Employees keep home distractions at bay by using their working memory

Employees keep home distractions at bay by using their working memory

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Are family challenges distracting you at work, making your job feel demanding and stressful? You’re not alone. But for people who use their working memory, which helps them manage distractions, they can reduce the impact of family problems at work, according to a new study. Research by Oscar Ybarra, professor emeritus … Read more

Three-year study of young stars with NASA’s Hubble enters new chapter

Three-year study of young stars with NASA’s Hubble enters new chapter

The ULLYSES program studied two types of young stars: super-hot, massive, blue stars and cooler, redder, less massive stars than our Sun. The top panel is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a star-forming region containing massive, young, blue stars in 30 Doradus, the Tarantula Nebula. Located within the Large Magellanic Cloud, this is one … Read more

How wishful thinking can point us in the wrong direction

How wishful thinking can point us in the wrong direction

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Everyone indulges in wishful thinking now and again. But when is that most likely to happen, and when could it actually be harmful? A new study led by the University of Amsterdam (UvA) demonstrates unequivocally that the greater the insecurity and anxiety of a situation, the more likely people are to … Read more

Supergene research solves the mystery of tiny ant queens

Supergene research solves the mystery of tiny ant queens

Headshot of a Formica cinerea queen. Credit: Giulia Scarparo/UCR An ant colony is sustained through complex social dynamics, with each member—the queen, males and workers (sterile females)—contributing to the greater community. Some species add complexity to this dynamic with the addition of rather small queens. Researchers at UC Riverside tackled why these additional queens are … Read more

Atmospheric observations in China show rise in emissions of a potent greenhouse gas

Atmospheric observations in China show rise in emissions of a potent greenhouse gas

Emissions of SF6 in China. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46084-3 To achieve the aspirational goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change—limiting the increase in global average surface temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels—will require its 196 signatories to dramatically reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Those greenhouse gases differ widely in … Read more

Netflix trivializing teenagers’ pain, says study

Netflix trivializing teenagers’ pain, says study

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new analysis of adolescent TV and films on Netflix suggests that too often, it shows misleading depictions of pain, portraying pain as something arising only through a violent act or injury. Instead of trivializing the experience, it could do more to educate young people about much more common, everyday pain. … Read more

Scientists unveil a new gecko species

Scientists unveil a new gecko species

Cnemaspis vangoghi sp. nov., in life A adult male (holotype, NRC-AA-8342). Credit: Photos by Akshay Khandekar, ZooKeys (2024). DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1196.117947 You’ve probably seen nature depicted in art, but how often do you see an artwork hiding in nature? When they saw the back of a lizard in the Southern Western Ghats, a group of scientists … Read more

Tuberculosis vaccine may enable elimination of the disease in cattle by reducing its spread

Tuberculosis vaccine may enable elimination of the disease in cattle by reducing its spread

Bovine tuberculosis is an infectious disease of cattle that results in large economic costs and health impacts across the world. Credit: Jacqueline Garget Vaccination not only reduces the severity of TB in infected cattle, but reduces its spread in dairy herds by 89%, research finds. The research, led by the University of Cambridge and Penn … Read more

Melting ice caps are slowing Earth’s rotation, shifting how we measure time – National

Melting ice caps are slowing Earth’s rotation, shifting how we measure time – National

Ever wished you could get a second of your life back? Well, that could one day be a reality. And no — we’re not talking about time travel. A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature investigated how the changing rotation of the Earth — which is not as consistent as you might think — … Read more

New method provides automated calculation of surface properties in crystals

New method provides automated calculation of surface properties in crystals

Based on a small amount of basic information about a crystal’s structure, the Oldenburg researchers’ program calculates the properties of complex new materials. Credit: University of Oldenburg / EST group Computer-based methods are becoming an increasingly powerful tool in the search for new materials for key technologies such as photovoltaics, batteries, and data transmission. Prof. … Read more