273 articles from MONDAY 19.7.2021

Hubble Returns to Full Science Observations and Releases New Images

Portal origin URL: Hubble Returns to Full Science Observations and Releases New ImagesPortal origin nid: 472617Published: Monday, July 19, 2021 - 16:12Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is back in business, exploring the universe near and far.Portal image: These early snapshots demonstrate Hubble's return to full...

Ocean microbes team up brilliantly to gather food when it's scarce

What's a hungry marine microbe to do when the pickings are slim? It must capture nutrients—nitrogen, phosphorus, or iron—to survive, yet in vast expanses of the ocean, nutrients are extremely scarce. And the stakes are high: Marine microbial communities drive many of the elemental cycles that sustain all life on Earth.

Largest fire grows, forces evacuation of wildlife station

The nation's largest wildfire torched more dry forest in Oregon and forced the evacuation of a wildlife research station Monday as firefighters had to retreat from the flames for the ninth consecutive day due to erratic and dangerous fire behavior.

What the latest Pegasus spyware leaks tell us

Over the weekend, a consortium of international news outlets published their findings from an investigation into the use of Pegasus, the marquee spyware of secretive billion-dollar Israeli surveillance company NSO group.  The reports from the Guardian, the Washington Post, and 15 other media organizations, are based on a leak of tens of thousands of phone numbers that appear to have been...

New study examines commuter characteristics and traffic pollution exposure among commuters

New research examines commuter characteristics to better understand how factors such as departure time, frequency, and commute length are associated with exposure to air pollution. Using personal air pollution monitors, the research clustered commuters to determine whether these clusters were associated with traffic pollution exposures. The study reveals that commuters that travel during rush hour...

Novel autoantibody adds fuel to COVID-19 'firestorm' of inflammation, blood clots

Researchers have discovered another functional autoantibody in COVID-19 patients that contributes to the disease's development and the 'firestorm' of blood clots and inflammation it induces. The autoantibody makes it much harder for the body to degrade neutrophil extracellular traps, the toxic webs of DNA and proteins produced by overactive immune cells at heightened levels in COVID patients.

Using archeology to better understand climate change

Throughout history, people of different cultures and stages of evolution have found ways to adapt, with varying success, to the gradual warming of the environment they live in. But can the past inform the future, now that climate change is happening faster than ever before?

Why NASA should visit Pluto again

In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, a 25-year-old amateur astronomer, spied a small, dim object in the night sky.   He’d been working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, for about a year when he used a blink comparator—a special kind of microscope that can examine and compare images—to glimpse what was for a time considered to be the ninth planet in our...

Why MS patients develop progressive disability

Did you know multiple sclerosis (MS) means multiple scars? New research shows that the brain and spinal cord scars in people with MS may offer clues to why they developprogressive disability but those with related diseases where the immune system attacks the central nervous system do not. Researchers assessed if inflammation leads to permanent scarring in these three diseases.

RNA modification may protect against liver disease

An RNA modification may offer protection against non-alcoholic fatty liver, a condition that results from a build-up of fat in the liver and can lead to advanced liver disease, according to a new study. The modification may also explain why females tend to have higher fat content in the liver.

Scientist casts doubt on validity of Boris Johnson’s ‘workplace pilot’

Statistician says PM’s initial excuse for not self-isolating is part of pattern of pilot studies that lack transparencyCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA scientist has cast doubt on the validity of a workplace pilot scheme used by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to initially avoid self-isolation, accusing the government of secrecy surrounding it and other research.On...

The realization of curved relativistic mirrors to reflect high-power laser pulses

One of the topics investigated in recent physics studies is strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SF-QED). So far, this area has rarely been explored before, mainly because the experimental observation of SF-QED processes would require extremely high light intensities (>1025W/cm2), over three orders of magnitude higher than those attained using the most intense PetaWatt (PW)-class lasers available...

Making clean hydrogen is hard, but researchers just solved a major hurdle

For decades, researchers around the world have searched for ways to use solar power to generate the key reaction for producing hydrogen as a clean energy source—splitting water molecules to form hydrogen and oxygen. However, such efforts have mostly failed because doing it well was too costly, and trying to do it at a low cost led to poor performance.

Experts challenge current understanding of transition dairy cow health

For dairy cows, the transition period—the time between a cow giving birth and beginning to produce milk—brings the greatest possibility of health problems. The current widespread belief is that the effects of excess nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) in the bloodstream and the ensuing hyperketonemia during this period, coupled with low levels of available calcium, are largely responsible for...