**New research reveals why and when the Sahara Desert was green**
A pioneering study has shed new light on North African humid periods that have occurred over the past 800,000 years and explains why the Sahara Desert was periodically green.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-reveals-sahara-green.html
**Understanding how cells avoid obstacles while navigating complex environments**
Imagine a dark room packed full of furniture. Now imagine moving through it to get to the other side, using only your toe tips for guidance. While it may seem challenging (or unspeakably tedious) to us, this is a task that many cells in our body perform regularly while migrating through tissues. New research from the Diz-Muñoz group at EMBL Heidelberg has now identified a novel molecular pathway that helps cells achieve this feat.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-cells-obstacles-complex-environments.html
**A novel method to obtain acetone in slow-cost, simple manner**
Acetone is an essential chemical industry input and is used in the manufacturing of a wide array of products, such as adhesives, antibiotics, electronic components, solvents and removers, inks and vitamins, among others. Its production is complex and hazardous. To simplify the process and make it safer and cheaper, researchers in Brazil and Germany have developed an innovative method that uses only light and photoactive iron chloride (FeCl3), an inexpensive chemical compound.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-method-acetone-slow-cost-simple-manner.html
**Study finds more Texas owls are testing positive for rat poisons**
New research suggests that owls in Texas have high rates of anticoagulant rodenticides (AR)—blood thinning rat poisons—in their systems. Jennifer Smith, a professor of integrative biology in the UTSA College of Sciences, co-authored a research article published recently in PLOS ONE, the world's first multidisciplinary open access journal.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-texas-owls-positive-rat-poisons.html
**Green growth loses favor with climate policy scientists**
Despite strong promotion of the green growth perspective by a variety of policymakers and international institutions, a new article led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) reveals widespread skepticism among climate policy researchers in high-income countries.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-green-growth-favor-climate-policy.html
**Titanic galaxy cluster collision in the early universe challenges standard cosmology**
A collision of two massive clusters of galaxies when the universe was half its current age should not have happened according to the standard theory of cosmology, says a new study by an international group of astronomers, including a physicist at the University of St Andrews.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-titanic-galaxy-cluster-collision-early.html
**Researchers unveil comprehensive database of published microbial signatures**
A new study published by researchers from the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health (ISPH) at CUNY SPH and colleagues presents BugSigDB, a community-editable database of manually curated microbial signatures from published studies.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-unveil-comprehensive-database-published-microbial.html
**Six decades of plankton decline sparks call to protect the foundation of the marine food web**
The decline in plankton abundance in the North East Atlantic over the past six decades should serve as a red flag to policy makers about the need to protect some of the planet's most critical forms of life, a new study has warned.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-decades-plankton-decline-foundation-marine.html
**Palm cockatoos whittle twigs to make drumsticks for tapping on tree limbs**
A pair of biologists at Australian National University, working with one colleague from the University of Queensland and another from James Cook University, has found that male palm cockatoos tap out unique rhythms on tree branches using custom-made drumsticks. In their project, reported in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, R. Heinsohn, C. N. Zdenek, D. Appleby and J. A. Endler studied the wild birds living in Kutini-Payamu National Park, Queensland.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-palm-cockatoos-whittle-twigs-drumsticks.html
**A novel approach for removing microplastics from water**
A new study led by Texas A&M AgriLife Research has identified what may be a novel biological approach for removing extremely small and potentially dangerous plastic particles from water.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-approach-microplastics.html
**Natural compound found in plants inhibits deadly fungi**
A new study finds that a natural compound found in many plants inhibits the growth of drug-resistant Candida fungi—including its most virulent species, Candida auris, an emerging global health threat. The journal ACS Infectious Diseases published the discovery led by scientists at Emory University.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-natural-compound-inhibits-deadly-fungi.html
