Red light put moths in the mood

Mangrove forests with greater species diversity can store more carbon, according to new research published in the British Ecological Society journal Functional Ecology. Researchers studying mangrove forests in Hainan Island, China, have found that species diversity in mangrove forests enhances both biomass production (the quantity of organic matter) and soil carbon storage. The findings highlight the impotence of conserving mangrove biodiversity as a nature-based solution to mitigate climate change. The East side of the island was found to have the highest mangrove biomass, diversity and carbon storage, with a mean of 537 tonnes of carbon per hectare (Mg C ha-1). ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Feb 24, 2021)--The aging population combined with increasing obesity rates has resulted in more women experiencing pelvic organ prolapse. Common treatment options include pelvic reconstructive surgery or the use of pessaries to prop up descending organs. A new study evaluated the long-term effectiveness of pessaries, as well as reasons why women discontinued their use. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). Despite the fact that vaginal pessaries have existed in some form for thousands of years to help treat pelvic organ prolapse, few studies have been published regarding their long-term use and effectiveness. Pessaries are devices inserted into the vagina ...

Organic molecules that capture photons and convert these into electricity have important applications for producing green energy. Light-harvesting complexes need two semiconductors, an electron donor and an acceptor. How well they work is measured by their quantum efficiency, the rate by which photons are converted into electron-hole pairs. Quantum efficiency is lower than optimal if there is "self-quenching", where one molecule excited by an incoming photon donates some of its energy to an identical non-excited molecule, yielding two molecules at an intermediate energy state too low ...

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Ancestry estimation -- a method used by forensic anthropologists to determine ancestral origin by analyzing bone structures -- is rooted in "race science" and perpetuates white supremacy, according to a new paper by a forensic anthropologist at Binghamton University, State University of New York. By themselves, bones seem somewhat uniform to the untrained eye. They lack the traits we so often use to categorize fellow humans: hair texture, the shape of nose and eye, skin pigmentation. Forensic anthropologists know that race isn't based in biological fact, but in a history and culture that assigns meaning to physical traits that occur among different ...

Carbon nanotubes are tiny. They can be a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair. But they have huge potential. Products manufactured using carbon nanotubes include rebar for concrete, sporting goods, wind turbines, and lithium batteries, among others. Potential uses of carbon nanotubes could extend to diverse fields, such as agriculture, biomedicine and space science. But as we use more carbon nanotubes to make things, we also increase the chances that these nanotubes enter different environments and ecosystems. "That makes it important to understand how ...

February 24, 2021 - The second study published in as many months has identified another reason to add more mushrooms to the recommended American diet. The new research , published in Food & Nutrition Research (February 2021), examined the addition of mushrooms to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Patterns resulting in the increase of several micronutrients including shortfall nutrients, while having a minimal to zero impact on overall calories, sodium or saturated fat. Dr. Victor L. Fulgoni III and Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal looked at the nutritional ...

Small changes to people's writing style can reveal which social group they "belong to" at a given moment, new research shows. Groups are central to human identity, and most people are part of multiple groups based on shared interests or characteristics - ranging from local clubs to national identity. When one of these group memberships becomes relevant in a particular situation, behaviour tends to follow the norms of this group so that people behave "appropriately". The new study - by the University of Exeter, Imperial College London, University College London and Lancaster University - demonstrates that group normative behaviour is reflected in a person's writing style. It also shows that assessing ...

New research has highlighted the value of recycling general anaesthetic used in routine operations. In the UK, healthcare accounts for more than five per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions, and as much as 10 per cent in the US. Inhaled general anaesthetics are particularly potent greenhouse gases and as little is metabolised almost all that is administered is breathed out to end up in the atmosphere. The commonly used anaesthetic agents have been considered to vary considerably from as little as 1.5 for sevoflurane to more than 60 kg carbon dioxide equivalence for an hour's anaesthetic with desflurane. However, research led by a team from the University of ...

Researchers from University of British Columbia published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines whether and how the use of 'ugly' labeling for unattractive produce increases sales and profit margins. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled "From Waste to Taste: How "Ugly" Labels Can Increase Purchase of Unattractive Produce" and is authored by Siddhanth (Sid) Mookerjee, Yann Cornil, and JoAndrea Hoegg. According to a recent report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (2020), each year in the U.S. farmers throw away up to 30% of their crops, equal to 66.5 million tons of edible produce, ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - New technology from Purdue University and Indiana University School of Medicine innovators may one day help patients who suffer devastating vocal injuries from surgery on the larynx. A collaborative team consisting of Purdue biomedical engineers and clinicians from IU has tissue-engineered component tissue replacements that support reconstruction of the larynx. The team's work is published in The Laryngoscope. The larynx is a very complex human organ consisting of outer cartilage for structural support, inner muscle that contracts to permit voicing, swallowing, and breathing, and inner vibratory lining. Currently, thousands of patients each year with laryngeal cancer ...