153 articles from THURSDAY 7.7.2022

Molecules boosting plant immunity identified

Researchers have discovered natural cellular molecules that drive critical plant immune responses. These compounds have all the hallmarks of being small messengers tailored by plants to turn on key defense-control hubs. Harnessing these insights may allow scientists and plant breeders to design molecules that make plants, including many important crop species, more resistant to disease.

Citizen scientist leads discovery of 34 ultracool dwarf binaries

How often do stars live alone? For brown dwarfs -- objects that straddle the boundary between the most massive planets and the smallest stars -- astronomers need to uncover more examples of their companions to find out. Ace citizen scientists have done just that by using the Astro Data Lab science platform at NSF's NOIRLab to discover 34 new ultracool dwarf binary systems in the Sun's...

Study provides new insights about the surface and structure of asteroid Bennu

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected samples from asteroid Bennu's surface in 2020, forces measured during the interaction provided scientists with a direct test of the poorly understood near-subsurface physical properties of rubble-pile asteroids. Now, a Southwest Research Institute-led study has characterized the layer just below the asteroid's surface as composed of weakly bound rock...

Molecules boosting plant immunity identified

Two studies published in the journal Science by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany in collaboration with colleagues in China have discovered natural cellular molecules that drive critical plant immune responses. These compounds have all the hallmarks of being small messengers tailored by plants to turn on key defense-control hubs. Harnessing...

Scientists react to planned cull of Swedish wolves

The Swedish Parliament recently presented its ambition to drastically reduce number of wolves in Sweden—from approximately 400 down to approximately 200. Scientists are now reacting to this goal. In a letter published in Science, 18 researchers from five countries warn that such a cull would further threaten this already highly vulnerable population.

Cell protection, immunomodulation and virus inhibition by an endogenous substance

The endogenous molecule itaconic acid has antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects, as researchers from TWINCORE have recently shown. In cooperation with scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, they have now investigated the closely related substance citraconic acid. The result: Citraconic acid...

NASA releases James Webb telescope 'teaser' picture

NASA has a provided a tantalizing teaser photo ahead of the highly-anticipated release next week of the first deep-space images from the James Webb Telescope—an instrument so powerful it can peer back into the origins of the universe.

Dark matter hunt heats up with first result from world’s biggest detector

Physicists working with the world’s biggest dark-matter detector—a behemoth in the United States known as LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ)—released their first results today. They see no sign of what they’re searching for, so-called weakly interacting massive particles or WIMPs. Still, the result is sparking interest among particle physicists, as the nearly 4-decade-long search for...

NASA helps decipher how some distant planets have clouds of sand

Most clouds on Earth are made of water, but beyond our planet they come in many chemical varieties. The top of Jupiter's atmosphere, for example, is blanketed in yellow-hued clouds made of ammonia and ammonium hydrosulfide. And on worlds outside our solar system, there are clouds composed of silicates, the family of rock-forming minerals that make up over 90% of Earth's crust. But researchers...

Machine learning begins to understand human gut

The communities formed by human gut microbes can now be predicted more accurately with a new computer model developed in a collaboration between biologists and engineers, led by the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin.

Study identifies relationship between body size and soil community assembly in tropical rainforest

Soil microbiota diversity is closely related to nutrient cycling and sustainable soil management. Complex soil system harbors a vast range of soil organisms of different body sizes and is a regulatory center for the majority of ecosystem functions. However, there is still a lack of a clear understanding of the soil community assembly processes at the whole-community level, i.e., the size gradient...

NASA Updates Coverage for Webb Telescope’s First Images Reveal

Portal origin URL: NASA Updates Coverage for Webb Telescope’s First Images RevealPortal origin nid: 481096Published: Thursday, July 7, 2022 - 14:55Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA, in partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), will release the James Webb Space Telescope’s first full-color images and...

New insights about surface, structure of asteroid Bennu

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected samples from asteroid Bennu's surface in 2020, forces measured during the interaction provided scientists with a direct test of the poorly understood near-subsurface physical properties of rubble-pile asteroids. Now, a new study has characterized the layer just below the asteroid's surface as composed of weakly bound rock fragments containing twice the...