The same amount of rain falling on the same landscape at different times can send very different amounts of water into its rivers, according to a new study in Nature Water. The research offers a global picture of how catchments behave—not where rivers are or how much water they carry, but how consistently landscapes turn rainfall into river flow.
Scientists have found how a protein produced by bacteria disrupts the mechanism that controls flower development in plants, turning reproductive organs into leaf-like structures. These findings shed light on a plant disease that is expected to spread as climate change expands the range of its insect vectors in northern latitudes. They used a synchrotron technique at ESRF, the European Synchrotron in Grenoble, France. The results are an Editor's Pick in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Helicobacter pylori bacteria infect around half the global population and are a leading cause of stomach ulcers and gastric cancer. While antibiotics remain the standard treatment, they often fail to reach bacteria hidden beneath the stomach's protective mucus layer and deep within ulcer tissue. This often requires higher antibiotic doses, increasing the risk of adverse effects and antibiotic resistance.
Chemical separation can be energy-intensive when molecules have similar sizes and properties. Researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, have now developed an interlayer adaptive crystal that changes its spacing to recognize specific molecules.
Xufeng Zhang is using magnets to make computers more power efficient at the quantum level. The Northeastern professor of electrical and computer engineering recently published two papers highlighting small-scale magnetic systems he and his team developed that could help make computers much more power efficient in the future.
Shorebirds are capable of some of the longest migrations on Earth, yet most return year after year to the same area to breed. Coming back has distinct advantages, including knowing the best spots to feed or roost, having information about where predators lurk, and—hopefully—finding last year's partner again.
From a mountainside overlooking Utah's Great Salt Lake, a time traveler turning back the clock 20,000 years would watch a dramatic transformation of the landscape. The shallow, salty lake below would swell into an immense body of fresh water, at one point reaching nearly 1,000 feet (305 meters) deep and covering more than 10 times the lake's modern area. Mountain ranges would become islands, and the new shoreline would move far beyond its current boundary.
An international team that includes researchers from Murdoch University's Centre for Crop and Food Innovation (CCFI) has built the most comprehensive genetic map of the peanut yet and used this new genomic resource to breed a higher-yielding dwarf peanut line.
A multidisciplinary team of researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark, Queen Mary University of London and other European institutions analyzed a data set representing almost 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) of Roman roads across the former empire, creating the most detailed quantitative picture yet of how the Roman road network was structured.
Climate change is increasing the frequency of both droughts and floods, meaning back-to-back extreme events are also on the rise. These rapidly alternating crises can harm people in complex ways. For example, back-to-back climate extremes can stress crops, reducing yields.
Inside each human cell, about 2 meters (6.6 feet) of genomic DNA must be accurately copied and equally transmitted to two daughter cells during cell division. To achieve this, the copied DNA is condensed into thick, short structures called mitotic chromosomes. However, how chromatin is organized and condensed to form mitotic chromosomes has long remained a major question in genetics and cell biology.
When two popular science magazines—out of about 17 in circulation—ceased publication in the same year, one commentator said, "The science magazines didn't shake out. They fell apart." The general manager of one of the failed magazines said, "There was a perception that they were irrelevant." One of the publishers remembered being in a "state of shock" as the failures emerged.
For more than a decade, it was thought that the world's most plastic-polluted birds couldn't get any more contaminated by the man-made material. But then, from 2023–2026, the record was broken every single year.
Rice and lentils are a pairing that goes a long way back, whether as khichdi in India or mujaddara in the Middle East. On its own, each is a source of incomplete protein, short on certain essential amino acids—but paired together, they fill each other's gaps, and lentils also blunt white rice's high glycemic index.
Irrigating U.S. crops prevents higher greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding land conversion, new research by Colorado State University shows. Agricultural irrigation allows the United States to grow more food on less land. If irrigation were suddenly shut off, the land-use change required to make up for lost yields would produce significantly more greenhouse gas emissions than irrigation emits—363 times more.
Microorganisms can do remarkable things—for example, nitrogen fixation, the conversion of nitrogen gas (N₂) into a form that organisms can use. Although nitrogen gas makes up around 78% of Earth's atmosphere, plants and animals cannot directly use it.
Have you ever bought something not because you wanted it, but because you were afraid of what might happen if you didn't? Maybe you worried about looking older, falling behind at work or simply not fitting in.
African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) travel incredibly long distances to search for a mate and new places to breed. They typically embark on these mammoth treks as young adults and often face numerous hazards along the way. These include busy highways, expanding human settlements and deadly wire poaching snares.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is best known for carrying genetic instructions from DNA to the cellular machinery that makes proteins. But all RNA molecules have another, less appreciated property: They are naturally sticky.
Safety and security challenges are creating unprecedented strain for frontline property management professionals, according to a new bilingual survey conducted by Portland State University's Center for Real Estate. Initiated after industry partners raised alarms about changing workplace conditions, the study offers insight into the daily risks experienced by property management staff at multifamily and commercial properties.