286 articles from TUESDAY 8.6.2021

Radicalized and believing in conspiracies: Can the cycle be broken?

If your idea of conspiracy theories entails aliens, UFOs, governmental cover-ups at Roswell Air Force Base, and the melody of The X-Files—you're not alone. That was, indeed, the classic notion, says Scott Tyson, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Rochester.

Researchers create self-sustaining, intelligent, electronic microsystems from green material

A research team from the University of Massachusetts Amherst has created an electronic microsystem that can intelligently respond to information inputs without any external energy input, much like a self-autonomous living organism. The microsystem is constructed from a novel type of electronics that can process ultralow electronic signals and incorporates a device that can generate electricity...

A call for global oversight of unproven stem cell therapies

The promotion and marketing of unproven stem cell therapies is a global problem that needs a global solution, say experts. The authors of the paper call for the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish an advisory committee on regenerative medicine to tackle this issue and provide guidance for countries around the world.

An unprecedented survey of the 'nurseries' where stars are born

Astronomers have taken a big step forward in understanding the dark and violent places where stars are born. Over the past five years, an international team of researchers has conducted the first systematic survey of 'stellar nurseries' across our part of the universe, charting the more than 100,000 of these nurseries across more than 90 nearby galaxies and providing new insights into the origins...

Monarchs raised in captivity can orient themselves for migration

Researchers found monarchs raised in captivity can successfully migrate if given time to orient themselves. They discovered this by equipping the butterflies with tiny radio transmitters and monitoring them for 200 km, debunking previous research that found the butterflies couldn't orient themselves. Monarchs released into the wild flew in the proper direction because they were exposed to natural...

From burglar alarms to black hole detectors

Last year a physicist proposed an experiment that could conclusively prove whether gravity is a quantum phenomenon. In a new article, he describes how two types of noise could be reduced and suggests that quantum interference could be applied in the production of a sensitive instrument that could detect movements of objects ranging from butterflies to burglars and black holes.

Cleaning up mining pollution in rivers

Mining involves moving a lot of rock, so some mess is expected. However, mining operations can continue to affect ecosystems long after activity has ended. Heavy metals and corrosive substances leach into the environment, preventing wildlife and vegetation from returning to the area.

Mechanochemical peptide bond formation behind the origins of life

The presence of amino acids on the prebiotic Earth is widely accepted, either coming from endogenous chemical processes or being delivered by extraterrestrial material. On the other hand, plausibly prebiotic pathways to peptides often rely on different aqueous approaches where condensation of amino acids is thermodynamically unfavorable. Now, chemists from the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI), in...

From burglar alarms to black hole detectors: Super sensors as possible outputs of a quantum gravity experiment

Last year, Anupam Mazumdar, a physicist from the University of Groningen, together with colleagues from the UK proposed an experiment that could conclusively prove whether gravity is a quantum phenomenon. This experiment would focus on observing two relatively large, entangled quantum systems in free fall. In a new article, published on 4 June in Physical Review Research, the scientists describe...

CO2 reaches its highest level in more than 4 million years

As surely as the rains fall and flowers blossom, the Northern Hemisphere awakens every June to another, less inspiring rite of spring—a new peak level for global atmospheric carbon dioxide. This year, that number is 419 carbon dioxide molecules for every million molecules of air, a.k.a. parts per million.

Tracking RNA through space and time

The "miracle of life" is most obvious at the very beginning: When the fertilized egg cell divides by means of furrows into blastomeres, envelops itself in an amniotic sac, and unfolds to form germ layers. When the blastomeres begin to differentiate into different cells—and when they eventually develop into a complete organism.