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Male seahorse gives birth

Why Evolution is True Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 12:02pm

Seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) which are fish, have an unusual reproductive system. The males get “pregnant”, meaning that they carry the eggs, which are deposited in the male’s pouch by the female and then fertilized there. (Note: this doesn’t mean that seahorse males are “females”, or that there are more than two sexes!)  We don’t really know why males gestate the eggs, but we do know that females produce eggs faster than males can gestate them. This means that, unlike most animals, females compete for the attention of males.  Here’s a birth; National Geographic says that 2,000 babies are being born. Wikipedia says that the babies can be as few as 5 or as many as 25.

That’s your biology of the day; and I am sorry that for the next few days I won’t be posting much.

 

Categories: Science

Unlocking the secrets of superfluid: Scientists unveil how dipolar interactions shape two-dimensional superfluid behavior

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:52am
An international team of physicists has made a significant observation of the BKT phase transition in a 2D dipolar gas of ultracold atoms. This groundbreaking work marks a major milestone in understanding how 2D superfluids behave with long-range and anisotropic dipolar interactions.
Categories: Science

New hybrid materials as efficient thermoelectrics

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:52am
An international team has succeeded in producing new, efficient thermoelectric materials that could compete with state-of-the-art materials, offering greater stability and lower cost.
Categories: Science

A new take on the abilities of hydrogen binding energy for use in single atom catalysts

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:52am
Conventional thinking holds that the metal site in single atom catalysts (SACs) has been a limiting factor to the continued improvement of the design and, therefore, the continued improvement of the capability of these SACs. More specifically, the lack of outside-the-box thinking when it comes to the crucial hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), a half-reaction resulting in the splitting of water, has contributed to a lack of advancement in this field. New research emphasizes the importance of pushing the limits of the metal site design in SACs to optimize the HER and addressing the poisoning effects of HO* and O* that might affect the reaction. All of these improvements could lead to an improved performance of the reaction, which can make sustainable energy storage or hydrogen production more available.
Categories: Science

Green hydrogen: A cage structured material transforms into a performant catalyst

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:52am
Clathrates are characterized by a complex cage structure that provides space for guest ions too. Now a team has investigated the suitability of clathrates as catalysts for electrolytic hydrogen production with impressive results: the clathrate sample was even more efficient and robust than currently used nickel-based catalysts. They also found a reason for this enhanced performance. Measurements at BESSY II showed that the clathrates undergo structural changes during the catalytic reaction: the three-dimensional cage structure decays into ultra-thin nanosheets that allow maximum contact with active catalytic centers.
Categories: Science

Researchers demonstrate new class of quantum materials that are both metallic and one-dimensional

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:52am
A study has found a rare form of one-dimensional quantum magnetism in a metallic compound, offering evidence into a phase space that has remained, until now, largely theoretical. The study comes at a time of growing global interest in quantum materials that redefine the boundaries between magnetism, conductivity, and quantum coherence.
Categories: Science

Researchers demonstrate new class of quantum materials that are both metallic and one-dimensional

Computers and Math from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:52am
A study has found a rare form of one-dimensional quantum magnetism in a metallic compound, offering evidence into a phase space that has remained, until now, largely theoretical. The study comes at a time of growing global interest in quantum materials that redefine the boundaries between magnetism, conductivity, and quantum coherence.
Categories: Science

Tying light from lasers into stable 'optical knots'

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:51am
Scientists have demonstrated a sort of holographic strip that splits a single laser beam into five bespoke beams that create an optical knot. The work shows that optical knots could be used as a reliable method to transmit encoded information or to measure turbulence in pockets of air.
Categories: Science

A cool fix for hot chips: Advanced thermal management technology for electronic devices

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:49am
Researchers have demonstrated a significant performance increase in cooling technology for high-power electronic devices. They designed novel capillary geometries that push the boundaries of thermal transfer efficiency. This study could play a crucial role in the development of next-generation technology.
Categories: Science

A cool fix for hot chips: Advanced thermal management technology for electronic devices

Computers and Math from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:49am
Researchers have demonstrated a significant performance increase in cooling technology for high-power electronic devices. They designed novel capillary geometries that push the boundaries of thermal transfer efficiency. This study could play a crucial role in the development of next-generation technology.
Categories: Science

