Algorithm-generated music recommendations may be least accurate for hard rock listeners

Listeners of high-energy music such as hard rock and hip-hop may be given less accurate music recommendations by music recommender systems than listeners of other non-mainstream music, according to research published in the open access journal EPJ Data Science.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-algorithm-generated-music-accurate-hard.html

Researchers discover how animals grow their pointy body parts

An interdisciplinary team at Monash University discovered a new universal rule of biological growth that explains surprising similarities in the shapes of sharp structures across the tree of life, including teeth, horns, claws, beaks, animal shells, and even the thorns and prickles of plants.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-animals-pointy-body.html

Can viruses hijack their hosts' circadian rhythms?

Our lives are so often dictated by time—it seems like we are not the only ones.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-viruses-hijack-hosts-circadian-rhythms.html

Optogenetics: A novel light sensor built from algal enzymes

The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has already given research a massive boost: One of its light sensors, channelrhodopsin-2, founded the success of optogenetics about 20 years ago.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-optogenetics-sensor-built-algal-enzymes.html

How proteins organize themselves: Complex process may have simple explanation

Life is messy, even at microscopic and molecular level, but Michigan State University researchers have shown that some straightforward science can still account for important biological behavior.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-proteins-complex-simple-explanation.html

Exploring the moon's shadowed regions using beamed energy

In less than three years, astronauts will return to the moon for the first time since the Apollo Era. As part of the Artemis Program, the purpose is not only to send crewed missions back to the lunar surface to explore and collect samples. This time around, there's also the goal of establishing vital infrastructure (like the Lunar Gateway and a Base Camp) that will allow for "sustained lunar exploration."

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-exploring-moon-shadowed-regions-energy.html

String theory solves mystery about how particles behave outside a black hole photon sphere

A paper by the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) Director Ooguri Hirosi and Project Researcher Matthew Dodelson on the string theoretical effects outside the black hole photon sphere has been selected for the "Editors' Suggestion" of the journal Physical Review D. Their paper was published on March 24, 2021.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-theory-mystery-particles-black-hole.html

New research provides insights into the process of diffusion in living systems

Adrop of food coloring slowly spreading in a glass of water is driven by a process known as diffusion. While the mathematics of diffusion have been known for many years, how this process works in living organisms is not as well understood.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-insights-diffusion.html

International team uncovers mystery behind 'coffee ring' formation

An international research team, led by Monash University, has discovered for the first time the mystery behind the formation of 'coffee rings' by examining the contact angle of droplets onto a surface, and how they dry.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-international-team-uncovers-mystery-coffee.html

Wetware data retrieval: Forensic analysis and data recovery from water-submerged hard drives

A computer hard drive can be a rich source of evidence in a forensic investigation…but only if the device is intact and undamaged otherwise many additional steps to retrieve incriminating data from within are needed and not always successful even in the most expert hands. Research published in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics considers the data retrieval problems for investigators faced with a hard drive that has been submerged in water.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-wetware-forensic-analysis-recovery-water-submerged.html

Close-up of coronaviruses on the attack

Researchers at the University of Oldenburg are using electron microscopy images of SARS-CoV-2 to generate images that for the first time provide a highly detailed impression of the infection process. The new method relies on machine learning.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-close-up-coronaviruses.html

Microtransitions: What makes working from home so frustrating

Working from home increases frustration and can lead to potential conflicts between live-in partners. Sound familiar? In the working paper "Mitigation of Work-Family Frustration in Dual-Earner Couples during COVID-19: The Role of ICT Permeability, Planning, and Gender Effect," Bocconi's Massimo Magni, Associate Professor at the Department of Management and Technology, shows how the "work-life shock event" of COVID-19 creates a difficult dynamic in the home.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-microtransitions-home-frustrating.html

Stellar eggs near galactic center hatching into baby stars

Astronomers found a number of baby stars hiding around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies had suggested that the environment there is too harsh to form stars because of the strong tidal forces, strong magnetic fields, high energy particles, and frequent supernova explosions. These findings indicate that star formation is more resilient than researchers thought. These observations suggest there is ubiquitous star formation activity hidden deep in dense molecular gas, which may allow for the possibility of a future burst of star formation around the galactic center.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-stellar-eggs-galactic-center-hatching.html

