Phytolith reveals seasonal drought conditions of tropical East Asia during the last 60,000 years

Whether or not millennium-scale climate events had occurred in the tropical continent of East Asia during the last glacial period has been a long-term puzzle. In addition, whether those events were affected by the high-latitude atmospheric conditions in the northern hemisphere, or driven by low-latitude oceanic conditions, remains uncertain.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-phytolith-reveals-seasonal-drought-conditions.html

Green energy transition: Early and steady wins the race

What's the cheapest, easiest way to honor the Paris Agreement of limiting the global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius? A clear and strong investment in wind and solar power. Starting now.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-green-energy-transition-early-steady.html

Thermal stability analysis technique for EV batteries to detect risk of fire or explosion

Recently, there have been a number of electric vehicle (EV) battery fire incidents. Unlike the batteries used in small mobile devices, such as smartphones, the battery pack of an EV is composed of hundreds of battery cells, and any instability can cause major casualties and property damage. Amid efforts to pinpoint the cause of battery fires, Korean researchers have developed a new analysis method to evaluate the thermal stability of EV batteries.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-thermal-stability-analysis-technique-ev.html

NAD: Is nicotine adenine dinucleotide a super supplement or all hype?

NAD, or nicotine adenine dinucleotide, probably needs no introduction. Together with its primary alter-egos NADH, NADP and NADPH, our private suite of pyridine-based nucleotides serve as hydride donors in some 400 enzymatic reactions throughout the body. Beyond these signature dehydrogenase, hydroxylase and reductase reactions, other members of the larger NAD ecosystem function in receptor signaling pathways. Furthermore, the backbone NAD skeleton itself is extensively deployed in DNA repair, and directly consumed as additions to many other important molecules in different organelles.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nad-nicotine-adenine-dinucleotide-super.html

How to cool more efficiently: Environmentally friendly refrigeration processes

In the journal Applied Physics Reviews, an international research team from the University of Barcelona, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), and TU Darmstadt report on possibilities for implementing more efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration processes. For this purpose, they investigated the effects of simultaneously exposing certain alloys to magnetic fields and mechanical stress.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-cool-efficiently-environmentally-friendly-refrigeration.html

Researchers create ingredients to produce food by 3-D printing

It is already possible to produce food with a 3-D printer, potentially delivering products that suit consumer preferences regarding taste, texture, cost, convenience and nutrition. In the near future, it will be possible to produce food with personalized shapes, textures, flavors and colors considered attractive and healthy for children and the elderly, for example.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-ingredients-food-d.html

Denmark to end North Sea oil and gas production by 2050

Denmark, the EU's biggest oil producer post-Brexit, said Friday it will halt all North Sea oil and gas production and exploration by 2050 in line with its bid to become an energy transition role model.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-denmark-north-sea-oil-gas.html

China turns on nuclear-powered 'artificial sun'

China successfully powered up its "artificial sun" nuclear fusion reactor for the first time, state media reported Friday, marking a great advance in the country's nuclear power research capabilities.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-china-nuclear-powered-artificial-sun.html

A plant immune receptor: It takes four to tango

A collaborative study on a plant intracellular immune receptor from researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) not only shows how an important resistance protein is activated during pathogen infection but also reveals some common operational principles with immunity proteins from humans.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-immune-receptor-tango.html

UK vows 68 percent emissions cut by end of decade

Britain will aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than two-thirds this decade, in what the government on Thursday said would be the fastest reduction of any major economy.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-uk-vows-percent-emissions-decade.html

Ecuador finds nest of huge, endangered sea turtle

Conservationists in Ecuador have found a nest of endangered leatherback sea turtles, a whopper of a species that can weigh up to a tonne and be three meters (10 feet) long.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-ecuador-huge-endangered-sea-turtle.html

Pacific Islands Forum to hold virtual climate summit

Pacific island leaders will hold a virtual summit next week to demand urgent worldwide action on climate change ahead of UN-brokered talks on the issue.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-pacific-islands-forum-virtual-climate.html

NASA buying Moon dust for $1

The US space agency NASA awarded contracts to four companies on Thursday to collect lunar samples for $1 to $15,000, rock-bottom prices that are intended to set a precedent for future exploitation of space resources by the private sector.

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

Trash tracking satellites help Indonesia tackle marine waste

Every year, pounding rains wash away mountains of plastic waste from the streets of Jakarta, with some of it ending up as far away as Bali's beaches. So scientists are turning to satellites to trace the rubbish and figure out how to tackle the problem.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-trash-tracking-satellites-indonesia-tackle.html

California monolith pops up after finds in Utah, Romania

Days after the discovery and swift disappearance of two shining metal monoliths half a world apart, another towering structure has popped up and then quickly vanished, this time from the pinnacle of a trail in California.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-california-monolith-utah-romania.html

Amazon workers in bid to unionize at Alabama warehouse

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama are seeking to form a union, setting up a potential battle in the Deep South with a company that has opposed unionization efforts.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-amazon-workers-unionize-alabama-warehouse.html

Tapping overlooked marketing data to drive business growth

Researchers from University of Houston, Columbia University, Emory University, and University of Connecticut published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that reviews factors that contribute to the disconnect between the data companies create and the productive use of that data.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-overlooked-business-growth.html

Chemists get peek at novel fluorescence in carbon nanotubes

That carbon nanotubes fluoresce is no longer a surprise. Finding a second level of fluorescence is surprising and potentially useful.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-chemists-peek-fluorescence-carbon-nanotubes.html

Scientists took a rare chance to prove we can quantify biodiversity by 'testing the water'

Organisms excrete DNA in their surroundings through metabolic waste, sloughed skin cells or gametes, and this genetic material is referred to as environmental DNA (eDNA).

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-rare-chance-quantify-biodiversity.html

Advancing gene editing with new CRISPR/Cas9 variant

Using a new variant to repair DNA will improve both safety and effectiveness of the much-touted CRISPR-Cas9 tool in genetic research, Michigan Medicine researchers say.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-advancing-gene-crisprcas9-variant.html

New DNA modification 'signature' discovered in zebrafish

Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have uncovered a new form of DNA modification in the genome of zebrafish, a vertebrate animal that shares an evolutionary ancestor with humans ~400 million years ago.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-dna-modification-signature-zebrafish.html

Special delivery: Japan space probe to bring asteroid dust to Earth

Call it a special delivery: after six years in space, Japan's Hayabusa-2 probe is heading home, but only to drop off its rare asteroid samples before starting a new mission.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-special-delivery-japan-space-probe.html