Cellular elongation at the tips of the filamentous bacteria Corynebacterium matruchotii. Credit: Chimileski, Scott et al, PNAS, 2024. One of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet is closer than you think—right inside your mouth. Your mouth is a thriving ecosystem of more than 500 different species of bacteria living in distinct, structured communities called … Read more
Credit: eScience (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.esci.2023.100208 Water contamination by pharmaceuticals and heavy metals poses severe environmental and health risks. Traditional methods like biodegradation and filtration often lack efficiency and sustainability. Photocatalysis, using solar energy to degrade pollutants, offers a promising alternative but faces challenges such as weak redox capacity and low catalytic performance. Due to these … Read more
Swimming bacteria experience larger changes in concentration over time, whereas twitching bacteria experience larger changes in concentration over the lengths of their bodies. Credit: Nature Microbiology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-024-01729-3 Scientists from the University of Sheffield have discovered a new sensory capability in bacteria which could transform treatments for bacterial infections. It was previously thought that … Read more
Workflow of evaluating the density of Aedes aegypti breeding container detections for modeling immature mosquito abundance at flight range scale in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The mapping of Aedes aegypti breeding containers was carried out using satellite and street view imagery by applying and fine-tuning single-stage object detection networks (left). Container densities … Read more
Plot of the pair density correlation function, a quantity that characterizes crystallization, in the quantum anomalous Hall crystal. Arrows on the boundary denote the topological edge states. Credit: Sheng et al. Moiré superlattices, structures that arise when two layers of two-dimensional (2D) materials are overlaid with a small twist angle, have been the focus of … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Cities in the Global South are more exposed to extreme heat because they lack cooling green spaces, new research shows. The study found that Global South cities have just 70% of the “cooling capacity” provided by urban greenery in the Global North. The paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, is … Read more
After disappearing in the 19th century, wolves have gradually returned to Austria in recent years. After wolves swooped from the forest and savaged her lambs, Austrian sheep farmer Renate Pilz feels like giving up. Others, to the anger of conservationists, are reaching for their rifles. “I lost two ewes and two lambs” to the wolf … Read more
This stunning new mosaic of images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope showcases the nearby star-forming cluster, NGC 1333. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld, R. Jayawardhana Rogue planets, or free-floating planetary-mass objects (FFPMOs), are planet-sized objects that either formed in interstellar space or were part of a planetary … Read more
by Zhi-Ping Zhong, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Lonnie Thompson, Matthew Sullivan and Virginia Rich, The Conversation Glacier ice sampling. Credit: Nature Geoscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01508-z As humans alter the planet’s climate and ecosystems, scientists are looking to Earth’s history to help predict what may unfold from climate change. To this end, massive ice structures like glaciers serve … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain We all imitate one another in conversation. We use similar gestures, our accents converge, our tones of voice align, and we mirror each other’s facial expressions. But, as my team’s recent study showed, subtle differences in the way we mirror each other can reveal a lot about our identities and even … Read more
