A new tool allows researchers to probe the metabolic processes occurring within the leaves, stems, and roots of a key citrus crop, the clementine. The big picture goal of this research is to improve the yields, flavor and nutritional value of citrus and non-citrus crops, even in the face of increasingly harsh growing conditions and growing pest challenges. To build the tool, the team – led by the University of California San Diego – focused on the clementine (Citrus clementina), which is a cross between a mandarin orange and a sweet orange. The effort is expected to expand well beyond the clementine in order to develop actionable information for increasing the productivity and quality of a wide range of citrus and non-citrus crops. The strategy is to uncover – and then make use of – new insights on how plants respond, in terms of metabolic activities in specific parts of the plant or tree, to environmental factors like temperature, drought and disease. 

The interplay between quantum theory and gravity is one of the most challenging problems in physics today. Using new groundbreaking approach, researchers hope that quantum networks will help them test this interplay for the first time in actual experiments.

Kenneth Merz, PhD, of Cleveland Clinic's Center for Computational Life Sciences and a team are exploring how quantum computers can work with supercomputers to better simulate molecule behavior.  

Simulating large molecule stability and behavior requires more time and power than is possible on even the most advanced supercomputer. Dr. Merz and his team developed a strategy for overcoming this barrier by combining the power of a quantum computer with the accuracy of a supercomputer in a study published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation.  

In the first and only reconstruction of ocean pH ever carried out, new research from the University of St Andrews and the University of Birmingham has discovered that a rapid acidification of oceans, due to a massive and sudden rise in atmospheric CO2, caused a mass extinction event 201 million years ago.