Apple patents keyboard with dynamically changing key functions

Apple may be preparing to reinvent the keyboard.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-apple-patents-keyboard-dynamically-key.html

Controlling the nanoscale structure of membranes is key for clean water, researchers find

A desalination membrane acts as a filter for salty water: push the water through the membrane, get clean water suitable for agriculture, energy production and even drinking. The process seems simple enough, but it contains complex intricacies that have baffled scientists for decades—until now.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nanoscale-membranes-key.html

Stretching diamond for next-generation microelectronics

Diamond is the hardest material in nature. But out of many expectations, it also has great potential as an excellent electronic material. A joint research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has demonstrated for the first time the large, uniform tensile elastic straining of microfabricated diamond arrays through the nanomechanical approach. Their findings have shown the potential of strained diamonds as prime candidates for advanced functional devices in microelectronics, photonics, and quantum information technologies.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-diamond-next-generation-microelectronics.html

Spontaneous robot dances highlight a new kind of order in active matter

Predicting when and how collections of particles, robots, or animals become orderly remains a challenge across science and engineering.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-spontaneous-robot-highlight-kind.html

COVID-19 dominates annual list of banished words, terms

Even as vaccines are being rolled out to battle the coronavirus, wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University in Michigan's Upper Peninsula say they want to kick any trace of it from the English language.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-covid-dominates-annual-banished-words.html

Magnitude 3.6 earthquake jolts San Francisco Bay Area

A magnitude 3.6 earthquake has jolted the San Francisco Bay Area on the last day of 2020.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-magnitude-earthquake-jolts-san-francisco.html

They were experts in viruses, and now in pitfalls of fame

Dr. Ashish Jha started 2020 thousands of miles from home, taking a sabbatical in Europe from his academic post at Harvard. Then the coronavirus pandemic arrived in the U.S.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-experts-viruses-pitfalls-fame.html

Startup Volcon joins Austin area's electric vehicle scene, plans new HQ

The Austin area's electric-powered vehicle sector continues to power up, as Volcon – a startup focused on off-road electric vehicles – is planning a new headquarters a manufacturing site in Central Texas.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-startup-volcon-austin-area-electric.html

With Sezzle now worth more than $1 billion, CEO describes a year on a rocket ship

During the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend two years ago, about 8,000 people for the first time used Sezzle Inc.'s payment system when they shopped online.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-sezzle-worth-billion-ceo-year.html

The tech refugees bringing Tesla software chops to every car

It's about the software, silly. For all of Tesla's battery wizardry, the company's equally impressive coup has been creating a vehicle that can be updated and improved from afar as easily as a smartphone. And while other automakers are finally making long-range electric vehicles, Tesla has a considerable head start in crafting a computer-like car.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-tech-refugees-tesla-software-car.html

Changes, challenges: The not-so-secret life of pandemic pets

Olivia Hinerfeld's dog Lincoln and Kate Hilts' cat Potato have something in common: They both like to interrupt Zoom calls as their owners work from home.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-not-so-secret-life-pandemic-pets.html

Light-responsive E. coli functional biofilms as scaffolds for hydroxyapatite mineralization

Living organisms have evolved mechanisms of biomineralization to build structurally ordered and environmentally adaptive composite materials. While research teams have significantly improved biomimetic mineralization research in the lab, it is still difficult to engineer mineralized composites with structural features and living components much like their native counterparts. In a new report now published on Nature Chemical Biology, Yanyi Wang and a research team in physics, advanced materials, synthetic biology, and engineering in China, developed living patterned and gradient composites inspired by natural graded materials. They coupled light-inducible bacterial biofilm formation with biomimetic hydroxyapatite (HA) mineralization in this work, to show how the location and degree of mineralization could be controlled. The cells in the composites remained viable while sensing and responding to environmental signals. The composites showed a 15-fold increase in Young's modulus (i.e., stiffness, the ratio between stress and strain) after mineralization. The work sheds light to develop living composites with dynamic responsiveness and environmental adaptability.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-light-responsive-coli-functional-biofilms-scaffolds.html

Robots with rhythm: Boston Dynamics' dancing androids a hit

These robots have rhythm.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-robots-rhythm-boston-dynamics-androids.html

Well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino found in Siberia

A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia's extreme north.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-well-preserved-ice-age-woolly-rhino.html

Facebook to close Irish units at center of tax dispute

Facebook confirmed Wednesday it was closing its Irish subsidiaries at the center of a dispute on profit shifting to avoid taxes in the United States.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-facebook-irish-center-tax-dispute.html

Amazon to buy hit podcast producer Wondery

Amazon said Wednesday it signed a deal to acquire the hit podcast production firm Wondery, in a move which boosts the US tech giant's efforts to round out its offerings from its music platform.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-amazon-podcast-wondery.html

Indonesia in $9.8 bln electric vehicle battery deal with Korea's LG

Indonesia said Wednesday it had signed a $9.8 billion electric vehicle battery deal with South Korea's LG as it moves to become a global production hub for the green technology.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-indonesia-bln-electric-vehicle-battery.html

Eastern Caribbean issues rare alerts for rumbling volcanoes

Volcanoes that have been quiet for decades are rumbling to life in the eastern Caribbean, prompting officials to issue alerts in Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as scientists rush in to study activity they say hasn't been observed in years.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-eastern-caribbean-issues-rare-rumbling.html

AI-controlled vertical farms promise revolution in food production

When you think about it, early civilizations had a rough time when it came to dinnertime. With no supermarkets, McDonald's, or Cheesecake Factories, you pretty much had to find and prepare your own meal every day. And since Uber would not be invented for another 14,000 years, primitive peoples around 12,000 BC had to walk, sometimes for miles, and learn to hunt, fish, gather and cook for their daily meals. In the rain. Even on Sundays.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-ai-controlled-vertical-farms-revolution-food.html

Pandemic has revealed our dependence on migrant workers

The coronavirus has taught us an important lesson.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-pandemic-revealed-migrant-workers.html

Anti-transpirant products unnecessary in cycad propagation

In a first-of-its-kind study within cycad horticulture literature, University of Guam researchers have found that the use of anti-transpirants neither help nor hinder successful propagation of cycad stem cuttings.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-anti-transpirant-products-unnecessary-cycad-propagation.html

Largest study of Asia's rivers unearths 800 years of paleoclimate patterns

813 years of annual river discharge at 62 stations, 41 rivers in 16 countries, from 1200 to 2012. That is what researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) produced after two years of research in order to better understand past climate patterns of the Asian Monsoon region.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-largest-asia-rivers-unearths-years.html

Novel public-private partnership facilitates development of fusion energy

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is collaborating with private industry on cutting-edge fusion research aimed at achieving commercial fusion energy. This work, enabled through a public-private DOE grant program, supports efforts to develop high-performance fusion grade plasmas. In one such project PPPL is working in coordination with MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a start-up spun out of MIT that is developing a tokamak fusion device called "SPARC."

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-public-private-partnership-fusion-energy.html

Diddy providing some COVID-19 relief for Miami neighborhood

Rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs provided some coronavirus relief in a Miami neighborhood on Tuesday, handing out $50 bills amid a crowd of hundreds.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-diddy-covid-relief-miami-neighborhood.html

The map of nuclear deformation takes the form of a mountain landscape

Until recently, scientists believed that only very massive nuclei could have excited zero-spin states of increased stability with a significantly deformed shape. Meanwhile, an international team of researchers from Romania, France, Italy, the USA and Poland showed in their latest article that such states also exist in much lighter nickel nuclei. Positive verification of the theoretical model used in these experiments allows describing the properties of nuclei unavailable in Earth laboratories.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nuclear-deformation-mountain-landscape.html

Why Amazon, Apple, Peloton and Zoom won 2020, while others like Quibi lost big

When a pandemic hits, stay-at-home orders are issued and people are spending even less time at retail stores, e-commerce giant Amazon was there to serve.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-amazon-apple-peloton-won-quibi.html

Scientists further improve accuracy of directional polarimetric camera

Recently, researchers from the Optical Remote Sensing Center of the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) have successfully improved the accuracy of directional polarimetric camera (DPC) laboratory polarization calibration via new methods.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-accuracy-polarimetric-camera.html

Researchers prepare tailored and wearable sensor via 3-D printed UV-curable sacrificial mold