**Chemists use nature as inspiration for a sustainable, affordable adhesive system**
Glue holds the world together. Without adhesives, much of modern human civilization—including our cellphones, cars, furniture, walls and the packages arriving on our doorstep—would simply fall apart.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-chemists-nature-sustainable-adhesive.html
**Mysterious family of microbial proteins hijack crops' cellular plumbing**
Many of the bacteria that ravage crops and threaten our food supply use a common strategy to cause disease: they inject a cocktail of harmful proteins directly into the plant's cells.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-mysterious-family-microbial-proteins-hijack.html
**New set of equations predicts hydrodynamic behavior of magnons in a magnet**
The term "quantum transport" may conjure images of a fantastic futuristic commuting option. In condensed matter physics, however, this is a fundamental concept in the hydrodynamics of electrons in solid and fluid materials.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-equations-hydrodynamic-behavior-magnons-magnet.html
**Devastatingly low Antarctic sea ice may be the 'new abnormal,' study warns**
For most of us, Antarctic sea ice is an abstraction—something far away we may have seen on a documentary. But the radiant white sheets of ice floating on the seas around the snowy continent are a crucial component of Earth's climate processes.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-devastatingly-antarctic-sea-ice-abnormal.html
**Study suggests negative actions cascade to third parties**
When individuals suffer a loss of resources due to the actions of others, they often aim to recoup these resources directly from those responsible.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-negative-actions-cascade-parties.html
**Scientists create process to upcycle plastics into energy-storage liquids using light-emitting diodes**
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have created a process that can upcycle most plastics into chemical ingredients useful for energy storage, using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a commercially available catalyst, all at room temperature.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-scientists-upcycle-plastics-energy-storage-liquids.html
**Protected nature reserves alone are insufficient for reversing biodiversity loss, researchers say**
Biodiversity is dwindling at a rapid pace across the globe. As one key remedy, we are protecting areas around the world, hoping that they will suffice to save what is left. While protected areas have undoubtedly contributed to slowing the overall biodiversity loss, it is unclear how well they work across multiple species concurrently. To explore this, researchers at the University of Helsinki examined changes in the occurrence of hundreds of species within and outside of protected areas.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-nature-reserves-insufficient-reversing-biodiversity.html
**New species of spiny mouse discovered in rainforest**
A new species of spiny mouse has been discovered in Ecuador, making it the 14th of its genus to be identified in the past five years. Neacomys marci, which was previously confused with another species, is around the length of a tennis ball, with a long tail, pale suede belly fur and a white throat.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-species-spiny-mouse-rainforest.html
**Converting plant wastes into antimicrobial agents that could prevent pathogenic infections**
Nebraska researchers are converting plant wastes into antimicrobial agents that could help prevent pathogenic infections and death while significantly lowering the cost of antimicrobial treatments and being a boon to the bioeconomy.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-antimicrobial-agents-pathogenic-infections.html
**Researchers reveal dominant source of atmospheric mercury in the Arctic**
A research team led by Prof. Xie Zhouqing and Prof. Le Fange from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) revealed that the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) is a dominant source of atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), and proposed a mechanism for the summertime peak of GEM in the Arctic. Their work was published in Nature Communications.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-reveal-dominant-source-atmospheric-mercury.html
**Scientists reveal twisting-untwisting-retwisting cycle of nanohelices**
Reversible nanohelix transformation is one of the most exquisite and important phenomena in nature. Nanomaterials rarely form helical crystals. Due to the irreversibility of the twisting forces studied so far, untwisting is more difficult than retwisting crystalline nanohelices. Therefore, many reversible twist transformations between two stable crystalline products are rare and require a sensitive energy balance. This reversible transformation of nanohelices has long been considered difficult to achieve.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-scientists-reveal-twisting-untwisting-retwisting-nanohelices.html
**Scientists find evolutionary clues while examining microbes in far-flung hot springs**
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists studied hot springs on different continents and found similarities in how some microbes adapted despite their geographic diversity.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-scientists-evolutionary-clues-microbes-far-flung.html
