Based on fundamental research, a new startup is upending decades-old approaches for the way the world extracts lithium and other materials.
A new way to deliver disease-fighting proteins throughout the brain may improve the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, according to scientists. By engineering human immune cells called microglia, the researchers have created living cellular 'couriers' capable of responding to brain pathology and releasing therapeutic agents exactly where needed.
To protect against rising sea levels in a warming world, coastal cities typically follow a standard playbook with various protective infrastructure options. For example, a seawall could be designed based on the latest climate projections, with the city officials then computing its cost-benefit ratio and proceeding to build, accordingly. The problem? Future climate conditions might differ substantially from the used projections, according to a civil engineering doctoral student.
New insights into the mechanisms that cause more severe cases of schistosomiasis -- a disease caused by parasitic worms and second only to malaria in terms of potential harm -- have been revealed.
Farmers apply nitrogen fertilizers to crops to boost yields, feeding more people and livestock. But when there's more fertilizer than the crop can take up, some of the excess can be converted into gaseous forms, including nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that traps nearly 300 times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. About 70% of human-caused nitrous oxide comes from agricultural soils, so it's vital to find ways to curb those emissions.
Insecticides can help protect crops against troublesome pests, but they also pose a risk for beneficial insects such as pollinators. A new study provided insight into how even sublethal doses of insecticides can negatively affect pollinators by disrupting the mating process.
If there was a contest for biggest female bullies of the animal world, lemurs would be near the top of the list. It's the ladies who get their way and keep males in line. In one branch of the lemur family tree, however, some species have evolved to have more harmonious relationships. New findings suggest that this amiable shift was driven by changes in the 'love hormone' oxytocin inside their brains.
Microplastics, tiny plastic particles found in everyday products from face wash to toothpaste, are an emerging threat to health and ecology, prompting a research team to identify what keeps them trapped in stream ecosystems.
In a new study, researchers used more than 5 million measurements from individual trees across much of eastern North America and showed the rate at which introduced species are spreading has increased over the last two decades. Additionally, native tree diversity is on the decline in areas where exotic species originally introduced by humans have encroached.
Across the United States, 58% of counties have no active air-quality monitoring sites, according to a new study. Rural counties, especially those in the Midwest and South, are less likely to have air-quality monitoring sites, which could impede pollution estimations and impact public health, the team said.
As farmers debate whether fields should be used for agriculture or solar panels, new research says the answer could be both. Scientists analyzed remote sensing and aerial imagery to study how fields have been used in California for the last 25 years. Using databases to estimate revenues and costs, they found that farmers who used a small percentage of their land for solar arrays were more financially secure per acre than those who didn't.
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