Ant pheromones may help protect hikers and campers from ticks

Ant pheromones may help protect hikers and campers from ticks

Drawings illustrating (a) the location of the poison gland and Dufour’s gland in Formica oreas worker ants, and (b) the olfactometer used in tick bioassays. For bioassays, the lateral chambers of the olfactometer received a piece of filter paper treated with a treatment or control stimulus, and a damp cotton ball to increase relative humidity. … Read more

How full are major California reservoirs as state exits another wet winter?

How full are major California reservoirs as state exits another wet winter?

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The majority of California’s reservoirs are above their historic average levels following the end of two wet winters. The state’s largest reservoirs, Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, were measured at a respective 118% and 122% of their averages for early April, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources. … Read more

Advanced microscopy technique offers a new look inside cells

Advanced microscopy technique offers a new look inside cells

Images created with the new FLASH-PAINT microscopy technique, developed at Yale by the laboratory of Joerg Bewersdorf, PhD. Credit: Bewersdorf Laboratory, Yale University Imagine tuning into a football game, but all of the players are invisible except for the two quarterbacks. Without being able to see the orchestrated movements of the full teams, this would … Read more

In Russia’s Far East, a new heavy-lift rocket blasts off into space after two aborted launches

In Russia’s Far East, a new heavy-lift rocket blasts off into space after two aborted launches

In this grab taken from video released by the Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, April 11, 2024 an Angara-A5 rocket lifts off from Vostochny space launch facility outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. Russia on Thursday successfully test-launched a … Read more

Earthquakes may not be primary driver of glacial lake outburst floods

Earthquakes may not be primary driver of glacial lake outburst floods

Google Earth view of Laguna Librón, Cordillera Blanca, annotated with mass movement flow from surrounding slopes into glacial lakes, with the possible chain reaction of outburst floods into the lower lake Laguna Librón and then the valley below. Credit: Wood et al. 2024. Glacial lakes form when meltwater is trapped behind a dam, usually glacial … Read more

Ocean currents threaten to collapse Antarctic ice shelves, study finds

Ocean currents threaten to collapse Antarctic ice shelves, study finds

Dotson Ice Shelf, Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. Credit: Taewook Park A new study published in Nature Communications has revealed that the interplay between meandering ocean currents and the ocean floor induces upwelling velocity, transporting warm water to shallower depths. This mechanism contributes substantially to the melting of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea of West Antarctica. … Read more

Japanese astronaut to be first non-American to set foot on moon

Japanese astronaut to be first non-American to set foot on moon

The moon over Tokyo on September 10, 2022. A lucky Japanese astronaut will become the first non-American to set foot on the moon during one of NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions, US President Joe Biden announced Wednesday. The offer to Japan—an opportunity many nations have long dreamed of—came as part of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s state … Read more

Precision agriculture research identifies gene that controls production of flowers and fruits in pea plants

Precision agriculture research identifies gene that controls production of flowers and fruits in pea plants

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The end of the reproductive period, when flowers and fruits are produced, is a crucial moment in plants’ life cycles. However, the factors that control this process must be better understood. A research team led by the Research Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), a joint center of the … Read more

Using research to solve societal problems starts with building connections and making space for young people

Using research to solve societal problems starts with building connections and making space for young people

Credit: AI-generated image Often, when scientists do research around a specific societal challenge, they hope their work will help solve that larger problem. Yet translating findings into long-lasting, community-driven solutions is much harder than most expect. It seems intuitive that scientists studying living organisms, microbes, and ecosystems could apply their findings to tackle food shortages, … Read more

Using CO₂ and biomass, researchers find path to more environmentally friendly recyclable plastics

Using CO₂ and biomass, researchers find path to more environmentally friendly recyclable plastics

From left, Associate Professor Hoyong Chung and postdoctoral researcher Arijit Ghorai display the two phases of their degradable polymer at the Dittmer Chemistry Lab at Florida State University. Credit: Scott Holstein/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Modern life relies on plastic. This lightweight, adaptable product is a cornerstone of packaging, medical equipment, the aerospace and automotive industries … Read more