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Wildfires are a natural phenomenon in many ecosystems, including forests along the U.S. Pacific West Coast, as natural fires serve to rejuvenate ecological communities. However, from mid-August through mid-September 2020, forests in California,…

Using traditional welding methods, rocket engine nozzles and combustion chambers are some of the most difficult parts to fabricate, requiring up to a year to produce a single part. Now, however, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration…

Cosmochemists have discovered the oldest solid material known to exist on Earth. The material, stardust, consists of silicon carbide grains measuring around one micrometer in size. The grains date back approximately 7 billion years, or about 2.5…

There is a growing body of evidence that many of the thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications ultimately make their way into water bodies and drinking-water supplies. Typical wastewater treatment plants may not be effective at…

Microplastics are raining down on national parks and other protected areas in the western United States at the rate of about 132 pieces of microplastic per square meter every day, according to a report in the journal Science (June 2020).…

Although asphalt (also known as bitumen) is a naturally occurring substance found in deposits within the earth, it is also a by-product of petroleum processing. Almost all the bitumen used for asphalt pavement and roofs comes from petroleum refining…

In September 2020, researchers answered a longstanding question about why planetary nebulae display such a rich variety of shapes. Winds from aging stars produce planetary nebulae as the winds eject the stars' outer layers, shrouding the stars in…

Wildfires, also termed bushfires or forest fires, are currently devastating large swaths of land in Australia. Detrimental ecologic consequences of these uncontrolled combustions of forest fuels and vegetation are numerous. One of the most serious…

The American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is native to forest regions east of the Mississippi River and is a key tree species in the United States. In particular, it is very abundant from Ohio to the New England states. The tree is also found in the…

The nearest images of the Sun obtained to date have revealed a new phenomenon, dubbed campfires, which appear as small, bright flickers of light all over the Sun's surface. The Solar Orbiter, a European Space Agency spacecraft launched in February…

Astronomers have discovered the closest black hole on record, located 1,100 light-years away from our solar system. This black hole is part of the star system HR 6819, which consists of two bright, bluish stars. On a clear, dark night, these stars…

Obscured by a hazy atmosphere 100 times thicker than Earth's, Venus is a notoriously difficult world to study. Ground temperatures on Venus exceed 450°C (842°F)—enough to melt lead and to have quickly degraded the Soviet robotic landers last placed…

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in central China in late 2019 and subsequently spread across the world in 2020 led to the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergence of a previously unknown pathogen—such as the novel coronavirus—that could affect…

If you think converting seawater to fuels that can power ships is a fantasy, think again. Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., have, in fact, accomplished this feat. In addition, the U.S. Navy has received a patent…

During the past decade, the automotive industry has converted more than 50 percent of its internal combustion engines from a traditional technology called port fuel injection (PFI) to a new technology called gasoline direct injection (GDI). The…

There has been substantial progress in the fight against certain drug-resistant organisms that cause serious, often fatal, diseases. However, two drug-resistant microbes—specifically, Candida auris (a fungal yeast) and Acinetobacter (a genus of…

Sickle cell disease, also termed sickle cell anemia, is a genetic disorder in which hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, causes red blood cells (erythrocytes) to assume a rigid sickle shape, blocking blood flow within blood vessels. The disease results…

Researchers searching for a hypothetical fourth type of neutrino have found no evidence for the particle, according to a new study. Very low-mass and highly abundant, neutrinos are elementary particles that barely interact with the rest of matter.…

Astronomers have observed a galaxy from when the universe was only 1.4 billion years old that is remarkably similar to our Milky Way. Although lacking spiral arms like our galaxy, this distant galaxy does display a rotating disc and a starry,…

Fingerprint identification is a widely used forensic method for linking an individual to a crime scene. Investigators at a crime scene can find invisible (latent) fingerprints, which consist of natural skin oils, by "dusting" surfaces with carbon…

The earliest representatives of modern humans—those belonging to Homo sapiens—evolved from more archaic humans approximately 150,000–300,000 years ago in eastern Africa. During succeeding years, the geographical range of anatomically modern humans…

The ExoMars orbiter has detected a green glow emanating from excited oxygen molecules in the dayside atmosphere of Mars. The observations, gathered over a six-month period last year, confirm a four-decades-old prediction and represent the first time…

Life on Earth has been punctuated by a number of catastrophic mass extinctions throughout history. During these events, diverse taxonomic groups collapsed from the relatively rapid and widespread extinction of large numbers of species. Precipitated…

Heroin (C21H23NO5) is a white, crystalline powder synthesized from morphine, a natural alkaloid extracted from the seedpod of the Asian opium poppy plant, Papaver somniferum. It is a powerful opioid drug prepared by the addition of two acetyl groups…

