Tucson AZ (The Conversation) May 16, 2022 Journalists reporting on the status and future of the Colorado River are increasingly using the phrase “dead pool.” It sounds ominous. And it is. Dead pool occurs when water in a reservoir drops so low that it can’t flow downstream from the dam. The biggest concerns are Lake Powell, behind Glen Canyon Dam on the Utah-Arizona border, and … Continue reading What is dead pool? A water expert explains

Gottingen, Germany (SPX) May 16, 2022 Organisms adjust their cell walls according to environmental conditions such as temperature. Some adaptations involve changes in lipids which may still be preserved long after the rest of the organisms has been degraded. Researchers at the University of Gottingen studied a specific group of lipids called long chain diols which are found in sea sediments all over the world, … Continue reading Algae reveal clues about climate changes over millions of years

Munich, Germany (SPX) May 13, 2022 According to a new concept by LMU chemists led by Thomas Carell, it was a novel molecular species composed out of RNA and peptides that set in motion the evolution of life into more complex forms Investigating the question as to how life could emerge long ago on the early Earth is one of the most fascinating challenges for … Continue reading The origin of life: A paradigm shift

Cambridge UK (SPX) May 13, 2022 Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, England, has received funding of over half a million pounds to lead a major new study to investigate the impact of beavers as they spread northwards into the Arctic. The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) has been expanding its range in recent decades and this important research aims to understand the effects that … Continue reading Major study to examine beavers’ Arctic impact

Basel, Switzerland (SPX) May 13, 2022 The cerebral cortex is thought to be the seat of conscious processing in the brain. Rather than being inactivated, specific cells in the cortex show higher spontaneous activity during general anesthesia than when awake, and this activity is synchronized across those cortical cells. Improving our understanding of the neuronal mechanisms of general anesthesia could lead to better anesthetic drugshttp://dlvr.it/SQMbtK Continue reading When unconscious, the brain is anything but “silent”

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) May 13, 2022 Water scarcity is a growing problem around the world. Desalination of seawater is an established method to produce drinkable water but comes with huge energy costs. For the first time, researchers use fluorine-based nanostructures to successfully filter salt from water. Compared to current desalination methods, these fluorous nanochannels work faster, require less pressure and less energy, and ahttp://dlvr.it/SQMbrW Continue reading The future of desalination?

Bern, Switzerland (SPX) May 13, 2022 The genetic origins of the first agriculturalists in the Neolithic period long seemed to lie in the Near East. A new study published in the journal Cell shows that the first farmers actually represented a mixture of Ice Age hunter-gatherer groups, spread from the Near East all the way to south-eastern Europe. Researchers from the University of Bern and … Continue reading The genetic origins of the world’s first farmers clarified

Beijing (AFP) May 13, 2022 Chinese police are investigating a woman for allegedly starting “rumours” that Beijing will enter a three-day lockdown, officials said Friday, after the claims on social media prompted panic buying across the capital. China is sticking to a zero-Covid strategy to stamp out clusters as they emerge, hitting hundreds of areas across Beijing with some form of restrictions, including strict lockdhttp://dlvr.it/SQJ8Mw Continue reading Chinese police crack down on Beijing lockdown ‘rumours’

Los Angeles (AFP) May 12, 2022 A sudden and violent wildfire that tore through a luxury enclave in California destroying multi-million dollar homes in minutes was worsened by wind and the size of the properties, officials said. The blaze, which erupted on Wednesday, grew rapidly to engulf the community of Laguna Niguel, near Los Angeles. Around 1,000 homes were evacuated as the fire flared to … Continue reading Violent wildfire destroys luxury California homes

Paris (AFP) May 13, 2022 Rainfall that caused catastrophic floods and landslides last month in and around Durban, South Africa, was made twice as likely by global warming, scientists said Friday. An exceptional downpour – more than 35 centimetres (14 inches) over two days – on April 11-12 claimed hundreds of lives and caused $1.5 billion in damage across the provinces KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. … Continue reading Climate change made deadly S. Africa rains twice as likely