130 articles from MONDAY 20.9.2021

Modern activities follow the contours of ancient Teotihuacan

A lidar mapping study shows ancient residents of Teotihuacan moved astonishing quantities of soil and bedrock for construction and reshaped the landscape in a way that continues to influence the contours of modern activities in this part of Mexico. The paper also shows how Teotihuacan's engineers re-routed two rivers to align with points of astronomical significance, identified hundreds of...

Modern activities follow the contours of ancient Teotihuacan

A lidar mapping study using a cutting-edge aerial mapping technology shows ancient residents of Teotihuacan moved astonishing quantities of soil and bedrock for construction and reshaped the landscape in a way that continues to influence the contours of modern activities in this part of Mexico. The work is published in the open-access journal, PLOS One.

NASA’s Artemis Rover to Land Near Nobile Region of Moon’s South Pole

Portal origin URL: NASA’s Artemis Rover to Land Near Nobile Region of Moon’s South PolePortal origin nid: 474054Published: Monday, September 20, 2021 - 16:20Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: In 2023, NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will land near the western edge of the Nobile Crater at the Moon’s South Pole to...

Research guides future of plastic waste chemical recycling

New research from the Cornell College of Engineering aims to ease the process of chemical recycling—an emerging industry that could turn waste products back into natural resources by physically breaking plastic down into the smaller molecules it was originally produced from.

Early long-distance trade links shaped Siberian dogs, study finds

Archeological finds show that people in the Arctic regions of Northwestern Siberia had already established long-range trading links with Eurasian populations some 2000 years ago. The initiation of trading relationships was one of a series of significant social changes that took place during this period. Moreover, these changes even had an impact on the genomes of Siberian dogs, as an international...

Solar electric propulsion makes NASA's Psyche spacecraft go

When it comes time for NASA's Psyche spacecraft to power itself through deep space, it'll be more brain than brawn that does the work. Once the stuff of science fiction, the efficient and quiet power of electric propulsion will provide the force that propels the Psyche spacecraft all the way to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The orbiter's target: A metal-rich asteroid also called...

RNA-targeting enzyme expands the CRISPR toolkit

Researchers at MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research have discovered a bacterial enzyme that they say could expand scientists' CRISPR toolkit, making it easy to cut and edit RNA with the kind of precision that, until now, has only been available for DNA editing. The enzyme, called Cas7-11, modifies RNA targets without harming cells, suggesting that in addition to being a valuable research...

Loss of picky-eating fish threatens coral reef food webs

The networks of predator fish and their prey found on coral reefs all over the world are remarkably similar, and those predator fish are pickier eaters than previously thought. These delicate ecosystems become even more vulnerable when these specialized hunters go extinct.

New discovery about meteorites informs atmospheric entry threat assessment

Researchers watched fragments of two meteors as they ramped up the heat from room temperature to the temperature it reaches as it enters Earth's atmosphere and made a significant discovery. The vaporized iron sulfide leaves behind voids, making the material more porous. This information will help when predicting the weight of a meteor, its likelihood to break apart, and the subsequent damage...

Physicists probe light smashups to guide future research

Light has no mass, but Europe's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can convert light's energy into massive particles. Physicists studied matter-generating collisions of light and showed the departure angle of their debris is subtly distorted by quantum interference patterns in the light prior to collision. Their findings will help physicists accurately interpret future experiments aimed at finding 'new...

Mars habitability limited by its small size, isotope study suggests

Researchers measured the potassium isotope compositions of Martian meteorites in order to estimate the presence, distribution, and abundance of volatile elements and compounds, including water, on Mars, finding that Mars has lost more potassium than Earth but retained more potassium than the moon or the asteroid 4-Vesta; the results suggest that rocky planets with larger mass retain more volatile...

Loss of picky-eating fish threatens coral reef food webs

Coral reefs all over the world, already threatened by rising temperatures brought about by climate change, also face serious challenges from the possibility of fish species extinctions. According to a paper out today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the networks of predator fish and their prey found on coral reefs all over the world are remarkably similar, and those predator...

Online space fails to deliver as equalizer for female scientists

With lower barriers to entry and no traditional gatekeepers, online platforms offer a promise of broader participation by and equity for female scientists, with the potential to serve as an equalizer for researchers who encounter bias throughout the publishing process and at every stage of their careers.

Mars habitability limited by its small size, isotope study suggests

Water is essential for life on Earth and other planets, and scientists have found ample evidence of water in Mars' early history. But Mars has no liquid water on its surface today. New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests a fundamental reason: Mars may be just too small to hold onto large amounts of water.

Coral reef biodiversity predicted to shuffle rather than collapse as climate changes

Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse, complex and productive ecosystems on the planet. Most of coral reef biodiversity consists of tiny organisms living deep within the three-dimensional reef matrix. Although largely unseen, this diversity is essential to the survival and function of coral reef ecosystems, and many have worried that climate change will lead to dramatic loss of this...

Nano-scale discovery could help to cool down overheating in electronics

A team of physicists at CU Boulder has solved the mystery behind a perplexing phenomenon in the nano realm: why some ultra-small heat sources cool down faster if you pack them closer together. The findings, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could one day help the tech industry design faster electronic devices that overheat less.

The most successful startups mix friendships and business to build teams, research finds

Finding the right team is critical for a startup's success and most aren't taking the right approach, finds new Maryland Smith research. With the right strategy—a mix that has founders both liking each other due to shared values and experiences, and having the proper complementary skills and capabilities—startups can foster better team dynamics and have more success raising funds, being...

How resistant germs transport toxins at molecular level

Microorganism resistance to antibiotics, in particular, is a major problem in everyday medicine. This has seen the number of resistant microbes increase exponentially. As a result, infections that appeared to already have been eradicated using modern drugs now once again pose a potentially fatal threat to humans. The situation is further complicated by the fact that more and more germs are...

7 Questions With Record-Setting Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti

Odds are you can’t account for where you were on every one of the 200 days that elapsed from November 23, 2014 to June 11, 2015. But Samantha Cristoforetti can, since she spent them all aboard the International Space Station. Cristoforetti, Italy’s first female astronaut, set what was then a record for single-mission duration by a woman in space—and that achievement was just...

US unveils plan to address 'silent killer' extreme heat

The Biden administration is moving to protect workers and communities from extreme heat after a dangerously hot summer that spurred an onslaught of drought-worsened wildfires and caused hundreds of deaths from the Pacific Northwest to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana.

NASA TV to Air Landsat 9 Launch, Prelaunch Activities

Portal origin URL: NASA TV to Air Landsat 9 Launch, Prelaunch ActivitiesPortal origin nid: 474057Published: Monday, September 20, 2021 - 13:18Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the Landsat 9 satellite, a joint NASA and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mission that will continue...

NASA’s Delta-X Helps With Disaster Response in Wake of Hurricane Ida

Portal origin URL: NASA’s Delta-X Helps With Disaster Response in Wake of Hurricane IdaPortal origin nid: 474056Published: Monday, September 20, 2021 - 13:15Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Researchers flying a radar instrument over coastal wetlands in Louisiana helped with monitoring oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico.Portal image: A radar...

New augmented reality applications assist astronaut repairs to space station

Most often, communications delays between the International Space Station crew and ground are nearly unnoticeable as they are routed from one Tracking and Data Relay Satellite to another as the station orbits about 250 miles above Earth. As NASA prepares to explore the Moon, about 240,000 miles away, and eventually Mars, which averages about 245 million miles away, NASA is developing tools to...