A class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS) are particularly worrisome in the environment because they do not biodegrade. For this reason, scientists often refer to PFAS as “forever chemicals.” PFAS’s staying power…

Conservationists are alarmed by significant reductions in insect populations worldwide. Based on recent biodiversity surveys and entomological studies, scientists estimate that more than 40% of the world's insect species (class Insecta, phylum…

Highly energetic light emitted by aged stars causes asteroids to keep spinning faster and faster to the point of disintegration, a new study finds. The findings help explain why white dwarf stars—remnants of Sunlike stars—often have metallic…

Macrophages are large phagocytic cells that detect, engulf, and destroy foreign particles, microbes, and other pathogens. When nonmotile, they are often referred to as histiocytes. They reside in every tissue of the body and play major roles in both…

The majority of toxic pollution in the United States could potentially be eliminated by requiring a small number of extreme polluters to release pollutants at levels in line with those of comparable industrial facilities, according to a recent study…

Of the three extant elephant species, two inhabit Africa: the African bush or savanna elephant, Loxodonta africana; and the smaller African forest elephant, L. cyclotis. The African bush elephant is the largest living land mammal and is primarily…

With a miniature version of the kind of television antennas that often adorned rooftops before the advent of satellite and cable TV, researchers have demonstrated the conversion of electrical signals into light beamed in a particular direction. This…

Naturally ventilating a house, such as by opening doors and windows, has long been considered an effective strategy for exhausting indoor air pollutants. However, according to researchers reporting in the journal Science Advances (February 2020),…

A new study has shown that dangerous hydrogen-burning flames can persist in unexpectedly narrow spaces and with very low fuel volumes. The findings highlight potential challenges involved in the safe storage and transport of hydrogen gas, which…

Famously durable, diamond is the hardest natural substance that occurs in any significant abundance on Earth. Yet according to a new study, on the nanoscale—a scale size of just billionths of a meter—diamond can, in fact, be bent and deformed. This…

All of the many diverse breeds of dogs, including both domestic and wild dogs (wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, and dingoes), belong to the genus Canis in the mammalian family Canidae. One intriguing example of an obscure wild dog is the New Guinea…

Ground-level, or tropospheric ozone (O3), is a strong oxidizing agent that reacts with living tissue. Consequently, tropospheric ozone is considered an air pollutant and a respiratory irritant at low concentrations. At higher concentrations,…

Physicists recently reported the first indication of asymmetry in the behaviors of neutrinos and antineutrinos—subatomic particles that have zero electric charge and interact with matter almost entirely through the weak nuclear force. This type of…

A newly identified coronavirus, provisionally termed 2019-nCoV (an acronym for 2019 novel coronavirus) and subsequently named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in central China in November 2019. The disease caused…

Using old data from the NASA spacecraft MESSENGER, researchers have demonstrated how to measure the average lifetime of a neutron from space. This finding is important because, despite decades of efforts, physicists still cannot definitively say how…

Scientists have identified the earliest known fossil of a modern bird. The fossil remains—comprising an almost-complete skull and a few limb bones embedded in rock—were discovered in a limestone quarry in Belgium. Estimated to be approximately 66.7…

During the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, most restaurants and other dining facilities were shut down to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. By July 2020, however, indoor dining once again became an option for many…

A rare and very large area of severely depleted ozone (03) opened up in the stratosphere above the Arctic Circle in March 2020. Scientists attribute this ozone hole to the persistence of a very strong polar vortex (a jet stream that circles the…

In a surprising find, researchers have detected phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus. This poisonous, colorless, flammable gas is nonetheless considered a strong sign of life, or "biosignature." Biosignatures are gases or combinations of gases…

Since the start of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, doctors and epidemiologists have identified a number of underlying medical conditions that are significantly correlated with severe illness from COVID-19. One such notable…

As offices, schools, health clubs, restaurants, hotels, and other facilities gradually reopen after shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the public may confront yet another unmitigated health hazard: unsafe water from dormant or underused…

In response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic—which has dramatically affected the entire world, causing high morbidity, mortality, and massive social and economic disruption—and in addition to finding efficacious treatments for…

Over the course of history, smallpox has been among the most feared diseases of humankind. Caused by the variola virus (a DNA-containing member of the Poxviridae family) and spread by transfer through respiratory droplets during face-to-face…

Solar panels, also known as photovoltaic (PV) panels, convert sunlight to electricity and are thus often used for residential or large-scale power generation. Most PV panels presently in use have a life expectancy of 30 years. Because the bulk of…

Concrete is the most widely used construction material worldwide because of its versatility, strength, and durability. Applications range from roadways and dams to furniture and tiles. With proper manufacturing, reinforcement, and engineering…

