321 articles from TUESDAY 9.2.2021
Deep Jet Streams in Jupiter’s Atmosphere
Portal origin URL: Deep Jet Streams in Jupiter’s AtmospherePortal origin nid: 468219Published: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 - 16:59Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: This view of Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere from NASA’s Juno spacecraft includes several of the planet’s southern jet streams.Portal...
Can super-Earth interior dynamics set the table for habitability?
New research led by Carnegie's Yingwei Fei provides a framework for understanding the interiors of super-Earths—rocky exoplanets between 1.5 and 2 times the size of our home planet—which is a prerequisite to assess their potential for habitability. Planets of this size are among the most abundant in exoplanetary systems. The paper is published in Nature Communications.
NASA's first mission to the trojan asteroids installs its final scientific instrument
With less than a year to launch, NASA's Lucy mission's third and final scientific instrument has been integrated onto the spacecraft.
Why does love of bargain hunting run in families?
Headlines like "Black Friday Shoppers Trampled in New York" and popular television shows such as "Extreme Couponing" remind us how crazy consumers can get about retail sales promotions. This enthusiasm for getting bargains has been termed "deal proneness."
Scientists create flexible biocompatible cilia that can be controlled by a magnet
Researchers at the University of Campinas's Chemistry Institute (IQ-UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, have developed a template-free technique to fabricate cilia of different sizes that mimic biological functions and have multiple applications, from directing fluids in microchannels to loading material into a cell, for example. The highly flexible cilia are based on polymer-coated iron...
Ancient Amazonian farmers fortified valuable land they had spent years making fertile to protect it
Ancient Amazonian communities fortified valuable land they had spent years making fertile to protect it from conflict, excavations show.
Not a living fossil: How the Coelacanth recently evolved dozens of new genes
The capture of the first living Coelacanth, a mighty ocean predator, off the coast of South Africa caused quite a stir in 1938, 65 million years after its supposed extinction. It became known as a "living fossil" owing to its anatomy looking almost identical to the fossil record. But while the Coelacanth's body may have changed little, its genome tells another story.
Federal COVID Alert app to collect more data to gauge effectiveness
Hailed by the federal government as a key tool in the fight against the coronavirus since its release last July, Canada’s COVID Alert app has been plagued by a nagging question: Does it really work? Now, federal officials have a plan to offer a better answer...
Relaxed precautions, not climate, the biggest factor driving wintertime COVID-19 outbreaks
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:19
Wintertime outbreaks of COVID-19 have been largely driven by whether people adhere to control measures such as mask wearing and social distancing, according to a new study. Climate and a lack of population immunity are playing smaller roles during the pandemic phase of the virus, but will become more impactful as infections slow.
'Defective' carbon simplifies hydrogen peroxide production
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:19
Scientists introduce a new catalyst to reduce oxygen to widely used hydrogen peroxide. The process sidesteps complex and expensive processes that generate toxic organic byproducts and large amounts of wastewater.
Paid maternity leave has long-term health benefits
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:19
A study of women who were new mothers in the late 1970s found that those who were given longer, paid maternity leave lived healthier lives as they entered middle age.
Drug is promising against pancreatic and breast cancers
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
The drug is effective at treating pancreatic cancer and prolonging survival in mice, according to a new study. A second study shows the drug is also effective against triple-negative breast cancer, a fast-growing and hard-to-treat type of breast cancer that carries a poor prognosis. Clinical trials are set to begin in 2021.
New CRISPR tech targets human genome's complex code
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
Rice bioengineers harness the CRISPR/Cas9 system to program histones, the support proteins that wrap up and control human DNA, to manipulate gene activation and phosphorylation. The new technology enables innovative ways to find and manipulate genes and pathways responsible for diseases.
High CO2 to slow tropical fish move to cooler waters
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
A new study shows that the ocean acidification predicted under continuing high CO2 emissions may make cooler, temperate waters less welcoming.
Poorer mental health smolders after deadly, devastating wildfire
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
Researchers report that climate change is a chronic mental health stressor, and promotes a variety of mental health problems. The 2018 Camp Fire is a case study.
The pandemic lockdown leads to cleaner city air across Canada, paper reveals
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
Researchers found that emission levels dropped dramatically over the course of the pandemic. They measured downtown air quality monitoring station data from eight Canadian cities and compared their concentration levels of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide between February and August 2020 to the figures recorded over the same period in 2018 and 2019. They also used satellite...
Genetic evolution doesn't always take millions of years
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
Love them or hate them, there's no doubt the European Starling is a wildly successful bird. A new study examines this non-native species from the inside out to learn what exactly happened at the genetic level as the starling population exploded across North America?
Human eye beats machine in archaeological color identification test
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
A ruler and scale can tell archaeologists the size and weight of a fragment of pottery - but identifying its precise color can depend on individual perception. So, when a handheld color-matching gadget came on the market, scientists hoped it offered a consistent way of determining color, free of human bias.
Astronomers offer possible explanation for elusive dark-matter-free galaxies
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
Astronomers have found that some dwarf galaxies may today appear to be dark-matter free even though they formed as galaxies dominated by dark matter in the past.
Long-term environmental damage from transportation projects in Kenya, scientists warn
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
The construction of a major railway through Kenya will have long-term environmental impacts on the area, suggesting more work needs to be done to limit the damage on future infrastructure projects, a major study reveals.
Quantum computing enables simulations to unravel mysteries of magnetic materials
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
A multi-institutional team became the first to generate accurate results from materials science simulations on a quantum computer that can be verified with neutron scattering experiments and other practical techniques.
Researchers uncover hidden hunting tactics of wolves in Minnesota's Northwoods
- ScienceDaily
- 21/2/9 21:18
Researchers show that wolves have evolved ambush hunting tactics specifically tailored for catching and killing beavers. The study challenges the classic concept that wolves are solely cursorial predators. Instead, wolf-hunting strategies appear highly flexible, and they are able to switch between hunting modes (cursorial and ambush hunting) depending on their prey.