The stunning Sierra Nevada red fox is one of the nation's rarest and most critically threatened mammals, with fewer than 50 believed to remain in the Sierra. And now, for the first time, a specimen has been successfully GPS-collared and released back into the region—marking a major victory for conservation efforts to protect the elusive vulpine.
What happens to soft matter when gravity disappears? To answer this, UvA physicists launched a fluid dynamics experiment on a sounding rocket. The suborbital rocket reached an altitude of 267 km before falling back to Earth, providing six minutes of weightlessness.
About a decade ago, author Mandy Len Catron wrote an essay for the New York Times about "36 questions that lead to love." The idea suggests that two people can grow closer—and even fall in love—by answering a series of increasingly intimate questions.
One of the longest stellar dimming events ever observed was likely caused by the gigantic saucer-like rings of either an unseen brown dwarf or "super-Jupiter" blocking its host star's light, astronomers say. For decades, the star—which sits 3,200 light-years from Earth and is about twice as big as our sun—had been observed as stable, but at the end of 2024 it faded dramatically.
A multinational research team led by Professor Tong Zhang from the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU Engineering), in collaboration with an international team, has developed a new framework to assess and track antimicrobial resistance (AMR) connectivity across human, animal, and environmental sectors. The study systematically examines the connectivity of AMR and proposes an assessment framework along with mitigation strategies.
NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) was built for the ambitious purpose of performing an all-sky survey. The data it collects from more than 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars in the Milky Way over its two-year mission will help scientists explore the origins of the universe and its evolution over time. But that doesn't mean scientists can't occasionally take a break from investigating the deepest cosmological mysteries... Читать дальше...
Current global climate models (GCMs) support with high confidence the view that rising greenhouse gases and other anthropogenic forcings account for nearly all observed global surface warming—slightly above 1 °C—since the pre-industrial period (1850–1900). This is the conclusion presented in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) published in 2021.
Phosphorus is essential for plant growth and ecosystem productivity. In many natural forests, plants rely on soil microbes to release bioavailable phosphorus from organic matter. The PhoD gene, which encodes the key enzyme alkaline phosphatase, is a central marker for this microbial process. Its role in fertilized agricultural systems is well known, but its distribution and drivers in natural forest ecosystems have remained unclear.
When severe weather strikes, the National Weather Service's (NWS) Office of Water Prediction (OWP) makes critical flood forecasts with the National Water Model. Despite improvements over time, the model's performance has plateaued in recent years, leaving researchers from the federal government, academia, and private industry searching for a better solution.
When a cell divides, it performs a feat of microscopic choreography—duplicating its DNA and depositing it into two new cells. The spindle is the machinery behind that process: It latches onto chromosomes (where DNA is stored) and separates them so they can settle into their new homes. This tricky process can sometimes go wrong, causing infertility, genetic disorders, or cancer.
How do the different parts of an adult plant communicate with each other when it suffers an injury, is waterlogged, burnt or exposed to environmental stress? Today we can answer this question thanks to an innovative optical imaging system developed by the Università degli Studi di Milano (University of Milan) together with the Politecnico di Milano. The study is published in Science Advances.
From table salt to snowflakes, and from gemstones to diamonds—we encounter crystals everywhere in daily life, usually cubic (table salt) or hexagonal (snowflakes). Researchers from Noushine Shahidzadeh's group at the UvA Institute of Physics now demonstrate how mesmerizing spherical crystal shapes arise through structures called spherulites.
Recent research suggests that Saturn's bright rings and its largest moon, Titan, may have both originated in collisions among its moons. While Cassini's 13-year mission expanded our understanding of Saturn, the discoveries of its young rings and Titan's rapidly shifting orbit have raised new questions.
Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have developed a method using artificial intelligence that can significantly speed up the calculation of liquid properties. The AI approach predicts the chemical potential—an indispensable quantity for describing liquids in thermodynamic equilibrium. The researchers present their findings in a new study published in Physical Review Letters.
The element cobalt is considered a typical ferromagnet with no further secrets. However, an international team led by HZB researcher Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has now uncovered complex topological features in its electronic structure. Spin-resolved measurements of the band structure (spin-ARPES) at BESSY II revealed entangled energy bands that cross each other along extended paths in specific crystallographic directions, even at room temperature. As a result, cobalt can be considered as a highly... Читать дальше...
What if cattle were selected not only for their productivity, but also for their resistance to disease? A study conducted by a team of scientists combining systemic immunology, genomics and machine learning provides a better understanding of what shapes animals' immunity, even before they fall ill. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Geographic information system (GIS) maps help researchers, policymakers, and community members see how environmental risks are spread throughout a given region. These types of interactive, layered maps can be used for storytelling, education, and environmental activism. When community members are involved in their use and creation, GIS maps can also be a tool for equity.
A new study reports that climate warming can increase soil carbon accumulation in boreal Sphagnum peatlands by boosting plant productivity, protecting iron, and inhibiting microbial decomposition. These responses contrast sharply with warming-enhanced soil carbon mineralization—the process by which carbon is released as CO2—in boreal forests and tundra. Together, these contrasting processes highlight the vital yet often overlooked role of Sphagnum peatlands in counteracting boreal carbon loss under future warming.
Hurricane Helene, one of the deadliest hurricanes in US history, did not affect people's views on climate change or their intentions to vote for politicians advocating stricter climate policies. This is shown in a new study from the University of Gothenburg. "Attitudes unchanged: no support for increased climate change beliefs, concerns, or voting intentions after Hurricane Helene" is published in Environmental Research Communications.
A national survey of the four supply-chain sectors involved in the production and sale of flowers and ornamental plants shows that sustainability practices—those already implemented and those planned for the future—differ by sector. The findings could provide a roadmap of specific needs to help all sectors reach sustainability goals.
If humankind is to explore deep space, one small passenger should not be left behind: microbes. In fact, it would be impossible to leave them behind, since they live on and in our bodies, surfaces and food. Learning how they react to space conditions is critical, but they could also be invaluable fellows in our endeavor to explore space.
