Patterning method could pave the way for new fiber-based devices, smart textiles

Multimaterial fibers that integrate metal, glass and semiconductors could be useful for applications such as biomedicine, smart textiles and robotics. But because the fibers are composed of the same materials along their lengths, it is difficult to position functional elements, such as electrodes or sensors, at specific locations. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have developed a method to pattern hundreds-of-meters-long multimaterial fibers with embedded functional elements.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-patterning-method-pave-fiber-based-devices.html

A new species of rare phylum Loricifera discovered in the deep-sea surrounding Japan

The Loricifera is a microscopic, sediment-dwelling marine invertebrate with a head covered in over 200 spines and an abdomen with a protective shell known as a lorica. Since it was first discovered in 1983, just under 40 species have been written about. Now, that number is one more thanks to a group of scientists who reported on a new genus and species of Loricifera.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-species-rare-phylum-loricifera-deep-sea.html

Using a soft crystal to visualize how absorbed carbon dioxide behaves in liquid

A team of scientists has succeeded in visualizing how carbon dioxide (CO2) behaves in an ionic liquid that selectively absorbs CO2. The finding is expected to help develop more efficient methods to capture CO2 in the atmosphere, one of the major factors causing global warming.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-soft-crystal-visualize-absorbed-carbon.html

Grabbing viruses out of thin air: The ongoing quest to fabricate functional biosensors

The future could hold portable and wearable sensors for detecting viruses and bacteria in the surrounding environment. But we're not there yet. Scientists at Tohoku University have been studying materials that can change mechanical into electrical or magnetic energy, and vice versa, for decades. Together with colleagues, they published a review in the journal Advanced Materials about the most recent endeavors into using these materials to fabricate functional biosensors.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-viruses-thin-air-ongoing-quest.html

Statistician assesses agricultural data to increase productivity

Assistant professor Hossein Moradi of SDSU's Department of Mathematics and Statistics is helping precision agriculture faculty efficiently and accurately assess variables affecting yield. This collaboration is helping researchers pinpoint ways to help farmers increase productivity.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-statistician-agricultural-productivity.html

NOAA strategy addresses stony coral tissue loss disease

NOAA today unveiled a new strategy for the response to stony coral tissue loss disease, a disease that is spreading throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean region and may pose a threat to the Indo-Pacific region.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-noaa-strategy-stony-coral-tissue.html

Record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season draws to an end

The extremely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is drawing to a close with a record-breaking 30 named storms and 12 landfalling storms in the continental United States. While the official hurricane season concludes on November 30, tropical storms may continue to develop past that day.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-record-breaking-atlantic-hurricane-season.html

Pulsating aurora: Killer electrons in strumming sky lights

Computer simulations explain how electrons with wide-ranging energies rain into Earth's upper and middle atmosphere during a phenomenon known as the pulsating aurora. The findings, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggest that the higher-energy electrons resulting from this process could cause destruction of the part of the ozone in the mesosphere, about 60 kilometers above Earth's surface. The study was a collaboration between scientists in Japan, including at Nagoya University, and colleagues in the US, including from NASA.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-pulsating-aurora-killer-electrons-strumming.html

New discovery allows early detection of shade avoidance syndrome in plants

Researchers from the Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) of Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) have discovered a way to use Raman spectroscopy for early detection of shade avoidance syndrome (SAS) in plants. The discovery can help farmers with timely intervention against SAS, leading to better plant health and crop yield.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-discovery-early-syndrome.html

Fossils show 66 million years of insects eating kauri trees

Exquisitely preserved feeding marks on fossil conifer leaves show that the same insect feeding and fungi persisted for millions of years on the same type of plant, from ancient Patagonian rainforests to the modern rainforests of the tropical West Pacific.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fossils-million-years-insects-kauri.html

Kilonovae: Ambushing the standard candle in its own nest

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous and explosive transient phenomena in the universe after the Big Bang. A powerful tool for characterizing and classifying GRBs to allow them to be used as tracers of the expansion history of the universe and to understand their mysterious and debated physical mechanisms has been recently presented by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Maria Dainotti, assistant professor at Jagiellonian University, Poland. The new article, which has been accepted by the Astrophysical Journal, is a statistical analysis of the properties of the mysterious GRBs, aimed at determining the observational properties of GRB subclasses. The article pays particular attention to the GRBs associated with kilonovae.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-kilonovae-ambushing-standard-candle.html

Research team finds effect of odor on helpfulness in rats

Despite their reputation, rats are surprisingly sociable and actually regularly help each other out with tasks. Researchers at the Universities of Göttingen, Bern and St Andrews have now shown that a rat only has to smell the scent of another rat that is engaged in helpful behavior to increase his or her own helpfulness. This is the first study to show that just the smell of a cooperating individual rat is enough to trigger an altruistic and helpful response in another. The research was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-team-effect-odor-rats.html

Conscientiousness key to team success during space missions

NASA is working toward sending humans to Mars by 2030. If all goes according to plan, the flight crew's return trip to the red planet will take about two-and-half years. That's a long time to spend uninterrupted with co-workers. But imagine if the astronauts don't get along with each other.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-conscientiousness-key-team-success-space.html

Homes evacuated as cyclone threatens India

Several thousand people in south-eastern India fled their homes on Wednesday, out of the path of a cyclone due to slam coastal areas after midnight, bringing with it heavy rain.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-homes-evacuated-cyclone-threatens-india.html

Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source

Scientists have built tiny droplet-based microbial factories that produce hydrogen, instead of oxygen, when exposed to daylight in air.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-hydrogen-producing-droplets-paving-alternative-future.html

Prehistoric mega-shark raised its young in nurseries: study

The largest sharks ever to have roamed the oceans parked their young in shallow, warm-water nurseries where food was abundant and predators scarce until they could assume their title as kings and queens of the sea.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-prehistoric-mega-shark-young-nurseries.html

Tesla's stock market value accelerates past $500 billion

Tesla's market value soared to more than $500 billion Tuesday ahead of its listing on the S&P 500, with its stock finishing up 6.4 percent or by nearly $32 billion in 24 hours.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-tesla-stock-billion.html

Scores of pilot whales dead in New Zealand stranding

Almost 100 pilot whales have died in a mass stranding on New Zealand's remote Chatham Islands, conservation officials said Wednesday.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scores-whales-dead-zealand-stranding.html

Microbes help unlock phosphorus for plant growth

Phosphorus is a necessary nutrient for plants to grow. But when it's applied to plants as part of a chemical fertilizer, phosphorus can react strongly with minerals in the soil, forming complexes with iron, aluminum and calcium. This locks up the phosphorus, preventing plants from being able to access this crucial nutrient.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-microbes-phosphorus-growth.html

In fire-prone West, plants need their pollinators—and vice versa

2020 is the worst fire year on record in the United States, with nearly 13 million acres burned, 14,000 structures destroyed and an estimated $3 billion spent on fire suppression—and counting. At the same time, certain land managers have invested huge amounts of time and resources toward restoring fire through "controlled burn" approaches.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fire-prone-west-pollinatorsand-vice-versa.html

Waste fishing gear threatens Ganges wildlife

Waste fishing gear in the River Ganges poses a threat to wildlife including otters, turtles and dolphins, new research shows.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fishing-gear-threatens-ganges-wildlife.html

When consumers trust AI recommendations—or resist them

Researchers from Boston University and University of Virginia published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines how consumers respond to AI recommenders when focused on the functional and practical aspects of a product (its utilitarian value) versus the experiential and sensory aspects of a product (its hedonic value).

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-consumers-ai-recommendationsor-resist.html