The genes for apoptosis reminded Kaczanowski and Zielenkiewicz of an arms race between a predator and its prey. In their new paper, they speculated that they might be holdovers from the tools evolved by a prey organism, presumably the original mitochondrial bacterium, to defend itself. Maybe, once caught inside our ancient ancestor, apoptotic proteins became… Continue reading Cellular Self-Destruction May Be Ancient. But Why?
Category: Quantum Stuff
The Science behind Humpback Whales’ Eerie Songs
Devin Farmiloe: Those are the haunting melodies of baleen whales reverberating through the ocean waves. Many people across the globe are familiar with the 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale, produced by biologist Roger Payne. While I am a little too young to have caught its release, I remember seeing the CD for sale… Continue reading The Science behind Humpback Whales’ Eerie Songs
A Wild Claim about the Powers of Pi Creates a Transcendental Mystery
Pi (π) is probably the most famous number in mathematics. Not only have experts studied it extensively, but it also fascinates amateurs: books, films and songs have been dedicated to the number. Part of its appeal may be that even though it describes the circle, one of the simplest and most symmetrical geometric objects, it… Continue reading A Wild Claim about the Powers of Pi Creates a Transcendental Mystery
Groundwater Is Declining Globally, but There Are Hopeful Exceptions
January 24, 2024 3 min read Groundwater Is Declining Globally, but There Are Hopeful Exceptions The most detailed global look at groundwater yet shows a lot of loss but also stories of success in restoring some aquifers By Stephanie Pappas Groundwater-fed irrigation of maize in Kabwe, Zambia. In 1997 Union County in southern Arkansas faced… Continue reading Groundwater Is Declining Globally, but There Are Hopeful Exceptions
New Breakthrough Brings Matrix Multiplication Closer to Ideal
That’s where Strassen’s laser method finally comes into play. “The laser method typically works very well and generally finds a good way to kill a subset of blocks to remove the overlap,” Le Gall said. After the laser has eliminated, or “burned away,” all the overlaps, you can construct the final product matrix, C. Putting… Continue reading New Breakthrough Brings Matrix Multiplication Closer to Ideal
Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion
It was as if this ion channel were a dial that could twist one neuron type into the other. But what was actually different about this protein in the snake’s body and rattle? At first, the researchers thought that rattle motor neurons must have extra KV72/3 potassium channels. If the rattle neurons had more channels,… Continue reading Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion
A Multitalented Scientist Seeks the Origins of Multicellularity
You did your postdoc with the zoologist Michael Akam at Cambridge. In an era when biochemistry predominates, the study of whole animals can sometimes seem like a throwback to another century. Why did you choose it? Because I wanted to take the findings in my dissertation to the next step. The dissertation examined how germ… Continue reading A Multitalented Scientist Seeks the Origins of Multicellularity
A New Agenda for Low-Dimensional Topology
Kirby has historically been a skeptic of the existence of structural biases in mathematics, including regarding the field’s gender imbalance. In the 1970s, about 10% of mathematicians were women; today almost 30% are, according to a 2020 report by the International Science Council. In an article that he wrote in the 1990s, and which was… Continue reading A New Agenda for Low-Dimensional Topology
The Opioid Crisis Is Now Being Tracked with Wastewater
Wastewater-based epidemiology, the process of monitoring health indicators through sewage, has become a common way to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. But before 2020 scientists were using the technology to follow a different public health threat: the opioid crisis. Just as sewage data can fill gaps in SARS-CoV-2 tracking, this… Continue reading The Opioid Crisis Is Now Being Tracked with Wastewater
Climate Concern Grows Nationwide, Even in Some Republican States
CLIMATEWIRE | American voters are increasingly concerned about global warming, a new national public opinion analysis found, but that hasn’t changed the deeply partisan lens through which voters still view climate policy. The 2023 Yale Climate Opinion Maps report released Tuesday found that two-thirds of Americans agree that “developing clean energy should be a priority for the president… Continue reading Climate Concern Grows Nationwide, Even in Some Republican States