Three-dimensional (3-D) printing techniques have the ability to fabricate wearable sensors with customized and complex designs compared with conventional processes. The vat photopolymerization 3-D printing technique exhibits better printing resolution, faster printing speed, and is capable of fabricating a refined structure. Due to the lack of highly conductive photocurable resins, it is difficult to prepare sensors through vat photopolymerization 3-D printing technique.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-tailored-wearable-sensor-d-uv-curable.html

ATLAS project finds 12 new species of sea creatures

Researchers working with the ATLAS project have reported to the press that they have found 12 new species of sea creatures new to science. The EU funded undersea project has been ongoing for five years and has carried out 45 research expeditions that involved the work of over 80 scientists and student volunteers.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-atlas-species-sea-creatures.html

Fish sex organs boosted under high CO2

Research from the University of Adelaide has found that some species of fish will have higher reproductive capacity because of larger sex organs, under the more acidic oceans of the future.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-fish-sex-boosted-high-co2.html

Observations shed more light on the atmosphere of white dwarf GD 424

Astronomers have performed spectroscopic observations of a newly detected white dwarf star known as GD 424. Results of the observational campaign provide more insights into the atmosphere of this object. The study was presented in a paper published December 23 on arXiv.org.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-atmosphere-white-dwarf-gd.html

Organic meats found to have approximately the same greenhouse impact as regular meats

A trio of researchers from the Technical University of Munich, the University of Greifswald and the University of Augsburg have found that the meat production process for organic meats produces approximately the same amounts of greenhouse gases as does the conventional meat production process. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Maximilian Pieper, Amelie Michalke and Tobias Gaugler describe their study of the impact of global food production on climate change and what they found.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-meats-approximately-greenhouse-impact-regular.html

Grid or solar: looking for the best energy solution for the rural poor

South Asia has made tremendous progress in connecting rural areas to the electricity grid but the number of people in Africa without access has scarcely changed since 2010. More than a half-billion people in Africa don't have access to electricity, meaning the continent hosts 72% of the world's non-electrified population. The UN Sustainable Development Goals have set a universal goal of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. To achieve this, the continent will require a big electrification push.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-grid-solar-energy-solution-rural.html

The Sunburst hack was massive and devastating – 5 observations from a cybersecurity expert

So much remains unknown about what is now being called the Sunburst hack, the cyberattack against U.S. government agencies and corporations. U.S. officials widely believe that Russian state-sponsored hackers are responsible.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-sunburst-hack-massive-devastating-cybersecurity.html

Torpor: a neat survival trick once thought rare in Australian animals is actually widespread

Life is hard for small animals in the wild, but they have many solutions to the challenges of their environment. One of the most fascinating of these strategies is torpor. Not, to be confused with sleep or Sunday afternoon lethargy, torpor is a complex response to the costs of living.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-torpor-neat-survival-thought-rare.html

Designing Dirac vortex topological photonic crystal fibres

Optical fibres made of topological photonic crystals allow improved versatility and control across the modes and polarization of light they transmit. Compositionally, photonic crystals contain bandgaps to prevent the passage of light relative to specific wave energies and momenta much like an on/off switch. In a new report now published on Nature Light: Science & Applications, Hao Lin, and Ling Lu at the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences transmitted pure "single mode" light across a large frequency range via a topological feature known as a "Dirac vortex." The concept can lead to applications that transmit light signals more stably across long distances. While the work is theoretical at present, the researchers suggest the use of fibers made from silica based on stack-and-draw methods or three-dimensional (3-D) printing technologies to fabricate and test these theoretical concepts.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-dirac-vortex-topological-photonic-crystal.html

Major rail safety technology installed before deadline

The railroad industry has installed an automatic braking system on nearly 58,000 miles of track where it is required ahead of a yearend deadline, federal regulators said Tuesday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-major-rail-safety-technology-deadline.html

COVID cluckers: Pandemic feeds demand for backyard chickens

The coronavirus pandemic is coming home to roost in America's backyards.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-covid-cluckers-pandemic-demand-backyard.html

Apple loses copyright suit against security startup

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit against cybersecurity startup Corellium in a case which could have implications for researchers who find software bugs and vulnerabilities.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-apple-copyright-startup.html

Restoring longleaf pines, keystone of once vast ecosystems

When European settlers came to North America, fire-dependent savannas anchored by lofty pines with footlong needles covered much of what became the southern United States.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-longleaf-keystone-vast-ecosystems.html

Young sea lion recovers from shark bite, returns to ocean

A feisty young sea lion is back in the Northern California wild after five weeks of rehabilitation to treat a severe shark bite, domoic acid poisoning and malnutrition.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-young-sea-lion-recovers-shark.html

New AI tool can predict in seconds what a movie will be rated

Movie ratings can determine a movie's appeal to consumers and the size of its potential audience. Thus, they have an impact on a film's bottom line. Typically, humans do the tedious task of manually rating a movie based on viewing the movie and making decisions on the presence of violence, drug abuse and sexual content.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-ai-tool-seconds-movie.html

How to help dogs and cats manage separation anxiety when their humans return to work

When one of my co-workers found out about a tiny, orphaned kitten that needed a home a few months ago, he didn't hesitate to adopt it. He says his new companion helped make the months of COVID-19 isolation at home much less stressful.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-dogs-cats-anxiety-humans.html

Crops grown in Bangalore high on toxic heavy metals

Scientists in Bangalore, India have found toxic levels of four heavy metals, chromium, nickel, cadmium and lead, in crops and vegetables grown on soil irrigated with water from six lakes in the city, reports a study published December in Current Science.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-crops-grown-bangalore-high-toxic.html

New supercluster discovered by astronomers

By analyzing the data from the eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new supercluster. The newly found structure consists of eight galaxy clusters. The discovery is reported in a paper published December 21 on the arXiv pre-print server.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-supercluster-astronomers.html

Football: 'The wall' can make it harder to save free kicks – new research

In football, free kicks occur when the referee believes a rule has been broken. If central enough and within 30 metres from the goal, the attacking team typically attempts a direct shot on goal. However, the goalkeeper routinely places a "wall" of defensive players in between the ball and the goal to complicate the kicker's task of shooting on target.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-football-wall-harder-free.html

What's the best way to boost the economy? Invest in high-voltage transmission lines

When, in the midst of the pandemic, the Economic Society of Australia invited 150 of Australia's keenest young thinkers to come up with "brief, specific and actionable" proposals to improve the economy, amid scores of ideas about improving job matching, changing the tax system, providing non-repayable loans to businesses and accelerating telehealth, two proposals stood out.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-boost-economy-invest-high-voltage-transmission.html

Clicks, bonks and dripping taps: listen to the calls of 6 frogs out and about this summer

Frog calls are iconic sounds of summer in Australia. There are more than 240 species native to Australia, almost all of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-clicks-bonks-frogs-summer.html

To help trudge through the snow, the chang'e-5 recovery team wore powered exoskeletons

Other worlds aren't the only difficult terrain personnel will have to traverse in humanity's exploration of the solar system. There are some parts of our own planet that are inhospitable and hard to travel over. Inner Mongolia, a northern province of China, would certainly classify as one of those areas, especially in winter. But that's exactly the terrain team members from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) had to traverse on December 16th to retrieve lunar samples from the Chang'e-5 mission. What was even more unique is that they did it with the help of exoskeletons.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-trudge-change-recovery-team-wore.html

Is forearm curvature in the 'Little Foot' Australopithecus natural or pathological?

The 3.67-million-year-old StW 573 ("Little Foot") Australopithecus from Sterkfontein, South Africa, is the most complete skeleton known in the hominin fossil record.  It's discoverers suggested that the significant curvature of its forearm is the result of a fall from a tree during childhood.  They argued this early Australopithecus suffered acute plastic bowing of the forearm—a deformity common in young children after suffering a traumatic fall onto an outstretched hand, as juvenile bones are more elastic than those of adults. 

