162 articles from WEDNESDAY 22.6.2022
Electrical stimulation of the brain may help people who stutter
When Guillermo Mejias was 7 years old, his parents sent him out to buy bread during a family holiday in southern Spain. Mejias still remembers his growing anxiety as he walked to the bakery, repeating what he would say over and over in his head. But when the moment arrived, he was unable to produce a single word. He recalls returning empty-handed, ashamed, and wondering what to tell his...
Democrats lobby for high-tech immigration reforms in innovation bill before Congress
The shape of U.S. research is at stake as Congress tries to reconcile competing versions of a massive bill, 2 years in the making, aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness with China in research and high-tech manufacturing.
The bills would not only authorize spending hundreds of billions of additional dollars on research, but also set out new policies on...
Researchers investigate intricacies in superconductors with hopes to support quantum computer development
Ryan Day studies superconductors. Materials that conduct electricity perfectly, losing no energy to heat and resistance. Specifically, the University of California, Berkeley scientist studies how superconductors can coexist with their opposites; insulating materials that stop the flow of electrons.
NASA's Webb to uncover riches of the early universe
For decades, telescopes have helped us capture light from galaxies that formed as far back as 400 million years after the big bang—incredibly early in the context of the universe's 13.8-billion-year history. But what were galaxies like that existed even earlier, when the universe was semi-transparent at the beginning of a period known as the Era of Reionization? NASA's next flagship observatory,...
Curiosity captures stunning views of a changing Mars landscape
For the past year, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has been traveling through a transition zone from a clay-rich region to one filled with a salty mineral called sulfate. While the science team targeted the clay-rich region and the sulfate-laden one for evidence each can offer about Mars' watery past, the transition zone is proving to be scientifically fascinating as well. In fact, this transition may...
What did Megalodon eat? Anything it wanted, including other predators
New Princeton research shows that prehistoric megatooth sharks—the biggest sharks that ever lived—were apex predators at the highest level ever measured.
Where once were black boxes, a new statistical tool illuminates
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new statistical tool that they have used to predict protein function. Not only could it help with the difficult job of altering proteins in practically useful ways, but it also works by methods that are fully interpretable—an advantage over the conventional artificial intelligence (AI) that has aided with...
Wildfire threatens unspoiled Georgia island rich in history
Wildfires sparked by lightning have scorched hundreds of acres on this unspoiled island off the Georgia coast, where crews are battling to protect plantation ruins, the remnants of a 16th century Spanish mission and archaeological sites that have yielded human artifacts thousands of years old.
Florida team hauls in 18-foot, 215-pound Burmese python
A team of biologists recently hauled in the heaviest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, officials said.
Process to customize molecules does double duty
Inspired by your liver and activated by light, a chemical process developed in labs at Rice University and in China shows promise for drug design and the development of unique materials.
What did Megalodon eat? Anything it wanted -- including other predators.
- ScienceDaily
- 22/6/22 22:45
Megalodon sharks, which went extinct about 3 million years ago, were three times longer than modern great white sharks and were apex predators at highest trophic level ever measured. Researchers used the traces of nitrogen trapped in shark tooth enamel to calculate the trophic levels of the prehistoric predators.
Surgeons develop new technique to reduce Adam's apple without neck scar
- ScienceDaily
- 22/6/22 22:45
Doctors at the UCLA Gender Health Program have developed a technique to reduce an Adam's apple bump without leaving a scar on the patient's neck.
Indigenous communities used the Caribbean Sea as an aquatic highway
- ScienceDaily
- 22/6/22 22:45
Researchers recently turned to pottery to tease apart the navigational history of the Caribbean, analyzing the composition of 96 fired clay fragments across 11 islands. The study was conducted in the Greater Antilles and marks the first time that pottery artifacts from the Lucayan Islands -- The Bahamas plus the Turks and Caicos Islands -- have been analyzed to determine their elemental...
