128 articles from MONDAY 26.9.2022

Space station flies over Hurricane Ian – video

Footage released by Nasa shows a view of Hurricane Ian that can be seen from the International Space Station as it flies over the storm. Hurricane Ian moved near the Cayman Islands and closer to western Cuba early on Monday on course to hit Florida as a major hurricane this week. A surge of up to 2.4 metres (8ft) of ocean water and 25cm (10in) of rain, with as much as 38cm (15in) in...

Female fruit flies enter the ring of sexual competition

When it comes to sexual competition, males have the star role. Clashing bodies, locking horns, biting and kicking are all considered fair play. Since these behaviors are so salient and robust, most studies focus on male behavior, leaving females aside.

New theory upends what we know about how charged macromolecules self-assemble

In a discovery with wide-ranging implications, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that uniformly charged macromolecules—or molecules, such as proteins or DNA, that contain a large number of atoms all with the same electrical charge—can self-assemble into very large structures. This finding upends our...

Federal fraud charges crumble in cases against scientists with China ties

The U.S. government overplayed its hand in prosecuting U.S. academics under the controversial China Initiative, three federal courts ruled last week. In separate cases, attorneys for the Department of Justice (DOJ) had maintained that chemist Franklin Tao, materials scientist Zhengdong Cheng, and mathematician Mingqing Xiao jeopardized the nation’s security and defrauded the...

The asteroid that formed Vredefort crater was bigger than previously believed

About 2 billion years ago, an impactor hurtled toward Earth, crashing into the planet in an area near present-day Johannesburg, South Africa. The impactor—most likely an asteroid—formed what is today the biggest crater on our planet. Scientists have widely accepted, based on previous research, that the impact structure, known as the Vredefort crater, was formed by an object about 15 kilometers...

The neighbors of the caliph: Archaeologists uncover ancient mosaics on the shore of the Sea of Galilee

With the help of geomagnetic surface surveys and subsequent hands-on digging, an excavation team from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has revealed new insights into the area in which the caliph's palace of Khirbat al-Minya was built on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. According to these findings, there had already been a settlement occupied by Christian or Jewish inhabitants in the...

Researchers design treatment to protect bones during cancer therapy

University of Central Florida material sciences engineers Melanie Coathup and Sudipta Seal have designed a cerium oxide nanoparticle—an artificial enzyme—that protects bones against damage from radiation. The nanoparticle has also shown abilities to improve bone regeneration, reduce loss of blood cells and help kill cancer cells.

States take on PFAS 'forever chemicals' with bans, lawsuits

"Forever chemicals" are everywhere. The thousands of chemicals in the group known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are found in cookware, packaging, cosmetics, clothing, carpet, electronics, firefighting foam and many other products.

What keeps plant roots growing toward gravity? Study identifies four genes

What happens belowground in a corn field is easy to overlook, but corn root architecture can play an important role in water and nutrient acquisition, affecting drought tolerance, water use efficiency, and sustainability. If breeders could encourage corn roots to grow down at a steeper angle, the crop could potentially access important resources deeper in the soil.

New study shows transmission of epigenetic memory across multiple generations

Without altering the genetic code in the DNA, epigenetic modifications can change how genes are expressed, affecting an organism's health and development. The once radical idea that such changes in gene expression can be inherited now has a growing body of evidence behind it, but the mechanisms involved remain poorly understood.

Discovery of the largest natural carbon onions on Earth

Recently, a study led by Dr. Yilin Chen, Prof. Yong Qin, Dr. Jiuqing Li, Associate Prof. Zhuangfu Li, Tianyu Yang (China University of Mining and Technology) and Dr. Ergang Lian (Tongji University) was published in Science China Earth Sciences. The research team identified natural carbon onions (onion-like fullerenes) in intrusion-affected coal samples collected from Permian coal-bearing strata in...