164 articles from WEDNESDAY 22.9.2021

Blowing up medieval gunpowder recipes

First used for battle in China in about 900 A.D., gunpowder spread throughout Eurasia by the end of the 13th century, eventually revolutionizing warfare as a propellant in firearms and artillery. Meanwhile, master gunners tinkered with gunpowder formulas, trying to find the ideal concoction. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Omega have recreated medieval gunpowder recipes and analyzed the energies...

When extreme events are no longer rare: Lessons from Hurricane Ida

When Hurricane Ida barreled into Louisiana late last month, bringing 10- to 15-foot storm surges and record-breaking winds, many wondered whether the New Orleans' levee system—newly rebuilt at a cost of approximately $14.5 billion—would be strong enough to prevent the catastrophic flooding that inundated the city following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Music download patterns found to resemble infectious disease epidemic curves

A team of mathematicians at the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind in Canada, has found that music download patterns resemble the patterns found in disease epidemics. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, the group describes applying a standard model used to describe the spread of disease to a large database of downloadable music.

Low-cost, energy-efficient approach to treating water contaminated with heavy metals

Engineers at MIT have developed a new approach to removing lead or other heavy-metal contaminants from water, in a process that they say is far more energy-efficient than any other currently used system, though there are others under development that come close. Ultimately, it might be used to treat lead-contaminated water supplies at the home level, or to treat contaminated water from some...

For hurricane victims, prolonged disruption of utilities, limited preparation lead to longer recovery times

Hurricane Nicholas hit as New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities are still recovering from the losses—human and material—wrought by Hurricane Ida, the fifth-most-powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. Just halfway through the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, there have already been 14 named tropical storms including six hurricanes. Typically, natural disasters like Ida and Nicholas fall from...

Mitigating the impacts of extreme rainfall events in a changing climate

Torrential rainfall quickly transformed New York City's streets and expressways into rivers and lakes on Wednesday night September 2, 2021, shutting down the entire metro system (the first time since Hurricane Sandy) and forcing traffic throughout the city to come to a halt. Air traffic was interrupted, and businesses had to close, causing an estimated 16 billion to 24 billion dollars in flood...

Antlions use sand-throwing to help capture prey

A team of researchers from Kiel and Aarhus universities has found that there is more to the sand-throwing done by antlions than previously thought. In their paper published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the group describes their study of netwing larvae and what they learned about its behavior.

Melting of polar ice shifting Earth itself, not just sea levels

The melting of polar ice is not only shifting the levels of our oceans, it is changing the planet Earth itself. Newly minted Ph.D. Sophie Coulson and her colleagues explained in a recent paper in Geophysical Research Letters that, as glacial ice from Greenland, Antarctica, and the Arctic Islands melts, Earth's crust beneath these land masses warps, an impact that can be measured hundreds and...

NASA’s Webb to Explore Forming Planetary Systems

Portal origin URL: NASA’s Webb to Explore Forming Planetary SystemsPortal origin nid: 473879Published: Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - 09:45Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Researchers will observe more than a dozen protoplanetary systems to gather data about their inner disks – where Earth-like planets may be forming.Portal image: The...

Researchers achieve charge-order-enhanced capacitance in semiconductor moiré superlattices

In recent years, electronics engineers have been experimenting with new materials that could be used to study electronic correlation phenomena. Van der Waals (vdW) moiré materials are particularly promising for examining these phenomena. VdW materials are composed of strongly bonded two-dimensional (2D) layers that are bound in the third dimension through weaker dispersion forces.

Children’s dislike of cauliflower, broccoli could be written in their microbiome

Many children, as well as adults, dislike Brassica vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. In the mouth, enzymes from these vegetables and from bacteria in saliva can produce unpleasant, sulfurous odors. Now, researchers have found that levels of these volatile compounds are similar in parent-child pairs, suggesting shared oral microbiomes. They also found that...

Color coding molecular mirror images

Researchers report a new method for distinguishing between enantiomers, molecules that are mirror images of each other. The procedure, relevant for the pharmaceutical industry, involves the chemical reaction of target enantiomers with color indicator compounds consisting of one-handed helical polymers, leading to solutions showing different colors in specific solvents between the enantiomers.

Sonic hedgehog protein pathway stimulation could help Parkinson's patients

Levodopa, or L-dopa, is considered the most effective treatment for Parkinson's disease today. After a few years of treatment, however, almost all patients develop a debilitating side-effect called L-dopa induced dyskinesia, or LID, which causes involuntary movements in the limbs, face, and torso. Deep brain stimulation can alleviate LID, but the procedure is highly invasive and not all patients...

Scientists ID sterol essential for oil accumulation in plants

Scientists seeking to unravel the details of how plants produce and accumulate oil have identified a new essential component of the assembly line. They discovered a particular sterol -- a molecule related to cholesterol -- that plays a key role in the formation of oil droplets. The findings may suggest new ways to engineer the oil content of a variety of plant tissues for potential applications in...

Infants have more microplastics in their feces than adults

Microplastics -- tiny plastic pieces less than 5 mm in size -- are everywhere, from indoor dust to food to bottled water. So it's not surprising that scientists have detected these particles in the feces of people and pets. Now, in a small pilot study, researchers have discovered that infants have higher amounts of one type of microplastic in their stool than adults. Health effects, if any, are...

Astronomers detect a chromospherically active eclipsing binary system

Astronomers from the Ohio State University (OSU) and elsewhere report the discovery of a new peculiar binary as part of the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). The newfound system, which received designation ASASSN-V J192114.84+624950.8, turns out to be a chromospherically active eclipsing binary system with a highly eccentric orbit. The finding is detailed in a paper published...