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-forearm-curvature-foot-australopithecus-natural.html

Ripples in space-time could provide clues to missing components of the universe

There's something a little off about our theory of the universe. Almost everything fits, but there's a fly in the cosmic ointment, a particle of sand in the infinite sandwich. Some scientists think the culprit might be gravity—and that subtle ripples in the fabric of space-time could help us find the missing piece.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-ripples-space-time-clues-components-universe.html

Mallard to go? Dig of Pompeii fast-food place reveals tastes

A fast-food eatery at Pompeii has been excavated, helping to reveal dishes that were popular for the citizens of the ancient Roman city who were partial to eating out.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-mallard-pompeii-fast-food-reveals.html

2020 weather disasters boosted by climate change: report

The ten costliest weather disasters worldwide this year saw insured damages worth $150 billion, topping the figure for 2019 and reflecting a long-term impact of global warming, according to a report Monday.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-weather-disasters-boosted-climate.html

Trump, under pressure, signs $900 bn Covid relief bill

After delaying for nearly a week and under pressure from all sides, US President Donald Trump finally signed a massive $900 billion stimulus bill Sunday, in a long-sought boost for millions of Americans and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-trump-pressure-bn-covid-relief.html

Amid pandemic, Pacific islands work to offset food shortages

Coronavirus infections have barely touched many of the remote islands of the Pacific, but the pandemic's fallout has been enormous, disrupting the supply chain that brings crucial food imports and sending prices soaring as tourism wanes.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-pandemic-pacific-islands-offset-food.html

Cashing in on additive manufacturing

Three-dimensional printing, 3-D printing, has developed steadily over the last three decades or so. It has become, if not commonplace, then more well-known and utilized in wide-ranging industries, it is. It has been something of a long-term technological revolution changing the way low-demand objects are designed and produced. So much so that it is often referred to as additive manufacturing.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-cashing-additive.html

Japan's renewable energy sector seeks carbon-neutral windfall

Japan needs to boost renewable energy by reforming outdated policies on land use and the national grid if it is to meet a new goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, industry players and experts say.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-japan-renewable-energy-sector-carbon-neutral.html

Musk: Apple CEO didn't take meeting about buying Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he once considered selling the electric car maker to Apple, but the iPhone maker's CEO blew off the meeting.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-musk-apple-ceo-didnt-tesla.html

Lyft to offer 60 million free and discounted rides to vaccination sites

Lyft announced it would provide 60 million rides to and from vaccination sites for low-income, uninsured and at-risk communities as vaccines roll out.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-lyft-million-free-discounted-vaccination.html

Can we be manipulated into sharing private info online? Yes, says study

Online users are more likely to reveal private information based on how website forms are structured to elicit data, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have determined.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-private-info-online.html

It's electrifying! This is how Earth could be entirely powered by sustainable energy

Can you imagine a world powered by 100% renewable electricity and fuels? It may seem fantasy, but a collaborative team of scientists has just shown this dream is theoretically possible—if we can garner global buy-in.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-electrifying-earth-powered-sustainable-energy.html

Google, Facebook, coordinated antitrust response: report

Google and Facebook worked together to help fend off an antitrust investigation into the two tech giants which dominate digital advertising, according to a media report citing a draft of a state lawsuit.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-google-facebook-antitrust-response.html

Cornell University to extract energy from manure to meet peak heating demands

Cornell University is developing a system to extract energy from cattle manure to meet the campus's peak demands for heat in the winter months. In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, scientists involved with the project give a detailed analysis of the issues required to make this work, including scientific, economic, and energy policy considerations.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-cornell-university-energy-manure-peak.html

The first endovascular technology that can explore capillaries

At EPFL, Lucio Pancaldi, a Ph.D. student, and Selman Sakar, an assistant professor, have harnessed hydrokinetic energy (mechanical energy resulting from the motion of liquids) to get an instrument into places in the human body without resorting to invasive methods. "Large proportions of the brain remain inaccessible because the existing tools are unwieldy, and exploring the tiny, intricate cerebral vascular system without causing tissue damage is extremely difficult," says Sakar.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-endovascular-technology-explore-capillaries.html

iPhone again best tech seller of the year, thanks to work-from-home trend

Once again, the best-selling tech product of 2020 was Apple's iPhone—topping the phone's sales in 2019—despite being a pandemic year when so many people were thrown out of work and money was harder to come by.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-iphone-tech-seller-year-work-from-home.html

Groups of bacteria can work together to better protect crops and improve their growth

Certain bacteria, known as plant-growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), can improve plant health or protect them from pathogens and are used commercially to help crops. To further improve agricultural yields, it is helpful to identify factors that can improve PGPB behavior.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-groups-bacteria-crops-growth.html

Primordial black holes and the search for dark matter from the multiverse

The Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) is home to many interdisciplinary projects which benefit from the synergy of a wide range of expertise available at the institute. One such project is the study of black holes that could have formed in the early universe, before stars and galaxies were born.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-primordial-black-holes-dark-multiverse.html

High-speed atomic force microscopy takes on intrinsically disordered proteins

Our understanding of biological proteins does not always correlate with how common or important they are. Half of all proteins, molecules that play an integral role in cell processes, are intrinsically disordered, which means many of the standard techniques for probing biomolecules don't work on them. Now researchers at Kanazawa University in Japan have shown that their home-grown high-speed atomic force microscopy technology can provide information not just on the structures of these proteins but also their dynamics.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-high-speed-atomic-microscopy-intrinsically-disordered.html

Archaeologists create 3-D model of part of the Tepsei archaeological site

Archeologists from Kemerovo State University are exploring the Tepsei site of Minusinsk Basin, located in Krasnoturansky district (Krasnoyarsk region). Their research objective is to describe the culture and history of the site, covering over 27 square kilometers. The territory includes Mount Tepsei (630 m high) and the river valley below. The site has already revealed numerous archeological artifacts, burial grounds, and ancient villages of the Yenisey culture. The local rock art ranges from the Stone Age to ethnographic times and is represented by numerous petroglyphs on rocks, horizontal stone plates, and Tagar burrows.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-archaeologists-d-tepsei-archaeological-site.html

Study suggests link between word choices and extraverts

A study by a team of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) psychologists has found a link between extraverts and their word choices.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-link-word-choices-extraverts.html

New research makes strong case for restoring Hong Kong's lost oyster reefs

New research produced jointly by The Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS), Faculty of Science, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), published recently in the scientific journal Restoration Ecology, shows the enormous potential of restoring lost oyster reefs, bringing significant environmental benefits.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-strong-case-hong-kong-lost.html

Important milestone in the creation of a quantum computer

Quantum computer: One of the obstacles for progress in the quest for a working quantum computer has been that the working devices that go into a quantum computer and perform the actual calculations, the qubits, have hitherto been made by universities and in small numbers. But in recent years, a pan-European collaboration, in partnership with French microelectronics leader CEA-Leti, has been exploring everyday transistors—that are present in billions in all our mobile phones—for their use as qubits. The French company Leti makes giant wafers full of devices, and, after measuring, researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, have found these industrially produced devices to be suitable as a qubit platform capable of moving to the second dimension, a significant step for a working quantum computer. The result is now published in Nature Communications.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-important-milestone-creation-quantum.html

Novel method to quantify decomposition of rhizodeposits

Rhizodeposition of labile organic carbon is one of the main pathways linking above- and below-ground biota to affect soil carbon cycling. Rhizodeposition is also a strategic physiological process for plants to cope with environmental stress, such as nutrient deficiency and drought, via the interaction with microbes. Nevertheless, separating decomposition of rhizodeposit carbon from root respiration in intact plant-soil systems has not yet been achieved due to methodological limitations, even though rhizosphere respiration has been intensively investigated.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-method-quantify-decomposition-rhizodeposits.html

Chinese astronomers discover 591 high-velocity stars with LAMOST and Gaia

A research team, led by astronomers from National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), has discovered 591 high velocity stars based on data from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and Gaia, and 43 of them can even escape from the Galaxy.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-chinese-astronomers-high-velocity-stars-lamost.html

New quantum nanodevice can simultaneously act as a heat engine and a refrigerator

A multitasking nanomachine that can act as a heat engine and a refrigerator at the same time has been created by RIKEN engineers. The device is one of the first to test how quantum effects, which govern the behavior of particles on the smallest scale, might one day be exploited to enhance the performance of nanotechnologies.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-quantum-nanodevice-simultaneously-refrigerator.html

Neurologists say there is no medical justification for police use of neck restraints

Some police departments in the United States continue to teach officers that neck restraints are a safe method for controlling agitated or aggressive people, but that's a dangerous myth, according to a Viewpoint written by three neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in JAMA Neurology.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-neurologists-medical-justification-police-neck.html

Big bumblebees learn locations of best flowers

Big bumblebees take time to learn the locations of the best flowers, new research shows.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-big-bumblebees.html

Faster, greener way of producing carbon spheres

A fast, green and one-step method for producing porous carbon spheres, which are a vital component for carbon capture technology and for new ways of storing renewable energy, has been developed by Swansea University researchers.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-faster-greener-carbon-spheres.html

Chemists and collaborators develop a new drug discovery strategy for "undruggable" drug targets

