Lifeboat Foundation

“There has been extensive talk about how larger trees respond to the effects of climate change,” said Dr. Thomas Murphy. “But these results show we need to factor in the response of young trees as well, especially if they are being envisioned as an integral part of the solution.”

Can climate change be fought using saturated soils, and what impacts would these soils have on newly planted trees? This is what a recent study published in Forest Ecology and Management hopes to address as a team of researchers from the University of Plymouth investigated how various soil saturation levels could influence the survival rates of newly planted trees meant to combat climate change. This study holds the potential to help scientists, conservationists, and legislators better understand the steps that can be taken to combat climate change without causing further harm to the environment.

The study involved planting acorns in four different soils: totally flooded, high saturation, medium saturation, and low saturation, with the water levels being just over eight-and-a-half inches (220 millimeters) beneath the acorns. In the end, the researchers discovered a zero-survivability rate for the totally flooded acorns while finding increased survivability rates for high saturation, medium saturation, and low saturation at 43 percent, 77 percent, and 83 percent, respectively. For the higher saturated acorns, the researchers also found decreased levels of leaf photosynthesis, root: shoot ratio, and decreased chances of late season shoot growth, as well.

Continue reading “The Impact of Soil Saturation on Woodland Creation: Insights from UK Uplands” »

To do this, hydrogen ions are first generated, extremely accelerated in an electric field, and then neutralized to enter in the magnetic cage of the ITER tokamak where the plasma is confined. Such a powerful NBI heating—two particle beams are to deliver 16.5 megawatts each—has never been built before.

The aim of the Max Planck ELISE experiments is to generate a hydrogen ion beam with a reliably high current density and demonstrate quasicontinuous operation. The ion source of ELISE is half the size of the ion source for ITER.

What it means: The record ion current density means that ELISE has already achieved the ITER target, even though only a maximum of 75 percent of the high-frequency power available at ITER is available to generate the ion source plasma at the experimental testing facility.

A pressure of 3,000 bar is applied to the cold shock protein B of Bacillus subtilis in a small tube in the NMR spectroscopy laboratory at the University of Konstanz. This is roughly three times the water pressure at the deepest point of the ocean. The pressure is so intense that the highly dynamic protein shows structural features that would not be sufficiently visible under normal pressure. But why do scientists apply such high pressure, which does not occur anywhere else on our planet under natural conditions? The answer is: To study processes and properties that are too volatile to be observed under normal conditions.

“This high pressure allows us to make states visible that actually do exist at 1 bar, but which we can only observe directly at 3,000 bar”, explains Frederic Berner, University of Konstanz. Literally “under high pressure”, the doctoral researcher investigates the properties of a protein determined by its structure, and how changes in the structure in turn influence its properties. In the research group Physical Chemistry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance at the University of Konstanz, led by Michael Kovermann, he recently implemented a new method for analyzing the structural properties of proteins at 3,000 bar with as little influence as possible from surrounding effects. The two researchers now present their new methodological approach in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

A ‘cage of cages’ is how scientists have described a new type of porous material, unique in its molecular structure, that could be used to trap carbon dioxide and another, more potent greenhouse gas.

Synthesized in the lab by researchers in the UK and China, the material is made in two steps, with reactions assembling triangular prism building blocks into larger, more symmetrical tetrahedral cages – producing the first molecular structure of its kind, the team claims.

The resulting material, with its abundance of polar molecules, attracts and holds greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) with strong affinity. It also showed excellent stability in water, which would be critical for its use in capturing carbon in industrial settings, from wet or humid gas streams.

Hysata raised $111 million from investors including BP to scale its technology, which could help lower the cost of the clean-burning fuel.

The Astribot S1 has shocked the tech world with its uncanny ability to move like a real person.

If you weren’t wary of robots before, you might soon find yourself reconsidering.

Continue reading “China’s Astribot S1 shocks the world with human-like moves” »

A 20-second video from inside a Chinese humanoid robot factory is causing some consternation today around social media. It shows a range of highly realistic-looking, partially skinned humanoids under construction.

The video, uploaded by user ‘meimei4515,’ is uncredited, but shows several moving androids with human-like hair and skin – in stark contrast to most of the general-purpose humanoids we’d normally cover, which are designed to look like robots, rather than trying to fool anyone.

Continue reading “Chinese humanoid factory video plunges back into the uncanny valley” »

New research reveals the potential link between memory formation and elemental interactions in the mind.

The archaeological landscape is rarely static. Discoveries continuously shift our understanding of the past, forcing us to redraw the boundaries of what we thought was possible or likely. A recent find on ancient woodworkings at Kalambo Falls, Zambia, is a prime example – it introduces us to early hominin builders with unexpected skills, operating long before the rise of Homo sapiens.

The unique conditions at Kalambo Falls were instrumental in the extraordinary preservation of ancient woodworking artifacts.

The site’s lush vegetation, sustained by a reliable water source, provided the necessities of life, making it a consistently appealing location for various hominin species across vast stretches of time. This long-term occupation increased the likelihood of artifacts being left behind.