Putting on the pressure improves glass for fiber optics
Rapid, accurate communication worldwide is possible via fiber optic cables, but as good as they are, they are not perfect. Now, researchers from Penn State and AGC Inc. in Japan suggest that the silica glass used for these cables would have less signal loss if it were manufactured under high pressure.
Male fairy-wrens show looks can be deceiving
In many animals, female preference for males with the most elaborate appearance is an important factor in the evolution of bright and dramatic colors.
A powerful computational tool for efficient analysis of cell division 4-D image data
A joint research team co-led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a novel computational tool that can reconstruct and visualize three-dimensional (3-D) shapes and temporal changes of cells, speeding up the analyzing process from hundreds of hours by hand to a few hours by the computer. Revolutionizing the way biologists analyze image data, this tool can advance further studies in...
New imaging method views soil carbon at near-atomic scales
The Earth's soils contain more than three times the amount of carbon than is found in the atmosphere, but the processes that bind carbon in the soil are still not well understood.
Detailed structure of ribosomes in nerve cells revealed
Protein synthesis is a finely tuned process in the cell by macromolecules known as ribosomes. Which regulators are responsible for controlling protein synthesis in the brain, and how do they exert their control on the ribosome? To address this question, a team of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin studied the structure of the brain's ribosomal complexes in great detail. The...
Oil drilling 150 miles off Florida's coast prompts dire warning from members of Congress
Exploratory drilling began this week for an offshore oil well just 150 miles from South Florida, prompting a warning from 18 members of Congress, including the entire South Florida delegation, of the potential for "severe, even catastrophic, impact" if a spill occurs.
New electron microscopy technique offers first look at previously hidden processes
Northwestern researchers have developed a new microscopy method that allows scientists to see the building blocks of "smart" materials being formed at the nanoscale.
Consequences of seafood mislabeling for marine populations and fisheries management
Perhaps that sauteed snapper you enjoyed last evening at your neighborhood restaurant was not snapper at all. Perhaps it was Pacific Ocean perch, cloaked in a wine sauce to disguise its true identity. The same goes for that grouper you paid a handsome price for at your local fishmonger's and cooked up at home. Instead, you may have been feasting on a plateful of whitefin weakfish and been none the...
Fluvial mapping of Mars
It took fifteen years of imaging and nearly three years of stitching the pieces together to create the largest image ever made, the 8-trillion-pixel mosaic of Mars' surface. Now, the first study to utilize the image in its entirety provides unprecedented insight into the ancient river systems that once covered the expansive plains in the planet's southern hemisphere. These three billion-year-old...
Chemists synthesize 'flat' silicon compounds
Chemists at the University of Bonn (Germany) have synthesized extremely unusual compounds. Their central building block is a silicon atom. Different from usual, however, is the arrangement of the four bonding partners of the atom, which are not in the form of a tetrahedron around it, but flat like a trapezoid. This arrangement is usually energetically extremely unfavorable, yet the molecules are...
U.S. Marines use sensor buoys to better understand ocean battlespace
Flying several thousand feet above the Pacific Ocean, an air crew and a scientist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tossed cylindrical floats from a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft. Packed with data-gathering sensors to measure underwater conditions, the floats fell fast before orange parachutes opened to ease splashdown.
New drug inhibits the growth of cancer cells
A newly developed compound starves cancer cells by attacking their "power plants"—the so-called mitochondria. The new compound prevents the genetic information within mitochondria from being read. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the University of Gothenburg report in their study that this compound could be used...
Brain gene expression patterns predict behavior of individual honey bees
An unusual study that involved bar coding and tracking the behavior of thousands of individual honey bees in six queenless bee hives and analyzing gene expression in their brains offers new insights into how gene regulation contributes to social behavior.
Japanese artform inspires new engineering technique
Paper snowflakes, pop-up children's books and elaborate paper cards are of interest to more than just crafters. A team of Northwestern University engineers is using ideas taken from paper-folding practices to create a sophisticated alternative to 3-D printing.
'Soft' nanoparticles give plasmons new potential
Bigger is not always better, but here's something that starts small and gets better as it gets bigger.
How roundworms decide the time is right to grow
Transforming a fertilized egg into a fully functional adult is a complicated task. Cells must divide, move, and mature at specific times. Developmental genes control that process, turning on and off in a choreographed way. However, the environment influences development. A team of researchers led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Associate Professor Christopher Hammell reported December 22, 2020 in...
Better learners in collared flycatchers are more likely to imitate competitors
Many animal species use social information—from conspecifics or other species—to inform their behavioral choices, for example where to look for food or build a nest. In a recent study, ornithologists have shown for the first time that the ability to use such information can depend on an individual's cognitive skills. In the collared flycatcher, females that mastered a learning task faster were...
A blazar in the early Universe
The supersharp radio 'vision' of the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) has revealed previously unseen details in a jet of material ejected at three-quarters the speed of light from the core of a galaxy some 12.8 billion light-years from Earth. The galaxy, dubbed PSO J0309+27, is a blazar, with its jet pointed toward Earth, and is the brightest radio-emitting blazar yet...
Two dimensional heterostructures composed of layers with slightly different lattice vectors
New periodic structures known as moiré lattices can be observed in two-dimensional (2-D) heterostructures containing layers with slightly different lattice vectors, which can in turn support new topological phenomena. It is therefore important to obtain high-resolution imaging of these moiré lattices and superstructures to understand the emerging physics. In a new report now published in Science...
Ancient DNA sheds light on the peopling of the Mariana Islands
To reach the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific, humans crossed more than 2,000 kilometers of open ocean, and around 2,000 years earlier than any other sea travel over an equally long distance. They settled in the Marianas around 3,500 years ago, slightly earlier than the initial settlement of Polynesia.
Scientists invent glue activated by magnetic field
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have developed a new way to cure adhesives using a magnetic field.
A new species of mammal may have been found in Africa's montane forests
A research team from the University of Helsinki has discovered a tree hyrax in the Taita Hills, Kenya, which may belong to a species previously unknown to science.
Polymer to capture ammonia pollution realized
Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute and the Department of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen, have recently designed a porous polymer aiming for the capture of small molecules. Ammonia is a toxic gas widely used as a reagent in industrial processes or resulting from agricultural activities, causing irritation in the throat, eye damage and even death to humans. Being able to capture it with...
Pandemic and forthcoming stimulus funds could bring climate targets in sight—or not
The lockdowns that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, in the recovery phase, emissions could rise to levels above those projected before the pandemic. It all depends on how the stimulus money that governments inject into their economies is spent. A team of scientists, led by Dr. Yuli Shan and Professor Klaus Hubacek from the University of Groningen,...
Slow start of plate tectonics despite a hot early Earth
Writing in PNAS, scientists from Cologne university present important new constraints showing that plate tectonics started relatively slow, although the early Earth's interior was much hotter than today.