The key to sticking to and reaping the rewards of exercise over the long term may be as simple as doing something you enjoy, say the authors of a new study from UCL. Previous research has shown that the personalities of people who engage in different types of organized sport tend to vary. But what…
Fish make hanging motionless in the water column look effortless, and scientists had long assumed that this meant it was a type of rest. Now, a new study reveals that fish use nearly twice as much energy when hovering in place compared to resting. The study, led by scientists at the University of California San…
Melting glaciers may be silently setting the stage for more explosive and frequent volcanic eruptions in the future, according to research on six volcanoes in the Chilean Andes. Presented today (July 8) at the Goldschmidt Conference in Prague, the study suggests that hundreds of dormant subglacial volcanoes worldwide – particularly in Antarctica – could become…
During photosynthesis, an enzyme called rubisco catalyzes a key reaction — the incorporation of carbon dioxide into organic compounds to create sugars. However, rubisco, which is believed to be the most abundant enzyme on Earth, is very inefficient compared to the other enzymes involved in photosynthesis. MIT chemists have now shown that they can greatly…
Protein fragments managed to persist in the harsh conditions of Kenya’s Rift Valley Ellen Miller The fossilised teeth of 18-million-year-old mammals in Kenya have yielded the oldest protein fragments ever recovered, extending the record age for ancient proteins fivefold. Daniel Green at Harvard University, in collaboration with Kenyan scientists, found a variety of fossilised remains,…
“Space ice” contains tiny crystals and is not, as previously assumed, a completely disordered material like liquid water, according to a new study by scientists at UCL (University College London) and the University of Cambridge. Ice in space is different to the crystalline (highly ordered) form of ice on Earth. For decades, scientists have assumed…
Researchers have found clouds of cold gas embedded deep within larger, superheated gas clouds — or Fermi bubbles — at the Milky Way’s center. The finding challenges current models of Fermi bubble formation and reveals that the bubbles are much younger than previously estimated. “The Fermi bubbles are enormous structures of hot gas that extend…
A Los Alamos collaboration has replicated an important but largely forgotten physics experiment: the first deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion observation. As described in Physical Review C, the reworking of the previously unheralded experiment confirmed the role of University of Michigan physicist Arthur Ruhlig, whose 1938 experiment and observation of deuterium-tritium fusion likely planted the seed for…
Finding motivation to exercise can be the greatest challenge in working out. This might be part of the reason why less than a quarter of people achieve the activity goals recommended by the World Health Organization. But what if working out could be more enjoyable? One way of achieving this could be opting for types…
An artist’s impression of the moa, one of the largest extinct birds Christopher Klee/Colossal Biosciences Colossal Biosciences has announced plans to “de-extinct” the New Zealand moa, one of the world’s largest and most iconic extinct birds, but critics say the company’s goals remain scientifically impossible. The moa was the only known completely wingless bird, lacking…