A research team led by Dr. Xiaoyu Li from the Research Division for Chemistry, Faculty of Science, in collaboration with Professor Yizhou Li from School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University and Professor Yan Cao from School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University in Shanghai has developed a new drug discovery method targeting membrane proteins on live cells.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-chemists-collaborators-drug-discovery-strategy.html

Second Taiwan-born panda cub makes media debut

A second Taiwan-born giant panda made her media debut on Monday, clambering over a wooden climbing frame and playing with sawdust to the sound of clicking cameras.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-taiwan-born-panda-cub-media-debut.html

Discovery boosts theory that life on Earth arose from RNA-DNA mix

Chemists at Scripps Research have made a discovery that supports a surprising new view of how life originated on our planet.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-discovery-boosts-theory-life-earth.html

Ripples in space-time could provide clues to missing components of the universe

There's something a little off about our theory of the universe. Almost everything fits, but there's a fly in the cosmic ointment, a particle of sand in the infinite sandwich. Some scientists think the culprit might be gravity—and that subtle ripples in the fabric of space-time could help us find the missing piece.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-ripples-space-time-clues-components-universe.html

China orders Ant Group to return to online payment roots

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has been ordered by regulators to drastically change its business model and return to its roots as a payment services provider, as the state squeeze continues on the once unbridled empire of tech tycoon Jack Ma.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-china-ant-group-online-payment.html

Mallard to go? Dig of Pompeii fast-food place reveals tastes

A fast-food eatery at Pompeii has been excavated, helping to reveal dishes that were popular for the citizens of the ancient Roman city who were partial to eating out.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-mallard-pompeii-fast-food-reveals.html

2020 weather disasters boosted by climate change: report

The ten costliest weather disasters worldwide this year saw insured damages worth $150 billion, topping the figure for 2019 and reflecting a long-term impact of global warming, according to a report Monday.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-weather-disasters-boosted-climate.html

Trump, under pressure, signs $900 bn Covid relief bill

After delaying for nearly a week and under pressure from all sides, US President Donald Trump finally signed a massive $900 billion stimulus bill Sunday, in a long-sought boost for millions of Americans and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-trump-pressure-bn-covid-relief.html

Amid pandemic, Pacific islands work to offset food shortages

Coronavirus infections have barely touched many of the remote islands of the Pacific, but the pandemic's fallout has been enormous, disrupting the supply chain that brings crucial food imports and sending prices soaring as tourism wanes.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-pandemic-pacific-islands-offset-food.html

China orders Ant Group to rectify businesses

Chinese regulators have ordered Ant Group, the world's largest financial technology company, to rectify its businesses and comply with regulatory requirements amid increased scrutiny of anti-monopoly practices in the country's internet sector.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-china-ant-group-rectify-businesses.html

GoDaddy apologises for fake Christmas bonus email security test

US web company GoDaddy apologized Thursday after an email that promised employees a Christmas bonus in the midst of the economic crisis turned out to be a computer security test.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-godaddy-apologises-fake-christmas-bonus.html

Japan unveils green growth plan for 2050 carbon neutral goal

Japan on Friday unveiled plans to boost renewable energy, phase out gasoline-powered cars and reduce battery costs as part of a bid to reach an ambitious 2050 carbon-neutral goal.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-japan-unveils-green-growth-carbon.html

Protein tells developing cells to stick together

Tohoku University scientists have, for the first time, provided experimental evidence that cell stickiness helps them stay sorted within correct compartments during development. How tightly cells clump together, known as cell adhesion, appears to be enabled by a protein better known for its role in the immune system. The findings were detailed in the journal Nature Communications.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-protein-cells.html

Sustainable biodiesel from neem tree trans-esterification

The neem tree, Azadirachta indica, also known as the Indian Lilac, is well known for its oil extracted from its seed and fruit. It has been used in traditional medicine but has also been investigated for the pest control potential of natural products. Work published in the International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology reports on the production, characterisation and use of neem biodiesel as a green fuel for vehicle engines.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-sustainable-biodiesel-neem-tree-trans-esterification.html

Researchers reveal the first cryo-EM structures of NSD2 and NSD3 in complex with nucleosome

The nuclear receptor–binding SET Domain (NSD) family protein is closely connected with many cancers. However, their molecular mechanism remains unknown.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-reveal-cryo-em-nsd2-nsd3-complex.html

A-68A iceberg thinning at 2.5 cm per day

Latest images reveal that the A-68A iceberg has shattered into multiple pieces, with two large fragments of ice breaking off from the main berg and floating away in the open ocean. Scientists using satellite data have not only been monitoring the iceberg's journey across the South Atlantic Ocean, but have been studying the iceberg's ever-changing shape.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-a-68a-iceberg-thinning-cm-day.html

Researchers reconstruct the precise bite of an early mammal

Paleontologists at the University of Bonn (Germany) have succeeded in reconstructing the chewing motion of an early mammal that lived almost 150 million years ago. This showed that its teeth worked extremely precisely and surprisingly efficiently. Yet it is possible that this very aspect turned out to be a disadvantage in the course of evolution. The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-reconstruct-precise-early-mammal.html

DeepMind's MuZero conquers and learns the rules as it does

Albert Einstein once said, "You have to learn the rules of the game, and then you have to play better than anyone else." That could well be the motto at DeepMind, as a new report reveals it has developed a program that can master complex games without even knowing the rules.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-deepmind-muzero-conquers.html

Could COVID-19 have wiped out the Neandertals?

Everybody loves Neandertals, those big-brained brutes we supposedly outcompeted and ultimately replaced using our sharp tongues and quick, delicate minds. But did we really, though? Is it mathematically possible that we could yet be them, and they us?

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-covid-neandertals.html

Future material demand for automotive lithium-based batteries

As the world shifts to electric vehicles to reduce climate change, it is important to quantify future demands for key battery materials. In a new report, Chengjian Xu, Bernhard Steubing and a research team at the Leiden University, Netherlands and the Argonne National Laboratory in the U.S. showed how the demands of a lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese oxide dominated battery will increase by many factors between 2020 to 2050. As a result, supply chains for lithium, cobalt and nickel will require significant expansion and likely additional resource discovery. Nevertheless, uncertainties are large relative to the development of electrical vehicle fleets and battery capacities per vehicle. While closed-loop recycling plays a minor but increasingly important role to reduce the primary material demand until 2050, researchers must implement advanced recycling strategies to economically recover battery-grade materials from end-of-life batteries. This work is now published on Nature Communications Materials.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-future-material-demand-automotive-lithium-based.html

Researchers identify which West Coast regions hold greatest wave energy potential

Washington and Oregon coastlines are home not only to sea stacks and vistas, they also hold the most promising areas to pull power from West Coast waves, according to a recent study published in the journal Energy and led by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-west-coast-regions-greatest-energy.html

OnePlus 8T Concept phone has color-shifting, camera-camouflage features

As smartphone manufacturers race to reach faster transmission speeds, greater storage capacities and quicker charging times, it's a change of pace to find a new phone that ignores all of those pursuits.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-oneplus-8t-concept-color-shifting-camera-camouflage.html

EasyJet delays delivery of Airbus planes

EasyJet has delayed delivery of new Airbus planes, the British no-frills airline announced Tuesday, as the coronavirus pandemic destroys demand for air travel.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-easyjet-delivery-airbus-planes.html

Cyberattack hit key US Treasury systems: senator

Hackers broke into systems used by top US Treasury officials during a massive cyberattack on government agencies and may have stolen essential encryption keys, a senior lawmaker said Monday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-cyberattack-key-treasury-senator.html

Australian regulator delays decision on Google-Fitbit merger

Australia's competition regulator on Tuesday delayed for three months its decision on Google's plan to buy fitness gadget maker Fitbit for $2.1 billion despite the European Union giving conditional approval to the deal.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-australian-decision-google-fitbit-merger.html

Washington Post to expand newsroom staff, add foreign hubs

The Washington Post announced plans on Monday to expand its newsroom staff to over 1,000 and add breaking news hubs in Europe and Asia to create a bigger global footprint.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-washington-newsroom-staff-foreign-hubs.html

Google Doodle celebrates Winter Solstice and Great Conjunction

Google is using its logo Monday to not only celebrate the first day of winter but a rare celestial event.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-google-doodle-celebrates-winter-solstice.html

High-five or thumbs-up? New device detects which hand gesture you want to make

Imagine typing on a computer without a keyboard, playing a video game without a controller or driving a car without a wheel.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-high-five-thumbs-up-device-gesture.html