Curiosity rover finds large carbon deposits on Mars

Space and time from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:49am
Research from NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient Mars.
Categories: Science

Curved neutron beams could deliver benefits straight to industry

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:49am
Scientists have created the first neutron 'Airy beam,' which has unusual capabilities that ordinary neutron beams do not. The achievement could enhance neutron-based techniques for investigating the properties of materials that are difficult to explore by other means. For example, the beams can probe characteristics of molecules such as chirality, which is important in biotechnology, chemical manufacturing, quantum computing and other fields.
Categories: Science

Curved neutron beams could deliver benefits straight to industry

Computers and Math from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:49am
Scientists have created the first neutron 'Airy beam,' which has unusual capabilities that ordinary neutron beams do not. The achievement could enhance neutron-based techniques for investigating the properties of materials that are difficult to explore by other means. For example, the beams can probe characteristics of molecules such as chirality, which is important in biotechnology, chemical manufacturing, quantum computing and other fields.
Categories: Science

Magnetic Fields Can Map the Universe - Here's How

Universe Today Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 11:16am

Who knew that magnetic fields could be so useful?

Categories: Science

An Interesting Solution to the Hubble Tension: The Universe is Slowly Spinning

Universe Today Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 10:53am

Everything in the Universe spins. Galaxies, planets, stars, and black holes all rotate, even if just a bit. It comes from the fact that the clouds of scattered gas and dust of the cosmos are never perfectly symmetrical. But the Universe as a whole does not rotate. Some objects spin one way, some another, but add them all up, and the total rotation is zero. At least that's what we've thought. But a new study suggests that the Universe does rotate, and this rotation solves the big mystery of cosmology known as the Hubble tension.

Categories: Science

Will we ever have confirmation of life outside our solar system?

New Scientist Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 9:07am
The report of possible biosignatures on the exoplanet K2-18b is exciting, but we are a long way from establishing beyond doubt that there is life on such a distant world
Categories: Science

Excavation in Sudan shows Roman Empire wasn’t as mighty as it claimed

New Scientist Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 9:00am
When Roman Egypt came under attack from the Kushites in what is now Sudan, the Roman forces responded by destroying a Kushite city – or so we thought
Categories: Science

Does the shipping industry's plan for net zero add up?

New Scientist Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 7:00am
New global rules will see a carbon levy applied to emissions from shipping for the first time, but analysts say the package falls short of what is needed
Categories: Science

Readers’ wildlife photos

Why Evolution is True Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 6:15am

Today we have the birds of British Columbia by reader Paul Handford. His captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them,

I suspect that “endless mountains and forests” come to mind for many when envisioning what British Columbia, in Canada’s far west, but, as well as those dominant aspects of BC’s landscape, the south-central portion of the province, between the Coast and Rocky mountain ranges, is pretty dry, given that it sits in the rain-shadow caused by the Coast Ranges that capture much of the moisture from the moist air-masses that roll in off the Pacific Ocean.

Accordingly, this part of BC supports a mix of dry grassland and sagebrush at lower elevations— much of it along the river valleys— with woodlands and forest higher up.  So it’s a diverse region, and very beautiful— as is all of BC.

These pics are from around our home in the hills on the outskirts of Kamloops, and the surrounding area.

Bohemian waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus.  S. Thompson river valley:

Lazuli bunting, Passerina amoena.  Valleyview trails:

Western tanager, Piranga ludoviciana.  Barnhartvale:

Clark’s nutcracker, Nucifraga columbiana.  Barnharvale:

Common Raven, Corvus corax.  Dallas-Barnhartvale Nature Park:

Steller’s jay, Cyanocitta stelleri:

Chipping sparrow, Spizella passerina:

Dark-eyed Junco, Junco hyemalis:

Vesper sparrow, Pooecetes gramineus:

Pine grosbeak, Pinicola enucleator:

Red crossbill, Loxia curvirostra:

Tree swallow, Tachycineta bicolor:

Categories: Science

A classic hacking technique works on some quantum computers

New Scientist Feed - Thu, 04/17/2025 - 6:00am
Two independent research teams have developed methods for hacking noisy quantum computers based on a row-hammer attack, a type of interference used to infiltrate traditional computers
Categories: Science

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