- PhysOrg
- 21/6/16 22:15
Scientists have found a dead Asian giant hornet north of Seattle, the first so-called murder hornet discovered in the country this year, federal and state investigators said Wednesday.
333 articles from WEDNESDAY 16.6.2021
Scientists have found a dead Asian giant hornet north of Seattle, the first so-called murder hornet discovered in the country this year, federal and state investigators said Wednesday.
The original Star Trek television series took place in a future when space is the final frontier, but humanity hasn't reached that point quite yet.
A study of young immigrant mothers who are survivors of sex trafficking found that the trauma affected how they parented: It made them overprotective parents in a world perceived to be unsafe, it fueled emotional withdrawal when struggling with stress and mental health symptoms, and was a barrier to building confidence as mothers. Yet, they coped with such challenges through finding meaning in the...
Supermassive black holes, or SMBHs, are black holes with masses that are several million to billion times the mass of our sun. The Milky Way hosts an SMBH with mass a few million times the solar mass. Surprisingly, astrophysical observations show that SMBHs already existed when the universe was very young. For example, a billion solar mass black holes are found when the universe was just 6% of its...
An international team of physicists led by the University of Minnesota has discovered that a unique superconducting metal is more resilient when used as a very thin layer. The research is the first step toward a larger goal of understanding unconventional superconducting states in materials, which could possibly be used in quantum computing in the future.
A new approach to studying conjugated polymers has made it possible for an Army-funded research team to measure, for the first time, the individual molecules' mechanical and kinetic properties during polymerization reaction. The insights gained could lead to more flexible and robust soft electronic materials, such as health monitors and soft robotics.
The long relationships between stars and the planets around them—including the Sun and the Earth—may be even more complex than previously thought. This is one conclusion of a new study involving thousands of stars using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Bay Area scientists have captured the real-time electrical activity of a beating heart, using a sheet of graphene to record an optical image—almost like a video camera—of the faint electric fields generated by the rhythmic firing of the heart's muscle cells.
Why can some people weather the stress of social isolation better than others, and what implications does this have for their health? New research found that people who felt a strong sense of purpose in life were less lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An analysis of 18 species of stationary and migratory bats living in Switzerland has discovered that they harbor viruses from 39 different viral families -- including some viruses with the potential risk of jumping to other animals, including humans, and causing disease.
We've seen robots take to the air, dive beneath the waves and perform all sorts of maneuvers on land. Now, researchers are exploring a new frontier: the ground beneath our feet. Taking their cues from plants and animals that have evolved to navigate subterranean spaces, they've developed a fast, controllable soft robot that can burrow through sand.
Three astronauts are set to blast off on China's longest ever human spaceflight mission.
If you want to believe, now is the time: the hope that we might one day stumble upon alien life is greater than it ever was. No, it’s not going to be little green men speeding through space in flying disks—more likely microbes or primitive bacteria. But a discovery like that would nevertheless be a…
Latest updates: 60 MPs vote against government plans while former special adviser Dominic Cummings publishes messages purporting to show PM’s criticism of health secretary Matt HancockTory MPs speak out against delaying lifting of final restrictionsCummings texts show Johnson calling Matt Hancock ‘totally hopeless’PM plans to leave No 10 two years after next election, Cummings claimsAnalysis...
How do supermassive black holes in the early universe originate? A team led by a theoretical physicist has come up with an explanation: a massive seed black hole that the collapse of a dark matter halo could produce.
A study led by physics researchers has discovered that a unique superconducting metal is more resilient when used as a very thin layer.
The long relationships between stars and the planets around them - including the Sun and the Earth - may be even more complex than previously thought. This is one conclusion of a new study involving thousands of stars using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Is parenting life's greatest joy? New research from psychologists examines life satisfaction of adults who don't want children, revealing no differences compared to adults who are parents.
Nanoengineers have developed immune cell-mimicking nanoparticles that target inflammation in the lungs and deliver drugs directly where they're needed. As a proof of concept, the researchers filled the nanoparticles with the drug dexamethasone and administered them to mice with inflamed lung tissue. Inflammation was completely treated in mice given the nanoparticles, at a drug concentration where...
A new approach to studying conjugated polymers made it possible for researchers to measure the individual molecules' mechanical and kinetic properties during polymerization reaction. The insights gained could lead to more flexible and robust soft electronic materials, such as health monitors and soft robotics.
A new study showing that computers can predict what paintings people will like offers insight into how our brains make aesthetic judgments.
Magnetic-spin interactions that allow spin-manipulation by electrical control allow potential applications in energy-efficient spintronic devices. Researchers now describe the induction of such interactions in a layered material tantalum-sulfide by addition of iron atoms, and tuning by insertion of protons.