Controlling the magnetic properties of complex oxide systems

The study of complex oxides of iron to create new functional materials is one of the most intensely developing fields of investigation for SUSU scientists. The physical properties of complex iron oxide systems can be varied by changing the chemical composition. This makes it possible to trace the fundamental effects that arise when ions are replaced. In a new study, researchers chose to investigate spinel-structured ferrites, changing their magnetic properties through modification of their chemical composition by substituting iron ions. The results of their research were published in Nanomaterials.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-magnetic-properties-complex-oxide.html

Atomic-scale nanowires can now be produced at scale

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered a way to make self-assembled nanowires of transition metal chalcogenides at scale using chemical vapor deposition. By changing the substrate where the wires form, they can tune how these wires are arranged, from aligned configurations of atomically thin sheets to random networks of bundles. This paves the way to industrial deployment in next-gen industrial electronics, including energy harvesting, and transparent, efficient, even flexible devices.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-atomic-scale-nanowires-scale.html

Scientists create polymers to detect banned substances in wastewater

Molecularly imprinted polymers, which have been created with the participation of a SUSU scientist, have become a base for a unique sensor that detects banned substances in wastewater. Police forces in European countries, where the problem of drug production is particularly acute, have shown interest in this development. The results of the research on creating these polymers have been published in a first quartile journal, Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-polymers-substances-wastewater.html

Fukushima nuclear debris removal delayed by virus

The removal of nuclear debris from Japan's crippled Fukushima power plant will be delayed by about a year, because the pandemic has set back development of specialised equipment, the plant's operator said Thursday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-fukushima-nuclear-debris-virus.html

China begins anti-monopoly probe into tech giant Alibaba

China has launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba, regulators said Thursday, sending the share price of the e-commerce giant tumbling and intensifying the troubles of its billionaire founder Jack Ma.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-china-anti-monopoly-probe-tech-giant.html

Fruity energy, spidery lenses: Nature-inspired solutions in 2020

Climate change and biodiversity loss are laying bare our dependence on the natural world for everything from the food we eat to the air we breathe.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-fruity-energy-spidery-lenses-nature-inspired.html

Jack Ma: tycoon who soared on China's tech dreams grounded by regulators

Jack Ma, the ebullient and unconventional billionaire founder of tech giant Alibaba and the totem of China's entrepreneurial brilliance, now finds himself up against a Communist leadership seemingly intent on hacking back his empire and issuing a lesson that no one is bigger than the party.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-jack-ma-tycoon-soared-china.html

Food production-driven land use leads to changes in water-related ecosystem services

With global population growth, accompanied by factors like COVID-19 and natural disasters, increasing food yield has become a major concern worldwide. However, the links between food production and local land-use driven water-related ecosystem services (WESs) changes remain underestimated and unrevealed.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-food-production-driven-water-related-ecosystem.html

Christmas trees can be green because of a photosynthetic short-cut

How can conifers that are used for example as Christmas trees keep their green needles over the boreal winter when most trees shed their leaves? Science has not provided a good answer to this question but now an international team of scientists, including researchers from Umeå University, has deciphered that a short-cut in the photosynthetic machinery allows the needles of pine trees to stay green. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-christmas-trees-green-photosynthetic-short-cut.html

Black hole X-ray binary GRS 1915+105 has a variable magnetic disc wind, study suggests

Using NASA's Chandra spacecraft, astronomers have performed high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of a transient black hole X-ray binary known as GRS 1915+105. They report that the source exhibits a variable magnetic accretion disc wind. The study was detailed in a paper published December 16 on the arXiv pre-print repository.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-black-hole-x-ray-binary-grs.html

Researchers develop layered cobalt oxide with a record-setting thermoelectric figure of merit

Waste heat is a highly promising source of renewable energy; however, the efficiency of using heat to generate energy has historically been much lower than hydroelectric, wind or solar power. While there are a number of materials that can be used for the generation of energy from waste heat, they all suffer from various issues ranging from low stability to low efficiency. Nevertheless, the fact that a large number of industries generate copious amounts of waste heat have driven research into this field.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-layered-cobalt-oxide-record-setting-thermoelectric.html

Researchers develop new way to break reciprocity law

An international research team lead by Aalto University has found a new and simple route to break the reciprocity law in the electromagnetic world, by changing a material's property periodically in time. The breakthrough could help to create efficient nonreciprocal devices, such as compact isolators and circulators, that are needed for the next generation of microwave and optical communications systems.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-reciprocity-law.html

Nanomaterial theory describes strongly correlated electrons in quantum dots

Osaka City University scientists have developed mathematical formulas to describe the current and fluctuations of strongly correlated electrons in quantum dots. Their theoretical predictions could soon be tested experimentally.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nanomaterial-theory-strongly-electrons-quantum.html

Transporter protein that regulates cell membrane cholesterol likely played an important role in vertebrate evolution

Almost four decades of research have led scientists at Japan's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) to propose that a family of transporter proteins has played an important role in species evolution. One protein in particular, called ABCA1, was likely crucial for vertebrate evolution by helping regulate when signals involved in cell proliferation, differentiation and migration enter a cell. This process was necessary for vertebrates to develop into more complex organisms with sophisticated body structures.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-protein-cell-membrane-cholesterol-important.html

Mechano-responsive hydrogel developed for wound healing

Dr. Wang Rong's team from the Cixi Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the researchers from Sun Yat-sen University and Nanchang University, has developed a mechano-responsive antibacterial hydrogel with controllable drug release behavior for wound healing application. The study was published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.  

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-mechano-responsive-hydrogel-wound.html

Researchers realize half-metallicity in A-type antiferromagnets with ferroelectric control

Recently, Prof. Zheng Xiaohong's research group from the Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP) of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), in cooperation with Prof. Stefano Sanvito from Trinity College Dublin, demonstrated a novel idea to achieve half-metallicity in A-type van der Waals (vdW) antiferromagnets via ferroelectric control.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-half-metallicity-a-type-antiferromagnets-ferroelectric.html

Image: Space bauble produced by the Multiscale Boiling experiment

Deck the halls with space-based bubbles!

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-image-space-bauble-multiscale.html

Image: Hubble sees a 'molten ring'

The narrow galaxy elegantly curving around its spherical companion in this image is a fantastic example of a truly strange and very rare phenomenon. This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, depicts GAL-CLUS-022058s, located in the southern hemisphere constellation of Fornax (the Furnace). GAL-CLUS-022058s is the largest and one of the most complete Einstein rings ever discovered in our universe. The object has been nicknamed by astronomers studying this Einstein ring as the "Molten Ring," which alludes to its appearance and host constellation.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-image-hubble-molten.html

Caspian crisis: Sinking sea levels threaten biodiversity, economy and regional stability

Coastal nations are rightly worried about sea level rise, but in the countries around the Caspian Sea, over 100 million people are facing the opposite problem: an enormous drop in sea level. Technically, this sea is a land-locked lake, but it is the largest on the planet (371.000 km2), and quite salty. Since the '90s, the water level has been dropping a few centimeters every year. This drop will accelerate during the upcoming decades, according to scientists from the German universities of Gießen and Bremen, together with Dutch geologist Frank Wesselingh.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-caspian-crisis-sea-threaten-biodiversity.html

Genetic engineering without unwanted side effects helps fight parasites

Modified CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing scissors are enabling researchers at the University of Zurich to make alterations to the genetic material of single-cell organisms that are indistinguishable from natural mutations. This method makes it possible to develop a harmless experimental live vaccine for the widespread parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-genetic-unwanted-side-effects-parasites.html

Are two phases of quarantine better than one?