Overwhelming fossil evidence of dinosaurs indicates that these reptiles inhabited terrestrial environments and were initially bipedal (two-footed). Then, as dinosaurs evolved, some became quadrupedal, walking on four legs. Other ancient nondinosaur…

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way serves as a unique laboratory for testing predictions of general relativity. In a new study, researchers report that a long-studied star—called S2 or sometimes S-02—moves in a rosette-shaped…

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is the world's largest living marsupial carnivore. For tens of thousands of years, this fierce animal could be found throughout the continent of Australia, as well as inhabiting the island of Tasmania.…

After a 40-year search, astronomers have identified the first star shown to pulsate on only one side. Many kinds of stars, called variables, undergo natural pulsations, or periodic changes in brightness that are visible across the whole star. The…

Molten iron rains from the evening skies of an exoplanet designated WASP-76b, according to a new study. WASP-76b is a gas giant—a large planet with a vast gaseous envelope, like Jupiter—located about 390 light-years from Earth. Astronomers used an…

Occurring in mammary glands and closely associated tissues, breast cancer is the most common cancer observed in women. For example, in the United States, approximately 1 in 8 women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of…

Members of the order Pristiophoriformes within the vertebrate subphylum comprise an unusual group of sharks. Collectively known as sawsharks, these marine fishes are distinguishable from other elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) by a number of…

Researchers from Drexel University in Pennsylvania, USA, have synthesized conductive and layered 2D materials known as MXenes (pronounced maxenes) using a water-free process. In doing so, scientists have opened up potential uses of MXenes as…

Poliomyelitis, more commonly called polio, is a devastating infectious disease of the central nervous system caused by the poliovirus (a type of enterovirus), which has three types in the wild (types 1, 2, and 3). Wild types 2 and 3 were declared…

Many trees in forests worldwide rely on natural fires to create growing conditions necessary to perpetuate the ecosystem, or to stimulate germination. However, for more than 100 years, humans have been suppressing frequent natural low-intensity…

The Ebola virus comprises a group of pathogenic agents that cause severe and deadly hemorrhagic fevers in humans and other primates. During 2014 and 2015, an Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa—predominantly, the countries of Guinea, Liberia, and…

The United Nations has proclaimed 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT2019). The same year also marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table, containing…

On July 20, 1969, the bulkily space-suited figure of astronaut Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of Apollo 11’s lunar lander, planted his boot in the Moon's gray dust, and declared: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."…

The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is a remarkable evergreen, treelike plant found only in the southwestern United States. It was named by Mormon settlers in the early 1800s. Upon seeing the limbs of this plant branching upwards to heaven, the…

Collectively, members of the class Amphibia are facing massive reductions in total numbers, and the overall biodiversity of amphibians across the globe is under threat. Scientists have determined that global climate change and habitat destruction…

Sea-level rise is caused by adding mass (water) and heat to the ocean. The Antarctic ice sheet represents a potentially large source of water. Knowing the speed and direction (velocity) at which the Antarctic ice sheet is flowing to the ocean is…

Researchers recently discovered a black hole with a mass estimated at 3.3 times the mass of the Sun, which is significantly less than the lowest-mass black holes previously detected with approximately 5 times the Sun's mass. The new finding opens…

The cancer death rate in the United States has fallen by 27% since 1991. According to the American Cancer Society, which compiled the data over a 25-year period from 1991 to 2016, a total of 2.6 million fewer individuals have died from cancer in the…

Charles Robert Darwin (February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1882) is one of the most celebrated and eminent scientists of the past few centuries, with his broadest and most notable influence arising from his theory of evolution by means of natural…

An experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator, has revealed the first evidence for a phenomenon known as charge-parity (CP) violation in the decays of subatomic particles called charm quarks. The results…

Plastic is a ubiquitous and life-saving product, but it is also rapidly becoming a significant environmental problem. Globally, less than 10 percent of plastics are recycled, about 12 percent are incinerated, and the vast majority are disposed of in…

It has been a long-held belief that, as a result of hunting habits, early humans were partly or even primarily responsible for the decline and eventual extinction of most of the largest mammalian species that inhabited ancient Africa. These large…

Researchers from Rice University in Houston, Texas, United States, have found that climate change could potentially increase the size of stalled high-pressure weather systems (ridges) known as “blocking events,” according to global climate modelling…

For the first time, scientists have observed two molecules meeting and reacting to form new molecules. A team of chemists used lasers to slow down interacting molecules to temperatures far colder than outer space, enabling the team to observe a…

The critically endangered northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is a subspecies of white rhino that is on the brink of complete extinction, with only two individuals left in captivity and no known members reported in the wild. The…

Trees provide substantial benefits to the environment. In addition to improving air quality, reducing stormwater runoff, serving as a wildlife habitat, and sequestering carbon by absorbing carbon dioxide, trees also cool the atmosphere through shade…

