271 articles from TUESDAY 20.4.2021
A future of helpful engineered 'living' machines?
Engineered, autonomous machines combined with artificial intelligence have long been a staple of science fiction, and often in the role of villain like the Cylons in the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot, creatures composed of biological and engineered materials. But what if these autonomous soft machines were ... helpful?
New optics-on-a-chip device paves way to capturing fast chemical, material and biological processes
Researchers have developed new X-ray optics that can be used to harness extremely fast pulses in a package that is significantly smaller and lighter than conventional devices used to modulate X-rays. The new optics are based on microscopic chip-based devices known as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
Was Cascadia's 1700 earthquake part of a sequence of earthquakes?
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/20 22:09
The famous 1700 Cascadia earthquake that altered the coastline of western North America and sent a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean to Japan may have been one of a sequence of earthquakes, according to new research.
'Undruggable' cancer protein becomes druggable, thanks to shrub
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/20 22:09
A chemist has found a way to synthesize a compound to fight a previously 'undruggable' cancer protein with benefits across a myriad of cancer types.
Restoration efforts can brighten an ecosystem's future, but cannot erase its past
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/20 22:09
An expansive project is examining the benefits, and limits, of environmental restoration on developed land after humans are done with it.
Deregulated US Government oversight on interstate waters leaves murky implications for states
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/20 22:09
Concern tends to ratchet up a notch when pollution enters the river runoff discussion on a national scale, specifically when smaller, navigable intrastate bodies of water push pollution into larger interstate waters often involved in commerce (i.e. the Mississippi River, Great Lakes, Ohio River).
'Dead clades walking': Fossil record provides new insights into mass extinctions
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/20 22:09
Mass extinctions are known as times of global upheaval, causing rapid losses in biodiversity that wipe out entire animal groups. Some of the doomed groups linger on before going extinct, and a team of scientists found these 'dead clades walking' (DCW) are more common and long-lasting than expected.
Deregulated US government oversight on interstate waters leaves murky implications for states
The familiar murkiness of waters in the Gulf of Mexico can be off-putting for beachgoers visiting Galveston Island. Runoff from the Mississippi River makes its way to local beaches and causes downstream water to turn opaque and brown. Mud is one factor, and river runoff is another. However, concern tends to ratchet up a notch when pollution enters the river runoff discussion on a national scale,...
'Dead clades walking': Fossil record provides new insights into mass extinctions
Mass extinctions are known as times of global upheaval, causing rapid losses in biodiversity that wipe out entire animal groups. Some of the doomed groups linger on before going extinct, and a team of scientists found these "dead clades walking" (DCW) are more common and long-lasting than expected.
What happened at Rogers? Day-long outage is over, but questions remain
A day after a software error wiped out wireless services for thousands of Rogers customers across Canada for most of the day, consumers, telecom executives and critical public services still have questions about what exactly happened and how it can be avoided in the...
Earthquakes continued after COVID-19-related oil and gas recovery shutdown
When hydraulic fracturing operations ground to a halt last spring in the Kiskatinaw area of British Columbia, researchers expected seismic quiescence in the region. Instead, hundreds of small earthquakes occurred for months after operations shut down, according to a new study.
Was Cascadia's 1700 earthquake part of a sequence of earthquakes?
The famous 1700 Cascadia earthquake that altered the coastline of western North America and sent a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean to Japan may have been one of a sequence of earthquakes, according to new research presented at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2021 Annual Meeting.
'Undruggable' cancer protein becomes druggable, thanks to shrub
A chemist from Purdue University has found a way to synthesize a compound to fight a previously "undruggable" cancer protein with benefits across a myriad of cancer types.
Fixed network of smartphones provides earthquake early warning in Costa Rica
Earthquake early warnings can be delivered successfully using a small network of off-the-shelf smartphones attached to building baseboards, according to a study conducted in Costa Rica last year.
Warm waters draw sharks off Israel's Mediterranean coast
Dozens of sharks gathered Tuesday in warm waters of the Mediterranean near an Israeli power plant, drawing sightseers in what has become an annual occurence.
Archaeologists: Site of Harriet Tubman's father's home found
Archaeologists in Maryland say they believe they have found the homesite of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman's father.
Astronauts flying reused SpaceX rocket, capsule for 1st time
For the first time, NASA is putting its trust in a recycled SpaceX rocket and capsule for a crew.
Predicting the next pandemic virus is harder than we think
The observation that most of the viruses that cause human disease come from other animals has led some researchers to attempt "zoonotic risk prediction" to second-guess the next virus to hit us. However, in an Essay publishing April 20th in the open access journal PLOS Biology, led by Dr. Michelle Wille at the University of Sydney, Australia with co-authors Jemma Geoghegan and Edward Holmes, it is...