256 articles from FRIDAY 5.3.2021

Follow the Energy: An Astrobiology Update from Beneath Earth’s Seafloor

Portal origin URL: Follow the Energy: An Astrobiology Update from Beneath Earth’s SeafloorPortal origin nid: 468884Published: Friday, March 5, 2021 - 16:16Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: A team of NASA Astrobiology-funded researchers from the University of Rhode Island (URI) have revealed that the abundant microbes living thousands of meters from...

Study shows cactus pear as drought-tolerant crop for sustainable fuel and food

Could cactus pear become a major crop like soybeans and corn in the near future, and help provide a biofuel source, as well as a sustainable food and forage crop? According to a recently published study, researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno believe the plant, with its high heat tolerance and low water use, may be able to provide fuel and food in places that previously haven't been able...

NASA’s Perseverance Drives on Mars’ Terrain for First Time

Portal origin URL: NASA’s Perseverance Drives on Mars’ Terrain for First TimePortal origin nid: 468883Published: Friday, March 5, 2021 - 15:43Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover performed its first drive on Mars March 4, covering 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across the Martian landscape.Portal image: This image...

Cactus pear as drought-tolerant crop for sustainable fuel and food

Could cactus pear become a major crop like soybeans and corn in the near future, and help provide a biofuel source, as well as a sustainable food and forage crop? Researchers believe the plant, with its high heat tolerance and low water use, may be able to provide fuel and food in places that previously haven't been able to grow sustainable crops.

Welcome to ‘Octavia E. Butler Landing’

Portal origin URL: Welcome to ‘Octavia E. Butler Landing’Portal origin nid: 468878Published: Friday, March 5, 2021 - 14:40Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA has named the landing site of the agency’s Perseverance rover “Octavia E. Butler Landing,” after the science fiction author Octavia E. Butler.Portal image: NASA has named the...

Small volcanic lakes tapping giant underground reservoirs

In its large caldera, Newberry volcano (Oregon, U.S.) has two small volcanic lakes, one fed by volcanic geothermal fluids (Paulina Lake) and one by gases (East Lake). These popular fishing grounds are small windows into a large underlying reservoir of hydrothermal fluids, releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) with minor mercury (Hg) and methane into East Lake.

Covid fightback: the critical role of HIV experts

The speed and cooperation of the Covid response has been honed by decades of dealing with ‘the biggest pandemic the world has ever seen’When Dr Anthony Fauci spoke at the 20th International Aids Conference in Melbourne in 2014, his appearance garnered little media attention.Nearly seven years later, the HIV expert and director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has...

Uncovering hidden forever chemicals

Researchers found large quantities of previously undetectable compounds from the family of chemicals known as PFAS in six watersheds on Cape Cod using a new method to quantify and identify PFAS compounds. Exposures to some PFAS, widely used for their ability to repel heat, water, and oil, are linked to a range of health risks including cancer, immune suppression, diabetes, and low infant birth...

Small volcanic lakes tapping giant underground reservoirs

In its large caldera, Newberry volcano (Oregon, USA) has two small volcanic lakes, one fed by volcanic geothermal fluids (Paulina Lake) and one by gases (East Lake). These popular fishing grounds are small windows into a large underlying reservoir of hydrothermal fluids, releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) with minor mercury (Hg) and methane into East Lake.

Food security: Irradiation and essential oil vapors for cereal treatment

A combined treatment of irradiation and essential oil vapors could effectively destroy insects, bacteria and mold in stored grains. A team from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), led by Professor Monique Lacroix, has demonstrated the effect of this process on insects affecting rice. The study was published in Radiation Physics and Chemistry.

Tantalizing signs of phase-change 'turbulence' in RHIC collisions

Physicists studying collisions of gold ions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility for nuclear physics research at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory, are embarking on a journey through the phases of nuclear matter—the stuff that makes up the nuclei of all the visible matter in our universe. A new analysis of collisions...

Making sense of commotion under the ocean to locate tremors near deep-sea faults

Researchers from Japan and Indonesia have pioneered a new method for more accurately estimating the source of weak ground vibrations in areas where one tectonic plate is sliding under another in the sea. Applying the approach to Japan's Nankai Trough, the researchers were able to estimate previously unknown properties in the region, demonstrating the method's promise to help probe properties...

Ecosystem services: Species are our livelihoods

Functioning ecosystems provide the basis for security, basic material needs, health, social interaction and individual liberty. This is how the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 described it, dividing ecosystem services into the following categories: The provisioning services; goods such as food, water, firewood and timber, the regulating services; pollination, water filtering function of the...

Engineering marvel: Sixth mirror cast for Giant Magellan Telescope

The Giant Magellan Telescope announces fabrication of the sixth of seven of the world's largest monolithic mirrors. These mirrors will allow astronomers to see farther into the universe with more detail than any other optical telescope before. The sixth 8.4-meter (27.5 feet) mirror—about two stories high when standing on edge—is being fabricated at the University of Arizona's Richard F. Caris...

Eight ways chemical pollutants harm the body

A new review of existing evidence proposes eight hallmarks of environmental exposures that chart the biological pathways through which pollutants contribute to disease: oxidative stress and inflammation, genomic alterations and mutations, epigenetic alterations, mitochondrial dysfunction, endocrine disruption, altered intercellular communication, altered microbiome communities, and impaired...

Tantalizing signs of phase-change 'turbulence' in RHIC collisions

A new analysis of collisions conducted at different energies at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) shows tantalizing signs of a critical point -- a change in the way that quarks and gluons, the building blocks of protons and neutrons, transform from one phase to another. The findings will help physicists map out details of these nuclear phase changes to better understand the evolution of...

Sports information on social networks leaves out women, disabled and minority disciplines

Researchers from the University of Seville and Pompeu Fabra University argue that sports information on social media is dominated by men and football. This leaves out women's sports, sports featuring athletes with disabilities and minority disciplines, thus repeating the reality of the traditional media. That is the main conclusion of a study analyzing more than 7,000 tweets published by the...