New research into this question shows that the second wave of an epidemic is very different if a population has a homogenous distribution of contacts, compared to the scenario of subpopulations with diverse number of contacts.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-phases-quarantine.html

Pandemic sends US single mothers into poverty

When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered restaurants in California, Aleida Ramirez lost her job as a waitress, plunging her—along with many other single mothers—into a vicious cycle of poverty, unpaid bills and reliance on food banks.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-pandemic-mothers-poverty.html

Virus hunters delve into Gabon forest in search for next threat

The scene looks like something out of a science fiction movie, or maybe some dystopian TV series.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-virus-hunters-delve-gabon-forest.html

Japan's renewable energy sector seeks carbon-neutral windfall

Japan needs to boost renewable energy by reforming outdated policies on land use and the national grid if it is to meet a new goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, industry players and experts say.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-japan-renewable-energy-sector-carbon-neutral.html

Musk: Apple CEO didn't take meeting about buying Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he once considered selling the electric car maker to Apple, but the iPhone maker's CEO blew off the meeting.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-musk-apple-ceo-didnt-tesla.html

Lava lake forms as Hawaii volcano erupts after 2-year break

Lava was rising more than 3 feet (1 meter) per hour in the deep crater of a Hawaii volcano that began erupting over the weekend after a two-year break, scientists said Tuesday.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-lava-lake-hawaii-volcano-erupts.html

Delicious and disease-free: scientists attempting new citrus varieties

UC Riverside scientists are betting an ancient solution will solve citrus growers' biggest problem by breeding new fruits with natural resistance to a deadly tree disease.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-delicious-disease-free-scientists-citrus-varieties.html

Highest levels of microplastics found in molluscs, new study says

Mussels, oysters and scallops have the highest levels of microplastic contamination among seafood, a new study reveals.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-highest-microplastics-molluscs.html

Survival of the thickest: Big brains make mammal populations less dense

Mammals with big brains tend to be less abundant in local areas than those with smaller brains, new research has shown.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-survival-thickest-big-brains-mammal.html

Model predicts where ticks, Lyme disease will appear next in Midwest states

By drawing from decades of studies, scientists created a timeline marking the arrival of black-legged ticks, also known as deer ticks, in hundreds of counties across 10 Midwestern states. They used these data—along with an analysis of county-level landscape features associated with the spread of ticks—to build a model that can predict where ticks are likely to appear in future years.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-lyme-disease-midwest-states.html

Glass frogs, ghost shrimp and clearwing butterflies use transparency to evade predators

What would you do if you could be invisible? Would you use your power for good? For evil? Or just to avoid awkward conversations?

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-glass-frogs-ghost-shrimp-clearwing.html

The psychology of fairness: Why some Americans don't believe the election results

The electoral votes have confirmed Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election. The presidential electors gave Biden 306 electoral votes to President Donald Trump's 232 votes. Biden also recorded a solid lead of over 7 million in the popular vote.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-psychology-fairness-americans-dont-election.html

Even in a 'water-rich' country like New Zealand, some cities could face water shortages this summer

After eight months of drought rules, Auckland finally relaxed water restrictions last week, but as New Zealand heads into another La Niña summer, other cities can expect serious water shortages both now and in the future.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-water-rich-country-zealand-cities-shortages.html

Researchers identify which West Coast regions hold greatest wave energy potential

Washington and Oregon coastlines are home not only to sea stacks and vistas, they also hold the most promising areas to pull power from West Coast waves, according to a recent study published in the journal Energy and led by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-west-coast-regions-greatest-energy.html

Localized magnetic moments induced by atomic vacancies in transition metal dichalcogenide flakes

The emergence of two-dimensional (2-D) materials provides an excellent platform for exploring and modulating exotic physical properties in the 2-D limit, and has driven the development of modern condensed matter physics and nanoelectronic devices. Among various exotic physical properties, 2-D magnetism is one of the most important topics, which shows potential application in spintronics. In recent years, researchers have discovered a series of intrinsic 2-D magnetic materials, such as CrI3, Fe3GeTe2, etc. However, most of the yet discovered 2-D magnetic materials are instable in atmosphere, which limits further investigation and the application of 2-D magnetism. Therefore, the key issue is how to induce magnetism in air-stable 2-D materials.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-localized-magnetic-moments-atomic-vacancies.html

Diamonds are not just for jewelry anymore

When it comes to the semiconductor industry, silicon has reigned as king in the electronics field, but it is coming to the end of its physical limits.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-diamonds-jewelry-anymore.html

Researchers simulate car emissions dynamic using gold nanoparticles for catalysis

By examining tiny particles of gold with powerful X-ray beams, scientists hope they can learn how to cut down on harmful carbon monoxide emissions from motor vehicles.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-simulate-car-emissions-dynamic-gold.html

Researcher investigates how to make the global food supply more resilient

As the world grows increasingly globalized, one of the ways that countries have come to rely on one another is through a more intricate and interconnected food supply chain. Food produced in one country is often consumed in another country—with technological advances allowing food to be shipped between countries that are increasingly distant from one another.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-global-food-resilient.html

Researchers find hydrogen-supported life beneath glaciers

Using years of data collected from ice-covered habitats all over the world, a Montana State University team has discovered new insights into the processes that support microbial life underneath ice sheets and glaciers, and the role those organisms play in perpetuating life through ice ages and, perhaps, in seemingly inhospitable environments on other planets.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-hydrogen-supported-life-beneath-glaciers.html

Image: Instruments installed on Euclid spacecraft

The optical and infrared instruments of Euclid, ESA's mission to study dark energy and dark matter, have passed the qualification and acceptance review and are now fully integrated into the spacecraft's payload module. This marks an important step forward in the assembly of the Euclid space telescope, which is scheduled for launch in 2022.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-image-instruments-euclid-spacecraft.html

Frozen: Cutting-edge technology reveals structures within cells

Temperatures of -196 degrees Celsius enable high-resolution imaging of the cell's interior. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria are thus able to show for the first time how the active form of a protein complex plays critical roles in cell motility and other important biological functions look like. This study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-frozen-cutting-edge-technology-reveals-cells.html

Transforming self-assembled architectures into functional materials

Imagine if a material would arrange itself into a shape suited for its application, for instance, a catalyst that maximizes its own surface area for improved efficiency or a micro-actuator that forms appendages to grab nearby objects. This is the promise of self-assembly: making complex, functional materials by letting matter shape itself. Yet, not all matter that self-assembles into interesting forms turns out to have a useful function in its final shape. Researchers of the Self-Organizing Matter group recently discovered that ion exchange allows them to separate the self-assembly process from the resulting material. Their findings were published in Advanced Materials on November 16 and highlighted in Nature and Nature Reviews Materials.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-self-assembled-architectures-functional-materials.html

OnePlus 8T Concept phone has color-shifting, camera-camouflage features

As smartphone manufacturers race to reach faster transmission speeds, greater storage capacities and quicker charging times, it's a change of pace to find a new phone that ignores all of those pursuits.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-oneplus-8t-concept-color-shifting-camera-camouflage.html

Silkworm's brain determines diapause by thermal information

Diapause is a seasonal adaptation strategy of insects and animals in which biological functions are put on hold, such as insect eggs that remain dormant until conditions are more favorable to hatch. This is not a passive response of dormancy to adverse situations but an actively induced state that takes place well in advance in anticipation of natural conditions. Although it has been hypothesized that the neuroendocrine systems are associated with seasonal reproductive plasticity, the morphological, physiological, behavioral, reproductive responses of diapause remain unclear.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-silkworm-brain-diapause-thermal.html

China's new Long March-8 rocket makes first flight

China's new carrier rocket, the Long March-8, made its maiden flight on Tuesday, the country's space agency said, the first phase of a strategy to deploy launch vehicles that can be reused.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-china-march-rocket-flight.html

EasyJet delays delivery of Airbus planes

EasyJet has delayed delivery of new Airbus planes, the British no-frills airline announced Tuesday, as the coronavirus pandemic destroys demand for air travel.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-easyjet-delivery-airbus-planes.html

A groggy climate giant: subsea permafrost is still waking up after 12,000 years

In the far north, the swelling Arctic Ocean inundated vast swaths of coastal tundra and steppe ecosystems. Though the ocean water was only a few degrees above freezing, it started to thaw the permafrost beneath it, exposing billions of tons of organic matter to microbial breakdown. The decomposing organic matter began producing CO2 and CH4, two of the most important greenhouse gases.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-groggy-climate-giant-subsea-permafrost.html

Poland eyes hard split with coal

Coal-dependent EU member Poland aims to shut its last mine by the bloc's 2050 target, but experts warn the move to go green comes late and faces many hurdles.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-poland-eyes-hard-coal.html

Climate change ravages Kashmir's 'red gold' saffron crop

On sweeping fields once blanketed in lush purple, a thin and bedraggled crop of flowers is all farmers in Indian-administered Kashmir's saffron-growing region Pampore have to show for this year's harvest.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-climate-ravages-kashmir-red-gold.html

Cyberattack hit key US Treasury systems: senator

Hackers broke into systems used by top US Treasury officials during a massive cyberattack on government agencies and may have stolen essential encryption keys, a senior lawmaker said Monday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-cyberattack-key-treasury-senator.html

