Intricate designs engraved across the surface of 18,000-year-old female figurines carved from mammoth ivory were inspired by the distinctive growth patterns visible in the tusks, a new study published in the journal npj Heritage Science has revealed.
Crystals are usually imagined as rigid objects with flat faces and straight edges. A research team led by the University of Osaka has recently created a porous crystal that grows into a spring-like helix. The team also found that the crystal can change shape as solvent molecules move in and out of its internal spaces. Their findings are published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
It's annual property tax collection season, and with it may come questions about how those property taxes are used and, if there's a tax increase, why.
Put a drop of water into a very hot pan, and it can skitter across the surface on a cushion of vapor. This is known as the Leidenfrost effect. Now, scientists have observed a related phenomenon involving ice and an extremely hot surface—on a length scale of billionths of a meter (nanometers) and within billionths of a second (nanoseconds).
This year, the European summer has been sweltering. It is unprecedented in many ways, marked by extreme heat, drought and record-breaking fires. Across the continent, fires have consumed hundreds of homes and prompted the evacuation of thousands of people.
A healthy, green lawn can be the envy of any neighborhood, but how does someone cultivate a yard like that? Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Science Amber Churchill has been getting her hands dirty and digging into the science behind it.
Lichens colonize trees and rocks all over the world. They are symbiotic communities between fungi and photosynthetically active green algae or cyanobacteria, in which both partners benefit from each other: The fungal partner relies on the algae for a supply of carbohydrates and, in return, it protects the algae from UV radiation and other environmental influences. The contact zone where the fungal cells and algal cells touch is crucial for transferring nutrients between the two symbiotic partners. Detailed investigations, particularly a three-dimensional understanding of this area between the cells, have been lacking until now.
As the climate warms, people are more exposed to heat stress, which depresses productivity and the global economy. A study from the University of California, Davis, quantifies the cost of heat stress on global labor.
Our sense of taste is critical for survival, alerting us to substances that provide vital nutrients and those that might poison us. Now, a team led by researchers from the University of Osaka has discovered how one such taste receptor in pufferfish can detect a surprisingly wide range of flavors at once. Their study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Online crowdfunding platforms have enabled teachers in great need of classroom supplies to reach potential donors far beyond their school communities. Yet access to more donors does not automatically eliminate the disparities that shape which projects receive funding.
Some track cyclists appear to break the rules of physics, but a new study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, has created a model explaining the illusion. The results suggest that a quick succession of well-timed moves can help cyclists get a head start without actually breaking the rules of the race or the rules of physics.
Every product or service has a "carbon footprint," a measure of the environmental impact of creating or delivering it.
Scientists have discovered several 518-million-year-old fossils that reshape understanding of the origins of the animal group containing starfish. The fossils show that these animals ate using tentacles rather than passively using their gills, as previously thought.
Ecologists are collecting more data than ever before, but many still lack confidence in the quantitative skills needed to make sense of it, according to a new paper.
Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have uncovered two complementary mechanisms that govern coherence in miniaturized lasers composed of metallic nanoparticle arrays incorporated into an optical gain material, also known as plasmonic lattice lasers.
One of Athens' crowning jewels is the Parthenon, a classical temple on the Acropolis that overlooks the Greek capital. According to legend, many historians, textbooks and tour guides say the ancient Greek architects who designed it added subtle curves and other variations to correct optical illusions that would have disturbed the building's clean lines.
Two are better than one when it comes to sampling methods for tracking the location and timing of toxic chemical contamination in waterways, according to researchers at Penn State. The team tested two typical sampling approaches and found that both are needed to accurately assess the variety and concentration of contaminants of emerging concern—pharmaceuticals, personal care products, livestock manure-borne hormones, veterinary antibiotics and pesticides—in a watershed.
A new species of snake that feeds exclusively on birds' eggs has been discovered in the Harenna Forest in Ethiopia, one of the last substantial tracts of natural forest left in the Horn of Africa.
Young people who grow up experiencing persistent poverty are more than three times as likely to be not in education, employment or training (NEET) at 17 or 23 (3.3 and 3.4 times, respectively), according to new analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study by the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
While most people are aware of how plastic, arsenic and various industrial chemicals can pollute bodies of water, the effects of caffeine on freshwater environments remain largely unknown. Nonetheless, traces of caffeine, the stimulant contained in coffee and tea, often pass through wastewater treatment systems, entering rivers and streams.