Blog

High-tech genome mapping of coral species from Guam’s marine environment put scientists from the University of Guam’s Marine Laboratory at the forefront of coral reef research. Using the NextSeq 500, a newly installed genetic sequencer, UOG scientists are investigating how fragile coral reefs and marine ecosystems adapt to extreme environmental changes, including impacts associated with climate change such as warmer ocean waters, excessive sedimentation, and ocean acidification.??

A research group at Osaka University has developed an application which is designed to allow anyone with a smartphone or tablet device to study ancient Japanese characters Kuzushi-ji. By using this application, those who are unfamiliar with pre-modern Japanese books or learning Japanese historical and classical literature outside Japan may obtain ability in reading hentaigana and cursive-style kanji, which will promote utilization of Japanese classical books and historical materials by a wider range of people.

Trace contaminants in water are often measured by taking samples from the environment to a lab for analysis, which can lead to inaccurate results due to delayed and irregular sample collection or long-transportation and handling times. Thus, techniques enabling in-situ or real-time measurements of water contaminants are no doubt one of the major steps towards effective control of water quality.

Hacking for ransom is on the rise—on pace to beat out last year’s figures—and hits people where it hurts, locking them out of files, photos and critical records until they pay hackers a bounty to restore their access. Hackers bait users to click on infected email links or open infected attachments, or they take advantage of outdated and vulnerable systems.

As vegetable growers face a lack of skilled farm labor and higher production costs, they are searching for effective, lower-cost mechanical means of getting their products to market. In a study in the February 2016 issue of HortTechnology, researchers looked at the feasibility of using automated thinners in romaine lettuce production.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by University of Delaware professors Wei-Jun Cai and Mark Warner has successfully measured both pH and carbonate ion concentration directly inside the calcifying fluid found in coral, an important development in the study of how ocean acidification will affect marine calcifying organisms such as corals and shellfish.

James Umen, Ph.D., associate member at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and colleagues have discovered a protein that enables the single-celled green alga Chlamydomonas to count cell divisions, a process that is critically important for its cells to maintain optimal size. The findings were published March 25, in a paper titled, “A new class of cyclin dependent kinase in Chlamydomonas is required for coupling cell size to cell division,” in the open access journal eLife

A new dataset from researchers at Rice University and the University of California-Berkeley will allow international relations scholars to study the extent to which different types of foreign-policy change are associated with different types of leader transitions within countries.

Ideally, homeowners want to be warned if a burglar sneaks onto their property, and farmers want to know if horses or sheep are no longer in the paddock or field they were left grazing in. Experimental physicists at Saarland University have developed a flexible security solution that can be used in gardens, driveways, business premises, or on grazing land and in woodland

Astronomers using an orbiting radio telescope in conjunction with four ground-based radio telescopes have achieved the highest resolution, or ability to discern fine detail, of any astronomical observation ever made. Their achievement produced a pair of scientific surprises that promise to advance the understanding of quasars, supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies.