181 articles from THURSDAY 12.8.2021

The push to cashless transit fare leaves some riders behind

A multi-year study on automated transit fare collection offers a key finding that won't surprise you: Despite the convenience, the rush toward cashless fare systems has created barriers for lower-income riders seeking to use transit. Results from focus groups, surveys, and a review of current transit agency practices suggest that continuing to accept cash is a crucial way to keep transit...

TV ads inspire investment interest, study finds

Stock trading volumes in the United States have soared over the last year and much of it seems to be driven by retail investors. With thousands of stocks to choose from, what factors influence investors' decisions?

Best of both worlds — Combining classical and quantum systems to meet supercomputing demands

Quantum entanglement is one of the most fundamental and intriguing phenomena in nature. Recent research on entanglement has proven to be a valuable resource for quantum communication and information processing. Now, scientists have discovered a stable quantum entangled state of two protons on a silicon surface, opening doors to an organic union of classical and quantum computing platforms and...

Researchers pinpoint how PARP inhibitors combat BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumor cells

PARP inhibitors, used to treat patients with cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate and pancreas, work by inducing persistent DNA gaps in tumor cells with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. The discovery offers the potential to monitor tumors for the development of resistance to PARP inhibitor therapy, and to identify drug combinations that could prevent drug resistance and improve the efficacy of cancer...

During close pass, Solar Orbiter captures Venus' glare

On Aug. 9, 2021, ESA/NASA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft passed within 4,967 miles (7,995 kilometers) of the surface of planet Venus. In the days leading up to the approach, the Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager, or SoloHI, telescope captured this gleaming view of the planet.

New marmoset species discovered in Brazilian Amazon

A team of scientists has discovered a new marmoset species in the Brazilian Amazon. Schneider's marmoset (Mico schneideri), described in the latest issue of the journal Scientific Reports, is named after professor Horacio Schneider, a pioneer and major contributor to the research of diversity and evolution of monkeys.

The best of both worlds: Combining classical and quantum systems to meet supercomputing demands

Quantum entanglement is one of the most fundamental and intriguing phenomena in nature. Recent research on entanglement has proven to be a valuable resource for quantum communication and information processing. Now, scientists from Japan have discovered a stable quantum entangled state of two protons on a silicon surface, opening doors to an organic union of classical and quantum computing...

In the Face of Climate Change, We Must Act So That We Can Feel Hopeful—Not the Other Way Around

In the 1850s, an American scientist named Eunice Foote deduced, based on experiments she’d conducted, that if carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were higher, the planet would be warmer. And in the 1890s, a Swedish chemist named Svante Arrhenius calculated, by hand, exactly how much the earth would warm as carbon dioxide levels. By the 1990s, the influence of human activities on the...

Harnessing sunlight to fuel the future through covalent organic frameworks

Photocatalysts absorb energy from light to make a chemical reaction happen. The best known photocatalyst is perhaps chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants that helps turn sunlight into carbohydrates. While carbohydrates may be falling out of favor, photocatalysis is garnering more attention than ever. In a photocatalytic process, light falls on a photocatalyst, increases the energy of its...

Patterning silicon at the one-nanometer scale

Researchers have developed an innovative technique for creating nanomaterials. These are materials only atoms wide. They draw on nanoscience to allow scientists to control their construction and behavior. The new electron beam nanofabrication technique, plasmon engineering, achieves unprecedented near-atomic scale control of patterning in silicon. Structures built using this approach produce...

How Arctic-alpine plants respond to global warming

Researchers have studied how two characteristic Arctic-alpine plant species respond to global warming. They did this by analyzing almost 500 million of their own readings from the mountainous region of Norway. The analyses show that potential consequences of climate change are extremely dependent on the specific location of the plants and that deciduous species in particular will benefit from...

Discovery of origin of esophageal cancer cells highlights importance of screening for pre-cancerous Barrett’s esophagus

Abnormal cells that go on develop into esophageal cancer -- cancer that affects the tube connecting the mouth and stomach -- start life as cells of the stomach, according to scientists. The study found that a particular subtype of esophageal cancer known as esophageal adenocarcinoma is always preceded by Barrett's esophagus -- abnormal cells of the esophagus -- even if these cells are no longer...

Black hole size revealed by its eating pattern

The feeding patterns of black holes offer insight into their size, researchers report. A new study revealed that the flickering in the brightness observed in actively feeding supermassive black holes is related to their mass.