- PhysOrg
- 21/4/9 22:04
Auroral displays continue to intrigue scientists, whether the bright lights shine over Earth or over another planet. The lights hold clues to the makeup of a planet's magnetic field and how that field operates.
182 articles from FRIDAY 9.4.2021
Auroral displays continue to intrigue scientists, whether the bright lights shine over Earth or over another planet. The lights hold clues to the makeup of a planet's magnetic field and how that field operates.
The luminous heart of the galaxy M61 dominates this image, framed by its winding spiral arms threaded with dark tendrils of dust. As well as the usual bright bands of stars, the spiral arms of M61 are studded with ruby-red patches of light. Tell-tale signs of recent star formation, these glowing regions lead to M61's classification as a starburst galaxy.
Bob McDonald's blog: The quest to understand the nature of matter and reality is ancient — and...
Researchers have been able to obtain data from underneath Thwaites Glacier, also known as the 'Doomsday Glacier'. They find that the supply of warm water to the glacier is larger than previously thought, triggering concerns of faster melting and accelerating ice flow.
The virus that causes tick-borne encephalitis appears to trick the immune system, misdirecting it into producing inferior antibodies. But new research shows some people produce more potent antibodies, providing hope for treatment.
Desperate French farmers counted the cost Friday of several nights of frost this week which threaten to decimate grape harvests in some of the country's best-known and prestigious wine-producing regions.
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is two days away from making humanity's first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. If all proceeds as planned, the 4-pound (1.8-kg) rotorcraft is expected to take off from Mars' Jezero Crater Sunday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. local Mars solar time (10:54 p.m. EDT), hovering 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds....
The melting rate of the Antarctic ice sheet is mainly controlled by the increase of ocean temperatures surrounding Antarctica. Using a new, higher-resolution climate model simulation, scientists from Utrecht University found a much slower ocean temperature increase compared to current simulations with a coarser resolution. Consequently, the projected sea-level rise in 100 years is about 25% lower...
For the first time, researchers have been able to obtain data from underneath Thwaites Glacier, also known as the "Doomsday Glacier." They find that the supply of warm water to the glacier is larger than previously thought, triggering concerns of faster melting and accelerating ice flow.
Excessive CO2 emissions are a major cause of climate change, and hence reducing the CO2 levels in the Earth's atmosphere is key to limiting adverse environmental effects. Rather than just capture and store CO2, it would be desirable to use it as carbon feedstock for fuel production to achieve the target of "net-zero-emissions energy systems." The capture and conversion of CO2 (from fuel gas or...
A new study using human genetics suggests researchers should prioritize clinical trials of drugs that target two proteins to manage COVID-19 in its early stages. Based on their analyses, the researchers call for prioritizing clinical trials of drugs targeting the proteins IFNAR2 and ACE2. The goal is to identify existing drugs, either FDA-approved or in clinical development for other conditions,...
A tiny protein of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that gives rise to COVID-19, may have big implications for future treatments, according to a team of Penn State researchers.
A new study continues to support a growing body of evidence that aluminum contributes to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Researchers found aluminum co-located with phosphorylated tau protein, which is an early initiator of AD.
Psychosocial stress - typically resulting from difficulty coping with challenging environments - may work synergistically to put women at significantly higher risk of developing coronary heart disease, according to a new study.
The properties of carbon-based nanomaterials can be altered and engineered through the deliberate introduction of certain structural 'imperfections'. The challenge, however, is to control the number and type of these defects. Chemists and materials scientists have now demonstrated a new reaction pathway that enables such control for carbon nanotubes. It results in specific optically active sp3...
Researchers showed that a new hyaluronic acid hydrogel system can reinforce and seal areas of injured cartilage in animal studies, paving the way for future fixes and healing.
Portal origin URL: El helicóptero de Marte de la NASA intentará realizar su primer vuelo el domingoPortal origin nid: 470005Published: Friday, April 9, 2021 - 12:30Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: El helicóptero Ingenuity Mars de la NASA está a dos días de llevar a cabo el primer intento de la humanidad de realizar un vuelo controlado y con motor...
Experiments suggest that the subatomic world may be much more complex than we thoughtTo find out how the universe truly works, scientists have for decades worked on the standard model of particle physics. When the Higgs boson was found at the Large Hadron Collider almost a decade ago, it was supposed to be the final piece in the jigsaw at the smallest, subatomic scale. Yet this week came the news...
