339 articles from WEDNESDAY 9.9.2020

A scan of 10.3 million stars turns up no sign of aliens - yet

Scientists have completed the broadest search to date for extraterrestrial civilizations by scanning roughly 10.3 million stars using a radio telescope in Australia, but have found nothing - not yet, at least. Seeking evidence of possible life beyond our solar system, the researchers are hunting for "technosignatures" such as communications signals that may originate from intelligent alien...

Massive smoke clouds, thick air darken Western US skies

People from San Francisco to Seattle woke Wednesday to hazy clouds of smoke lingering in the air, darkening the sky to an eerie orange glow that kept street lights illuminated into midday, all thanks to dozens of wildfires throughout the West.

Baboon matriarchs enjoy less stress

You know the type: Loud. Swaggering. Pushy. The alpha male clearly runs the show. Female alphas are often less conspicuous than their puffed up male counterparts, but holding the top spot still has its perks.

Think 2020's disasters are wild? Experts see worse in future

A record amount of California is burning, spurred by a nearly 20-year mega-drought. Meanwhile, the Atlantic’s 16th and 17th named tropical storms are swirling, a record number for this time of year. Phoenix keeps setting triple-digit heat records, while Colorado went through a weather whiplash of 90-degree heat to snow this...

Nasa prepares to test SLS rocket to moon as costs rise to $9.1bn

First uncrewed mission of the Space Launch System now scheduled for November 2021Nasa has quietly made public that the development of its giant rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), is now budgeted at $9.1 bn (£7bn). Ground systems to support the mission are budgeted at a further $2.4bn. As pointed out by Ars Technica, the new development cost represents a 33% increase in the cost of the...

Massive smoke clouds, thick air darken Western US skies

People from San Francisco to Seattle woke Wednesday to hazy clouds of smoke lingering in the air, darkening the sky to an eerie orange glow that kept street lights illuminated into midday, all thanks to dozens of wildfires throughout the West. “It's after 9 a.m. and there's still no sign of the sun,” the California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate division tweeted, urging drivers to turn on...

Scientists decipher role of a stress response gene

A team of scientists is shedding new light on the gene regulatory pathways activated by cortisol, a hormone secreted in response to stress. Their research helps explain why exposure to chronic stress early in life shortens lifespan and contribute to age-related chronic diseases later in life -- long after the source of stress has been removed.

Episode 18 - Science in the Time of Coronavirus

Our planet is facing an unprecedented crisis as we continue to wrestle with the impacts of coronavirus. With its unparalleled technical and scientific expertise, NASA has joined the fight against the pandemic. Join us Thursday, June 25 at 3 p.m. EDT on #NASAScience Live to learn about the ideas and developments that NASA has contributed to confront this global health crisis. Video...

Mexican airport site emerges as major graveyard of Ice Age mammoths

Amid busy construction crews racing to build an airport in Mexico, scientists are unearthing more and more mammoth skeletons in what has quickly become one of the world's biggest concentrations of the now-extinct relative of modern elephants. More than 100 mammoth skeletons have been identified spread across nearly 200 excavation sites, along with a mix of other Ice Age mammals, in the area...

Designed antiviral proteins inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in the lab

Computer-designed miniproteins have now been shown to protect lab-grown human cells from SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The lead antiviral candidate rivals the best-known SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies in its protective actions. The synthetic antiviral candidates were designed to prevent infection by interfering with the mechanism that coronaviruses use to break into and enter...

Sound waves replace human hands in petri dish experiments

Mechanical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a set of prototypes for manipulating particles and cells in a Petri dish using sound waves. The devices, known in the scientific community as "acoustic tweezers," are the first foray into making these types of tools, which have thus far been relegated to laboratories with specific equipment and expertise, available for use in a wide array...

Phasing out a microscope's tricks

An instrument error can lead to complete misidentification of certain crystals, reports a KAUST study that suggests researchers need to exercise caution when using electron microscopes to probe two-dimensional (2-D) semiconductors.

The Guardian view on the coronavirus surge: no quick fix | Editorial

With Covid-19 cases rising sharply, clarity and rigour are needed rather than visions of technological breakthroughsEven as the government imposed new restrictions to halt the surge in infections, the prime minister could not help claiming that life might look closer to normal by Christmas. Operation Moonshot – the pursuit of mass testing, to be deployed on a bigger scale than in any other...

Some scientists spot 'unlikely' patterns in Russia vaccine data: letter

Twenty-six scientists, most of them working at universities in Italy, have signed an open letter questioning the reliability of the data presented in the early-stage trial results of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, named "Sputnik-V". Addressing the editor of The Lancet, the international peer-reviewed medical journal in which Moscow's Gamaleya Institute published its early-stage trial results, the...

Prediction of protein disorder from amino acid sequence

Structural disorder is vital for proteins' function in diverse biological processes. It is therefore highly desirable to be able to predict the degree of order and disorder from amino acid sequence. Researchers from Aarhus University have developed a prediction tool by using machine learning together with experimental NMR data for hundreds of proteins, which is envisaged to be useful for...

Coronavirus: ‘rule of six’ to apply in England from Monday

Boris Johnson restricts gatherings in attempt to prevent second national lockdownCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageTough new rules that restrict gatherings to just six people could be in place until the spring to stop a winter surge of the virus, the government’s chief medical officer has warned.Prof Chris Whitty said the period “between now and spring is going to...

How small particles could reshape Bennu and other asteroids

In January 2019, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was orbiting asteroid Bennu when the spacecraft's cameras caught something unexpected: Thousands of tiny bits of material, some just the size of marbles, began to bounce off the surface of the asteroid—like a game of ping-pong in space. Since then, many such particle ejection events have been observed at Bennu's surface.

When will we see ordinary people going into space?

Every week, the readers of our space newsletter, The Airlock, send in their questions for space reporter Neel V. Patel to answer. This week: How the average person can go to space. What are the opportunities for ordinary citizens to go into space? If there is so much being done to help make space more accessible, why aren’t we seeing a bigger push to see the average person go...

New tracking technology will help fight rhino poaching in Namibia

Interactive software that 'reads' and analyzes footprints left by black rhinoceroses can be used to monitor the movements of the animals in the wild, giving conservationists a new way to keep watch on the endangered species and help keep it safe from poachers, according to a Duke University-led study.

Land development in New Jersey continues to slow

Land development in New Jersey has slowed dramatically since the 2008 Great Recession, but it's unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to fight societal and housing inequality will affect future trends, according to a Rutgers co-authored report.

'Devastation': Wildfires ravage western United States

"Unprecedented" wildfires fueled by strong winds and searing temperatures were raging cross a wide swathe of California, Oregon and Washington on Wednesday, destroying scores of homes and businesses in the western US states and forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate.

Caffeine shot delivers wake-up call on antifungal drug resistance

The management of fungal infections in plants and humans could be transformed by a breakthrough in understanding how fungi develop resistance to drugs. It was previously thought that only mutations in a fungi's DNA would result in antifungal drug resistance. Current diagnostic techniques rely on sequencing all of a fungi's DNA to find such mutations. Scientists have now discovered that fungi can...