171 articles from MONDAY 23.12.2019

'Lost crops' could have fed as many as maize

Make some room in the garden, you storied three sisters: the winter squash, climbing beans and the vegetable we know as corn. Grown together, newly examined "lost crops" could have produced enough seed to feed as many indigenous people as traditionally grown maize, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

A Device That Curbs Drunken Driving Carries Its Own Risks

Over the past decade, states have increasingly turned to a powerful tool to stop drunken driving before it starts: miniature breathalyzers, wired into a car's electronics, that prevent the engine from starting unless the person behind the wheel is sober enough to drive.These devices, called ignition interlocks, have been remarkably effective. One study found that states mandating them for all...

Powder, not gas: A safer, more effective way to create a star on Earth

A major issue with operating ring-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks is keeping the plasma that fuels fusion reactions free of impurities that could reduce the efficiency of the reactions. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found that sprinkling a type of powder into the plasma could aid in harnessing the ultra-hot gas...

'Tweezer clock' may help tell time more precisely

Atomic clocks are used around the world to precisely tell time. Each "tick" of the clock depends on atomic vibrations and their effects on surrounding electromagnetic fields. Standard atomic clocks in use today, based on the atom cesium, tell time by "counting" radio frequencies. These clocks can measure time to a precision of one second per every hundreds of millions of years. Newer atomic clocks...