**Scientists develop a mathematical model to optimize the design of thermal protection systems for spacecraft**
Mechanics from St Petersburg University have developed a mathematical model that takes into account non-equilibrium processes occurring at high velocities in the gas flow and on the surface. This model can be used for detailed modeling of the interaction of gas with the surface of a spacecraft, which is extremely important when designing its thermal protection. The paper is published in the journal Physics of Fluids.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-scientists-mathematical-optimize-thermal-spacecraft.html
**Some spiders can transfer mercury contamination to land animals, study shows**
Sitting calmly in their webs, many spiders wait for prey to come to them. Arachnids along lakes and rivers eat aquatic insects, such as dragonflies. But, when these insects live in mercury-contaminated waterways, they can pass the metal along to the spiders that feed on them.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-spiders-mercury-contamination-animals.html
**Using lasers to choose and export single-cell cultures: An efficient upgrade to static droplet array tool**
Static droplet array (SDA) is a necessary and integral tool when it comes to high-capacity screening tests, or assays, for identifying and targeting specific cells or analytes (substances whose chemical composition is the target of identification). However, extraction and collection of the target droplets that contain unique analytes or cells from the SDA remains one major technical bottleneck that limits its broader application.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-lasers-export-single-cell-cultures-efficient.html
**Saturday Citations: Quantum coherence; rising coal emissions; 'more uses of snail mucus are being discovered every day'**
This first week of September, researchers reported on burned-out sharks, a method for maintaining quantum coherence and some positive market news for old-timey coal barons. Plus: Snail slime is really impressive if you look at it from a molecular standpoint.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-saturday-citations-quantum-coherence-coal.html
**Many people hate wasps, but research shows they're smarter than you might think and ecologically important**
Everybody loves bees, but their cousins the wasps often provoke a far less friendly reaction. The much-maligned insects often inspire fear, disgust or even the "kill it with fire" response.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-people-wasps-theyre-smarter-ecologically.html
**Simple actions can prevent ships from hitting marine animals in their path**
Simple actions can be taken to prevent the deaths of whales, sharks and other ocean giants caused by collisions with ships, argue David Sims and colleagues in a Comment published in this week's Nature. "Humanity and some of the world's most charismatic wildlife are on a collision course in the oceans," they write.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-simple-actions-ships-marine-animals.html
**Scientist shocks peers by 'tailoring' climate study**
In a controversial bid to expose supposed bias in a top journal, a US climate expert shocked fellow scientists by revealing he tailored a wildfire study to emphasize global warming.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-scientist-peers-tailoring-climate.html
**Conspiracy theories falsely link wildfires to 'smart cities'**
Disinformation about deadly wildfires in the United States and Canada has run rampant across social media, with posts falsely blaming coordinated arson, lasers—and plans to develop "smart cities."
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-conspiracy-theories-falsely-link-wildfires.html
**Hurricane Lee is charting a new course in weather and could signal more monster storms**
Hurricane Lee is rewriting old rules of meteorology, leaving experts astonished at how rapidly it grew into a goliath Category 5 hurricane.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-hurricane-lee-weather-monster-storms.html
**Study reveals human destruction of global floodplains**
A University of Texas at Arlington hydrologist's study in the Nature journal Scientific Data provides the first-ever global estimate of human destruction of natural floodplains. The study can help guide future development in a way that can restore and conserve vital floodplain habitats that are critical to wildlife, water quality and reducing flood risk for people.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-reveals-human-destruction-global-floodplains.html
**Almost 50 people missing after deadly Brazil cyclone**
Brazilian rescue workers were on Friday searching for almost 50 people still missing after a devastating cyclone unleashed torrential rain and flooding in the south of the country.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-people-deadly-brazil-cyclone.html
**These worms have rhythm: New imaging technique to observe active gene expression in real time**
There's a rhythm to developing life. Growing from a tiny cell cluster into an adult organism takes precise timing and control. The right genes must turn on at the right time, for the right duration, and in the correct order. Losing the rhythm can lead to diseases like cancer. So, what keeps every gene on beat?