Australian regulator delays decision on Google-Fitbit merger

Australia's competition regulator on Tuesday delayed for three months its decision on Google's plan to buy fitness gadget maker Fitbit for $2.1 billion despite the European Union giving conditional approval to the deal.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-australian-decision-google-fitbit-merger.html

Light signal emitted during photosynthesis used to quickly screen crops

An international effort called Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) aims to transform crops' ability to turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into higher yields. To achieve this, scientists are analyzing thousands of plants to find out what tweaks to the plant's structure or its cellular machinery could increase production. University of Illinois researchers have revealed a new approach to estimate the photosynthetic capacity of crops to pinpoint these top-performing traits and speed up the screening process, according to a new study in the Journal of Experimental Botany.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-emitted-photosynthesis-quickly-screen-crops.html

Hormone metabolites found in poop give researchers new insight into whale stress

Poop samples are an effective, non-invasive tool for monitoring gray whale reproduction, stress and other physiological responses, a new study from Oregon State University shows.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-hormone-metabolites-poop-insight-whale.html

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts: USGS

The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island erupted late Sunday, authorities said, warning of a possible "significant emission" of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-hawaii-kilauea-volcano-erupts-usgs.html

Egypt reports bird flu outbreaks in rural area

Local authorities in rural Egypt have declared a state of emergency after detecting two outbreaks of bird flu.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-egypt-bird-flu-outbreaks-rural.html

Tube fishway technology will get fish up and over those dam walls

Engineers and scientists at UNSW Sydney have come up with an ingenious way to get fish past dam walls, weirs and other barriers blocking their migration in Australian rivers.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-tube-fishway-technology-fish-walls.html

High-flying Tesla joins S&P 500; skeptics say buyer beware

In the middle of last year, Tesla's losses were piling up, sales weren't enough to cover expenses and big debt payments loomed. The situation was so bad that one influential Wall Street analyst raised the possibility that Tesla wouldn't be able to pay its bills and would have to be restructured financially.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-high-flying-tesla-sp-skeptics-buyer.html

Stampede2, Bridges simulations show weak spots in Ebola virus nucleocapsid

In the midst of a global pandemic with COVID-19, it's hard to appreciate how lucky those outside of Africa have been to avoid the deadly Ebola virus disease. It incapacitates its victims soon after infection with massive vomiting or diarrhea, leading to death from fluid loss in about 50 percent of the afflicted. The Ebola virus transmits only through bodily fluids, marking a key difference from the COVID-19 virus and one that has helped contain Ebola's spread.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-stampede2-bridges-simulations-weak-ebola.html

Climate warming linked to tree leaf unfolding and flowering growing apart

An international team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang A & F University and the University of Eastern Finland have found that regardless of whether flowering or leaf unfolding occurred first in a species, the first event advanced more than the second over the last seven decades.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-climate-linked-tree-leaf-unfolding.html

Study resolves the position of fleas on the tree of life

A study of more than 1,400 protein-coding genes of fleas has resolved one of the longest standing mysteries in the evolution of insects, reordering their placement in the tree of life and pinpointing who their closest relatives are.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-position-fleas-tree-life.html

Ivory Coast creates first marine protected area

Ivory Coast has announced the creation of its first Marine Protected Area (MPA).

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-ivory-coast-marine-area.html

Satellite uses SAR imagery to capture world's sharpest images

A satellite carrying a camera that is so powerful it can capture an image of virtually any object on Earth with crystal-clear resolution is now offering its services to the public.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-satellite-sar-imagery-capture-world.html

United Airlines to resume Boeing 737 MAX flights in February

United Airlines became the latest carrier to announce a timeframe to fly the Boeing 737 MAX again, saying Friday the jet would resume flights in February.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-airlines-resume-boeing-max-flights.html

Florida launches investigation into hacking of its servers

Florida officials acknowledged Friday that state servers appear to have been compromised by overseas hackers who gained entry by imbedding malicious code into networking software from a Texas-based software company, SolarWinds.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-florida-hacking-servers.html

Hacked networks will need to be burned 'down to the ground'

It's going to take months to kick elite hackers widely believed to be Russian out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March in Washington's worst cyberespionage failure on record.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-hacked-networks-ground.html

Two dead, hundreds flee floods in Philippine storm

At least two people were killed and hundreds forced to flee their inundated homes in the Philippines as torrential rain triggered flooding and landslides in the storm-battered archipelago, officials said Saturday.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-dead-hundreds-philippine-storm.html

More than half of Hudson River tidal marshes were created accidentally by humans

In a new study of tidal marsh resilience to sea level rise, geologist and first author Brian Yellen at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues observed that Hudson River Estuary marshes are growing upward at a rate two to three times faster than sea level rise, "suggesting that they should be resilient to accelerated sea level rise in the future," he says.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-hudson-river-tidal-marshes-accidentally.html

Identifying where to reforest after wildfire

In the aftermath of megafires that devastated forests of the western United States, attention turns to whether forests will regenerate on their own or not. Forest managers can now look to a newly enhanced, predictive mapping tool to learn where forests are likely to regenerate on their own and where replanting efforts may be beneficial.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-reforest-wildfire.html

New class of cobalt-free cathodes could enhance energy density of next-gen lithium-ion batteries

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a new family of cathodes with the potential to replace the costly cobalt-based cathodes typically found in today's lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and consumer electronics.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-class-cobalt-free-cathodes-energy-density.html

Plants can be larks or night owls just like us

Plants have the same variation in body clocks as that found in humans, according to new research that explores the genes governing circadian rhythms in plants.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-larks-night-owls.html

Researchers take a closer look at the genomes of microbial communities in the human mouth

Bacteria often show very strong biogeography—some bacteria are abundant in specific locations while absent from others—leading to major questions when applying microbiology to therapeutics or probiotics: how did the bacteria get into the wrong place? How do we add the right bacteria into the right place when the biogeography has gotten 'out of whack'?

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-closer-genomes-microbial-human-mouth.html

Researchers decode the structure of the molecular complex that carries detoxifying enzymes in cells to the right place

Peroxisomes are essential, membrane-enclosed vesicles that occur in every cell. An arsenal of enzymes inside them breaks down harmful substances, thereby detoxifying the cells. A team of scientists led by Prof. Dr. Bettina Warscheid from the University of Freiburg, Prof. Dr. Ralf Erdmann from the Ruhr University Bochum and Prof. Dr. Christos Gatsogiannis from the University of Münster has studied the molecular complex that carries the enzymes to where they are needed in the peroxisome. They have been able to cast light on the structure of the complex with great precision and obtain insights into the mechanisms of how it functions. Their results have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-decode-molecular-complex-detoxifying-enzymes.html

Wildfire smoke can carry microbes that cause infectious diseases

Wildfire smoke contains microbes, a fact that's often ignored, but one that may have important health repercussions.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-wildfire-microbes-infectious-diseases.html

Beluga whistles and clicks could be silenced by an increasingly noisy Arctic Ocean

Under the sea ice, the Arctic Ocean is one of the quietest places on Earth. But it can be very noisy when the ice is forming and breaking up or during storms and when glaciers are calving.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-beluga-clicks-silenced-increasingly-noisy.html

Open data shows lightning, not arson, was the likely cause of most Victorian bushfires last summer

As last summer's horrific bushfires raged, so too did debate about what caused them. Despite the prolonged drought and ever worsening climate change, some people sought to blame the fires largely on arson.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-lightning-arson-victorian-bushfires-summer.html

Monkeys, like humans, persist at tasks they've already invested in—even when they don't succeed

If you've ever stayed in a relationship too long or stuck with a project that was going nowhere, you're not alone. Humans are generally reluctant to give up on something they've already committed time and effort to. It's called the "sunk costs" phenomenon, where the more resources we sink into an endeavor, the likelier we are to continue—even if we sense it's futile.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-monkeys-humans-persist-tasks-theyve.html

Quantum wells enable record-efficiency two-junction solar cell

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of New South Wales achieved a new world-record efficiency for two-junction solar cells, creating a cell with two light-absorbing layers that converts 32.9% of sunlight into electricity.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-quantum-wells-enable-record-efficiency-two-junction.html

Transparency about autonomous military systems is critical to acceptance, research says

When it comes to military use of autonomous systems, transparency about them, perceived usefulness and perception of ease of use all contribute to acceptance and adoption by personnel, according to new research at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-transparency-autonomous-military-critical.html

