When the holidays descend upon us, we find ourselves simultaneously excited and bracing for the stress that is rushing toward us. As children, we only had to look forward to all the magic and festivities that awaited. As adults, we have become the facilitators of all of those festivities, working too hard to get them right. (more…)
Brown University’s Stephen Houston and a team of leading researchers in anthropology and Maya archeology methodically verify the authenticity of the oldest known manuscript in ancient America. (more…)
A North Carolina State University study of middle school science classes explored whether teachers’ beliefs about climate change influenced students’ perceptions. (more…)
Tübinger Wissenschaftler finden Übereinstimmungen bei der Entwicklung von Sprache und Schädelknochen
Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler der Universität Tübingen haben Belege dafür gefunden, dass die Ausprägung bestimmter menschlicher Schädelknochen Rückschlüsse auf die Zugehörigkeit zu einer Sprachgemeinschaft zulässt. (more…)
AUSTIN, Texas — A panel of academic and industrial thinkers has looked ahead to 2030 to forecast how advances in artificial intelligence (AI) might affect life in a typical North American city – in areas diverse as transportation, healthcare and education – and spur discussion of how to ensure the safe, fair and beneficial development of these rapidly emerging technologies. (more…)
Forschungsteam zeigt, dass Pflanzen einen Lichtrezeptor auch als Thermosensor nutzen
Pflanzen reagieren empfindlich auf Veränderungen ihrer Umgebungstemperatur. Die Ackerschmalwand hat beispielsweise bei 22 Grad Celsius einen kompakten Wuchs. Erhöht sich die Temperatur um nur wenige Grad Celsius, zeigt die Pflanze ein gesteigertes Längenwachstum von Spross und Blättern: Dies erleichtert es den Pflanzenorganen, sich durch Verdunstung abzukühlen. (more…)
UCLA scientists and colleagues identify structure of a molecule that kills mosquitoes carrying malaria and West Nile
Five UCLA researchers were part of an international team that has used X-rays to reveal the structure of a molecule that is toxic to disease-carrying mosquitoes. The findings move the scientific world one step closer to genetically engineering a toxin that would be lethal to species that carry dengue fever and the Zika virus. (more…)
Across the United States, abandoned oil and gas wells are a significant source of greenhouse gases, particularly methane. Yet there are so many scattered across the country that stopping the leaks — and even determining which wells are leaking — presents an enormous challenge. (more…)
