Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Should I invest my money with a small chance of big returns? Or is it better to pick investments that promise a series of modest returns? A psychologist from the University of Basel conducted a scientific experiment to study when people prefer certain types of investments. When a company first goes … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain At the close of 2023, Defra asked the British Ecological Society to bring together nearly 40 experts, to collate expert opinion on freshwater policy and set out a list of priorities for the biodiversity evidence program to focus on. Published today, the new report sets out priorities for restoring England’s polluted … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain There is a 70-80% chance that the Nankai Trough Megathrust Earthquake will occur in the next 30 years. It is predicted to cause more extensive damage than the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and fatalities may exceed 320,000. It is believed that this megathrust earthquake will occur when the strain energy … Read more
Bacteria are a source of molecular “assembly lines” that can be used and optimized for the production of new bioactive substances. Credit: MPI f. Terrestrial Microbiology / Chris Kettner Many important medicines, such as antibiotics and anticancer drugs, are derived from natural products of bacteria. The enzyme complexes that produce these active ingredients have a … Read more
Rice used for the experimental study. Credit: University of Sheffield The use of water contaminated with higher than recommended levels of arsenic could pose a serious health risk to millions, a new study from the University of Sheffield has found. New research from academics at the Institute for Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield … Read more
SuperBIT waiting for launch while its giant helium balloon is inflated. Credit: Bill Rodman/NASA An astronomical telescope designed to complement the aging Hubble Space Telescope lifted off from New Zealand’s south island on April 16 2023. But as a sphere the size of a football stadium rose silently and slowly over the Tauhinukorokio mountains, calls … Read more
This image shows the location and distribution of Shakti (yellow) and Shiva (blue) stars throughout the Milky Way. The streams were discovered using ESA’s billion-star surveyor, Gaia. Gaia observations enabled the researchers to determine the content and composition of the individual stars, which in turn revealed more of their properties and showed their movements through … Read more
Snow Sampling in the Alps. Credit: Helen Snell. Reduced snow cover and shifting vegetation patterns in the Alps, both driven by climate change, are having major combined impacts on biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems in the high mountains, according to new research published today. Mountain ranges covering vast areas of the world are warming much … Read more
Three-color near-infrared composite image of I Zwicky 18 in NIRCam F115W (blue), F200W (green), and F356W (red). Credit: Hirschauer et al, 2024 Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted near- and mid-infrared observations of an extremely metal-poor blue compact dwarf galaxy known as I Zwicky 18. Results of the observational campaign, presented in … Read more
Hops are the delicate papery flowers, or cones, of the hop plant which contain resins and essential oils. Outside the warehouse in northwestern Spain, it’s a freezing, foggy morning but inside it’s balmy, the warmth and LED lights fooling 360 hop plants to flower as if it were late August. Mounted on a soaring grid … Read more