A two-week old elephant has died after being rejected by her family following the birth of another elephant calf, Sweden's Boras Zoo announced Friday.
Portal origin URL: NASA’s Mars Helicopter to Make First Flight Attempt SundayPortal origin nid: 470003Published: Friday, April 9, 2021 - 11:56Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is two days away from making humanity’s first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet.Portal...
A volcano that has been dormant for decades erupted Friday on Saint Vincent, darkening skies over the northern part of the Caribbean island and forcing thousands to flee to safety.
La Soufrière volcano on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent explosively erupted on Friday morning, spreading ash across surrounding villages, the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre...
Over the past decade, the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system has revolutionized genetic engineering, allowing scientists to make targeted changes to organisms' DNA. While the system could potentially be useful in treating a variety of diseases, CRISPR-Cas9 editing involves cutting DNA strands, leading to permanent changes to the cell's genetic material.
Throughout the last ice age, the climate changed repeatedly and rapidly during so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger events, where Greenland temperatures rose between 5 and 16 degrees Celsius in decades. When certain parts of the climate system changed, other parts of the climate system followed like a series of dominos toppling in succession. Today, sea-ice extent is being rapidly reduced, and it is...
Researchers have made a significant discovery in the field of materials science, for the first time providing a full picture of how fatigue in ferroelectric materials occurs.
In some men, having traditional masculine characteristics such as competitiveness and adventurousness was linked to being better fathers to infants, a new study found. But the men in this study - highly educated and from dual-earner couples - combined those stereotypically masculine traits with the belief that they should be nurturing, highly involved fathers.
The concentration of the radioactive element radon is known to change in the ground before and after earthquakes. Previous studies have shown elevated radon levels in the atmosphere before the mainshock of a large inland earthquake due to foreshock activity and slow slip.
A twin study indicates that the machinery responsible for energy handling in fat tissue is working poorly in obesity. In the study, a clear reduction was seen in the activity of mitochondrial genes in obesity in fat tissue, while similar genome-level change in muscle mitochondria was minor. A link with adverse health effects was identified in the mitochondria of fat tissue only.
A new study reveals the involvement of interleukin-33, an important alarm signal, when immune cells get exposed to Sars-CoV-2 for a second time.
An international group of scientists have studied the chemical composition of 50 protoplanetary-disk forming regions in the Perseus Molecular Cloud, and found that despite being in the same cloud, the amounts of complex organic molecules they contain are quite different.
Researchers succeed in producing rapid, cost-effective and environmentally friendly material.
A team of scientists has analyzed how microbes in the gut process the plant-based, sulfur-containing sugar sulfoquinovose. Their study discovered that specialized bacteria cooperate in the utilization of the sulfosugar, producing hydrogen sulfide. This gas has disparate effects on human health: at low concentrations, it has an anti-inflammatory effect, while increased amounts of hydrogen sulfide...
Researchers have discovered that bird blood produces more heat in winter, when it is colder, than in autumn.
A team from the Department of Agronomy at the UCO has demonstrated, through field tests carried out during 8 agricultural seasons, that foliar feeding with fertilizer increases the concentration of zinc in wheat more than if it is applied to the soil
Alloying is a general and efficient strategy to boost the catalytic activity of Pt catalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) through electronic and geometric effects. Besides, high-index surfaces (HISs) of Pt also exhibit superior ORR activity, mainly originated from low-coordinated step or kink atoms. Thus, a combination of the alloying and HISs would be a promising method to further...
Italy's Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, has recently been on explosive form, with 17 eruptions in less than three months. Instruments onboard three different satellites orbiting Earth have acquired imagery of the eruptions—revealing the intensity of the lava-fountaining eruptive episodes, known as paroxysms.
A fossil of a skunk-like mammal that lived during the age of dinosaurs has been discovered in Chilean Patagonia, adding further proof to recent evidence that mammals roamed that part of South America a lot earlier than previously...
A new four-part HBO series, "Allen v. Farrow," documents the accusations of sexual abuse against film director Woody Allen and the aftermath. The documentary calls on the expertise of Joan S. Meier, a professor of law at George Washington University Law School. In the docuseries Meier comments on strategies of disinformation used by abusers, and references her research focusing on a particularly...
Seven years ago, a huge magnet was transported over 3,200 miles (5,150km) across land and sea, in the hope of studying a subatomic particle called a muon.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered that bird blood produces more heat in winter, when it is colder, than in autumn. The study is published in The FASEB Journal.