Leo Wilson

Who lives in the treetops? DNA-collecting drone provides insights

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Who lives in the treetops? DNA-collecting drone provides insights

Squinting into the treetops won’t reveal the tiny organisms up there. But these creatures leave clues, in the form of DNA, on the leaves and branches. Now, researchers report in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology that they have developed a way to collect this genetic material: a drone with a specialized fabric probe. The team … Read more

Earth to capture a ‘second moon’ this weekend, NASA says

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Earth to capture a ‘second moon’ this weekend, NASA says

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Earth will capture a miniature, “second moon” this week, according to NASA scientists. The new moon is actually a tiny asteroid dubbed 2024 PT5. It will start orbiting the planet in a horseshoe path and stick around for a little less than two months before escaping Earth’s gravitational pull and going … Read more

The Gut Might Hold the Key to Treating Long Covid in Kids

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The Gut Might Hold the Key to Treating Long Covid in Kids

Yonker and her colleagues will administer larazotide to 32 patients between the ages of 7 and 21, who will take the drug for eight weeks; a further 16 patients will receive a placebo. To qualify for the trial, patients must have a detectable presence of the Covid-19 spike protein in their blood. The intention is … Read more

ESO telescope captures the most detailed infrared map ever of our Milky Way

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Who lives in the treetops? DNA-collecting drone provides insights

Astronomers have published a gigantic infrared map of the Milky Way containing more than 1.5 billion objects — the most detailed one ever made. Using the European Southern Observatory’s VISTA telescope, the team monitored the central regions of our Galaxy over more than 13 years. At 500 terabytes of data, this is the largest observational … Read more

Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report

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Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report

The Amazon River in Leticia, Colombia. The Amazon River has seen its levels in Colombia reduced by as much as 90 percent, a government agency said Thursday, as South America faces a severe and widespread drought. The river—the world’s biggest by volume and which also flows through parts of Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, … Read more

Ukraine Is Decentralizing Energy Production to Protect Itself From Russia

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Ukraine Is Decentralizing Energy Production to Protect Itself From Russia

As soon as the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, Yuliana Onishchuk knew she had to help her country. News coverage of the initial occupation of the Kyiv region showed that Irpin City and Bucha, just outside the capital, had sustained huge damage, and it was clear to Onishchuk that critical infrastructure would need to be … Read more

Grazing zooplankton severely impacted by nanoplastic particles

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Who lives in the treetops? DNA-collecting drone provides insights

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have studied how nanoplastic affects aquatic organisms in lakes and rivers. The results are surprising and the researchers are the first to show that some species are being wiped out, while others — such as cyanobacteria that contribute to algal blooms — are completely unaffected. Every year, the amount … Read more

Future climate change predicted to shift flood-generating mechanisms and intensify extreme flooding events

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Future climate change predicted to shift flood-generating mechanisms and intensify extreme flooding events

Flow chart outlining the determination of flood generating mechanisms for each flood event. Mechanisms include: Snowmelt (Melt), rain‐on‐snow (ROS), short‐duration, high‐intensity rain with different soil antecedent moisture conditions (AMC): dry (SR− ), normal (SR), wet (SR+), and long‐duration, lower‐intensity rain classified by AMC: dry (LR− ), normal (LR), and wet (LR+). Credit: Earth’s Future (2024). … Read more