Heat and heavy metals are changing the way that bees buzz
Reports and Proceedings
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Jul-2025 04:10 ET (8-Jul-2025 08:10 GMT/UTC)
Ongoing research into the effect of environmental change on the buzzing of bees reveals that high temperatures and exposure to heavy metals reduces the frequency (and audible pitch) of non-flight wing vibrations, which could have consequences on the effectiveness of bee communication and their role as pollinators.
Osaka Metropolitan University researchers discovered why chemical reactions slow down under high-power ultrasound. Excessive ultrasonic output distorts waveforms, reducing active bubble formation and reaction rates. The study classifies three reaction regions, offering guidance for optimizing sonochemistry in applications like nanoparticle synthesis and PFAS degradation.
MIT chemists showed they can greatly boost the efficiency of a bacterial version of rubisco, a key enzyme in photosynthesis. Using directed evolution, they identified mutations that could boost its catalytic efficiency by up to 25 percent.
Using a combination of telescopes, including the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the SOAR telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, astronomers have characterized the closest supernova linked to a fast X-ray transient. The observations reveal that these bright blasts of X-rays may be the result of a ‘failed’ explosive death of a massive star.
“Space ice” contains tiny crystals and is not, as previously assumed, a completely disordered material like liquid water, according to a new study by scientists at UCL (University College London) and the University of Cambridge.