Say again? AI provides the latest word in clearer audio

If you've been listening to more podcasts while stuck at home this year, you may have noticed a side effect of the uptick in virtual conversations: a decline in audio quality. Interviews conducted by phone or video chat often include background noise, reverberation and distortion.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-ai-latest-word-clearer-audio.html

Scientists develop new land surface model including multiple processes and human activities

Human activities, such as urban planning, irrigation and agricultural fertilization, can affect terrestrial carbon, nitrogen and water cycle processes and aquatic ecosystems.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-surface-multiple-human.html

Three things NASA learned from Mars InSight

NASA's InSight spacecraft touched down Nov. 26, 2018, on Mars to study the planet's deep interior. A little more than one Martian year later, the stationary lander has detected more than 480 quakes and collected the most comprehensive weather data of any surface mission sent to Mars. InSight's probe, which has struggled to dig underground to take the planet's temperature, has made progress, too.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nasa-mars-insight.html

Effects of crosslinker length on anion exchange membrane fuel cells

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), which produce electricity using hydrogen, are considered an alternative to currently used proton exchange membrane fuel cells. However, AEMs have problems with stability in alkaline conditions, which can be overcome by crosslinking. But effects of crosslinker length on AEMFC performance are not well understood. Now, Korean scientists have elucidated such effects for oxygen-containing crosslinkers. Using an optimally long crosslinker, they produced a novel AEMFC with greater performance.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-effects-crosslinker-length-anion-exchange.html

Genetic exchange discovered in anciently asexual rotifers

Evolutionary biologists at Skoltech have discovered recombination in bdelloid rotifers, microscopic freshwater invertebrates characterized by their presumed ancient asexuality. The existence of such anciently asexual groups calls into question the hypothesis that sexual reproduction is indispensable for the long-term evolutionary success of a species. However, the recent study published in Nature Communications provides evidence of recombination and genetic exchange in bdelloids.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-genetic-exchange-anciently-asexual-rotifers.html

Researchers deconstruct ancient Jewish parchment using multiple imaging techniques

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but capturing multiple images of an artifact across the electromagnetic spectrum can tell a rich story about the original creation and degradation of historical objects over time. Researchers recently demonstrated how this was possible using several complementary imaging techniques to non-invasively probe a Jewish parchment scroll. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Materials.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-deconstruct-ancient-jewish-parchment-multiple.html

Fire-resistant tropical forest on brink of disappearance

A new study led by researchers in the Geography Department at Swansea University reveals the extreme scale of loss and fragmentation of tropical forests, which once covered much of the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-fire-resistant-tropical-forest-brink.html

Cell atlas of tropical disease parasite may hold key to new treatments

The first cell atlas of an important life stage of Schistosoma mansoni, a parasitic worm that poses a risk to hundreds of millions of people each year, has been developed by researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-cell-atlas-tropical-disease-parasite.html

Tesla to join elite S&P index, shaking up Wall Street

Tesla is set to join an elite group of companies in a key Wall Street index, a move which gives greater prominence to the high-flying electric carmaker and forces money managers to reshuffle their portfolios.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-tesla-elite-sp-index-wall.html

Google says Australian law on paying for news is unworkable

A Google executive said on Friday that a proposed Australian law to make digital platforms pay for news was unworkable and its proposed arbitration model was biased toward media businesses.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-google-australian-law-news-unworkable.html

Hack against US is 'grave' threat, cybersecurity agency says

Federal authorities expressed increased alarm Thursday about a long-undetected intrusion into U.S. and other computer systems around the globe that officials suspect was carried out by Russian hackers. The nation's cybersecurity agency warned of a "grave" risk to government and private networks.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-hack-grave-threat-cybersecurity-agency.html

China's Alibaba 'dismayed' by Uighur facial-recognition software

Chinese tech giant Alibaba has sought to distance itself from a face-recognition software feature devised by its cloud computing unit that could help users to identify members of the country's Muslim Uighur minority.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-china-alibaba-dismayed-uighur-facial-recognition.html

Cyberpunk 2077 pulled from PlayStation Store after bug backlash

Sony is pulling the much-hyped Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation stores around the world, the firm said Friday, after a flood of complaints and ridicule over bugs, compatibility issues and even health risks.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-cyberpunk-playstation-bug-backlash.html

Two dead as super cyclone levels Fiji villages

Super cyclone Yasa flattened entire villages as it tore through Fiji, aid agencies said Friday, with a baby among two confirmed deaths and rescue workers racing to the worst-hit communities.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-dead-super-cyclone-fiji-villages.html

'Poverty line' concept debunked by new machine learning model

Mathematicians have used machine learning to develop a new model for measuring poverty in different countries that junks old notions of a fixed 'poverty line'.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-poverty-line-concept-debunked-machine.html

The 'crazy beast' that lived among the dinosaurs

New research published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology describes a bizarre 66 million-year-old mammal that provides profound new insights into the evolutionary history of mammals from the southern supercontinent Gondwana—recognized today as Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent, and the Arabian Peninsula.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-crazy-beast-dinosaurs.html

Salient object detection makes computer vision smarter

Salient object detection aims at simulating the visual characteristics of human beings and extracts the most important regions from images or videos. The contents in these saliency areas are called salient objects.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-salient-vision-smarter.html

Enhanced interactions through strong light-matter coupling

Why do two-dimensional exciton-polaritons interact? The exciton-polariton quasiparticle is part light (photon), and part matter (exciton). Their excitonic (matter) part confers them the ability to interact with other particles, a property lacking to bare photons.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-interactions-strong-light-matter-coupling.html

Tiny quantum computer solves real optimization problem

Quantum computers have already managed to surpass ordinary computers in solving certain tasks—unfortunately, totally useless ones. The next milestone is to get them to do useful things. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have now shown that they can solve a small part of a real logistics problem with their small, but well-functioning quantum computer.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-tiny-quantum-real-optimization-problem.html

Abandoned termite mounds are 'islands of fertility'

Termites are considered to be ecosystem engineers. Fungus-growing termites could play an important role in soil nutrient availability and dynamics in humid and subhumid tropical ecosystems, by building numerous mounds with differing properties compared to adjacent soils. However, far less is known about the nutrient variability within the mounds and the nutrient stocks in whole mounds.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-abandoned-termite-mounds-islands-fertility.html

Detailing the formation of distant solar systems with NASA's Webb Telescope

We live in a mature solar system—eight planets and several dwarf planets (like Pluto) have formed, the latter within the rock- and debris-filled region known as the Kuiper Belt. If we could turn back time, what would we see as our solar system formed? While we can't answer this question directly, researchers can study other systems that are actively forming—along with the mix of gas and dust that encircles their still-forming stars—to learn about this process.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-formation-distant-solar-nasa-webb.html

Scientists discover a new type of molecular knot using X-ray diffraction techniques

Scientists have developed a way of braiding three molecular strands enabling tighter and more complex knots to be made than has previously been possible.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-molecular-x-ray-diffraction-techniques.html

Scientists discover insulator-to-semiconductor transition in fluorescent carbon quantum dots

Recently, researchers led by Prof. XU Wen from the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), along with their collaborators from the Southwest University in Chongqing, applied the Terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz TDS) to study the optoelectronic properties of fluorescent carbon quantum dots (FQCDs).

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-insulator-to-semiconductor-transition-fluorescent-carbon.html

A no-meat diet everywhere will not solve the climate crisis

People in industrialized regions like the United States of America or Europe are generally urged to eat less meat and animal-source foods as part of a healthier and lower-emissions diet. But such recommendations are not universal solutions in low- or middle-income countries, where livestock are critical to incomes and diets, argue scientists in recently published research in Environmental Research Letters.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-no-meat-diet-climate-crisis.html

Longest known exposure photograph ever captured using a beer can

A photograph thought to be the longest exposure image ever taken has been discovered inside a beer can at the University of Hertfordshire's Bayfordbury Observatory.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-longest-exposure-captured-beer.html

Restoring wetlands near farms would dramatically reduce water pollution

Runoff from fertilizer and manure application in agricultural regions has led to high levels of nitrate in groundwater, rivers, and coastal areas. These high nitrate levels can threaten drinking water safety and also lead to problems with algal blooms and degradation of aquatic ecosystems.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-wetlands-farms-pollution.html

Ultra-thin designer materials unlock quantum phenomena

A team of theoretical and experimental physicists have designed a new ultra-thin material that they have used to create elusive quantum states. Called one-dimensional Majorana zero energy modes, these quantum states could have a huge impact for quantum computing.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-ultra-thin-materials-quantum-phenomena.html