168 articles from FRIDAY 4.6.2021

Magnetism drives metals to insulators in new experiment

Like all metals, silver, copper, and gold are conductors. Electrons flow across them, carrying heat and electricity. While gold is a good conductor under any conditions, some materials have the property of behaving like metal conductors only if temperatures are high enough; at low temperatures, they act like insulators and do not do a good job of carrying electricity. In other words, these unusual...

Researchers investigate mining-related deforestation in the Amazon

If you're wearing gold jewelry right now, there's a good chance it came from an illegal mining operation in the tropics and surfaced only after some rainforest was sacrificed, according to a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and alumni who studied regulatory efforts to curb some of these environmentally damaging activities in the Amazon.

Fungus creates a fast track for carbon

Tiny algae in Earth's oceans and lakes take in sunlight and carbon dioxide and turn them into sugars that sustain the rest of the aquatic food web, gobbling up about as much carbon as all the world's trees and plants combined.

AAS Names New NASA-Affiliated Fellows, Legacy Fellows

Portal origin URL: AAS Names New NASA-Affiliated Fellows, Legacy FellowsPortal origin nid: 471546Published: Friday, June 4, 2021 - 16:05Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Thirteen scientists working at or affiliated with NASA have been recently named Fellows of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the major organization of professional astronomers...

Five questions posed by Facebook’s two-year ban on Donald Trump

On Friday, Facebook announced that it would suspend former president Donald Trump from the social network for two years, until at least January 7, 2023, and said he would “only be reinstated if conditions permit.” The announcement comes in response to recommendations last month from Facebook’s recently created Oversight Board. Facebook had hoped that the board would decide how to handle...

The U.S. Government’s Long-Awaited UFO Report Is Here. Its Findings? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The U.S. Navy pilots flying maneuvers in their F/A-18 Super Hornets in 2015 did not have to wait for yesterday’s leak of the classified government report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)—better known as UFOs—to know that they were seeing things they could not explain outside their windscreens. The objects were, yes, saucer-shaped, and they were bobbing, darting and...

Quantum holds the key to secure conference calls

The world is one step closer to ultimately secure conference calls, thanks to a collaboration between Quantum Communications Hub researchers and their German colleagues, enabling a quantum-secure conversation to take place between four parties simultaneously.

Early warning system for COVID-19 gets faster through wastewater detection and tracing

A new research paper builds on previous research of COVID-19 testing in municipal sewer systems and subsequent tracing the virus back to the source by more accurately modelling a system's treelike network of one-way pipes and manholes, and by speeding up the detection/tracing process through automatic sensors installed in specific manholes, chosen according to an easier-to-use algorithm.

An atom chip interferometer that could detect quantum gravity

Physicists have created a quantum interferometer on an atom chip. This device can be used to explore the fundamentals of quantum theory by studying the interference pattern between two beams of atoms. Physicists describe how the device could be adapted to use mesoscopic particles instead of atoms. This modification would allow for expanded applications.

Gene protection for COVID-19 identified

A genetic link has been discovered explaining why some people catch COVID but don't get sick. The gene is found three times as often in people who are asymptomatic. This is the first clear evidence of genetic resistance because the study compared severely affected people with an asymptomatic COVID group and used next generation sequencing to focus in detail and at scale on the HLA genes which are...