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Mass evacuations hailed for casualty-free India cyclone
Accurate forecasting and the evacuation of several hundred thousand people helped avert any loss of life after a cyclone clobbered southeast India, authorities said Thursday, as rescuers worked to res …
Powerful cyclone makes landfall in India
A powerful cyclonic storm hurtled into India's southern coast early Thursday, uprooting trees and packing strong winds and rains as tens of thousands of people took refuge in shelters.
Russian oil giant announces start of vast Arctic project
Russian oil giant Rosneft on Wednesday announced the start of operations for its giant Vostok oil project in the Arctic, part of the country's strategic energy plan which has been criticised by e …
Scientists solve the mystery behind an enigmatic organelle, the pyrenoid
Carbon is one of the main building blocks for life on Earth. It's abundant in our planet's atmosphere, where it's found in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon makes its way into Earthlin …
Graduate student first to spot asteroid speeding past Earth
For as long as he can remember, Cole Gregg has been interested in space. Last week, the Western University graduate astronomy student had a night he'll never forget as he spotted a previously und …
A hint of new physics in polarized radiation from the early universe
Using Planck data from the cosmic microwave background radiation, an international team of researchers has observed a hint of new physics. The team developed a new method to measure the polarization a …
Scientists discover potential method to starve the bacteria that cause tuberculosis
The infectious disease Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. While rates of TB in Canada have remained relatively static since the 1980s, the disease disproportionately af …
Ancient blanket made with 11,500 turkey feathers
The ancient inhabitants of the American Southwest used around 11,500 feathers to make a turkey feather blanket, according to a new paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The people w …
Scientists discover a motif that guides assembly of the algal pyrenoid
The next time you visit a lake or the seashore, take a deep breath. As you exhale, take a moment to be thankful for the little things: Specifically, for the microscopic, single-celled algae in the soi …
Gray wolf population in peril unless Biden restores 'endangered species' protections
After decades of bitter legal feuds and culture war skirmishes over the fate of wild wolves in the United States, the Trump administration has tried to put a point at the end of the sentence. In strip …
Fungus commits 'floral fraud' to fool insects into spreading it
The spores of some fungi can linger in the environment for months or years just waiting for something to spread them elsewhere, like a gust of wind, falling rain or a passing insect or animal. Not so …
A microscope for everyone: Researchers develop open-source optical toolbox
Modern microscopes used for biological imaging are expensive, are located in specialized laboratories and require highly qualified staff. To research novel, creative approaches to address urgent scien …
Researchers create nanoscale slalom course for electrons
A research team led by professors from the Department of Physics and Astronomy have created a serpentine path for electrons, imbuing them with new properties that could be useful in future quantum dev …
Offshore submarine freshwater discovery raises hopes for islands worldwide
Twice as much freshwater is stored offshore of Hawai'i Island than was previously thought, according to a University of Hawai'i study with important implications for volcanic islands around …
Tunable coating allows hitch-hiking nanoparticles to slip past the immune system to their target
Nanoparticles are promising drug delivery tools, offering the ability to administer drugs directly to a specific part of the body and avoid the awful side effects so often seen with chemotherapeutics.
Quantum nanodiamonds may help detect disease earlier
The quantum sensing abilities of nanodiamonds can be used to improve the sensitivity of paper-based diagnostic tests, potentially allowing for earlier detection of diseases such as HIV, according to a …
Neutrinos yield first experimental evidence of catalyzed fusion dominant in many stars
An international team of about 100 scientists of the Borexino Collaboration, including particle physicist Andrea Pocar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, report in Nature this week detection …
The keys to the squirrel's evolutionary success in the face of climate change have been identified
Squirrels form a diverse family of rodents. Nearly 300 species have been described, and they occur in every land environment on the planet, from tropical forests to hot and cold deserts. But why are t …
The importance of well planned stores and physical meeting places
Black Friday and Christmas are approaching—it's the time of year when many people gather in stores and other physical meeting places. To be able to handle this, it's important to understand …
Scientists determine the structure of glass-shaping protein in sponges
Sponges are some of the oldest animals on Earth. They live in a wide range of waters, from lakes to deep oceans. Remarkably, the skeleton of some sponges is built out of a network of highly symmetrica …
Novel haplotype-led approach to increase the precision of wheat breeding
Wheat researchers at the John Innes Centre are pioneering a new technique that promises to improve gene discovery for the globally important crop.
Researchers uncover the unique way stem cells protect their chromosome ends
Telomeres are specialized structures at the end of chromosomes which protect our DNA and ensure healthy division of cells. According to a new study from researchers at the Francis Crick Institute publ …
Study in Thailand identifies benefits of community-based freshwater fish reserves
Freshwater fish reserves are extraordinarily successful at protecting multiple species of fish, a new study of a network of community-based reserves in Thailand has found.
Scientists call for decade of concerted effort to enhance understanding of the deep seas
The deep seas—vast expanses of water and seabed hidden more than 200 meters below the ocean surface to depths up to 11,000 meters—are recognized globally as an important frontier of science and discov …
Air-sea coupling improves the simulation of the western North Pacific summer monsoon
Regional air-sea coupling plays a crucial role in modulating the climatology and variability of the Asian summer monsoon. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which is a community regiona …
A new strategy for the greener use of calcium carbide
Calcium acetylide was discovered more than 150 years ago. It is a yellowish-white, beige, or gray solid, a compound of calcium and carbon. Calcium acetylide is currently used to produce gaseous acetyl …
Effect of climate change on infectious diseases unknown to half of the population
Although it is a widely known scientific fact that infectious diseases emerge and re-emerge due to climate change, a study which included the involvement of the UAB published in PLOS ONE reveals that …
Phytoplankton disturbed by nanoparticles
Products derived from nanotechnology are efficient and highly sought-after, yet their effects on the environment are still poorly understood. A research team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), wor …
High achievement cultures may kill students' interest in math—especially for girls
A new study in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that high national math achievement combined with societal pressures may contribute to how well girls and boys like math. Past research has shown that a …
The invasive species that Europe needs to erradicate most urgently are identified
Species such as the golden apple snail are putting the agricultural sector in the Ebro river basin in quite a predicament. Meanwhile, in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, water hyacinths are …