Researchers discover surprising connection between prehistoric dinosaurs and mammals in their teeth

When most people think of ferocious, blade-like teeth on prehistoric creatures they picture Smilodon, better known as the saber-toothed tiger. But in the world of dinosaurs, theropods are well known for having blade-like teeth with serrated cutting edges used for biting and ripping their prey. And until recently, the complex arrangement of tissues that gave rise to these terrifying teeth was considered unique to these meat-eating dinosaurs.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-prehistoric-dinosaurs-mammals-teeth.html

Marine pollution: How do plastic additives dilute in water and how risky are they?

Plastic pollution has been at the center of environmental debate for decades. While it is well known that plastic in the environment can break down into microplastics, be ingested by humans and other organisms, transfer up the food chain and cause harm, this is only one part of the picture. Plastics are almost always enriched with additives, which makes them easier to process, more resistant, or more performant. This poses a second problem: When the polymer material is left in an environment for long durations, these additives can easily leach out and contaminate the environment.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-marine-pollution-plastic-additives-dilute.html

Marine researchers find trawling noise risk to protected mammals

The noise of bottom trawling in or near underwater canyons can disturb protected mammals such as fin whales and beaked whales in important feeding grounds and along migratory paths, researchers at National University of Ireland Galway report. The team, based with iCRAG, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Applied Geosciences, in NUI Galway's Ryan Institute, used hydrophones to record the impact of working trawlers on the marine environment in two surveys in the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-marine-trawling-noise-mammals.html

Shedding light on the dark side of biomass burning pollution

Oxidized organic aerosol is a major component of ambient particulate matter, substantially impacting climate, human health and ecosystems. Oxidized aerosol from biomass burning is especially toxic, known to contain a large amount of mutagens that are known carcinogens. Inhaling biomass burning particles can also cause oxidative stress and a wide range of diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and asthma. Oxidized aerosol primarily forms from the atmospheric oxidation of volatile and semi-volatile compounds emitted by sources like biomass burning, resulting in products that readily form particulate matter. Every model in use today assumes that oxidized aerosol forms in the presence of sunlight, and that it requires days of atmospheric processing to reach the levels observed in the environment. Naturally, this implies that oxidized aerosol forms in the daytime and mostly during periods with plentiful sunshine, such as in summer.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-dark-side-biomass-pollution.html

EU to unveil tough measures to curb tech giants

The European Union on Tuesday will unveil tough draft rules targeting tech giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook, whose power Brussels sees as a threat to competition and even democracy.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-eu-unveil-tough-curb-tech.html

Volkswagen buries hatchet in boardroom battle

Car giant Volkswagen's supervisory board on Monday announced a deal to end infighting over top jobs and strategy that risked toppling chief executive Herbert Diess, saying the boss's strategy had their "full support".

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-volkswagen-hatchet-boardroom.html

Google delays return to office until at least September

Google-parent Alphabet on Monday confirmed that it is delaying the return of workers to its offices until at least September 2021 and is testing "flexible work weeks" for the longer term.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-google-office-september.html

California wants pandemic cases info from Amazon

California on Monday accused Amazon of failing to adequately comply with subpoenas demanding details about coronavirus cases and protocols at its facilities here.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-california-pandemic-cases-info-amazon.html

Pinterest to pay $22.5 mn to settle gender discrimination suit

Popular online bulletin board Pinterest will pay former chief operating officer Francoise Brougher $20 million in a deal reached to settle a gender discrimination suit, a regulatory filing showed Monday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-pinterest-mn-gender-discrimination.html

China to open giant telescope to international scientists

Nestled among the mountains in southwest China, the world's largest radio telescope signals Beijing's ambitions as a global centre for scientific research.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-china-giant-telescope-international-scientists.html

Japan space agency finds ample soil, gas from asteroid

Officials from Japan's space agency said Tuesday they have found more than the anticipated amount of soil and gases inside a small capsule the country's Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back from a distant asteroid this month, a mission they praised as a milestone for planetary research.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-japan-space-agency-ample-soil.html

