Study explores why workers are leaving their jobs in the homeless services sector

Researchers at University College Dublin have identified a genetic "switch" that determines the sex of cannabis plants, and found the same system may exist in hops. The study, published in New Phytologist, pinpoints a specific section of the X chromosome that influences whether cannabis plants develop as male, female, or both.

The endangered Black Sea harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena relicta) is facing a critical fight for survival. As Europe's smallest marine mammal, this isolated population is being pushed toward extinction by bycatch—the unintentional entanglement in fishing gear. The crisis is most acute in the Black Sea turbot fishery, where recent estimates reveal that more than 10,000 porpoises die annually.

Scientists at Stanford University have discovered that DRT3, a unique defense system found in bacteria, creates DNA to protect against viral infections. DRT3 is made up of two different enzymes called reverse transcriptases, Drt3a and Drt3b, and a piece of noncoding RNA (ncRNA). Together, this trio makes long, double-stranded DNA consisting of alternating repeats (GT/AC).

Whether it's robotic rovers heading to Mars or, one day, a crew of astronauts, a round-trip journey is an incredibly long one. But there may be a way to find a shortcut. A new study published in the journal Acta Astronautica suggests that hundreds of days could be shaved off a return trip to the Red Planet by using the early orbital data of asteroids. This could bring the total mission time down to as low as 153 days.