104 articles from FRIDAY 24.9.2021

Fraudulent ivermectin studies open up new battleground between science and misinformation

Studies suggesting ivermectin is an effective Covid treatment relied on evidence ‘that has substantially evaporated under close scrutiny’, fresh research showsFollow the Australia coronavirus blogCovid vaccine rollout and rates tracker; Cases, trends and data trackerGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingDr Carlos Chaccour ran into difficulty when he and his colleagues began...

Sitting Down with NASA’s Artemis Astronaut Victor Glover

As we look forward to the Artemis program to the Moon and even one-day crewed missions to Mars, accessing resources like water will be crucial for humans to survive on other worlds. We sat down with Victor Glover, NASA Crew-1 astronaut, to talk about NASA’s Artemis program, what it would be like to be on the Moon one day, and how technology from the Moon to Mars Ice & Prospecting...

The origin and legacy of the Etruscans

The Etruscan civilization, which flourished during the Iron Age in central Italy, has intrigued scholars for millennia. With remarkable metallurgical skills and a now-extinct, non-Indo-European language, the Etruscans stood out from their contemporary neighbors, leading to intense debate from the likes of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus on their geographical origins.

Tiny Satellites Will Address Sizeable Questions in Space Science

Portal origin URL: Tiny Satellites Will Address Sizeable Questions in Space SciencePortal origin nid: 474197Published: Friday, September 24, 2021 - 14:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Hitching a ride with NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat 9 launch, two tiny satellites will tackle big questions.Portal image: Scientist sitting in...

Quasi-particles with tunable interactions

The laws of quantum mechanics allow for the existence of 'quasi-particles': excitations in materials that behave exactly like ordinary particles. A major advantage of quasi-particles over ordinary particles is that their properties can be engineered. In a Nature Materials News & Views article this week, IoP physicist Erik van Heumen describes recent experiments where even the interactions between...

Prosecutors in Mexico seeking arrest warrants for more than 30 scientists

Scientific community is outraged, saying charges of organised crime are an attempt by Mexico’s president to silence themMexico’s scientific community has reacted with outrage after the country’s chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for 31 scientists, researchers and academics on accusations of organised crime, money laundering and embezzlement – charges that could land them alongside...

Paradoxes of progress on autism | Letter

Prof Jonathan Green and Prof Andrew Whitehouse explain some of the implications of their autism therapy trialJames Cusack’s piece on the results of our new autism therapy trial (A new therapy for children who may have autism risks carrying a hidden cost, 22 September) points out some paradoxes of progress, and the need for ongoing conversation.This therapy works with parents (not the infant at...

World premiere for virtual laser lab "femtoPro"

In everyday life, we know lasers from numerous applications such as the laser printer or the supermarket scanner. Industrially, lasers are used in material processing for cutting, drilling and labeling, and in medicine for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Laser spectroscopy methods are also indispensable in scientific research.

Hubble captures a cluster in the heart of the Milky Way

This sparkling starfield, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, contains the globular cluster ESO 520-21 (also known as Palomar 6). A densely packed, roughly spherical collection of stars, it lies close to the center of the Milky Way, where interstellar gas and dust absorb starlight and make observations more challenging.

Exotic mix in China's delivery of moon rocks

On 16 December 2020 the Chang'e-5 mission, China's first sample return mission to the Moon, successfully delivered to Earth nearly two kilograms of rocky fragments and dust from our celestial companion. Chang'e-5 landed on an area of the Moon not sampled by the NASA Apollo or the Soviet Luna missions nearly 50 years ago, and retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for...

Scientists use seasons to find water for future Mars astronauts

An international team of researchers has used seasonal variations to identify likely sub-surface deposits of water ice in the temperate regions of Mars where it would be easiest for future human explorers to survive. The results are being presented this week by Dr. Germán Martínez at the European Planetary Science Conference (EPSC) 2021.

Guiding microbes along their path

The interdisciplinary field of active matter physics investigates the principles behind the behavior and self-organization of living organisms. The goal is to reveal general principles that allow to describe and predict the performance of living matter and thereby support the development of novel technologies. Recently, the groups of Oliver Bäumchen and Marco Mazza from the MPIDS, the University...

