- PhysOrg
- 20/5/20 23:15
The two astronauts who will end a nine-year launch drought for NASA flew to Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, exactly one week before their historic SpaceX flight.
277 articles from WEDNESDAY 20.5.2020
The two astronauts who will end a nine-year launch drought for NASA flew to Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, exactly one week before their historic SpaceX flight.
Photosystem II is a protein complex in plants, algae and cyanobacteria that is responsible for splitting water and producing the oxygen we breathe. Over the past few years, an international collaboration between scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and several other institutions have been able to observe various steps...
Canada's spy agency today issued a warning about the national security risk posed by some foreign investment — but isn't saying which state-owned enterprises and foreign state actors it's particularly worried...
As the world increasingly turns to aqua farming to feed its growing population, there's no better time than now to design an aquaculture system that is sustainable and efficient.
Before there were animals, bacteria or even DNA on Earth, self-replicating molecules were slowly evolving their way from simple matter to life beneath a constant shower of energetic particles from space.
US accused by Russia of trying to circumvent 1967 treaty banning ownership of areas of the moonCountries joining Nasa’s exploration of the moon will be asked to sign up to a series of guiding principles known as the Artemis accords. Announced on 15 May, the accords are a set of broad themes that the agency hopes will form the basis of agreements to be negotiated with each country involved in the...
Nasa's Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are a week away from their flight to the space...
Nasa's Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are a week away from their flight to the space station.
You may have noticed that we’re getting less snow in winter as the climate warms. But how much? A new study provides the best estimate yet of much snow North America has been losing, and shows Eurasia’s snowfall has held...
In the bone marrow, blood stem cells via precursor cells give rise to a variety of blood cell types with various functions: white blood cells, red blood cells, or blood platelets. In which cell type a cell develops depends on various factors. The correct dosage of the enzyme MOF at the right time triggers developmental programs in blood stem cells and precursor cells, and the cells differentiate...
A new study shows how an effective but largely abandoned treatment for Type 2 diabetes could be used again in combination with another drug to eliminate problematic side effects.
Buckling, the sudden loss of structural stability, is usually the stuff of engineering nightmares. But, as anyone who has ever played with a toy popper knows, buckling also releases a lot of energy. When the structure of a popper buckles, the energy released by the instability sends the toy flying through the air. Researchers have harnessed that energy and used buckling to their advantage to build...
From her laboratory in the far western reaches of Montana, Elizabeth Fischer is trying to help people see what they’re up against in COVID-19. Over the past three decades, Fischer, 58, and her team at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, part of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have captured and created some of the more...
The news: North Dakota was one of the first American states to launch a coronavirus contact tracing app, in April. Now, several weeks into the process of reopening the state, the government in Bismarck says it will take advantage of the newly released Apple-Google exposure notification system—but that doing so will require it to run two separate apps. That even one of the...
Apple and Google have released long-awaited smartphone technology to notify people automatically if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus. The new technology is described as fixing problems in similar apps, such as not working across borders and draining users' phone...
NASA satellites have been providing forecasters with various types of imagery on Typhoon Amphan as it heads toward a landfall near the border of eastern India and Bangladesh on May 20.
From testing drugs to developing vaccines, the close study of the immune system is key to improving real-world health outcomes. T-cells are integral to this research, as these white blood cells help tailor the body's immune response to specific pathogens.
Exclusive: experts warn of risk of positive results producing false sense of security Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNHS and social care staff will be given antibody tests revealing whether they have had coronavirus from next week, ministers are to announce on Thursday.In a move designed to reduce frontline workers’ anxiety and provide data on how many people have...
Conventional wisdom suggests that when a company generates more carbon emissions, investors should lower its stock price. After all, the company is generating a socially undesirable byproduct.
Rapidly rising water has overtaken dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people from flooded communities in central Michigan, and the governor warned that one city could end up "under approximately 9 feet of water" Wednesday.
Researchers have developed a new strategy that uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) to acquire both the surface and underlying details of impressionist style oil paintings. This information can be used to create detailed 3-D reconstructions to enhance the viewing experience and offer a way for the visually impaired to experience paintings.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the western North Atlantic Ocean and provided forecasters with a visible image of Post Tropical Storm Arthur.
UK businessman Sir Richard Branson is looking to Saturday to debut one of his new space...
UK businessman Sir Richard Branson is looking to Saturday to debut one of his new space systems.
Researchers have succeeded for the first time in recording, in action, a light-driven sodium pump from bacterial cells. The findings promise progress in the development of new methods in neurobiology.
