139 articles from WEDNESDAY 24.11.2021

Adding mineral to irrigation may lower toxic elements in soils

Arsenic, uranium and other trace elements naturally occur in topsoil across the U.S. Corn Belt, including the Cornhusker State. Crops grown in soils containing elevated levels of those trace elements can absorb them through roots, potentially curbing growth and threatening the health of those who regularly consume them.

NASA Funding Available for Scientists. Apply to the Citizen Science Seed Funding Program (CSSFP) Today!

The Flame Nebula, also called NGC 2024, is a large star-forming region in the constellation Orion that lies about 1,400 light-years from Earth.Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and N. Da Rio (University of Virginia); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) Are you interested in starting your own citizen science project?  NASA's Citizen Science Seed Funding Program (CSSFP) can...

Nuclear Fusion Finally Finds Its Place in the Sun

One of my favorite bar signs is the one that promises “Free beer tomorrow.” That’s how I’ve always thought of nuclear fusion—a (theoretically) cheap, pollution-free and inexhaustible energy source, the promise of which has pretty much been a decade away ever since the technology was first tested 70 years ago. When “nuclear energy” is discussed,...

Novavax expected to be approved as fourth Covid vaccine in UK

Trials show the protein-based jab causes fewer side-effects – and hundreds of British jobs depend on itCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna. Britons have become so accustomed to the three Covid vaccines available in the UK that most have forgotten about another jab, Novavax – even though the government has ordered 60m doses and hundreds of...

Machine learning improves Arabic speech transcription capabilities

Thanks to advancements in speech and natural language processing, there is hope that one day you may be able to ask your virtual assistant what the best salad ingredients are. Currently, it is possible to ask your home gadget to play music, or open on voice command, which is a feature already found in some many devices. If you speak Moroccan, Algerian, Egyptian, Sudanese, or any of the other...

New findings about ions around comets

Sofia Bergman, Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) and Umeå University, will defend her doctoral thesis on low-energy ions around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 26 November. Observing low energy ions is notoriously difficult because their properties are affected greatly by the spacecraft which observes them. Sofia has developed new methods to do this. Using her work, scientists can study...

Salvaging rare earth elements from electronic waste

Manufacturers rely on rare earth elements, like neodymium, to create strong magnets used in motors for electronics including hybrid cars, aircraft generators, loudspeakers, hard drives and in-ear headphones. But mineral deposits containing neodymium are hard to reach and are found in just a few places on Earth.

Himalayan bats are functionally less diverse at high than at lower elevations, but show the same evolutionary diversity

Million years of evolution have produced a dazzling variety of species, each uniquely adapted to its environment. A straightforward way to measuring biodiversity is by the number of species (taxonomic diversity). Recently, there is growing emphasis to quantify diversity also in other ways: a) functional diversity, which is the diversity of phenotypic traits that allow organisms to perform their...

Mapping lithium evolution of giant stars with LAMOST-Kepler data

Based on LAMOST and Kepler data, a new study led by astronomers from National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) has revealed evolutionary features of lithium for evolved stars, which updates our understanding about the theory of stellar structure and evolution.

Modeling carbon capture via mineral trapping

Scientists at the University of Tsukuba used a sophisticated set of experimental tests, including synchrotron X-ray scattering and quantum computer modeling, to study the effect of temperature on the structure of magnesium carbonate. This work may lead to more efficient carbon capture technologies that lock carbon dioxide inside rocks as a way to combat climate change.

Energy transition in an artificial atom attained using laser light

Researchers from Basel and Bochum have succeeded in addressing an apparently unattainable energy transition in an artificial atom using laser light. Making use of the so-called radiative Auger process, they were the first team to specifically excite it. In this process, an electron falls from a higher to a lower energy level and, as a result, emits its energy partly in the form of light and partly...

Hubble Spots a Swift Stellar Jet in Running Man Nebula

Portal origin URL: Hubble Spots a Swift Stellar Jet in Running Man NebulaPortal origin nid: 475523Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - 09:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: A jet from a newly formed star flares into the shining depths of reflection nebula NGC 1977 in this Hubble image.Portal image: Hubble image of a reddish-orange stellar...

Hubble Witnesses Shock Wave of Colliding Gases in Running Man Nebula

Portal origin URL: Hubble Witnesses Shock Wave of Colliding Gases in Running Man NebulaPortal origin nid: 475514Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - 09:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Mounded, luminous clouds of gas and dust glow in this Hubble image of a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45.Portal image: Hubble image of elongated rusty and...