168 articles from FRIDAY 4.9.2020

Unraveling the secrets of Tennessee whiskey

More than a century has passed since the last scientific analyses of the famed 'Lincoln County [Tennessee] process' was published, but the secrets of the famous Tennessee whiskey flavor are starting to unravel. The latest research promises advancements in the field of flavor science as well as marketing.

Unraveling the secrets of Tennessee whiskey

More than a century has passed since the last scientific analyses of the famed "Lincoln County [Tennessee] process" was published, but the secrets of the famous Tennessee whiskey flavor are starting to unravel at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The latest research promises advancements in the field of flavor science as well as marketing.

Painting with light: Novel nanopillars precisely control intensity of transmitted light

By shining white light on a glass slide stippled with millions of tiny titanium dioxide pillars, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their collaborators have reproduced with astonishing fidelity the luminous hues and subtle shadings of "Girl With a Pearl Earring," Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece. The approach has potential applications in...

Scans reveal how brain adapts to life in space

Analysis of brain scans finds increase in white and grey matter in regions involved in physical movementBrain scans of cosmonauts have revealed the first clear evidence of how the organ adapts to the weird and often sickness-inducing challenge of moving around in space.Analysis of scans taken from 11 cosmonauts, who spent about six months each in orbit, found increases in white and grey matter in...

In defense of California

About a year after graduating from college, I packed my possessions into a rental van I’d split with a near stranger and departed my home state of Ohio. We steered onto I-70 West, bound for San Francisco. At the time, I was less drawn to California in any specific way than determined to escape a state that was too conservative, homogenous, and religious for my tastes. Plus, oof, the winters....

UK police deal with thousands of potential Covid-19 quarantine breakers

Exclusive: Britain approaching ‘pivotal moment’ in attempt to avoid surge in cases, scientists say Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePolice forces across the country are dealing with thousands of potential violations of quarantine rules involving holidaymakers who may not be self-isolating after trips abroad, the Guardian can reveal.The requests for “further...

UK coronavirus live: close to 2,000 new Covid cases recorded - highest daily total since May – as it happened

Daily case numbers have been rising for two months now, with 1,940 more today. This live blog has now closed - please follow the global live blog for the latest updates 6.24pm BST The latest seven-day infection figures show Leeds as having a rate of 32.4 cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate on testing of 3.5%.The latest data suggests that a lot of the cases are in different areas of the...

Splitting water molecules for a renewable energy future

The future economy based on renewable and sustainable energy sources might utilize battery-powered cars, large-scale solar and wind farms, and energy reserves stored in batteries and chemical fuels. Although there are examples of sustainable energy sources in use already, scientific and engineering breakthroughs will determine the timeline for widespread adoption.

Opto-thermoelectric microswimmers

In a recent report, Xiaolei Peng and a team of scientists in materials science and engineering at the University of Texas, U.S., and the Tsinghua University, China, developed opto-thermoelectric microswimmers bioinspired by the motion behaviors of Escherichia coli (E. coli). They engineered the microswimmers using dielectric gold Janus particles driven by a self-sustained electric field arising...

The Guardian view on book therapy: an old idea finds new life | Editorial

A generous act by the creator of the detective Vera reminds us that reading can help people in the hardest times The library of Pharaoh Ramesses II is said to have borne the inscription “the house of healing for the soul”. Dylan Thomas reportedly liked to relax by reading Agatha Christie while he sucked sweets in the bathtub. The novelist Yiyun Li turns to War and Peace in the toughest times;...

'Floppy' atomic dynamics help turn heat into electricity

Materials scientists have uncovered an atomic mechanism that makes certain thermoelectric materials such as iron sulfide incredibly efficient near high-temperature phase transitions. The information will help fill critical knowledge gaps in the computational modeling of such materials, potentially allowing researchers to discover new and better options for technologies that rely on transforming...

Splitting water molecules for a renewable energy future

Chemists are working on energy storage and conversion research. This work is part of a new study that solves a key, fundamental barrier in the electrochemical water splitting process where the Lin Lab demonstrates a new technique to reassemble, revivify, and reuse a catalyst that allows for energy-efficient water splitting.

Researchers find unexpected electrical current that could stabilize fusion reactions

Electric current is everywhere, from powering homes to controlling the plasma that fuels fusion reactions to possibly giving rise to vast cosmic magnetic fields. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found that electrical currents can form in ways not known before. The novel findings could give researchers greater ability to bring...

Blood breakdown product commandeers important enzyme

The hemoglobin in the red blood cells ensures that our body cells receive sufficient oxygen. When the blood pigment is broken down, heme is produced, which in turn can influence the protein cocktail in the blood. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now discovered in complex detective work that the activated protein C (APC) can be commandeered by heme. At the same time, APC can also reduce...

