Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily

1. Double-walled nanotubes have electro-optical advantages
   Theorists find that flexoelectric effects in double-walled carbon nanotubes could be highly useful for photovoltaic applications.

   
2. Quantum copycat: Researchers find a new way in which bosons behave like fermions
   When a one-dimensional gas of strongly interacting bosons expands, the velocity distribution of the bosons transforms into one that is identical to non-interacting fermions.

   
3. In Earth's largest extinction, land animal die-offs began long before marine extinction
   Because of poor dates for land fossils laid down before and after the mass extinction at the end of the Permian, paleontologists assumed that the terrestrial extinctions from Gondwana occurred at the same time as the better-documented marine extinctions. But a new study provides more precise dates for South African fossils and points to a long, perhaps 400,000-year period of extinction on land before the rapid marine extinction 252 million years ago.

   
4. UK local authorities not ready for the number of deaths from Covid-19
   Even if fatality rates are at the lower end of expectations -- one percent of virus victims -- it is highly likely that death and bereavement services will be overwhelmed.

   
5. Copper boosts pig growth, and now we know why
   Pigs have better feed conversion rates with copper in their diets, but until now, scientists didn't fully understand why. Existing research from the University of Illinois shows copper doesn't change fat and energy absorption from the diet. Instead, according to new research, the element seems to enhance pigs' ability to utilize fat after absorption, resulting in increased energy utilization of the entire diet.