Neanderthal and early modern human stone tool culture co-existed for over 100,000 years

The Acheulean was estimated to have died out around 200,000 years ago but the new findings suggest it may have persisted for much longer, creating over 100,000 years of overlap with more advanced technologies produced by Neanderthals and early modern humans.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-neanderthal-early-modern-human-stone.html

Rarest seal breeding site discovered

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown breeding site used by the world's rarest seal species.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-rarest-site.html

ESA is working on a mission to explore caves on the moon

Infrastructure is going to be one of the biggest components of any permanent human settlement on the moon. NASA Artemis missions are focused directly on building up the facilities and processes necessary to support a moon base. ESA is also contributing both material and knowledge. Most recently, they made another step in their path to explore lava tubes and caves in the subterranean lunar world.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-esa-mission-explore-caves-moon.html

This is what rolling blackouts look like from space

Extreme winter weather hit Texas hard this February. An air mass from the arctic extended deep into the United States from Canada, with disastrous results for the ordinarily warm state. Along with snow and unusually low temperatures, the state's capacity for power generation was significantly reduced by weather-related equipment failures. Images hosted by NASA's Earth Observatory show the effect of controlled, rolling blackouts across the Greater Houston Area.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-blackouts-space.html

Ecosystems around the globe breathe differently in response to rising temperatures

Land stores vast amounts of carbon, but a new study led by Cranfield University's Dr. Alice Johnston suggests that how much of this carbon enters the atmosphere as temperatures rise depends on how far that land sits from the equator.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-ecosystems-globe-differently-response-temperatures.html

Novel soft tactile sensor with skin-comparable characteristics for robots

A joint research team co-led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a new soft tactile sensor with skin-comparable characteristics. A robotic gripper with the sensor mounted at the fingertip could accomplish challenging tasks such as stably grasping fragile objects and threading a needle. Their research provided new insight into tactile sensor design and could contribute to various applications in the robotics field, such as smart prosthetics and human-robot interaction.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-soft-tactile-sensor-skin-comparable-characteristics.html

Lockdown skepticism not linked to pro-Brexit values, despite high-profile skeptics being Leave supporters

Public lockdown skepticism and Euroscepticism are not driven by the same psychological values—despite high-profile lockdown skeptics holding pro-Brexit views, a new analysis has found.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-lockdown-skepticism-linked-pro-brexit-values.html

Through the looking glass: Artificial molecules open door to ultrafast polaritonic devices

Researchers from Skoltech and the University of Cambridge have shown that polaritons, the quirky particles that may end up running the quantum supercomputers of the future, can form structures behaving like molecules—and these "artificial molecules" can potentially be engineered on demand. The paper outlining these results was published in the journal Physical Review B.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-glass-artificial-molecules-door-ultrafast.html

Climate network detects precursor of Pacific Decadal Oscillation phase transition

Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), one of the main internal decadal climate variabilities, has substantial impacts on climate and environment.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-climate-network-precursor-pacific-decadal.html

China not ready to allow the Boeing 737 Max back in the air

Beijing isn't ready to follow the United States in allowing Boeing's 737 Max back into the air after a pair of fatal crashes two years ago.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-china-ready-boeing-max-air.html

Carbon capture can't solve the climate problem without individual actions

Geoengineering projects focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions like large-scale tree planting, carbon removal, and carbon storage may mitigate climate change, but not without the widespread adoption of electric cars, according to a new study. The new research shows that individual choices will play a large part in helping the world meet the global goals set by the Paris Agreement, which aim to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-carbon-capture-climate-problem-individual.html

Seeding ice clouds with wildfire emissions

For anyone who has ever witnessed a raging wildfire, ice is probably the last thing that comes to mind when recalling the experience. Yet nature works in mysterious ways, and researchers are beginning to reveal a link between wildfires and the frozen water droplets that make up clouds.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-seeding-ice-clouds-wildfire-emissions.html

Researchers improve efficiency of next-generation solar cell material

Perovskites are a leading candidate for eventually replacing silicon as the material of choice for solar panels. They offer the potential for low-cost, low-temperature manufacturing of ultrathin, lightweight flexible cells, but so far their efficiency at converting sunlight to electricity has lagged behind that of silicon and some other alternatives.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-efficiency-next-generation-solar-cell-material.html