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-worms-rhythm-imaging-technique-gene.html
**Virgin Galactic notches fourth spaceflight in four months**
Virgin Galactic on Friday announced it had sent three paying customers on an hour-long journey to space and back, racking up its fourth successful flight in as many months.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-virgin-galactic-notches-fourth-spaceflight.html
**Wildfire smoke from Canada continues to impact Kansas City's air quality. What do monitors show?**
Smoke from wildfires in western Canada has decreased over the Kansas City area, but air quality in the metro remained at unhealthy levels for some people by Friday morning, according to the website AirNow.gov.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-wildfire-canada-impact-kansas-city.html
**Refining biome labeling for microbial community samples**
In a study published in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology have introduced "Meta-Sorter," an AI-based method that leverages neural networks and transfer learning to significantly improve biome labeling for thousands of microbiome samples in the MGnify database, especially those with incomplete information.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-refining-biome-microbial-community-samples.html
**Scientists study distributed satellite cluster laser networking algorithm with double-layer Markov DRL architecture**
With the development of satellite networks, space-air-ground integrated networks, and the Internet of Things, the future giant constellations, high-resolution Earth observation, human-crewed spacecraft, space stations and other space-based information systems have put forward an increasingly urgent demand for large-capacity space networking and information transmission.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-scientists-satellite-cluster-laser-networking.html
**Why S-linked glycosylation cannot adequately mimic the role of natural O-glycosylation**
Protein glycosylation is one of the most important post-translational modifications that can be exploited to improve various aspects of therapeutic proteins and industrial enzymes. Different types of glycosylation have a variety of effects on protein properties and functions, and a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms can provide valuable guidance for rational glycoengineering of proteins.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-s-linked-glycosylation-adequately-mimic-role.html
**World falling dangerously short of climate goals: UN**
A world facing catastrophic climate change is perilously off course in meeting goals for slashing carbon pollution and boosting finance for the developing world, according to the UN's first official progress report out Friday.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-world-falling-dangerously-short-climate.html
**DART had a surprising impact on its target, according to recent observations**
After NASA's DART mission slammed into asteroid Dimorphous in September 2022, scientists determined the impact caused tons of rock to be ejected from the small asteroid's surface. But more importantly, DART's impact altered Dimorphos' orbital period, decreasing it by about 33 minutes.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-dart-impact.html
**Investigating why crowdfunding does not work well for social impact initiatives**
You've seen it online: crowdfunding for just about any purpose you can imagine. From artists trying to fund a project to individuals trying to pay a difficult health care bill, thousands have used sites like Go Fund Me to reach a financial goal. Globally, crowdfunding is $1.1 billion dollar market, with average campaigns reaching $8K USD. In the case of social entrepreneurs, however, crowdfunding projects that address a social issue take longer to reach their financial target.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-crowdfunding-social-impact.html
**Satellite texts help when farm advisors unavailable**
Digital tools such as satellite text alerts are helping Africa's smallholder farmers to increase productivity, even when there is a lack of on-the-ground farm advice, according to Daniel Elger, CEO of the Centre for Agricultural Biosciences International (CABI, the parent organization of SciDev.Net).
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-satellite-texts-farm-advisors-unavailable.html
**New behavioral system mapping shows key consumer behaviors needed to achieve a circular economy**
The Behavioural Roadmap to Circular Consumption, developed by Monash University's BehaviourWorks Australia, identifies where policy-makers and industry can intervene in the production–consumption cycle to create change, reduce Australia's material footprint, and encourage an efficient use of limited resources as the most effective way to confront the ongoing waste crisis.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-behavioral-key-consumer-behaviors-circular.html
**How to make color-changing 'Transformers' with polymers**
Shape and color changing are key survival traits for many animals. Chameleons can change their body to hide from predators, to reflect their moods, or even to defend their territory, while some soft-bodied animal-like octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish can change both their color and shape to signal or camouflage.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-color-changing-polymers.html
**Researchers reveal the hidden world of Toronto's urban predators, and their prey**
Raccoons may be Toronto's unofficial mascot, but the furry creatures that plunder our green bins are far from the only wild animals that live among us.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-reveal-hidden-world-toronto-urban.html
**Wild boar in a Hungarian forest may be key to protecting Europe's pig herds**
As African swine fever stalks the EU's biggest livestock population, researchers aim to deploy a vaccine to halt the disease's spread and shield millions of animals.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-wild-boar-hungarian-forest-key.html
**Australia's labor laws need updating now that remote work is here to stay, says professor**
Australia's employment laws and regulations must be updated to reflect the changing nature of work, with many people continuing to work from home long after the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-australia-labor-laws-remote-stay.html
