121 articles from THURSDAY 18.11.2021

Researchers anticipate, help prevent national security consequences of climate crises

Using novel data sets and computing systems, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are simulating how climate change affects the safety and security of the country. This research can help policy and decision makers at federal, state and local levels quickly identify risk factors and develop real-world mitigation strategies.

Scientists create insights into one of the most extreme states of matter produced on Earth

Exotic laser-produced high-energy-density (HED) plasmas akin to those found in stars and nuclear explosions could provide insight into events throughout the universe. Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have discovered a new way to measure and understand these plasmas, among the most extreme states of matter ever produced on Earth....

Archeologists discover salt workers' residences at underwater Maya site

The ancient Maya had stone temples and palaces in the rainforest of Central America, along with dynastic records of royal leaders carved in stone, but they lacked a basic commodity essential to daily life: Salt. The sources of salt are mainly along the coast, including salt flats on the Yucatan coast and brine-boiling along the coast of Belize, where it rains a lot. But how did the inland Maya...

Research shows B cells can help fight infection, speed skin wound healing, and protect brain after injury

Until recently, B cells—present in the blood stream—were mainly thought to produce antibodies and present antigens to help with the immune response to pathogens. A research team at the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center (VIC) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) led by Ruxandra Sîrbulescu Ph.D., and Mark Poznansky, MD, Ph.D., is exploring the novel protective roles that B cells may play in...

One year from launch: US-European satellite to track world's water

An international team of engineers and technicians has finished assembling a next-generation satellite that will make the first global survey of Earth's surface water and study fine-scale ocean currents. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is just a year out from launch, and the final set of tests on the spacecraft have started.

Hubble takes a grand tour of the solar system

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has completed its annual grand tour of the outer Solar System. This is the realm of the giant planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—extending as far as 30 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Unlike the rocky terrestrial planets like Earth and Mars that huddle close to the Sun's warmth, these far-flung worlds are mostly composed of chilly...

Natural enemy of invasive, berry-eating fly found in U.S.

A parasitoid wasp that is the natural enemy of a fly known as the spotted-wing drosophila could be a good friend to growers. Washington State University researchers recently confirmed the discovery of the potentially beneficial wasp in the United States for the first time. 

How ultracold, superdense atoms become invisible

An atom's electrons are arranged in energy shells. Like concertgoers in an arena, each electron occupies a single chair and cannot drop to a lower tier if all its chairs are occupied. This fundamental property of atomic physics is known as the Pauli exclusion principle, and it explains the shell structure of atoms, the diversity of the periodic table of elements, and the stability of the material...

Host immunity drives viral evolution of dengue

New research by a team of University of Florida investigators, and others, provides evidence that host immunity drives evolution of the dengue virus. The work, published today in Science, retrospectively analyzes two decades of dengue virus genetic variation from Thailand, alongside population-level measures of infection and immunity.

Energizer atoms: Physicists find new way to keep atoms excited

JILA researchers have tricked nature by tuning a dense quantum gas of atoms to make a congested "Fermi sea," thus keeping atoms in a high-energy state, or excited, for about 10% longer than usual by delaying their normal return to the lowest-energy state. The technique might be used to improve quantum communication networks and atomic clocks.

Rodents could be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses, study suggests

Some ancestral rodents likely had repeated infections with SARS-like coronaviruses, leading them to acquire tolerance or resistance to the pathogens, according to new research publishing November 18th in PLOS Computational Biology by Sean King and Mona Singh of Princeton University, US. This raises the possibility that modern rodents may be reservoirs of SARS-like viruses, the researchers say.

Hubble's Grand Tour of the Outer Solar System

Portal origin URL: Hubble's Grand Tour of the Outer Solar SystemPortal origin nid: 475452Published: Thursday, November 18, 2021 - 13:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has completed this year's grand tour of the outer solar system – returning crisp images that complement current and past observations from...

‘Beaver moon’ will feature longest partial lunar eclipse in centuries

Stargazers across all of North America can witness the phenomenon from Thursday night into Friday morningStargazers across North America can expect to be dazzled by a red-hued “beaver” full moon on Thursday night and into Friday morning, during the longest partial lunar eclipse in almost six centuries.Lunar eclipses happen when Earth blocks the sun’s light, which usually illuminates the...

Simulation reveals molecular footprint of organic air pollutants

Joining the global effort to curb air pollution, researchers at Texas A&M University have developed computational tools to accurately assess the footprint of certain organic atmospheric pollutants. Their simulation, described in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, could help government agencies keep a closer check on human-made sources of carbon-based pollutants.

Bubbling up: Previously hidden environmental impact of bursting bubbles exposed in new study

Bubbles are common in nature and can form when ocean waves break and when raindrops impact surfaces. When bubbles burst, they send tiny jets of water and other materials into the air. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines how the interplay between bubble surfaces and water that contains organic materials contributes to the transport of aerosolized organic...