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78 articles from PhysOrg

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.

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...

Study reveals yunnanozoans as the oldest known stem vertebrates

Scientists have long puzzled over the gap in the fossil record that would explain the evolution from invertebrates to vertebrates. Vertebrates, including fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and humans, share unique features, such as a backbone and a skull. Invertebrates are animals without backbones.

Women's help desks in local police stations in India increased registration of cases of gender-based violence

A new study by J-PAL affiliate Sandip Sukhtankar (University of Virginia) and coauthors Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner (University of Virginia) and Akshay Mangla (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford) found that establishing specialized help desks for women in local police stations in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India led to increased registration of cases of gender-based violence (GBV),...