**New research debunks the gender pay gap myth that 'women don't ask'**
For nearly two decades, the negotiation skills of working women have frequently been blamed for the gender pay gap. New research by Vanderbilt Professor Jessica A. Kennedy finds the gender difference in tendency to negotiate has now reversed, and the widespread narrative that women don't ask is outdated. While other measures are necessary to completely close the gender pay gap, the study also discusses how people who believe and adhere to the notion that "women don't ask" hinder progress.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-debunks-gender-pay-gap-myth.html
**Aotearoa's kelp forests at risk, study shows**
New research from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington shows warming waters are putting kelp forests in danger.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-aotearoa-kelp-forests.html
**The first climate strikes had an influence on Swiss residents, study finds**
A study by EPFL researchers found that Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future climate strikes have influenced the environmental behavior of Swiss residents.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-climate-swiss-residents.html
**Synthesis of nanoparticles by microorganisms: Exploring the green power of fungi**
They are used as medicines, drug carriers and to combat microbes in hospitals, destroy plant pathogens and reduce the amount of traditional fertilizers used in agriculture—nanoparticles are taking over medicine and the agri-food industry.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-synthesis-nanoparticles-microorganisms-exploring-green.html
**Chimpanzees are not pets, no matter what social media tells you**
Trading wild chimpanzees, including their meat and body parts, is illegal. And yet, social media influencers and companies still reap profits from sharing "cute" images and videos of chimpanzees and other primates poached from the wild. All the while, sanctuaries worldwide continue to receive orphaned victims of this illicit trade.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-chimpanzees-pets-social-media.html
**Researchers explain plant's medicinal power against COVID and glioblastoma**
Vibrant green leaves sprout from tall fragrant plants sitting neatly in two rows of terracotta pots in Valerie Sponsel's UTSA biology laboratory. One floor just above her is the chemistry lab of Francis Yoshimoto, who is extracting the plant's leaves for medicinal compounds. Soon, the researchers will meet with UTSA researcher Annie Lin, who will test the extracted compounds on cancer cells.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-medicinal-power-covid-glioblastoma.html
**Historically segregated parts of US cities found to have less bird data**
A trio of ecologists and environmental scientists from Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley and the USDA Forest Service, respectively, has found that parts of the United States that have been intentionally segregated over the past decades have less bird data available for study by ecologists.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-historically-segregated-cities-bird.html
**Inheritance of parental histones safeguards fate of mouse embryonic stem cells**
Researchers led by Prof. Gan Haiyun from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have documented the parental histones inheritance safeguard mechanism, in which parental histone allocation contributes to establishing chromatin states during cell differentiation through altering embryonic stem cell differentiation potential.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-inheritance-parental-histones-safeguards-fate.html
**Study hints at the existence of the closest black holes to Earth in the Hyades star cluster**
A paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society hints at the existence of several black holes in the Hyades cluster—the closest open cluster to our solar system—which would make them the closest black holes to Earth ever detected.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-hints-closest-black-holes-earth.html
**Beaver activity in the Arctic linked to increased emission of methane greenhouse gas**
The climate-driven advance of beavers into the Arctic tundra is likely causing the release of more methane—a greenhouse gas—into the atmosphere.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-beaver-arctic-linked-emission-methane.html
**Where's the trust? US climate deniers have no faith in university researchers**
U.S. voters who don't trust universities are also more likely to believe that human activity doesn't cause climate change, a new collaborative study from researchers at the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) revealed in PLOS Climate.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-climate-deniers-faith-university.html
**Big fish are getting smaller, and little fish are replacing them, says new research**
Organisms are becoming smaller through a combination of species replacement, and changes within species, according to new research led by the University of St Andrews.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-big-fish-smaller.html
**Table salt offers a safe, inexpensive and reusable pathway to recovering useful products from plastic waste**
Muhammad Rabnawaz, an associate professor in Michigan State University's School of Packaging and recent inductee into the National Academy of Inventors, has always believed that the most brilliant solution is also the simplest.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-table-salt-safe-inexpensive-reusable.html
**Using lignin and a catalyst to create an alternative to bisphenol A (BPA)**
A team of microbiologists and chemists at the Center for Sustainable Catalysis and Engineering, working with colleagues from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research and Rheology and Technology (SMaRT), KU Leuven, all in Belgium, has developed a replacement for bisphenol A, a compound used to make plastics.
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-lignin-catalyst-alternative-bisphenol-bpa.html
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