Organic molecule remnants found in nuclei of ancient dinosaur cells

A team of scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and from the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature (STM) has isolated exquisitely preserved cartilage cells in a 125-million-year-old dinosaur from Northeast China that contain nuclei with remnants of organic molecules and chromatin. The study was published in...

Guiding microbes along their path

The direction of movement of a microbe directly depends on the curvature of its environment, according to new findings. The researchers investigated the navigation of a model microbe, a small self-propelling microalga, in confined compartments with different shapes. They also developed theoretical models to predict the probability flux of that microswimmer which was confirmed by experiments. With...

In the race to reduce car emissions, don't forget longevity

The debate on green vehicles often focuses on fuel efficiency and alternative fuels, with the transition to fuel alternatives commonly being considered better for the environment the faster it is. A new study shows that keeping and using existing fuel-efficient cars a little longer can actually reduce CO? emissions even with gasoline cars. Thus, a gradual transition and policies that encourage a...

Image: Calabria, Italy, from space

Calabria is a region in southern Italy, famous for its irregular shape that stretches from north to south for around 250 km—separating the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west and the Ionian Sea to the east. The region covers an area of around 15,000 sq km (with over 740 km of coastline) of which agricultural land covers 49%.

Decoding human history with ancient DNA

This year is the 20th anniversary of sequencing the human genome. In honor of this event, a research team led by Prof. FU Qiaomei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reviewed the most recent progress in the field of ancient DNA (aDNA), i.e., DNA obtained from the remains of past organisms. 

Light computes any desired linear transform without a digital processor

Different forms of linear transformations, such as the Fourier transform, are widely employed in processing of information in various applications. These transformations are generally implemented in the digital domain using electronic processors, and their computation speed is limited with the capacity of the electronic chip being used, which sets a bottleneck as the data and image size get large....

Are domesticated oysters less prepared for climate change?

Pacific oyster faming is a multi-billion dollar industry, but there are strong concerns about the ability of oyster larvae to develop properly and survive in future ocean acidification scenarios. A recent study from University of Gothenburg shows that long-term breeding might reduce the genetic response to experimental ocean acidification in oyster larvae. The capacity to adapt to future...

New models to explore the microstructure of polymer mixtures

A well-known method for making polymer materials is to blend or mix multiple polymers. For disperse blends, two liquid polymers do not mix well with each other, leading to a so-called droplet-in-matrix microstructure which is similar to emulsions of oil and water. The material properties of the polymer blend depend on the final microstructure, so the material properties can be tuned during...

Ranked choice, multimember districts blunts gerrymandering

New research from the College of Engineering lays out in detail why ranked-choice voting, combined with multi-member legislative districts, promotes fair representation, particularly when it comes to blunting gerrymandering—the party in power's ability to map a district to its political advantage.

Diversity matters: Species richness keeps ecosystems running

Microorganisms, plants, and animals accomplish great feats every day. For example, by decomposing material, producing plant biomass, or pollinating flowers, they keep nature 'up and running," thereby securing the livelihood of humans. Numerous studies have shown that a high biodiversity can have a positive impact on these as well as on other ecosystem functions.

All-female crew in water-tank spaceflight study

This week 20 women are tucking themselves in a waterbed for five days as part of a dry immersion study to recreate some of the effects of spaceflight on the body. The campaign kicked off yesterday with the first two subjects at the Medes space clinic in Toulouse, France.

New heat exposure model can protect citizens

Increasingly extreme heat threatens the health and comfort of city dwellers. That's why researchers from the University of Georgia have developed a new dynamic heat exposure index that captures varying heat exposure within urban environments.

Deepwater renewal in Lake Geneva in light of climate change

EPFL scientists have studied two mechanisms that can help bring oxygen to the depths of a lake—essential for preserving the lake's ecosystem. The classical deepwater renewal caused by surface cooling during winter is becoming less efficient due to climate change, especially in deep lakes.