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Phys.org / Threatened bumblebee populations in England and Wales face severe genetic declines
A new study reveals that an important pollinator is rapidly losing genetic diversity in Britain. Moss carder bumblebees were once widespread across the UK, living in flower-rich meadows, marshes and heathlands, where they ...
Phys.org / Endurance running or endurance diving—which came first?
A new study combines paleoanthropology and diving physiology to address a fundamental question in human evolution: Why did humans evolve their exceptional aerobic endurance? Did our ancestors begin endurance running to exhaust ...
Phys.org / Handheld scanner delivers lab-quality chemical composition maps using infrared light
Researchers have developed a compact, handheld mid-infrared imaging spectrometer that can produce high-resolution chemical maps of a sample without using stains or labels. With further development, the handheld device might ...
Phys.org / Earth's atmosphere is getting less dusty: That could be adding to global warming
Atmospheric desert dust has long swirled around the globe, but a new UCLA study presents the strongest evidence yet that global dust is mysteriously decreasing. Because atmospheric dust has a slight overall cooling effect ...
Tech Xplore / How AI models decide not to answer a question
Large language models (LLMs), the artificial intelligence (AI) systems supporting the functioning of ChatGPT, Gemini and similar conversational platforms, are often expected to answer queries, generate texts for specific ...
Phys.org / Beaver reintroduction improves peatland water storage and drought resilience
A study led by a doctoral researcher at the University of Liverpool has found that beavers may help restore degraded peatlands by keeping landscapes wetter and making them more resilient to drought.
Phys.org / How a simple game of 20 questions could help make AI fit for the future
Artificial intelligence programs used to classify images could be trained much more cheaply using a surprisingly simple method inspired by the childhood game of 20 Questions, according to new research posted to the arXiv ...
Medical Xpress / The body's warmth sensor is secretly a pain switch—blocking it may ease arthritis
Chronic pain, including arthritis pain, affects more than one-third of U.K. adults. Current painkillers such as methotrexate and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) work by damping down the immune system, which ...
Tech Xplore / Harvesting hot electrons could break solar panel barrier
Physics predicts that no more than 33% of the solar energy that falls on a solar panel can be converted into electricity. However, experiments and simulations by scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands ...
Tech Xplore / Chatbot gives teens first-hand experience of cybergrooming tactics without the risk of harm
Virginia Tech researchers are developing virtual tools to help teens protect themselves against cybergrooming. Using survey data from parents and teens and leveraging artificial intelligence, the research team created a chatbot ...
Medical Xpress / Making invisible cancers visible: A new route to turn 'cold' tumors 'hot'
One of the biggest challenges in cancer immunotherapy may not be that immune cells are too weak, but that some tumors give them too little to see. New research from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists reveals how cancers ...
Tech Xplore / A robot that shifts its own weight to cross land, steps, and water
A robot meant to inspect a coastline, a flooded street or a wetland can't count on one kind of ground. It might need to crawl over a hard surface, climb a bank, scale a curb or a step, then slide into open water, often within ...
