Science
Scientific discoveries and research
A piece of Africa in Europe? New insights into plate tectonics of the Balkans
Around the Balkan Peninsula, the African plate is sinking beneath the European plate. A piece of deeply submerged African crust resurfaced 40 million years ago...
A quick stretch switches this polymer's capacity to transport heat
Most materials have an inherent capacity to handle heat. Plastic, for instance, is typically a poor thermal conductor, whereas materials like marble move heat m...
Fentanyl or phony? Machine learning algorithm learns to pick out opioid signatures
New forms of fentanyl are created every day. For law enforcement, that poses a challenge: How do you identify a chemical you've never seen before? Researchers a...
Building blocks of life discovered in Bennu asteroid rewrite origin story
Amino acids, the building blocks necessary for life, were previously found in samples of 4.6-billion-year-old rocks from an asteroid called Bennu, delivered to...
3D 'polar chiral bobbers' identified in ferroelectric thin films
A novel type of three-dimensional (3D) polar topological structure, termed the "polar chiral bobber," has been discovered in ferroelectric oxide thin films, dem...
Eco-friendly catalyst switches oxygen source based on particle size, study finds
As the climate crisis becomes a part of daily life with unprecedented heat waves and cold snaps, technology to effectively remove greenhouse gases is emerging a...
Satellite observations put stratospheric methane loss higher than models predicted
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with strong heat-trapping capabilities. Although there is less methane in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the foremost...
Wireless sensor assesses subsoil health in effort to cut costs and refine farming
A new smart platform invented by Purdue University researchers to wirelessly monitor subsoil health could change the landscape of agricultural sensing systems....
Improving predictions for 'tailor-made' wheat with AI and big data
Climate change and evolving growing conditions present new challenges for breeding. It is important to take local environmental conditions into account. An inte...
Climate change could halve areas suitable for cattle, sheep and goat farming by 2100
A new study conducted at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that grassland-based grazing systems—currently covering a third of Earth'...
Nature's 'engine is grinding to a halt' as climate change gains pace, says study
Many ecologists hypothesize that, as global warming accelerates, change in nature must speed up. They assume that as temperatures rise and climatic zones shift,...
Deep-sea microbes get unexpected energy boost from marine snow, researchers discover
For many years, the deep ocean has been seen as a nutrient-poor environment where microbes living in the water survive on very limited resources. But new resear...