'Smart clothes' that can measure your movements

In recent years there have been exciting breakthroughs in wearable technologies, like smartwatches that can monitor your breathing and blood oxygen levels.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-smart-movements.html

Size of grass blades offers better understanding of their vulnerability to climate change

One-third of the Earth's surface is covered by more than 11,000 grass species—including crops like wheat, corn, rice and sugar cane that account for the bulk of the world's agricultural food production and important biofuels. But grass is so common that few people realize how diverse and important it really is.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-size-grass-blades-vulnerability-climate.html

Emissions return to pre-pandemic levels in nation's largest oilfield

A study accepted this week in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics finds that methane emissions in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico have rebounded to the same levels seen prior to last year's oil price crash and industry downturn.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-emissions-pre-pandemic-nation-largest-oilfield.html

NASA engineers analyze navigation needs of Artemis moon missions

Space communications and navigation engineers at NASA are evaluating the navigation needs for the Artemis program, including identifying the precision navigation capabilities needed to establish the first sustained presence on the lunar surface.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-nasa-artemis-moon-missions.html

Major Earth satellite to track disasters, effects of climate change

Designed to spot potential natural hazards and help researchers measure how melting land ice will affect sea level rise, the NISAR spacecraft marks a big step as it takes shape.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-major-earth-satellite-track-disasters.html

New research confirms presence of highly invasive apple snail in Kenya

New research published today by scientists at CABI and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) confirms that the apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) has been discovered in Kenya for the first time. Widely considered to be one of the most invasive invertebrates of waterways and irrigation systems, the apple snail threatens Kenya's rice production and raises the questions: How much damage will it cause in Kenya, and will it spread further?

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-presence-highly-invasive-apple-snail.html

New light on baryonic matter and gravity on cosmic scales

Scientists estimate that dark matter and dark energy together are some 95% of the gravitational material in the universe while the remaining 5% is baryonic matter, which is the "normal" matter composing stars, planets and living beings. However, for decades, almost one-half of this matter has not been found. Now, using a new technique, a team including researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has shown that this "missing" baryonic matter fills the space between galaxies as hot, low-density gas. The same technique also gives a new tool that shows that the gravitational attraction experienced by galaxies is compatible with the theory of general relativity. This research is published today in three articles in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-baryonic-gravity-cosmic-scales.html

Revealing complex behavior of a turbulent plume at the calving front of a Greenlandic glacier

For the first time, scientists have succeeded in continuous monitoring of a subglacial discharge plume, providing a deeper understanding of the glacier-fjord environment.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-revealing-complex-behavior-turbulent-plume.html

A disposable living laser printed on chip for drug screening

Scientists have created a new way to monitor subtle drug interactions between bacteria and antibiotics. By using a common office inkjet printer, researchers from NTU Singapore and China developed a disposable living laser on chip by encapsulating living bacteria inside. Strong laser emissions generated from bacteria inside the droplet will be dramatically enhanced during drug interactions. This breakthrough could enable more sensitive and high-throughput testing using micro-nano laser technology in the near future.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-disposable-laser-chip-drug-screening.html

Inhibiting the energy transmission impact of dust aerosols on eastern Pacific tropical cyclones

The thermodynamic state of the tropical atmosphere plays an important role in the development of tropical cyclone (TC) intensity. A TC imports thermodynamic energy from ocean-air heat and moisture fluxes and exports heat aloft at the much colder upper troposphere, through a radially and vertically directed overturning circulation in a TC. The work done through this cycle drives the TC's winds.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-inhibiting-energy-transmission-impact-aerosols.html

Researchers develop 15-minute test to assess immune response

Researchers from Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP) have developed a new label-free immune profiling assay that profiles the rapidly changing host immune response in case of infection, in a departure from existing methods that focus on detecting the pathogens themselves, which can often be at low levels within a host. This novel technology presents a host of advantages over current methods, being both much faster, more sensitive and accurate.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-minute-immune-response.html

Division and growth of synthetic vesicles

One big challenge for the production of synthetic cells is that they must be able to divide to have offspring. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a team from Heidelberg has now introduced a reproducible division mechanism for synthetic vesicles. It is based on osmosis and can be controlled by an enzymatic reaction or light.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-division-growth-synthetic-vesicles.html

Old-growth forest carbon sinks overestimated

The claim that old-growth forests play a significant role in climate mitigation, based upon the argument that even the oldest forests keep sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, is being refuted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen. The researchers document that this argument is based upon incorrectly analyzed data and that the climate mitigation effect of old and unmanaged forests has been greatly overestimated. Nevertheless, they reassert the importance of old-growth forest for biodiversity.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-old-growth-forest-carbon-overestimated.html

Engineers make filters from tree branches to purify drinking water

The interiors of nonflowering trees such as pine and ginkgo contain sapwood lined with straw-like conduits known as xylem, which draw water up through a tree's trunk and branches. Xylem conduits are interconnected via thin membranes that act as natural sieves, filtering out bubbles from water and sap.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-filters-tree-purify.html

LA's biggest quake threat sits on overlooked part of San Andreas, study says. That may be good

Scientists have pinpointed a long-overlooked portion of the southern San Andreas Fault that they say could pose the most significant earthquake risk for the Greater Los Angeles area—and it's about 80 years overdue for release.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-la-biggest-quake-threat-overlooked.html

BMG and KKR team up to purchase music rights

German music management group BGM announced a partnership with US investment company KKR Wednesday in a move to acquire streaming rights—a new potentially lucrative frontier for investors.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-bmg-kkr-team-music-rights.html

Australia begins 'long haul' to recovery as floodwaters recede

Thousands of flood-stricken residents along Australia's east coast began a massive clean up effort Thursday, as waters receded revealing damaged homes, piles of debris and mud-caked roads.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-australia-haul-recovery-floodwaters-recede.html

Russia launches more UK telecom satellites into space

A Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Far East on Thursday carrying 36 UK telecommunications and internet satellites, the Roscosmos space agency said.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-russia-uk-telecom-satellites-space.html

Airlines return to old ways; Southwest drops boarding change

As Americans slowly return to flying, airlines are dropping some of the changes they made early in the pandemic.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-airlines-ways-southwest-boarding.html

Technology uses 'single' approach to develop electronics, acoustics

A Purdue University innovator has developed a new approach to creating popular thin films used for devices across a broad range of fields, including optics, acoustics and electronics.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-technology-approach-electronics-acoustics.html

Genome sequenced for pesky pumpkin pathogen

Pumpkin growers dread the tiny tan scabs that form on their fruit, each lesion a telltale sign of bacterial spot disease. The specks don't just mar the fruit's flesh, they provide entry points for rot-inducing fungus and other pathogens that can destroy pumpkins and other cucurbits from the inside out. Either way, farmers pay the price, with marketable yields reduced by as much as 90%.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-genome-sequenced-pesky-pumpkin-pathogen.html

Once-in-a-century UK wildfire threats could happen most years by end of century

Extremely hot and dry conditions that currently put parts of the UK in the most severe danger of wildfires once a century could happen every other year in a few decades' time due to climate change, new research has revealed. A study, led by the University of Reading, predicting how the danger of wildfires will increase in future showed that parts of eastern and southern England may be at the very highest danger level on nearly four days per year on average by 2080 with high emissions, compared to once every 50-100 years currently.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-once-in-a-century-uk-wildfire-threats-years.html