128 articles from TUESDAY 9.8.2022

U.S. Department of Energy research gets a surprise boost in inflation-reduction bill

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) science programs are poised to get a windfall of $1.5 billion over 5 years in the massive climate and health care bill awaiting final passage later this week by the House of Representatives. The money is primarily for the construction of new facilities and major upgrades funded by DOE’s $7.5 billion Office of Science, although the bill does...

Webb telescope reveals unpredicted bounty of bright galaxies in early universe

The James Webb Space Telescope has only been watching the sky for a few weeks, and it has already delivered a startling finding: tens, hundreds, maybe even 1000 times more bright galaxies in the early universe than astronomers anticipated. “No one was expecting anything like this,” says Michael Boylan-Kolchin of the University of Texas, Austin. “Galaxies are exploding out...

Exposed! International Space Station tests organisms, materials in space

Space may look empty, but it contains extreme temperatures, high levels of background radiation, micrometeoroids, and the unfiltered glare of the sun. In addition, materials and equipment on the outside of the International Space Station are exposed to atomic oxygen (AO) and other charged particles as it orbits the Earth at the very edge of our atmosphere. Only the hardiest materials, equipment,...

CT scanner captures entire wooly mammoth tusk

For the first time, researchers successfully captured CT images of an entire wooly mammoth tusk, according to a new "Images in Radiology" article published in the journal Radiology. Researchers were able to do a full scan of the tusk in its entirety—or in toto—using a newer clinical CT scanner. The new technology allows for large-scale imaging without having to do multiple partial scans.

Banana peels make sugar cookies better for you

Banana peels aren't always destined for the trash or compost anymore. They're making their way onto people's plates, replacing pork in "pulled peel" sandwiches and getting fried up into "bacon." And now, researchers reporting in ACS Food Science & Technology show that incorporating banana peel flour into sugar cookie batter makes the treats more healthful. In taste tests, cookies enriched with...

Sweet success: New enzymatic biosystem harvests the potential of the sugar maltose

Microorganism-free enzyme-based reaction systems are now used for the production of hydrogen, bioelectricity, and useful biochemicals. In these biosystems, raw materials called substrates are broken down by a series of enzymes (i.e., biological catalysts) to obtain the desired end-product. In several cases, the substrates are carbohydrates such as sucrose, cellulose, or starch. In the first step...

Mountain events could improve safety with ultra-high resolution weather models

In late May of 2021, 172 runners set out to tackle a 100-kilometer (62-mile) ultramarathon in northwestern China. By midday, as the runners made their way through a rugged, high-elevation part of the course, temperatures plunged, strong winds whipped around the hillslopes and freezing rain and hail pummeled the runners. By the next day, the death toll from the sudden storm had risen to 21.

Discovery of non-conventional peptides in Vitis vinifera L. through peptidogenomics

Although some researchers have identified peptides through multiple methods, as in Arabidopsis and maize, the biological functions of most non-conventional peptides (NCPs) remain to be demonstrated. NCPs function by modulating larger regulatory proteins, and their functions can therefore be predicted from the proteins on which they act. In addition, the functions of NCPs can also be predicted by...

Do 'bouncing universes' have a beginning?

A new study by physicists highlights one way that cyclic or 'bouncing' cosmologies fall flat. 'People proposed bouncing universes to make the universe infinite into the past, but what we show is that one of the newest types of these models doesn't work,' says a professor of physics.

Potential long-term treatment for asthma found

A possible way to tackle one of the underlying causes of asthma has been developed. In tests in mice, the researchers were able to virtually eliminate asthmatic symptoms within two weeks and return their airways to near normal.

Study finds genetic method for identifying hundreds of disease agents 'promising'

In the pursuit of accurate diagnoses for illnesses, doctors have traditionally used multiple methods -- including culturing patient samples on a wide variety of media, reviewing countless medical records and analyzing clinical data using complex mathematical algorithms -- to try to identify the bacterium, virus, fungus or other pathogen responsible for an infection.

CT scanner captures entire woolly mammoth tusk

Researchers successfully captured CT images of an entire woolly mammoth tusk. Researchers were able to do a full scan of the tusk in its entirety -- or in toto -- using a newer clinical CT scanner. The new technology allows for large-scale imaging without having to do multiple partial scans.

Banana peels make sugar cookies better for you

Banana peels aren't always destined for the trash or compost anymore. They're making their way onto people's plates, replacing pork in 'pulled peel' sandwiches and getting fried up into 'bacon.' And now, researchers show that incorporating banana peel flour into sugar cookie batter makes the treats more healthful. In taste tests, cookies enriched with some banana peel flour were more satisfying...