Scientists have determined how the Earth responds as it heats up due to climate change. Their study is the first to find the temperature-carbon dioxide release relationship at the landscape level. Plants that currently take up a quarter to a third of humanity's carbon emissions might not be able to...
Wormlike animals are first amphibians shown to pass microbes to their offspring
Caecilians are an illusive type of snakelike amphibian that live in aquatic and subterranean environments. In some species, mothers produce a special type of nutrient-rich skin that juveniles consume, similar to the way in which humans breastfeed their children. A new study shows this behavior passes on microbes to juvenile...
AI predicts the work rate of enzymes
Enzymes play a key role in cellular metabolic processes. To enable the quantitative assessment of these processes, researchers need to know the so-called 'turnover number' (for short: kcat) of the enzymes. A team of bioinformaticians now describes a tool for predicting this parameter for various enzymes using AI methods.
Risk of fatal heart attack may double in heat wave and high fine particulate pollution days
An analysis of more than 202,000 heart attack deaths between 2015-2020 in a single Chinese province found that days that had extreme heat, extreme cold or high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution were significantly associated with the risk of death from a heart attack, especially in women...
Study improves understanding of how bacteria benefit plant growth
Scientists have found that competition between strains of beneficial bacteria in the soil degrades the service that the bacteria provide to their hosts.
Advancing chemical recycling of waste plastics
New research focuses on optimizing a promising technology called pyrolysis, which can chemically recycle waste plastics into more valuable chemicals.
Revealing HIV drug-resistance mechanisms through protein structures
Researchers have discovered the molecular mechanisms by which the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) becomes resistant to Dolutegravir, one of the most effective, clinically used antiviral drugs for treating HIV. Their findings reveal how changes to the 3D structures of integrase, an HIV protein, can lead to Dolutegravir resistance and how...
Long-term changes in waves and storm surges have not impacted global coastlines
Changes in ocean wave and storm conditions have not caused long-term impacts on sandy coastlines in the past 30 years, a new study has found.
Artificial ‘rocks’ from macroplastics threaten ocean health
Plastic waste is a problem on our beaches. Hence, it is largely removed in a coordinated manner within a few weeks. However, it can litter other coasts of the world for many months to years due to unregulated waste disposal. Often the garbage on the beach is simply burned and...
New catalyst could dramatically cut methane pollution from millions of engines
Today's catalysts for removing unburnt methane from natural-gas engine exhaust are either inefficient at low, start-up temperatures or break down at higher operating temperatures. A new single-atom catalyst solves both these problems and removes 90% of the methane.