408 articles from THURSDAY 11.3.2021
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Set to Resume Science Operations
Portal origin URL: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Set to Resume Science OperationsPortal origin nid: 469025Published: Thursday, March 11, 2021 - 17:19Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA is working to return the Hubble Space Telescope to science operations after resolving a problem with a safeguard aboard.Portal image: Hubble Space...
Birds learn to avoid flashy, hard-to-catch butterflies and their lookalikes
The showy colors of some butterflies could advertise their speed and nimbleness, much like a coat of bright yellow paint on a sports car. A new study shows birds can learn to recognize these visual cues, avoiding not only butterflies they've failed to nab in the past but similar-looking species as well.
Researchers design a new highly-selective tool to study 'undruggable' proteins through the sugars they depend on
Sugar has been called "evil," "toxic," and "poison." But the body needs sugars, too. Sugar molecules help cells recognize and fight viruses and bacteria, shuttle proteins from cell to cell, and make sure those proteins function. Too much or too little can contribute to a range of maladies, including neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, inflammation, diabetes, and even cancer.
How does a crustacean become a crab?
Crabs are living the meme life on social media lately. The memes joke that everything will eventually look like a crab. But it's actually based in some truth.
Whooping cranes steer clear of wind turbines when selecting stopover sites
As gatherings to observe whooping cranes join the ranks of online-only events this year, a new study offers insight into how the endangered bird is faring on a landscape increasingly dotted with wind turbines. The paper, published this week in Ecological Applications, reports that whooping cranes migrating through the U.S. Great Plains avoid "rest stop" sites that are within 5 km of wind-energy...
Laser-driven experiments provide insights into the formation of the universe
The universe is filled with magnetic fields. Understanding how magnetic fields are generated and amplified in plasmas is essential to studying how large structures in the universe were formed and how energy is divided throughout the cosmos.
Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy innovation enables simultaneous multicontrast imaging
Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM), a new hybrid imaging technique, allows us to listen to the sound of light and see the color of biological tissue itself. It can be used for live, multicontrast functional imaging, but the limited wavelength choice of most commercial lasers and the limitations of the existing scanning methods have meant that OR-PAM can obtain only one or two...
With 'big one' coming, quake alert system launches in Oregon
People in Oregon will be better prepared for earthquakes—particularly important in the Pacific Northwest because experts say "the big one" is coming—as an early warning system launched Thursday, the 10th anniversary of a devastating quake and tsunami in Japan.
Renewable diesel, hydrogen project in line for $100M in carbon credits
Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. says it expects to receive $100 million in B.C. government low carbon fuel credits if it proceeds with a plan to build renewable diesel and renewable hydrogen facilities at its Prince George Refinery in...
Tracking cosmic ghosts
The idea was so far-fetched it seemed like science fiction: create an observatory out of a one cubic kilometer block of ice in Antarctica to track ghostly particles called neutrinos that pass through the Earth. But speaking to Benedickt Riedel, global computing manager at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, it makes perfect sense.
Polarization: From better sunglasses to a better way of looking at asteroid surfaces
Using the same principles that make polarized sunglasses possible, a team of researchers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico have developed a technique that will help better defend against asteroids on a collision course with Earth.
Climate change influences river flow
Climate change is affecting the water balance of our planet: depending on the region and the time of year, this can influence the amount of water in rivers potentially resulting in more flooding or drought. River flow is an important indicator of water resources available to humans and the environment. The amount of available water also depends on further factors, such as direct interventions in...
Superconducting coils for contactless power transmission in the kilowatt range
A team led by Christoph Utschick and Prof. Rudolf Gross, physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has developed a coil with superconducting wires capable of transmitting power in the range of more than five kilowatts contactless and with only small losses. The wide field of conceivable applications include autonomous industrial robots, medical equipment, vehicles and even aircraft.
Researchers reveal 3D structure responsible for gene expression
For the first time ever, a Northwestern University-led research team has peered inside a human cell to view a multi-subunit machine responsible for regulating gene expression.
Hyperpolarized proton MRI used to observe metabolic processes in real time
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is already widely used in medicine for diagnostic purposes. Hyperpolarized MRI is a more recent development and its research and application potential has yet to be fully explored. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM) have now unveiled a new technique for observing metabolic processes in the body. Their...
Cheaper carbon capture is on the way
As part of a marathon research effort to lower the cost of carbon capture, chemists have now demonstrated a method to seize carbon dioxide (CO2) that reduces costs by 19 percent compared to current commercial technology. The new technology requires 17 percent less energy to accomplish the same task as its commercial counterparts, surpassing barriers that have kept other forms of carbon capture...
Team creates new ultralightweight, crush-resistant tensegrity metamaterials
Catastrophic collapse of materials and structures is the inevitable consequence of a chain reaction of locally confined damage—from solid ceramics that snap after the development of a small crack to metal space trusses that give way after the warping of a single strut.
Personal charitable donation budgets flexible in aftermath of deadly storms
Charitable donations account for about 2% of gross domestic product in the U.S., but it's not well-understood whether an event such as a deadly storm inspires increases in charitable giving or simply reallocates a fixed supply of donation dollars that would have otherwise gone to another cause.
Weakened protections led to more disappearances of endangered Mexican wolves
Mexican wolves in the American Southwest disappeared more quickly during periods of relaxed legal protections, almost certainly succumbing to poaching, according to new research published Wednesday.
Researchers reveal 3D structure responsible for gene expression
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/11 21:28
For the first time ever, a research team has peered inside a human cell to view Mediator-bound pre-initiation complex, a multi-subunit machine responsible for regulating gene expression.
Microscope helps with dinosaur puzzle
Fossil sites sometimes resemble a living room table on which half a dozen different jigsaw puzzles have been dumped: It is often difficult to say which bone belongs to which animal. Together with colleagues from Switzerland, researchers from the University of Bonn have now presented a method that allows a more certain answer to this question. Their results are published in the journal...
Polarization: From better sunglasses to a better way of looking at asteroid surfaces
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/11 21:28
Using the same principles that make polarized sunglasses possible, a team of researchers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico have developed a technique that will help better defend against asteroids on a collision course with Earth. A new study in The Planetary Science Journal found a better way to interpret radar signals bounced off asteroids' surfaces.
New insight into how cancer spreads
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/11 21:28
Breast cancer is harmful enough on its own, but when cancer cells start to metastasize -- or spread into the body from their original location -- the disease becomes even more fatal and difficult to treat.