'Floppy' atomic dynamics help turn heat into electricity

Materials scientists at Duke University have uncovered an atomic mechanism that makes certain thermoelectric materials incredibly efficient near high-temperature phase transitions. The information will help fill critical knowledge gaps in the computational modeling of such materials, potentially allowing researchers to discover new and better options for technologies that rely on transforming heat...

Cell-autonomous immunity and the pathogen-mediated evolution of humans

Although immune responses are generated by a complex, hierarchical arrangement of immune system organs, tissues, and components, the unit of the cell has a particularly large effect on disease progression and host survival. These cell-level defense mechanisms, known as cell-autonomous immunity, are among the most important determinants of human survival, and are millions to billions of years old,...

Electric current is manipulated by light in an organic superconductor

A polarized petahertz current is driven by an ultrashort laser in an organic superconductor. This is in contrast to the common sense belief which is justified by Ohm's law, i.e., a net current cannot be induced by an oscillating electric field of light. The current enhances near the superconducting transition temperature. The light-driven petahertz current opens a way to high-speed operation of...

Autophagy: the beginning of the end

Autophagy, from the Greek for 'self-eating', is an essential process that isolates and recycles cellular components under conditions of stress or when resources are limited. Scientists have now reconstructed the first steps in the formation of autophagosomes. They show that tiny vesicles loaded with the protein Atg9 act as the seed from which the autophagosome emerges.

New technology lets quantum bits hold information for 10,000 times longer than previous record

Quantum bits, or qubits, can hold quantum information much longer now thanks to efforts by an international research team. The researchers have increased the retention time, or coherence time, to 10 milliseconds - 10,000 times longer than the previous record - by combining the orbital motion and spinning inside an atom. Such a boost in information retention has major implications for information...

Blood breakdown product commandeers important enzyme

The hemoglobin in the red blood cells ensures that our body cells receive sufficient oxygen. When the blood pigment is broken down, 'heme' is produced, which in turn can influence the protein cocktail in the blood. Researchers have now discovered in complex detective work that the 'activated protein C' (APC) can be commandeered by heme. At the same time, APC can also reduce the toxic effect of...

Commerce secretary sued in plan to move whales for research

An animals rights group is suing in federal court to stop a Connecticut aquarium from acquiring five more beluga whales for research, saying they would be harmed by the trip from Canada and by being torn from long-term relationships with others of their species. Friends of Animals, based in Darien, Connecticut, filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court against Commerce Secretary Wilbur...

The potential of green infrastructure in mitigating flood impacts

Short-term flooding from extreme storm events poses a serious transportation challenge in U.S. cities. This problem—which is anticipated to grow over the next century with our global climate crisis—is often hardest on vulnerable populations, including low-income and minority neighborhoods. The latest report from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), led by Courtney...

NASA's Aqua Satellite finds wind shear not letting up on Omar

Tropical Depression Omar is one stubborn storm. Since it developed early in the week, it was being affected by wind shear. That wind shear has not let up by the week's end, and NASA satellite imagery showed the bulk of storms were being pushed to the southeast of the center.

New technology lets quantum bits hold information for 10,000 times longer than previous record

Quantum bits, or qubits, can hold quantum information much longer now thanks to efforts by an international research team. The researchers have increased the retention time, or coherence time, to 10 milliseconds—10,000 times longer than the previous record—by combining the orbital motion and spinning inside an atom. Such a boost in information retention has major implications for information...

Air pollution renders flower odors unattractive to moths

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and the University of Virginia, USA, has studied the impact of high ozone air pollution on the chemical communication between flowers and pollinators. They showed that tobacco hawkmoths lost attraction to the scent of their preferred flowers when that scent had been altered by ozone. This oxidizing pollutant...

Japan's geologic history in question after discovery of metamorphic rock microdiamonds

A collaboration of researchers based in Kumamoto University, Japan have discovered microdiamonds in the Nishisonogi metamorphic rock formation in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Microdiamonds in metamorphic rocks are important minerals because they form in continental collision zones and show that the crust has penetrated deeper than 120 km below the surface. This is the second area in the world,...

A green catalyst for pharmaceutical and industrial chemistry

Many production facilities (e.g. plastic manufacturers, pharma companies, and others) use nanocatalysts that contain palladium—an expensive component that is not sustainably produced. A chemist from RUDN University found a way to reduce palladium consumption and to make its manufacture more eco-friendly. He developed a catalyst based on a substance that comes from plant waste. Using his...

Eight case studies on regulating biometric technology show us a path forward

Amba Kak was in law school in India when the country rolled out the Aadhaar project in 2009. The national biometric ID system, conceived as a comprehensive identity program, sought to collect the fingerprints, iris scans, and photographs of all residents. It wasn’t long, Kak remembers, before stories about its devastating consequences began to spread. “We were suddenly hearing reports of how...