Hundreds of sharks and rays tangled in plastic

University of Exeter scientists scoured existing published studies and Twitter for shark and ray entanglements, and found reports of more than 1,000 entangled individuals. And they say the true number is likely to be far higher, as few studies have focussed on plastic entanglement among shark and rays. The study says such entanglement – mostly … Read more

Camera brings unseen world to light

When the first full-length movie made with the advanced, three-color process of Technicolor premiered in 1935, The New York Times declared “it produced in the spectator all the excitement of standing upon a peak … and glimpsing a strange, beautiful and unexpected new world.” Technicolor forever changed how cameras – and people – saw and … Read more

Scientists discover the biggest seaweed bloom in the world

Scientists led by the USF College of Marine Science used NASA satellite observations to discover the largest bloom of macroalgae in the world called the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB), as reported in Science. They confirmed that the belt of brown macroalgae called Sargassum forms its shape in response to ocean currents, based on numerical simulations. … Read more

‘Eyes’ for the autopilot

Automatic landings have long been standard procedure for commercial aircraft. While major airports have the infrastructure necessary to ensure the safe navigation of the aircraft, this is usually not the case at smaller airports. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and TU Braunschweig have now demonstrated a completely automatic landing with vision assisted … Read more

Scientists invent fast method for ‘directed evolution’ of molecules

UNC School of Medicine scientists created a powerful new “directed evolution” technique for the rapid development of scientific tools and new treatments for many diseases. The scientists, whose breakthrough is reported in Cell, demonstrated the technique by evolving several proteins to perform precise new tasks, each time doing it in a matter of days. Existing methods … Read more

Murder in the Paleolithic? Evidence of violence behind human skull remains

New analysis of the fossilized skull of an Upper Paleolithic man suggests that he died a violent death, according to a study published July 3, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by an international team from Greece, Romania and Germany led by the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany The fossilized skull of a Paleolithic adult man, … Read more

11% of destroyed moist tropical forests could be restored to boost climate, environment

In a peer-reviewed report released today, researchers identified more than 100 million hectares of lost lowland tropical rain forests – restoration hotspots – spread out across Central and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia that present the most compelling opportunities for restoration to overcome rising global temperatures, water pollution and shortages, and the extinction of … Read more

Picturing access to energy for all in sub-Saharan Africa

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030. Access to electricity services is of course a key priority under this goal, particularly due to the strong interconnections it has with other development objectives. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the … Read more

Astronomers help wage war on cancer

Techniques developed by astronomers could help in the fight against breast and skin cancer. Charlie Jeynes at the University of Exeter will present his and Prof Tim Harries team’s work today (3 July) at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2019) at the University of Lancaster. A large part of astronomy depends on the detection … Read more