Cosmic dawn holds the answers to many of astronomy's greatest questions

Thanks to the most advanced telescopes, astronomers today can see what objects looked like 13 billion years ago, roughly 800 million years after the Big Bang. Unfortunately, they are still unable to pierce the veil of the cosmic Dark Ages, a period that lasted from 370,000 to 1 billion years after the Big Bang, where the Universe was shrowded with light-obscuring neutral hydrogen. Because of this, our telescopes cannot see when the first stars and galaxies formed—ca. 100 to 500 million years after the Big Bang.

Scientists are hanging rhinos upside-down from helicopters: Here's why

Each year, a selection of apparently weird and pointless scientific experiments receive the Ig Nobel Prize. Awarded by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the prize honors projects that "first make people laugh, and then make them think."

New pathway of the energy metabolism in peripheral tissues regulated by cytokine GDF15

A study published in the journal Cell Reports describes a new pathway related to the activity of receptors that are associated with several metabolic or cardiovascular diseases such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension. According to the conclusions, many antidiabetic effects of the activators of the PPARβ/δ receptors —potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of type 2 diabetes— are regulated by cytokine GDF15, a protein expressed under conditions of physiological stress.

South Pacific islanders stay afloat despite losing tourists

Although COVID-19 lockdowns severely affected the financial wellbeing of people dependent on tourism, the social, mental and physical well-being of South Pacific islanders living in the region's main tourist destinations actually showed improvements, according to a study.

New climate migration modelling puts a human face on climate impacts

New climate migration modeling work projects increased numbers of people moving within their countries in the developing world—as many as 216 million internal migrants by 2050. The modeling completes work for the World Bank that was released in 2018 as volume 1 of Groundswell. The Climate School's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) has once again partnered with the Bank, the CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research to model the remaining World Bank Regions. The completed work, now released in Groundswell Part II, focuses on three new regions—North Africa, Central America, and the Lower Mekong—and includes reviews of climate migration issues for small island developing states (SIDS) and the Middle East. The projected total of "climate migrants" by 2050 in the countries featured in Map 1 is between 48 million (at the low end of the climate friendly scenario) and 216 million (at the high end of the pessimistic scenario).

A journey into an Alaskan volcano

I'm writing this note from the Steadfast; an old 108 ft long crabber boat equipped with a helipad, crane, five state rooms, kitchen, living room, two skiffs, and a science laboratory. The ship was acquired by the Alaska Volcano Observatory and renovated to serve as a research vessel for assisting in volcano monitoring and fieldwork. The Steadfast has a calm charm to it and is smoothly run by Captain John Whittier, deckhands Angus and Mark, Kait the engineer, and Robert the cook.

Foraging habits and tactics, diet and activity levels reveal how two octopus species coexist

There are more than 300 species of octopus living in diverse habitats that span coral reefs, seagrass beds, sand plains and polar ice regions where they feed on lower trophic levels. Most famous for having eight arms (octopus comes from the Greek, octópus, which means "eight foot"), the behavioral ecology of these mysterious sea creatures, especially octopuses that share habitats, is important for understanding the role they play in community structure and biodiversity of an ecosystem. Coexistence has been well studied in many species, but seldom in cephalopods like octopuses.

Copying the small structures of Salvinia leaves

Several plants and animals have evolved surfaces with long-term (i.e., days to months) air-retainability to prevent wetting and submersion. One example is Salvinia, a plant floating on water. The secret "how do they maintain an air-mattress" has been unraveled by researchers.

Captured water, carbon dioxide from car exhaust could help grow food

What if both the water and carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from a vehicle's exhaust system could be captured and used for growing food? Repurposing these two wasted products would be a game changer for reducing the carbon footprint of roadway traffic and helping the agricultural industry feed a growing human population.

Fighting viruses with algae

When the coronavirus pandemic thrust the world into turmoil last year, a group of bioenergy researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) saw an unconventional way to fight the pandemic: algae.

Bandicoot species 'back from the brink' on Australian mainland

A small nocturnal marsupial that once roamed the Australian mainland has been brought back from the brink of extinction after a decades-long conservation effort, authorities said Wednesday.

Flash flood submerges southern French villages, fields

Emergency workers rescued or evacuated hundreds of people in southern France as flash flooding abruptly turned roads and fields into rivers and lakes.

Natural cycles in the Gulf of Alaska accentuate ocean acidification

New research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks shows that the fluctuations of major wind and ocean circulation systems can temporarily accelerate or reverse the rate of ocean acidification in the Gulf of Alaska.

Roads have far-reaching impact on chimpanzees

Roads have a negative impact on chimpanzee populations that can extend for more than 17 km, new research shows.

US startup aims to transform pet food with lab-made chow

Cloudy liquid bubbling in glass tubes is key to a US startup's hopes of remaking the pet food industry by growing nutritional chow in a lab.

SpaceX's first tourists all set for 'camper van' trip to space

The weather seems cooperative and the passengers are raring to go: SpaceX's first space tourists were a picture of calm Tuesday as they prepared to blast off on a three-day mission to orbit the Earth.

In first, SpaceX to send all-civilian crew into Earth orbit

Can four people who've never been to space before spend three days spinning around Earth after only a few months of training?

Five key facts on Inspiration4 space mission

SpaceX is set to launch four people into space Wednesday on a three-day mission that is the first to orbit the Earth with exclusively private citizens on board.

18 of 20 gorillas at Atlanta's zoo have contracted COVID

At least 18 of the 20 gorillas at Atlanta's zoo have now tested positive for COVID-19, an outbreak that began just days before the zoo had hoped to obtain a veterinary vaccine for the primates, officials said Tuesday.

Report: Most nations fall far short in plans to curb warming

Nearly every nation is coming up short—most of them far short—in their efforts to fight climate change, and the world is unlikely to hold warming to the internationally agreed-upon limit, according to a new scientific report.

Trouble in the English language primary classroom

When it comes to teaching English Language, our primary teachers are in trouble—and have been for a very long time.

Primate mothers may carry infants after death as a way of grieving, study finds

Some primate species may express grief over the death of their infant by carrying the corpse with them, sometimes for months, according to a new UCL-led study—with implications for our understanding of how non-human animals experience emotion.