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Ranchers blamed the increased aridity for reducing the availability of pasture, which meant there was more competition for grazing between livestock and guanacos. As the area became drier, guanacos were thought to come down from the mountains in search for better grazing, coming into conflict with the herds of cattle. To reduce this problem, some ranchers wanted to cull the guanacos to protect their livestock. Traditional ranchers in central Chile use summer pastures in the Andes Mountain, where livestock graze in areas shared with wildlife....

Gravitational lensing occurs when light from a distant galaxy is subtly distorted by the gravitational pull of an intervening astronomical object. In this case, the relatively nearby galaxy cluster MACSJ0138.0-2155 has lensed a significantly more distant quiescent galaxy — a slumbering giant known as MRG-M0138 which has run out of the gas required to form new stars and is located 10 billion light years away. Astronomers can use gravitational lensing as a natural magnifying glass, allowing them to inspect objects like distant quiescent galaxies which would usually be too difficult for even Hubble to resolve....

With every new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that emerges to cause a surge in cases, a worrisome question also arises: Could the virus eventually arrive at a set of mutations that would enable it to fully evade our immune response? A new study, published in the journal Nature, suggests that it will be hard for the virus to get there. Studying dozens of naturally occurring and laboratory-selected mutations, including those found in Delta and other concerning variants, researchers found that a future SARS-CoV-2 variant will need to pack about 20 of the right mutations to become fully resistant to the antibodies that an average person generates in response to a coronavirus infection or vaccination....

Be it rising fuel prices or failures in electricity power grids, the consequences of global energy crisis are hard to ignore. The need for alternate fuel sources is greater than ever, but, despite the popularity of solar panels, a vast amount of solar energy goes untapped. Now, a multinational team of researchers explore existing research on covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a new class of light-absorbing compounds, as a potential solution for efficient solar-driven fuel production....

Black Americans, women, conservatives more hesitant to trust COVID-19 vaccine. Thirty-one percent of respondents to a Texas A&M-led survey said they don’t intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A survey of approximately 5,000 Americans suggests that 31.1 percent of the U.S. public does not intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available to them – and the likelihood of vaccine refusal is highest among Black Americans, women and conservatives....

Much has been learned about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the novel coronavirus, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, questions remain about the long-term impact of the virus on our bodies and brains. New research reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2021, held virtually and in Denver found associations between COVID-19 and persistent cognitive deficits, including the acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease pathology and symptoms. In addition to the respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms that accompany COVID-19, many people with the virus experience short- and/or long-term neuropsychiatric symptoms, including loss of smell and taste, and cognitive and attention deficits, known as “brain fog....

Foreseen drop in 2020 sales-related e-waste: 4.9 million metric tons or ~6.4%; Pandemic intensified digital divide between high, middle and low income countries. In the first three quarters of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a 30% fall in electronic and electrical equipment sales in low- and middle-income countries but only a 5% decline in high-income countries, highlighting and intensifying the digital divide between north and south, according to a new UN report....

The genetic material inside cells is organized into structures called chromosomes. The centromere is essential for the correct division of the chromosomes via interaction with spindle microtubules when cells divide and grow. Now, a study by researchers at Osaka University has clarified the structure of the centromeric region in chicken cells using a technique known as cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Cryo-EM freezes samples quickly to preserve and stabilize them, and then images them using collisions with electrons to reveal their structure....

Members of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team, including Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, squeezed in a little extra target practice after zapping the first fist-sized rock that was placed in the laser’s crosshairs last weekend. Much to the delight of the scientific team, the laser instrument has fired nearly 500 shots so far that have produced strong, clear data about the composition of the Martian surface. “The spectrum we have received back from Curiosity is as good as anything we looked at on Earth,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory planetary scientist Roger Wiens, Principal Investigator of the ChemCam Team....

The Proba-3 pair will fly at a nominal 144 m apart for coronal observations, while in addition performing formation reconfiguration maneuvers that will change their distance all the way down to 25 m, and up to 250 m. Testing of this sensor system to make this possible took place at ESA’s ESTEC technical center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, using its 230-m-long main corridor, which links project offices with technical laboratories and the establishment’s satellite Test Centre....