A compound found in cranberries, called cranberry proanthocyanidin (cPAC), when used in combination with antibiotics, such as tetracycline, prevents resistance to antibiotics in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, according to researchers…

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—the global authority on the status of the natural world—estimates that approximately 5–10% of the world's insect species (class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda) are threatened and facing…

Sand is mined for many applications, but the largest use by far is for fine aggregate in concrete. Smaller quantities of sand are used for fracking, water treatment (filtration), metal casting, and making glass, silicon chips, and ceramics. Concrete…

Superposition is a confounding yet foundational principle of quantum physics in which a quantum system—for example, a group of subatomic particles or atoms—can exist in multiple quantum states simultaneously. For example, consider a coin that is…

After a decades-long search, astronomers have detected the signature of a molecule predicted as the first type to have ever formed in the universe. Called helium hydride and symbolized HeH+, this positively charged ion consists of a helium atom that…

At the Woranso-Mille paleontological site in northern Ethiopia, researchers have discovered a 3.8 million-year-old cranium (skull) belonging to a primitive hominin known as Australopithecus anamensis. Initially unearthed in 2016, but not reported…

Researchers recently announced the discovery of the farthest object ever identified within our solar system. Designated 2018 VG18 and nicknamed Farout, the object is located about 120 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, or 120 times the average…

Eastern equine encephalitis is a rare infectious viral disease that primarily affects humans and equines (horses, mules, donkeys, and zebras). It is caused by a mosquito-borne virus (arbovirus) that is native to the eastern half of the United…

A study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment (April 2019), comparing the differences in air pollution caused by automobiles powered by internal combustion (conventional) engines versus electric vehicles (EVs) powered by batteries,…

In a breakthrough for astronomy and physics, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has obtained a direct image of a black hole. The first black hole captured in this manner is a supermassive one at the heart of a nearby galaxy, Messier 87. Further study…

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid analgesic (pain reliever) that resembles morphine in its action. However, its drug potency is approximately 50 to 100 times more powerful than that of morphine, leading to high rates of both addiction and overdose…

Researchers have reached a key new milestone in the continuing search for worlds like Earth that could support life elsewhere in the universe. For the first time, water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet that resides within…

Photosynthesis is a key natural process utilized by plants and is necessary for proper plant growth. Specifically, photosynthesis uses light to manufacture chemical compounds, including organic compounds—primarily carbohydrates—that are derived from…

Researchers surveying ice loss from 650 glaciers across a 2000-kilometer (1240-mile) west-to-east expanse of the Himalayan Mountains reported in the journal Science Advances (June 2019) significant melting caused by global climate change over the…

All freshwater comes from precipitation over land, which is distributed on Earth as blue and green water. Blue water—that is, surface and groundwater—is stored as freshwater in lakes, streams, ice, and snow, as well as below ground. Green water is…

The four main blood types (blood groups) found in humans are A, B, AB, and O. Two particular antigens (A and B) determine the specific blood type—A antigen is present in type A blood; B antigen is present in type B blood; both A and B antigens are…

Progress continues in the attempt to master nuclear fusion—the phenomenon that powers the stars, including our Sun—for energy production here on Earth. Recent research has identified a previously unknown kind of heat burst that causes…

Although international shipping is critical to global trade, cargo ships are a major source of air pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. At present, atmospheric emissions from fuel oil-powered marine ships include sulfur oxides (SOx),…

Researchers Chi Ma of Caltech and Alan Rubin of the University of California at Los Angeles reported in the journal American Mineralogist (September 2019) the discovery in a meteorite of the first natural occurrence of the iron-carbide mineral…

Earth’s surface temperature is warming, and the Arctic region is warming even faster. Yet winters in the mid-latitudes of Asia, Europe, and the United States have been colder than average, thanks to blasts of record-breaking frigid air caused by…

After reports that June 2019 was the warmest June on record, July 2019 followed with the dubious distinction that it was the warmest month since atmospheric temperature record-keeping began in 1880, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and…

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), a type of monitor lizard belonging to the reptilian order Squamata, is a tremendously powerful carnivorous predator. The creature is indigenous to a small number of Indonesian islands, including Komodo, and…

Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina (United States) have developed a test for distinguishing lead isotopes found in coal fly ash from lead isotopes found in other lead-containing sources, such as paint. Fly ash is a fine particulate…

For the first time, researchers have coaxed a metal in a liquid state to convert into a state of matter known as a plasma. The results offer new insights into this fourth state of matter, which has its place beside the three commonly known states of…

Researchers have produced carbon chips from waste plastic bags for use in making anodes for lithium-ion batteries, according to a report in ACS Omega (December 2018). For the most part, it is very difficult to break down (depolymerize) plastics into…