Newly returned moon rock samples chronicle the dying days of lunar volcanism

Billions of years ago, lakes of lava on the surface of the moon eventually dried to form the vast dark patches—the lunar maria—visible today on the lunar nearside. Now, thanks to rock samples recently returned to Earth by China's Chang'e 5 mission, scientists have a new estimate for when one of the last of those lava flows ran dry.

Extreme drought in Brazil triggers fatal sand storms

Unusually powerful sandstorms have left at least six people dead in Sao Paulo in recent weeks, local media said, as southeastern Brazil grapples with severe drought.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-10-extreme-drought-brazil-triggers-fatal.html

A novel neural network to understand symmetry, speed materials research

Understanding structure-property relations is a key goal of materials research, according to Joshua Agar, a faculty member in Lehigh University's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. And yet currently no metric exists to understand the structure of materials because of the complexity and multidimensional nature of structure.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-10-neural-network-symmetry-materials.html

Extreme drought in Brazil triggers fatal sand storms

Unusually powerful sandstorms have left at least six people dead in Sao Paulo in recent weeks, local media said, as southeastern Brazil grapples with severe drought.

A novel neural network to understand symmetry, speed materials research

Understanding structure-property relations is a key goal of materials research, according to Joshua Agar, a faculty member in Lehigh University's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. And yet currently no metric exists to understand the structure of materials because of the complexity and multidimensional nature of structure.

Chinese central bank boss vows to further fintech crackdown

China will strengthen supervision of the online payments industry and continue its anti-monopoly crackdown, the governor of the central bank said, indicating Beijing will press ahead with a regulatory crackdown on the country's technology giants.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-chinese-central-bank-boss-vows.html

Google to stop pairing ads with climate change misinformation

Google on Thursday said it will no longer post ads next to misinformation about climate change on its search engine or on global video-sharing platform YouTube.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-google-pairing-ads-climate-misinformation.html

Pacific's urgent call to climate action as crunch talks loom

Pacific island leaders have urged industrialised nations to bring plans for real action, not good intentions, to upcoming climate talks, painting a grim picture of the environmental horrors they face.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-10-pacific-urgent-climate-action-crunch.html

Samsung forecasts near-30% jump in Q3 operating profit

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics defied the global supply chain challenges to forecast a near-30-percent jump in third-quarter operating profits on Friday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-samsung-near-q3-profit.html

Pacific's urgent call to climate action as crunch talks loom

Pacific island leaders have urged industrialised nations to bring plans for real action, not good intentions, to upcoming climate talks, painting a grim picture of the environmental horrors they face.

Americans agree misinformation is a problem, poll shows

Nearly all Americans agree that the rampant spread of misinformation is a problem.

Remnants of Black church uncovered in Colonial Williamsburg

The brick foundation of one of the nation's oldest Black churches has been unearthed at Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum in Virginia that continues to reckon with its past storytelling about the country's origins and the role of Black Americans.

Deep-learning algorithm aims to accelerate protein engineering

Proteins are the molecular machines of all living cells and have been exploited for use in many applications, including therapeutics and industrial catalysts. To overcome the limitations of naturally occurring proteins, protein engineering is used to improve protein characteristics such as stability and functionality. In a new study, researchers demonstrate a machine learning algorithm that accelerates the protein engineering process. The study is reported in the journal Nature Communications.

Americans agree misinformation is a problem, poll shows

Nearly all Americans agree that the rampant spread of misinformation is a problem.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-10-americans-misinformation-problem-poll.html

Elon Musk says Tesla will move HQ from California to Texas

Tesla will relocate its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas, though the electric car maker will keep expanding its manufacturing capacity in the Golden State, CEO Elon Musk said Thursday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-elon-musk-tesla-hq-california.html

Remnants of Black church uncovered in Colonial Williamsburg

The brick foundation of one of the nation's oldest Black churches has been unearthed at Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum in Virginia that continues to reckon with its past storytelling about the country's origins and the role of Black Americans.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-10-remnants-black-church-uncovered-colonial.html

Deep-learning algorithm aims to accelerate protein engineering

Proteins are the molecular machines of all living cells and have been exploited for use in many applications, including therapeutics and industrial catalysts. To overcome the limitations of naturally occurring proteins, protein engineering is used to improve protein characteristics such as stability and functionality. In a new study, researchers demonstrate a machine learning algorithm that accelerates the protein engineering process. The study is reported in the journal Nature Communications.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-10-deep-learning-algorithm-aims-protein.html

Team discovers invasive-native crayfish hybrids in Missouri

In a study of crayfish in the Current River in southeastern Missouri, researchers discovered—almost by chance—that the virile crayfish, Faxonius virilis, was interbreeding with a native crayfish, potentially altering the native's genetics, life history and ecology. Reported in the journal Aquatic Invasions, the study highlights the difficulty of detecting some of the consequences of biological invasions, the researchers say.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-10-team-invasive-native-crayfish-hybrids-missouri.html

Team discovers invasive-native crayfish hybrids in Missouri

In a study of crayfish in the Current River in southeastern Missouri, researchers discovered—almost by chance—that the virile crayfish, Faxonius virilis, was interbreeding with a native crayfish, potentially altering the native's genetics, life history and ecology. Reported in the journal Aquatic Invasions, the study highlights the difficulty of detecting some of the consequences of biological invasions, the researchers say.