Researchers found industrial chemicals in the organs of fetuses conceived decades after many countries had banned the substances. The researchers urge decision makers to consider the combined impact of the mix of chemicals that accumulate in people and nature.
Climate modelers have found evidence that massive icebergs from roughly 31,000 years ago drifted more than 5,000km (> 3,000 miles) along the eastern United States coast from Northeast Canada all the way to southern Florida.
Commonplace pharmaceuticals can carry with them an inherent flaw in their atomic structure, which pairs the active, beneficial ingredient with a potentially ineffective -- or even toxic -- counterpart. New research could hold the key to more easily isolating the good while removing the unwanted.
Researchers have discovered a surprising asymmetry in the mating behavior of unicellular yeast that emerges solely from molecular differences in pheromone signaling. Their results might shed new light on the evolutionary origins of sexual dimorphism in higher eukaryotes.
Scientists have developed a computational technique that greatly increases the resolution of atomic force microscopy, a specialized type of microscope that 'feels' the atoms at a surface. The method reveals atomic-level details on proteins and other biological structures under normal physiological conditions, opening a new window on cell biology, virology and other microscopic processes.
Researchers find an increase in inflammatory molecules in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of C90RF72 patients, informing future anti-inflammatory therapies.
While crop yield has achieved a substantial boost from nanotechnology in recent years, the alarms over the health risks posed by nanoparticles within fresh produce and grains have also increased. In particular, nanoparticles entering the soil through irrigation, fertilizers and other sources have raised concerns about whether plants absorb these minute particles enough to cause toxicity.
Researchers have successfully used graphene -- one of the strongest, thinnest known materials -- to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in laboratory experiments.
A molecule that shuttles omega-3 fatty acids into the brain may open a doorway for delivering neurological therapeutics to the brain.
Scientists today track electrical signals and voltage changes in neurons and muscle cells by labeling individual cells or probing with electrodes. Scientists have now developed a new type of sensor that employs a sheet of graphene to get a continuous measure of electric field in these tissues. Electric fields change graphene's reflectance. The physicists found a way to amplify and measure the...
A recreation of three common types of Paleolithic lighting systems (torches, grease lamps, and fireplaces) illuminates how Paleolithic cave dwellers might have traveled, lived, and created in the depths of their caves, according to a new study.
Researchers have found that plants balance growth and genome maintenance by organizing their responses to damage. Plants can't replace dead cells as animals do, and must deal with DNA damage without halting growth. Combined control of the plant hormones cytokinin and auxin allows plants to organize different DNA damage responses while minimizing cell death. This study will have broad applications...
Should zoos display legally protected species that have been smuggled out of their range countries? A new study suggests that a pause and rethink may be needed, as it reports that accredited zoos have acquired a rare and legally protected reptile, the earless monitor lizard endemic to Borneo, without any evidence that the animals were legally exported.
Commonplace pharmaceuticals, such as ibuprofen, can carry with them an inherent flaw in their atomic structure, which pairs the active, beneficial ingredient with a potentially ineffective—or even toxic—counterpart. New research could hold the key to more easily isolating the good while removing the unwanted.
A new paper in the journal Cognition examines the visual complexity of written language and how that complexity has evolved.
Although each organism has a unique genome, a single gene sequence, each individual has many epigenomes. An epigenome consists of chemical compounds and proteins that can bind to DNA and regulate gene action, either by activating or deactivating them or producing organ- or tissue-specific proteins. As it is a highly dynamic material, it can provide a large amount of information to shed light on...
A new rubber band stretches, but then snaps back into its original shape and size. Stretched again, it does the same. But what if the rubber band was made of a material that remembered how it had been stretched? Just as our bones strengthen in response to impact, medical implants or prosthetics composed of such a material could adjust to environmental pressures such as those encountered in...
Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a computational technique that greatly increases the resolution of atomic force microscopy, a specialized type of microscope that "feels" the atoms at a surface. The method reveals atomic-level details on proteins and other biological structures under normal physiological conditions, opening a new window on cell biology, virology and other...
The lush forests and more than 7,000 islands of the Philippines hold a rich diversity of life, with 258 bird species who live nowhere but the Philippine archipelago. A new study from University of Utah researchers suggests that due to deforestation and habitat degradation, more bird species may be endangered that previously thought—including species that may not have been discovered yet. The...
An algorithm can predict when narwhals hunt—a task once nearly impossible to gain insight into. Mathematicians and computer scientists at the University of Copenhagen, together with marine biologists in Greenland, have made progress in gathering knowledge about this enigmatic Arctic whale at a time when climate change is pressuring the species.