Where once were black boxes, new LANTERN illuminates
- ScienceDaily
- 22/6/22 22:45
A new statistical tool for predicting protein function could help with tasks ranging from producing biofuels to improving crops to developing new disease treatments. Not only could it help with the difficult job of altering proteins in practically useful ways, but it also works by methods that are fully interpretable -- an advantage over conventional AI.
Blood test developed to predict liver cancer risk
- ScienceDaily
- 22/6/22 22:45
An estimated one-quarter of adults in the U.S. have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), an excess of fat in liver cells that can cause chronic inflammation and liver damage, increasing the risk of liver cancer. Now researchers have developed a simple blood test to predict which NAFLD patients are most likely to develop liver cancer.
Process to customize molecules does double duty
- ScienceDaily
- 22/6/22 22:45
Chemists developed a method to add two fragments to an alkene molecule in a single process. The discovery could simplify drug and materials design.
Indigenous communities used the Caribbean Sea as an aquatic highway
With some 7,000 islands and cays and a 7,000-year history of human habitation, the Caribbean Sea is practically synonymous with maritime travel. The very word "canoe" is derived from the term "kana:wa," used by the Indigenous Arawakans of the Caribbean to describe their dugout vessels.
Timing is everything for weed management
Farmers can tailor their efforts to control weeds more effectively by pinpointing when a particular weed will emerge, according to a new Cornell University study.
Theoretical calculations predicted now-confirmed tetraneutron, an exotic state of matter
James Vary has been waiting for nuclear physics experiments to confirm the reality of a "tetraneutron" that he and his colleagues theorized, predicted and first announced during a presentation in the summer of 2014, followed by a research paper in the fall of 2016.
Think twice before founding that free-market utopia, researcher warns
It's a quaint fantasy: pack up your belongings, hop on a plane and escape to a remote island or maybe even found a tiny nation of your own, where you can live unencumbered by the constraints of society.
Early risers get a chance to see a rare grouping of planets in the morning sky
If you’re a morning person, there’s a treat in the sky before sunrise: five of the sky’s brightest planets all lined up among the...
ALS may be linked to both the immune and central nervous systems
- ScienceDaily
- 22/6/22 21:49
The immune system may play a fundamental role along with the central nervous system in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as 'Lou Gehrig's disease,' researchers report.
Research team documents first crows to survive deadly West Nile virus
West Nile virus may no longer be a death sentence to crows. In a new study from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, wildlife experts describe successfully treating and releasing five American crows infected with the deadly disease—the first known crows to survive West Nile virus.
Rescuing ancient Maya history from the plow
Things have changed since I was last in Belize in 2018, when I excavated the ancestral Maya pilgrimage site Cara Blanca. Thousands of acres of jungle are gone, replaced by fields of corn and sugarcane. Hundreds of ancestral Maya mounds are now exposed in the treeless landscape, covered by soil that is currently plowed several times a year.
Researchers consider invisible hurdles in digital agriculture design
When Gloire Rubambiza was installing a digital agriculture system at the Cornell Orchards and greenhouses, he encountered a variety of problems, including connectivity and compatibility issues, and equipment frozen under snow.
Making the Invisible Visible: The Remarkable Journey of a Powerhouse Space Microscope
In the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory, NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, conducts a session with the Preliminary Advanced Colloids Experiment (PACE) at the Light Microscopy Module (LMM) in the Fluids Integrated Rack / Fluids Combustion Facility (FIR/FCF). PACE is designed to investigate the capability of conducting high magnification colloid experiments...
French co-discoverer of 'Lucy' dies at 87
French paleontologist Yves Coppens, credited with the co-discovery of the famous fossil find known as "Lucy", died on Wednesday aged 87 after a long illness, his publisher said.
Space chief hopes for 'Kennedy moment' from European leaders
Josef Aschbacher recalls gazing at the night sky above his parents' Alpine farm when he was seven, trying to comprehend what he had just seen on the family's black-and-white TV set: the landing of NASA's Apollo 11 on the Moon.
Cement carbon dioxide emissions quietly double in 20 years
Heat trapping carbon dioxide emissions from making cement, a less talked about but major source of carbon pollution, have doubled in the last 20 years, new global data shows.