‘Maintain Asian forest diversity to avoid climate change impact,’ suggests new study

‘Maintain Asian forest diversity to avoid climate change impact,’ suggests new study

Credit: Dr Rebecca Hamilton/The University of Sydney A team of international scientists, led by Dr. Rebecca Hamilton at the University of Sydney, has found that rather than dry savannah in South East Asia dominating during the Last Glacial Maximum more than 19,000 years ago, there was a mosaic of diverse closed and open forest types, … Read more

Researchers develop ‘electronic soil’ that enhances crop growth

Researchers develop ‘electronic soil’ that enhances crop growth

Eleni Stavrinidou, associate professor, and supervisor of the study and Alexandra Sandéhn, Ph.D. student, one of the lead authors, connect the eSoil to a low power source for stimulating plant growth. Credit: Thor Balkhed Barley seedlings grow on average 50% more when their root system is stimulated electrically through a new cultivation substrate. In a … Read more

NASA asteroid sampling mission renamed OSIRIS-APEX for new journey

NASA asteroid sampling mission renamed OSIRIS-APEX for new journey

These images of asteroid Apophis were recorded in March 2021 by radio antennas at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex in California and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The asteroid was 10.6 million miles (17 million kilometers) away, and each pixel has a resolution of 127 feet (38.75 meters). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech and NSF/AUI/GBO … Read more

The ‘bank of mum and dad’ is increasingly helping fund the lives of young Australians

The ‘bank of mum and dad’ is increasingly helping fund the lives of young Australians

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Much has been made of the increasing presence of the “bank of mum and dad” in the lives of Australians. We know financial support from parents to adult children is increasingly used for entering the housing market. But our new research shows parents are also helping their young adult children in … Read more

A whiff of tears reduces male aggression, says study

A whiff of tears reduces male aggression, says study

Credit: Karolina Grabowska from Pexels Watching someone cry often evokes an emotional response—but according to a new study published Thursday, human tears themselves contain a chemical signal that reduces brain activity linked to aggression. The research was carried out by the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and appeared in PLOS Biology, a US science journal. … Read more

Japan moon lander enters lunar orbit

Japan moon lander enters lunar orbit

Side view of the crater Moltke taken from Apollo 10. Credit: Public Domain Japan’s SLIM space probe entered the moon’s orbit on Monday in a major step towards the country’s first successful lunar landing, expected next month. The Smart Lander for Investigating moon (SLIM) is nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” because it is designed to land … Read more

Reindeer sleep while chewing their cud, a strategy that may help them in the summer

Reindeer sleep while chewing their cud, a strategy that may help them in the summer

Screenshot of reindeer surveillance. Credit: Current Biology/Furrer et al. Researchers report December 22 in the journal Current Biology that the more time reindeer spend ruminating, the less time they spend in non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep. EEG recordings revealed that reindeer’s brainwaves during rumination resemble the brain waves present during non-REM sleep, and these brainwave … Read more

How to give your animal friends a stress-free holiday season

How to give your animal friends a stress-free holiday season

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The holiday season can be hectic. Visitors flowing through our homes, the manic rush of food and gift preparations, finding the perfect party outfit and music playlist, and heading off to your local New Year’s Eve firework display. It’s enough to make the sweat break on the brow of even the … Read more

Greenhouse vegetable production emits high levels of nitrous oxide, study finds

Greenhouse vegetable production emits high levels of nitrous oxide, study finds

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new study has found that greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) systems are major sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. The study, conducted by a team of researchers from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used a high-frequency continuous automatic monitoring system to … Read more

Scientists develop bio-pesticide from fungi to control a beetle and protect Eucalyptus plantations

Scientists develop bio-pesticide from fungi to control a beetle and protect Eucalyptus plantations

Assessment of entomopathogenic fungi (EF) against G. platensis adults. a) Efficacy of EF (B. psudobassiana SP-1, B. bassiana CA-1, B. bassiana CA-2, M. brunneum CA-3 and M. robertsii RI-1) using a conidial suspension of 1 × 107 con/mL 7 days post-inoculation. Mean values (±SD) followed by different letters are significantly different according to the Tukey … Read more