogen-storage alloys face a fundamental trade-off between storage capacity and material stability.
Spanish rescuers on Thursday desperately searched for a woman missing after a new storm hit the Iberian peninsula while Portugal warned of a heightened flood risk after several months' worth of rain fell in a few hours.
In a recent study, Niklas Jungmann from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin conducted a survey and investigation of the 'Ain Braq aqueduct of the ancient city of Petra. It was discovered that, unlike previously believed, the aqueduct actually featured two main conduits: one terracotta and one lead, the latter more typically associated with Roman construction. The resulting paper is published in the journal Levant.
As federal policymakers weigh potential changes to how biomedical research is funded and regulated in the United States, a Virginia Tech scientist highlights the importance of preserving the nation's ability to turn discovery into life-saving therapies.
