News by Subject Social & Behavior

Scientists have found a new species of fleshy verdigris lichen, thanks to DNA analysis of museum specimens. Misidentified by its original collectors, the lichen is only known from 32 specimens collected in North and Central Florida scrubland between 1885 and 1985. Now the hunt is on to find it in the wild -- if it still exists.

When ridesourcing companies Uber and Lyft show up in urban areas, vehicle registrations per capita increase by 0.7% on average, increasing even more in car-dependent cities. Researchers made this discovery by analyzing data from major US cities between 2011 to 2017, comparing trends in cities where Uber and Lyft entered with those where they didn't. They also found that Uber and Lyft displace transit more in cities with higher income and fewer children.

Researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics developed a land surface model CAS-LSM that has improved the descriptions of biogeochemical process and urban modules, compared with the earlier version of this model.

A community or sub-culture encouraging young men's exposure and obsession with guns - as well as ready access to firearms and drugs - can make gun violence 'all too easy', with Flinders University experts promoting a new direction on managing the global problem. Flinders criminologists conclude that the need to 'dematerialise' the attraction to gun has "never been greater" than "in a post-COVID-19 world in which guns have gained greater salience in many countries".

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have designed a portable optical sensor that allows rapid monitoring of plant stress - a new tool to help farmers and plant scientists with early diagnosis and real-time plant health monitoring in field conditions. SMART's discovery is a useful tool in precision agriculture to improve crop yield through sustainable farming.