Tests on new designs for next-gen solar cells can now be done in minutes instead of days thanks to a new system.
Using human population genetics, ancient pathogen genomics and isotope analysis, a team of researchers assessed the population history of the Lake Baikal region, finding the deepest connection to date between the peoples of Siberia and the Americas. The current study also demonstrates human mobility, and hence connectivity, across Eurasia during the Early Bronze Age.
Physicists have boosted their control of the fundamental properties of molecules at the quantum level by linking or 'entangling' an electrically charged atom and an electrically charged molecule, showcasing a way to build hybrid quantum information systems that could manipulate, store and transmit different forms of data.
For the first time, seismologists can characterize signals as a result of some industrial human activity on a continent-wide scale using cloud computing.
Childhood environment and socioeconomic status affect cognitive ability and brain development during adolescence independently of genetic factors, researchers report. The study demonstrates how important the family environment is, not just during early infancy but also throughout adolescence.
Researchers examine the effectiveness of consuming hemp oil extracted from the whole cannabis plant using a chronic neuropathic pain animal model. Researchers showed that legal cannabis hemp oil reduced mechanical pain sensitivity 10-fold for several hours in mice with chronic post-operative neuropathic pain.
Studies on macaques suggest that infection with the coronavirus grants some immunity to catching it again—and that vaccines also seem to offer some protection. The questions: Does getting infected by the coronavirus make you immune? And can a vaccine do the same job? In two studies published today in Science, a group led by researchers at Harvard University’s Beth Israel Deaconess...
Apple and Google are releasing their much-anticipated “exposure notification” technology to help global health authorities track the coronavirus pandemic. Governments around the world can now use the technology in their own contact tracing apps, subject to approval by the two tech giants. Contact tracing—tracking down those who may have been exposed to an infectious person—is an...
Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are the heart of plastic electronics. Doping has been shown to improve the performance of OFETs effectively. There are two major ways of doping OSCs.
For the first time, monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides with excellent optical properties were grown. A team of physicists from the University of Warsaw managed to overcome the technical difficulties faced by industry and scientists from around the world—namely the very limited size, heterogeneity, and broadening of the spectral lines of fabricated materials. Monolayers without these...
You might have heard the advice to avoid eating a poppy seed bagel or muffin before a drug screen, lest you test positive for opiates. This urban legend is rooted in truth because the tiny black seeds contain small amounts of morphine and codeine that can show up in a drug test. Now, researchers have studied how different treatments affect levels of opiates in poppy seeds.
Physicists have measured the flight times of electrons emitted from a specific atom in a molecule upon excitation with laser light. This has enabled them to measure the influence of the molecule itself on the kinetics of emission.
Over 80% of the world's flowering plants must reproduce in order to produce new flowers. This process involves the transfer of pollen between plants by wind, water or insects called pollinators -- including bumblebees. In a new study, researchers at the University of Missouri discovered spiny pollen -- from a native wild dandelion species in the southern Rocky Mountains -- has evolved to attach to...
A new study could usher in a revolutionary development in materials science, leading to big changes in the way companies create modern electronics.
New research found that substituting prolonged sedentary time with sleep was associated with lower stress, better mood and lower body mass index (BMI), and substituting light physical activity was associated with improved mood and lower BMI across the next year.
Spring rains washes away some pollen, but not all. Researchers have found tree pollen fragments can remain airborne for hours after a storm. The tiny pollen particles can exacerbate allergies because they can reach deep in the lungs.
There is much debate about the correct storage of tomatoes. Should tomatoes be in the fridge or kept at room temperature? Researchers investigated whether there are differences in the flavor of ripe tomatoes depending on how they are stored, taking into account the chain of harvesting from farm to fork. No difference was found: the variety of tomato is much more important.
A new study has confirmed and quantified, for the first time, the presence of microplastics in terrestrial and aquatic birds of prey in Florida, including hawks, ospreys and owls. The research is important because birds of prey are critical to a functioning ecosystem. The accumulation of microplastics in their digestive systems could lead to poisoning, starvation and death.
In our 13.8 billion-year-old universe, most galaxies like our Milky Way form gradually, reaching their large mass relatively late. But a new discovery made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of a massive rotating disk galaxy, seen when the universe was only ten percent of its current age, challenges the traditional models of galaxy formation.
Researchers have developed a new strategy that uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) to acquire both the surface and underlying details of impressionist style oil paintings. This information can be used to create detailed 3D reconstructions to enhance the viewing experience and offer a way for the visually impaired to experience paintings.