A design to improve the resilience and electrical performance thin metal film based electrodes

Flexible electrodes, electronic components that conduct electricity, are of key importance for the development of numerous wearable technologies, including smartwatches, fitness trackers and health monitoring devices. Ideally, electrodes inside wearable devices should retain their electrical conductance when they are stretched or deformed.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-resilience-electrical-thin-metal-based.html

Chemical signatures of iron predict red supergiant temperature

Red supergiants are a class of star that end their lives in supernova explosions. Their lifecycles are not fully understood, partly due to difficulties in measuring their temperatures. For the first time, astronomers have developed an accurate method to determine the surface temperatures of red supergiants.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-chemical-signatures-iron-red-supergiant.html

When foams collapse (and when they don't)

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have revealed how liquid foams collapse by observing individual collapse events with high-speed video microscopy. They found that cracks in films led to a receding liquid front that sweeps up the original film border, inverts its shape, and releases a droplet, which hits and breaks other films. Their observations and physical model provide key insights into how to make foams more or less resistant to collapse.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-foams-collapse-dont.html

New insights into an ancient protein complex

Cells rely on membranes to protect themselves from the outside world. But cell membranes can't be fully closed because nutrients and other molecules have to be able to pass through. To achieve this, cell membranes have many types of channels and pores. Also, there are receptors embedded in the membrane that continuously monitor the outside world and signal to the cell interior. Extensive collaboration between five VIB groups resulted in a better understanding of the machinery that plants use to regulate the protein composition of their outer membrane. This discovery, published in Science Advances, enhances our basic knowledge of how the plasma membrane composition can be adapted based on external stimuli, an essential process for life on earth.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-insights-ancient-protein-complex.html

Mim-tRNAseq: A method that accurately measures the abundance and modification status of different tRNAs

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) deliver specific amino acids to ribosomes during translation of messenger RNA into proteins. The abundance of tRNAs can therefore have a profound impact on cell physiology, but measuring the amount of each tRNA in cells has been limited by technical challenges. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry have now overcome these limitations with mim-tRNAseq, a method that can be used to quantify tRNAs in any organism and will help improve our understanding of tRNA regulation in health and disease.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-mim-trnaseq-method-accurately-abundance-modification.html

Europeans get 'right to repair' for some electrical goods

Companies that sell refrigerators, washers, hairdryers or TVs in the European Union will need to ensure those appliances can be repaired for up to 10 years, to help reduce the vast mountain of electrical waste that piles up each year on the continent.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-europeans-electrical-goods.html

Microplastic sizes in Hudson-Raritan Estuary and coastal ocean revealed

Rutgers scientists for the first time have pinpointed the sizes of microplastics from a highly urbanized estuarine and coastal system with numerous sources of fresh water, including the Hudson River and Raritan River.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-microplastic-sizes-hudson-raritan-estuary-coastal.html

Visiting water bodies worth $800bn to economies, study finds

Europeans spend more than £700 billion (€800bn) a year on recreational visits to water bodies—but perceived poor water quality costs almost £90 billion (€100bn) in lost visits, a new study has found.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-bodies-worth-800bn-economies.html

'Overwhelming' international support for more government action on environment, message-testing experiment finds

With eight months to go before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), an international survey experiment has found evidence of "overwhelming" support across seven major countries for governments to "do more" to protect the environment.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-overwhelming-international-action-environment-message-testing.html

Argentine titanosaur may be oldest yet: study

A colossal dinosaur dug up in Argentina could be the oldest titanosaur ever found, having roamed what is now Patagonia some 140 million years ago at the beginning of the Cretaceous period, scientists said Sunday.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-argentine-titanosaur-oldest.html

Biden backs Amazon workers' right to unionize

US President Joe Biden on Sunday backed the right of Amazon workers to unionize, but stopped short of explicitly encouraging them to form a union.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-biden-amazon-workers-unionize.html

Facebook to pay $650mn settlement over US privacy dispute

A US federal judge has given final approval to Facebook's $650 million payment to settle a privacy dispute between the social media giant and 1.6 million users in the state of Illinois.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-facebook-650mn-settlement-privacy-dispute.html