42 articles from MONDAY 13.1.2020

Living robots built using frog cells

Scientists repurposed living frog cells -- and assembled them into entirely new life-forms. These tiny 'xenobots' can move toward a target and heal themselves after being cut. These novel living machines are neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. They're a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism.

Connecting the dots in the sky could shed new light on dark matter

Astrophysicists have come a step closer to understanding the origin of a faint glow of gamma rays covering the night sky. They found that this light is brighter in regions that contain a lot of matter and dimmer where matter is sparser -- a correlation that could help them narrow down the properties of exotic astrophysical objects and invisible dark matter.

How nodules stay on top at the bottom of the sea

Rare metallic elements found in clumps on the deep-ocean floor mysteriously remain uncovered despite the shifting sands and sediment many leagues under the sea. Scientists now think they know why, and it could have important implications for mining these metals while preserving the strange fauna at the bottom of the ocean.

Life's clockwork: Scientist shows how molecular engines keep us ticking

In the The Demon in the Machine, physicist Paul Davies argues that what's missing in the definition of life is how biological processes create 'information,' and such information storage is the stuff of life, like person's ability to solve complex problems. Over the past 75 years, scientists have chipped away at this problem without identifying precise details of how any of our enzyme machines...

Nanosatellites improve detection of early-season corn nitrogen stress

For corn growers, the decision of when and how much nitrogen fertilizer to apply is a perennial challenge. Scientists have shown that nanosatellites known as CubeSats can detect nitrogen stress early in the season, potentially giving farmers a chance to plan in-season nitrogen fertilizer applications and alleviate nutrient stress for crops.

Mysteries of grasshopper response to gravity unlocked

How do insects control the effects of gravity when they climb a tree or hang upside-down waiting for prey? They don't have closed circulatory systems that restrict fluid flow to certain parts of the body. Researchers discovered how insects adjust their cardiovascular and respiratory activity in response to gravity. When they change orientation, they respond to gravity just like humans, and they...

First 'living robots' designed on supercomputer – video

Tiny 'xenobots' made up of living cells have been created by teams of scientists at the University of Vermont and Tufts University using a supercomputer to design them.The millimetre-wide bots could move toward a target and automatically repair themselves and researchers hope they will  help clear human arteries, clean microplastics from the oceans and find radioactive waste Continue...

Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots

Researchers foresee myriad benefits for humanity, but also acknowledge ethical issues Be warned. If the rise of the robots comes to pass, the apocalypse may be a more squelchy affair than science fiction writers have prepared us for.Researchers in the US have created the first living machines by assembling cells from African clawed frogs into tiny robots that move around under their own steam....

Stardust older than the Earth and sun found in Australian meteorite

Granules, shed by dying stars over 5bn years ago, are oldest known solid material on EarthStardust that formed more than 5bn years ago, long before the birth of the Earth and the sun, has been discovered in a meteorite that crashed down in Australia, making it the oldest known solid material on the planet.The tiny granules of stardust, shed by ancient stars as they expired, reveal clues about how...

Analysis: Boeing’s new CEO plays it safe — but more will be needed to get the company flying right

Veteran aerospace executive David Calhoun took the reins as Boeing's CEO today, telling employees in a company-wide email that his top priorities are to get the 737 MAX flying again and restore confidence in the troubled aerospace giant. It was just the kind of email you'd expect Calhoun to send — and that's the problem. In the midst of what's likely to be a yearlong grounding of...

Identifying Opportunities with Helena Chapman

Helena Chapman, NASA Earth Science Division Helena Chapman is an associate program manager for the Earth Applied Sciences' Health and Air Quality Applications program at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.  She also supports the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Health Community of Practice. As a global network of governments, organizations and observers, it promotes the use of Earth...

NASA May Have Found the Goldilocks Planet of Goldilocks Planets: TOI 700 d

If you ask astronomers how many planets in the universe harbor life, they will likely say there are only two possible answers: one or infinity. We can rule out zero, thanks to the decidedly alive Earth, which means that so far one is the answer. But if we discover another, the answer jumps straight past two to infinity. The reason: You can posit a universe in which the confluence of factors that...

Can you solve it? The poco poco puzzle

How to count a little in SpanishUPDATE: The answer is now available hereHow many “fews” do you need until you have “a lot”? In Spanish, the answer to this philosophical conundrum would seem to be 15.At least, that’s according to the puzzle below, in which the addition of 15 POCOs makes a MUCHO. Continue...