197 articles from FRIDAY 30.10.2020

Five Supreme Court rulings that signal what to expect next

Things usually move pretty slowly for the US Supreme Court, with cases sometimes taking years to make their way through to a ruling. But these days it’s moving so quickly that the newest justice didn’t even have time to participate in the first two crucial voting-related rulings after her confirmation. The breakneck pace reveals that the nation’s highest court is already shaping the 2020...

U.S. nursing homes still face COVID-19 test delays; you can wash Halloween candy

Most U.S. nursing homes still cannot get prompt results of COVID-19 tests of staff and residents, researchers reported on Friday in JAMA Internal Medicine. This was true "even among homes in hotspot counties supplied with rapid testing machines from the federal government, which implies that these machines are not helping nursing homes with the rapid turnaround they need," he...

Asteroid's scars tell stories of its past

By studying impact marks on the surface of asteroid Bennu—the target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission—a team of researchers led by the University of Arizona has uncovered the asteroid's past and revealed that despite forming hundreds of millions of years ago, Bennu wandered into Earth's neighborhood only very recently.

New drone technology improves ability to forecast volcanic eruptions

Specially-adapted drones have been gathering data from never-before-explored volcanoes that will enable local communities to better forecast future eruptions. The cutting-edge research at Manam volcano in Papua New Guinea is improving scientists' understanding of how volcanoes contribute to the global carbon cycle, key to sustaining life on Earth.

Water on ancient Mars

A meteorite that originated on Mars billions of years ago reveals details of ancient impact events on the red planet. Certain minerals from the Martian crust in the meteorite are oxidized, suggesting the presence of water during the impact that created the meteorite. The finding helps to fill some gaps in knowledge about the role of water in planet formation.

Coronavirus mutation may have made it more contagious

A study involving more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients in Houston finds that the virus that causes the disease is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious. This mirrors a study published in July that found that around the world, viral strains with the same genetic mutation quickly outcompeted other strains.

Asteroid's scars tell stories of its past

Asteroid Bennu only recently migrated into Earth's neighborhood, according to a detailed analysis of impact marks on boulders on its surface. The report provides a new benchmark for understanding the evolution of asteroids and offers insights into space debris hazardous to spacecraft.

China's most important trees are hiding in plain sight

Scientists have synthesized long-term biodiversity data from 12 immense forest study plots spanning 1,500 miles, from China's far north to its southern tropics. Their results point to maple trees - long appreciated for their autumn foliage and the syrup that graces our tables - as potential foundation species in both China and North America.

Study: 1 to 2 million tons of US plastic trash go astray

The equivalent of as many as 1,300 plastic grocery bags per person is landing in places such as oceans and roadways, according to a new study of U.S. plastic trash. In 2016 — the last year enough data was available and before several countries cracked down on imports of American waste — the United States generated 46.3 million tons (42 million metric tons) of plastic waste, by far the most in...

New study reveals United States a top source of plastic pollution in coastal environments

A study published today in the journal Science Advances has revealed that the United States ranks as high as third among countries contributing to coastal plastic pollution when taking into account its scrap plastic exports as well as the latest figures on illegal dumping and littering in the country. The new research challenges the once-held assumption that the United States is adequately...

Future lake food webs in subarctic have more biomass and contain more omega-3 fatty acids

Subarctic regions are facing rapid changes in climate and land-use intensity. An international research team recently completed an investigation to see how these changes are affecting the food webs and fish communities of lakes in northern Finland. Biomasses and omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, were determined from the algal producers at the base of food web to large carnivorous fish from 20...

Dynamic photonic barcodes record energy transfer at the biointerface

Optical barcodes enable detection and tracking via unique spectral fingerprints. They've been widely applied in areas ranging from multiplexed bioassays and cell tagging to anticounterfeiting and security. Yu-Cheng Chen of the Bio+Intelligent Photonics Laboratory at Nanyang Technological University notes that the concept of optical barcodes typically refers to a fixed spectral pattern...

Assessing the habitability of planets around old red dwarfs

A new study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope gives new insight into an important question: how habitable are planets that orbit the most common type of stars in the Galaxy? The target of the new study, as reported in our press release, is Barnard's Star, which is one of the closest stars to Earth at a distance of just 6 light years. Barnard's Star is a...

A malformation illustrates the incredible plasticity of the brain

One in 4,000 people is born without a corpus callosum, a brain structure consisting of neural fibers that are used to transfer information between hemisphere. 25% of them do not have any symptoms. Neuroscientists discovered that when the neuronal fibers that act as a bridge between the hemispheres are missing, the brain reorganizes itself and creates an impressive number of connections inside each...

Future lake food webs in Subarctic have more biomass and contain more omega-3 fatty acids

Subarctic regions are facing rapid changes in climate and land-use intensity. An international research team recently completed an investigation to see how these changes are affecting the food webs and fish communities of lakes in northern Finland. Biomasses and omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, were determined from the algal producers at the base of food web to large carnivorous fish from 20...