Agency homing in on social media companies' data collection

Federal regulators are ordering Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, TikTok's parent and five other social media companies to provide detailed information on how they collect and use consumers' personal data and how their practices affect children and teens.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-agency-homing-social-media-companies.html

Balancing climate and development goals

The impact on climate change would only be modest if countries in the process of development were to delay efforts to reduce their carbon emissions until they reach a certain level of economic growth.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-climate-goals.html

Characterising Indonesia's bird-owners guides behaviour change amid Asian Songbird Crisis

A comprehensive new study into the key user groups in Indonesia's bird trade offers hope for protecting species through behavioural change. Novel research led by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and Chester Zoo has identified three main groups within the Indonesian songbird owner community: 'hobbyist', 'contestant' and 'breeder'.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-characterising-indonesia-bird-owners-behaviour-asian.html

Scientists find that trees are out of equilibrium with climate, posing new challenges in a warming world

Forecasts predicting where plants and animals will inhabit over time rely primarily on information about their current climate associations, but that only plays a partial role.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-trees-equilibrium-climate-posing.html

Salt-tolerant bacteria with an appetite for sludge make biodegradable plastics

The United States generates seven million tons of sewage sludge annually, enough to fill 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. While a portion of this waste is repurposed for manure and other land applications, a substantial amount is still disposed of in landfills. In a new study, Texas A&M University researchers have uncovered an efficient way to use leftover sludge to make biodegradable plastics.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-salt-tolerant-bacteria-appetite-sludge-biodegradable.html

Research explores the relationship between nitrogen and carbon dioxide in greenhouse gas emissions

A University of Oklahoma-led interdisciplinary study on a decade-long experiment (1997-2009) at the University of Minnesota found that lower nitrogen levels in soil promoted release of carbon dioxide from soils under high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and could therefore contribute to furthering rising atmospheric greenhouse gases and climate change.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-exploring-relationship-nitrogen-carbon-dioxide.html

Researchers use origami to solve space travel challenge

WSU researchers have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for outer space travel—how to store and move fuel to rocket engines.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-origami-space.html

Nanoengineered cement shows promise for sealing leaky gas wells

Leaking natural gas wells are considered a potential source of methane emissions, and a new nanomaterial cement mixture could provide an effective, affordable solution for sealing these wells, according to a team of Penn State scientists.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nanoengineered-cement-leaky-gas-wells.html

Recovery of an endangered Caribbean coral from parrotfish predation

Parrotfishes are abundant herbivores that primarily graze upon algae, which may indirectly benefit corals by mitigating coral-algae competition. At a local scale, management efforts to increase populations of parrotfishes are believed to be critically important to maintaining resilient, coral-dominated reefs. Yet, some parrotfish species also occasionally graze coral—a behavior known as corallivory. Corallivory can cause the partial to total mortality of coral colonies and may have long-term impacts such as reduced coral growth and reproductive capacity and increased susceptibility to disease. While evidence suggests that parrotfishes likely have an overall net positive impact on coral communities, they may have detrimental impacts on heavily predated coral species, such as O. annularis.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-recovery-endangered-caribbean-coral-parrotfish.html

Researchers uncover blind spots at the intersection of AI and neuroscience

Is it possible to read a person's mind by analyzing the electric signals from the brain? The answer may be much more complex than most people think.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-uncover-intersection-ai-neuroscience.html

Scientists warn of likely massive oil spill endangering the Red Sea, region's health

A paper to be published in Frontiers in Marine Science on December 15 is calling for action to remove the oil from a decaying and inactive tanker in the Red Sea that holds approximately one million barrels of oil—four times the amount of oil contained in the Exxon Valdez, the tanker that had a disastrous environmental oil spill in 1989—before its current seepage turns into a massive oil spill into the sea. The paper, a policy brief, is authored by a team of international scientists led by Karine Kleinhaus, MD, MPH, an Associate Professor of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-scientists-massive-oil-endangering-red.html