Materials

Graphical abstract. Credit: Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100397 The demand for paper and paperboard production continuously grows worldwide, particularly in the packaging industry. Due to the paper’s nature, it usually requires a surface coating to keep out water, oil, and other unwanted substances. These coatings can come with high financial and environmental costs. … Read more

B. sapida fruit, showing peach colored arils covering dark oval seeds. Source: Wikimedia Commons Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains 1 of the top 3 global public health challenges facing humanity. Every year, 70,000 people die globally from AMR, and the threat is exacerbated by the fact that we have moved from the era of excess antibiotics … Read more

Genetic structure analysis. Credit: Horticulture Research (2023). DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhad193 Modern breeding focuses on genetic analyses and germplasm management and dominates in altering crop genomes, but often neglects non-additive genetic effects that are essential for understanding traits. Almond [Prunus dulcis Miller (D.A. Webb)] has significant economic and genetic research value, but current studies face limitations, including … Read more

by Li Xiangxian and Zhao Weiwei, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Spectral Enhancement for Multicomponent Trace Substances Based on Multistep Linear Prediction. Credit: LI Xiangxian Recently, a research team led by Prof. Gao Minguang and Associate Prof. Li Xiangxian from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) … Read more

A CADRE rover is prepared for electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing in a special chamber at JPL in November 2023. Such testing confirms that the operation of the electronic subsystems do not interfere with each other nor with those on the lander. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Construction and testing are complete on the CADRE rovers, which will … Read more

Credit: Journal of the American Chemical Society (2023). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c10581 Helicases are enzymes that unwind DNA and RNA. They’re central to cellular life, implicated in a number of cancers and infections—and, alas, extraordinarily difficult to target with drugs. Now, new research provides a powerful platform for designing covalent inhibitors tailored to target helicases. The paper, … Read more

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Not since 2015 has Washington’s snowpack fallen so far below normal. Some regions of the state are preparing for another drought this summer. Others are still enmeshed in the drought that began last summer. No place embodies Washington’s distinct lack of snow as much as the Olympic Peninsula, which has just … Read more

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain While three whales washing up on Hampton Roads beaches in three days is unusual, it is likely indicative of a long-term trend seen along the East Coast. Gib Brogan, campaign director for Oceana, said the recent deaths are “not normal by any means,” but Virginia isn’t alone in experiencing humpback and … Read more

Spekboom once dominated the dry terrain of the Little Karoo in South Africa’s Western Cape. Andre Britz pulled over his pick-up truck on a rocky mountain track to show off the nature-preserving powers of southern Africa’s spekboom shrub. The 62-year-old Afrikaner is an evangelist for Portulacaria afra, a red-stemmed bush or small tree with thick, … Read more

Rae-Ann Eifert, a lake monitor for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, braved sub-freezing temperatures to gather buckets of water for testing off a Lake Michigan breakwater in Racine, Wis., on Feb. 28, 2024, as part of an effort across the Great Lakes to understand the effects of an iceless winter. Unseasonable warmth has left … Read more