Tuesday 21 September 2021

Personality traits may drive our ideas about fairness and sharing

Disputes over fairness can create conflict. Families squabble over inheritances, societies polarize around the question of how to distribute wealth fairly, and nations become mired in territorial quarrels.

Moths use acoustic decoys to dodge bat attacks

In dark skies around the world there unfolds a nightly battle between bats and the nocturnal insects upon which they feast. You'd have thought bats, equipped as they are with echolocation, in which they navigate using sound, would have no trouble gobbling up the apparently clueless insects you see banging against your windows after dusk.

Bringing real-time, fine-scale, subsurface quality control to 3D printing

3D printing is revolutionizing manufacturing by wasting much less material and energy than that by conventional machining and production line assembly. Now, researchers from Japan have made a discovery that will help companies reliably make even highly complex 3D-printed products.

Scientists still don't know how far melting in Antarctica will go, or the sea level rise it will unleash

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest mass of ice in the world, holding around 60% of the world's fresh water. If it all melted, global average sea levels would rise by 58 meters. But scientists are grappling with exactly how global warming will affect this great ice sheet.

Facebook's algorithms fueled massive foreign propaganda campaigns during the 2020 election

An internal Facebook report found that the social media platform's algorithms—the rules its computers follow in deciding the content that you see—enabled disinformation campaigns based in Eastern Europe to reach nearly half of all Americans in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, according to a report in Technology Review.

Study: Increased heat-drought combinations could damage crops globally

Heat and drought events may coincide more often due to climate change, with negative consequences for agriculture, according to a new study. Crop yields often drop during hot growing seasons, and combined heat and drought can magnify the effect, say the authors. The study was just published in the journal Nature Food.

Pre-Kaikoura survey found gaps in Kiwis' tsunami awareness

A survey conducted on the North Island's east coast in 2015 found that despite a high level of public awareness of tsunami hazard, there was still plenty of room for improvement in public evacuation intention.

Pandemic has cultivated new segment of online learners

A newly released report from Wiley Education Services, a division of Wiley, suggests that not only did online learning gain traction during the pandemic, but a new segment of online learners emerged who tend to be younger and largely liked what they experienced. The report, entitled Voice of the Online Learner, lends insight on the impact of COVID-19 on the online learner, the growing demand from students that online learning connects to career outcomes, and top considerations for learners when choosing an online degree program.

Managing fisheries in a changing climate

Australian fisheries are now better equipped to plan for climate change thanks to a new adaptation handbook launched today at the World Fisheries Congress.

Alternative uses for cannabidiol bioproducts

The cannabidiol industry is booming. Produced by extracting non-psychoactive oils from hemp, the product is increasingly gaining acceptance as an alternative treatment to numerous health challenges.

Study shows benefit of employees managing themselves

More U.S. companies could benefit from encouraging and developing self-leadership in employees, a concept that allows workers to manage themselves instead of relying on supervisors, according to a new study from researchers at Florida Atlantic University.

Inhibiting targets of SARS-CoV-2 proteases can block infection, study shows

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have shown how SARS-CoV-2 viral proteases attack the host cell, and how this can be targeted to stop virus replication in cell culture using existing drugs.

Scientists develop the next generation of reservoir computing

A relatively new type of computing that mimics the way the human brain works was already transforming how scientists could tackle some of the most difficult information processing problems.

New AI tool accelerates discovery of truly new materials

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have created a collaborative artificial intelligence tool that reduces the time and effort required to discover truly new materials.

New Greece fire breaks out, prompting evacuations

A wildfire broke out in a Greek seaside town northeast of Athens on Monday, burning through brush and pine trees and causing precautionary evacuations, firefighters said.

NASA selects Moon site for ice-hunting rover

NASA on Monday announced it would land an ice-seeking rover on a region of the Moon's south pole called the Nobile Crater in 2023.

Firefighters race to protect giant sequoias in California fires

Hundreds of firefighters were battling to protect several groves of giant sequoias in the United States on Monday, warning the enormous ancient trees were at risk from out-of-control blazes.

Battling to 'replant' Albania's threatened marine forests

In the bay of Vlora on central Albania's coast, crystal clear waters sparkle in the sun but under the surface, it is a desert.

Nobody hurt but much damage in Spanish volcano eruption

Giant rivers of lava tumbled slowly but relentlessly toward the sea Monday after a volcano erupted on a Spanish island off northwest Africa, with prompt evacuations helping to avoid casualties.

Rates of infectious disease linked to authoritarian attitudes and governance: study

According to psychologists, in addition to our physiological immune system we also have a behavioral one: an unconscious code of conduct that helps us stay disease-free, including a fear and avoidance of unfamiliar—and so possibly infected—people.

Elephants benefit from having older siblings, especially sisters

A study of semi-captive Asian elephants in Myanmar has found that calves benefit from having older sisters more than older brothers. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology.