The burning question of Bonfire Night pollution

Bonfire Night celebrations contaminate our air with hugely elevated amounts of soot, scientists have found.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-bonfire-night-pollution.html

Price, date, games... PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X

Sony and Microsoft are in a game consoles rematch with both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X launching next week with well-studied playbooks of dates, technical specs and games aimed at luring buyers.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-price-date-games-playstation-xbox.html

A video games timeline: from Pong to the console wars

Video games have come a long way since the first rudimentary arcade machines emerged in the 1970s with offerings such as "Pong", "Pacman" and "Space Invaders".

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-video-games-timeline-pong-console.html

With PlayStation 5 launch, Sony needs a high score

Sony launches its PlayStation 5 console next week angling for a mega-hit, and with the Japanese firm increasingly dependent on the lucrative gaming sector there is little room for error.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-playstation-sony-high-score.html

Ant Group fiasco reflects battle for China's financial soul

China's last-minute abandonment of Ant Group's record-breaking IPO stems from an intensifying battle for the soul of the nation's financial system that the fintech giant and its charismatic leader Jack Ma helped to ignite.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-ant-group-fiasco-china-financial.html

Eta brings heavy rains, deadly mudslides to Honduras

Eta moved into Honduras on Wednesday as a weakened tropical depression but still bringing the heavy rains that have drenched and caused deadly landslides in the country's east and in northern Nicaragua.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-eta-heavy-deadly-mudslides-honduras.html

Eradicating black rats on Palmyra Atoll uncovers eye-opening indirect effects

The black rats weren't supposed to be there, on Palmyra Atoll. Likely arriving at the remote Pacific islet network as stowaways with the U.S. Navy during World War II, the rodents, with no natural predators, simply took over. Omnivorous eating machines, they dined on seabird eggs, native crabs and whatever seed and seedling they could find.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-eradicating-black-rats-palmyra-atoll.html

Why big-box chains' embrace of in-store click-and collect leaves money on the table

Researchers from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Tilburg University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that explores the rise of click-and-collect services and examines their most appropriate settings.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-big-box-chains-embrace-in-store-click-and.html

Hydrogen bonds may be key to airborne dicamba

Dicamba has been the subject of lawsuits across the country, with landowners contending the herbicide, when used by neighboring growers, has blown onto their property, killing valuable non-resistant crops.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-hydrogen-bonds-key-airborne-dicamba.html

Turning up the heat on molten salt valves

Sandia National Laboratories is partnering with Flowserve Corp. and Kairos Power LLC on a $2.5 million, three-year Department of Energy Advanced Valve Project grant to lower the cost and boost the efficiency of concentrating solar power in the U.S.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-molten-salt-valves.html

The first duckbill dinosaur fossil from Africa hints at how dinosaurs once crossed oceans

The first fossils of a duckbilled dinosaur have been discovered in Africa, suggesting dinosaurs crossed hundreds of kilometres of open water to get there.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-duckbill-dinosaur-fossil-africa-hints.html

New research traces the origins of trench fever

First observed among British Expeditionary Forces in 1915, trench fever sickened an estimated 500,000 soldiers during World War I. Since then, the disease has become synonymous with the battlefield. But now, new research from an international team of scientists has uncovered evidence challenging this long-held belief.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-trench-fever.html

The biggest trees capture the most carbon: Large trees dominate carbon storage in forests

Older, large-diameter trees have been shown to store disproportionally massive amounts of carbon compared to smaller trees, highlighting their importance in mitigating climate change, according to a new study in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. Researchers examined the aboveground carbon storage of large-diameter trees (>21 inches or >53.3 cm) on National Forest lands within Oregon and Washington. They found that despite only accounting for 3% of the total number of trees on the studied plots, large trees stored 42% of the total above-ground carbon within these forest ecosystems. This study is among the first of its kind to report how a proposed policy could affect carbon storage in forest ecosystems, potentially weakening protections for large-diameter trees and contributing to huge releases of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in the face of a changing climate.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-biggest-trees-capture-carbon-large.html

Lufthansa braces for 'challenging' winter on 2 bn euro loss

German flag carrier Lufthansa on Thursday posted a third quarter net loss of 2.0 billion euros as it prepares for a "hard and challenging" winter amid lockdowns to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-lufthansa-braces-winter-bn-euro.html

Nintendo net profit rockets 243.6% in first half, forecasts revised up

Japanese gaming giant Nintendo said Thursday its first-half net profit soared 243.6 percent on-year, and it upgraded its full-year sales and profit forecasts, with coronavirus lockdowns driving extraordinary demand.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-nintendo-net-profit-rockets.html