Study sheds more light on the nature of binary system 2M06464003+0109157

Astronomers have investigated orbital and stellar parameters of an eclipsing binary known as 2M06464003+0109157. Results of the study shed more light on the nature of this peculiar system. The findings were presented in a paper published March 18 on the arXiv pre-print repository.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-nature-binary-2m064640030109157.html

Object classification through a single-pixel detector

Machine vision systems have many applications, including self-driving cars, intelligent manufacturing, robotic surgery and biomedical imaging, among many others. Most of these machine vision systems use lens-based cameras, and after an image or video is captured, typically with a few megapixels per frame, a digital processor is used to perform machine-learning tasks, such as object classification and scene segmentation. Such a traditional machine vision architecture suffers from several drawbacks. First, the large amount of digital information makes it hard to achieve image/video analysis at high speed, especially using mobile and battery-powered devices. In addition, the captured images usually contain redundant information, which overwhelms the digital processor with a high computational burden, creating inefficiencies in terms of power and memory requirements. Moreover, beyond the visible wavelengths of light, fabricating high-pixel-count image sensors, such as what we have in our mobile phone cameras, is challenging and expensive, which limits the applications of standard machine vision methods at longer wavelengths, such as terahertz part of the spectrum.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-classification-single-pixel-detector.html

'Animal-stress' signal improves plant drought resilience

A team of Australian and German researchers has discovered a novel pathway that plants can use to save water and improve their drought tolerance.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-animal-stress-drought-resilience.html

Study reports six novel variants for CRISPR-Cas12a in plants, expanding genome engineering

In a new publication in Nature Communications, associate professor of Plant Science at the University of Maryland Yiping Qi continues to innovate genome editing and engineering in plants, with the ultimate goal of improving the efficiency of food production. His recent work contributes six novel variants of CRISPR-Cas12a that have never before been proven in plants, testing them first in rice as a major global crop. In addition to allowing for a much broader scope of possible gene editing targets, these new tools can edit many different sites in the genome at once, or even repress gene expression to tone down undesirable traits. These patent-pending tools greatly expand the scope of what CRISPR-Cas12a can do in plants, which can help to produce food more effectively to feed a growing global population.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-variants-crispr-cas12a-genome.html

Chinese streaming site Bilibili sinks on Hong Kong debut after $2.6 bn IPO

Video streaming site Bilibili sank on its first day trading on Hong Kong's stock exchange on Monday as investors fret over a global sell-off in Chinese tech shares.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-chinese-streaming-site-bilibili-hong.html

China cuts taxes to spur semiconductor development

China announced tax breaks Monday to spur growth of its semiconductor industry following U.S. sanctions that alarmed the ruling Communist Party by cutting off access to American processor chips for tech giant Huawei and some other companies.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-china-taxes-spur-semiconductor.html

SolarWinds hack got emails of top DHS officials

Suspected Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to the Trump administration's head of the Department of Homeland Security and members of the department's cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries, The Associated Press has learned.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-solarwinds-hack-emails-dhs.html

Vote count to begin in Amazon union drive

Votes are set to be counted Tuesday on whether to create the first Amazon union in the United States, at a warehouse in Alabama, after a historic, five months-long David vs Goliath campaign.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-vote-amazon-union.html

Racial diversity within a church is associated with higher average attendance over time

United Methodist churches—whether the congregation is white or not—have higher attendance when located within white neighborhoods. But racial diversity within a church is associated with higher average attendance over time, according to a new study.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-racial-diversity-church-higher-average.html

Carried with the wind: Mass migration of Larch Budmoth to the Russian High Arctic

Arctic habitats have fascinated biologists for centuries. Their species-poor insect faunas, however, provide little reward for entomologists—scientists who study insects—to justify spending several weeks or even months in the hostile environments of tundra or polar deserts. As a result, data on insects from the High Arctic islands are often based on occasional collecting and remain scarce.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-mass-migration-larch-budmoth-russian.html

Scientists identify virus-cell interaction that may explain COVID-19's high infection rate

Bioengineering researchers at Lehigh University have identified a previously unknown interaction between receptors in human cells and the spike, or "S," protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This new information could aid in the development of new strategies to block SARS-CoV-2 entry into human cells.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-scientists-virus-cell-interaction-covid-high.html

Forests on caffeine: coffee waste can boost forest recovery

A new study finds that coffee pulp, a waste product of coffee production, can be used to speed up tropical forest recovery on post agricultural land. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-03-forests-caffeine-coffee-boost-forest.html