The growing number of adversaries able to build and operate quiet diesel-electric submarines is a national security threat that affects U.S. and friendly naval operations around the world. To address this emerging threat, DARPA recently awarded a contract for Phases 2-4 of its Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program to Science Applications International Corporation, McLean, Va. During Phases 2-4 the ACTUV program will attempt to design, construct and demonstrate an unmanned vessel that tracks quiet diesel-electric submarines for months at a time spanning thousands of kilometers of ocean with minimal human input....

According to research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association, consuming two or more cups of coffee daily may double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease for individuals with severe high blood pressure (160/100 mm Hg or higher), but not for those with high blood pressure that is not considered severe. The study found that the consumption of one cup of coffee and daily green tea did not increase the risk of death related to cardiovascular disease at any blood pressure measurement, despite both drinks containing caffeine....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Current Biology. Earlier this year, scientists showed that male fruit flies are more likely to turn to alcohol-laced food when they’ve been rejected by a female. In this new study, researchers fed the larvae of fruit flies alcohol-spiked food and then tested their ability to learn to avoid unpleasant stimuli. After consuming an amount of alcohol that would be mildly intoxicating to humans, equivalent to a 0....

The findings, published in the journal Primates, indicate that elephants exhibit a generalized interest in their dead, even after bodies have long decayed — and even if the elephants studied were not closely bonded to the dead individual. The most common behaviors observed were approaching the dead, touching and examining the carcass. Elephants also appeared to use their advanced sense of smell to identify dead individuals, and they were observed vocalizing and attempting to lift or pull fallen elephants that had just died....

The construction of artificial cells is a long-sought goal. Researchers from Yale University has made one step toward that goal, by creating a microelectronic device that controls the flow of ions through a nanometer channel that mimics the function of real cells. In this month’s issue of Nano Letters, graduate student Weihua Guan with his advisor Mark Reed, demonstrate a “nanoionic” device that performs the same function of an ion channel in a cell membrane, creating a “membrane potential” by selectively controlling the ion flow through the device, an abiotic analogue to voltage-gated ion channels in living systems....

The field of microfluidics involves minute devices that precisely manipulate fluids at submillimeter scales. Such devices typically take the form of flat, two-dimensional chips, etched with tiny channels and ports that are arranged to perform various operations, such as mixing, sorting, pumping, and storing fluids as they flow. Now the MIT team, looking beyond such lab-on-a-chip designs, has found an alternative microfluidics platform in “interlocking, injection-molded blocks” — or, as most of us know them, LEGO bricks....

The demonstration took place at Airbus’ X-Works Innovation Factory in Munich. Microwave beaming was used to transmit green energy between two points representing ‘Space’ and ‘Earth’ over a distance of 36 meters. The received power was used to light up a model city and produce green hydrogen by splitting water. It even served to produce the world’s first wirelessly cooled 0% alcohol beer in a fridge before being served to the watching audience....

The early solar system was a chaotic place, with evidence indicating that Mars was likely struck by planetesimals, small protoplanets up to 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) in diameter, early in its history. Southwest Research Institute scientists modeled the mixing of materials associated with these impacts, revealing that the Red Planet may have formed over a longer timescale than previously thought. An important open issue in planetary science is to determine how Mars formed and to what extent its early evolution was affected by collisions....

A prestigious group of scientists from around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere, a planet-wide tipping point that would have destructive consequences absent adequate preparation and mitigation. “It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point,” warns Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of a review paper appearing in the June 7 issue of the journal Nature....

Blue light-producing gadgets, such as tablets and smartphones, have previously been linked to decreased sleep quality in both children and adults. This is considered to occur because blue light interferes with the evening increase in levels of the hormone melatonin, which prepares our bodies for rest and sleep. Melatonin levels are greater generally during pre-puberty than throughout puberty, which is thought to have a role in delaying the onset of puberty....