157 articles from MONDAY 14.11.2022

Crypto company's collapse strands scientists

Last week’s collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX is sending aftershocks through the scientific community. An undergraduate physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who founded FTX and quickly became a billionaire, 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried began to back philanthropic organizations that supported a wide variety of science-related causes, most designed...

The UN's climate change conference COP27: Topics on the agenda

The UN's annual climate change conference is currently ongoing in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Over the course of two weeks, representatives of the world's nations will gather to discuss how to achieve the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement and contribute to the climate transition.

Children's songs: A link to one's inner self and to others

Singing can be a real health boost. Song involves your emotions, thoughts and body; the feelgood hormone oxytocin surges and the stress hormone cortisol declines. Singing accompanies us from the cradle to the grave, and binds us together as human beings. But what do kids sing in school, how much, and in what way? David Johnson, researcher at the Malmö Academy of Music, investigates this in his...

Why go back to the Moon?

On September 12, 1962, then US president John F. Kennedy informed the public of his plan to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.

New experiment measures decay time for exotic nuclei

A new study led by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has measured how long it takes for several kinds of exotic nuclei to decay. The paper, published today in Physical Review Letters, marks the first experimental result from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a DOE Office of Science user facility operated by Michigan State University.

Giant satellite outshines stars, sparking fresh concerns for astronomers

Since launching in September, the communications satellite BlueWalker 3 has orbited Earth, curled up as if in a cocoon. Now, it has hatched, unfurling an antenna array as big as a highway billboard, its maker, Texas-based AST SpaceMobile, announced today . Astronomers say the satellite’s brightness has spiked by a factor of 40, rivaling the brightest stars in the sky....

The 2023 Innovators Under 35 competition is now open for nominations

You might ask why MIT Technology Review creates a list of 35 Innovators Under 35 every year. Part of it, of course, is to recognize the good and important work done by people just starting out in their careers—and you can be a part of that process by nominating great candidates right here, starting today and continuing through January 25, 2023. But there’s a lot more to it than that. By...

Dams could play a big role in feeding the world more sustainably, researchers find

A bogeyman to many environmentalists, dams could actually play a significant role in feeding the world more sustainably, according to new Stanford University research. The study, published the week of Nov. 14 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, quantifies for the first time how much water storage would be required to maximize crop irrigation without depleting water stocks or...

Cool leaf! Study records chimp showing off object in human-like way

Adult ape sharing information and just wanted mother to look at foliage with no motive otherwise, scientists sayChimpanzees show each other objects just for the sake of it, researchers have found, revealing it isn’t only humans who like to draw attention to items that have captured their interest.As anyone who has spent time with a child knows, even very young humans like to point out objects to...

Mini-engine exploits noise to convert information into fuel

Too much background noise is usually guaranteed to disrupt work. But physicists have developed a micro-scale engine–made from a glass bead–that can not only withstand the distracting influence of noise, but can harness it to run efficiently. Their experiment is reported in the journal Physical Review Letters and was selected by the journal as a research highlight.

Planning on asking for a high salary in a job interview? Think again

A new study conducted by Dr. Yossi Maaravi, dean of Reichman University's Adelson School of Entrepreneurship, and developmental psychologist Sandra Segal, former director of Dr. Maaravi's research lab, examined the psychological and financial consequences of high (but not extreme) demands in salary negotiations.

Researchers produce first-ever 'family tree' for aquarium-bred corals

Corals bred in public aquaria provide novel research opportunities and a healthy stock for outplanting into the wild, essential components of a thriving future for coral reef ecosystems, which support around 25% of all life in Earth's oceans. But the long-term success of such efforts hinges in part on maintaining genetic diversity in aquarium-bred corals which leads to increased resilience to...

Video: Solar snake spotted slithering across sun's surface

Solar Orbiter has spotted a "tube" of cooler atmospheric gases snaking its way through the sun's magnetic field. The observation provides an intriguing new addition to the zoo of features revealed by the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission, especially since the snake was a precursor to a much larger eruption.

Roche Alzheimer’s antibody fails to slow cognitive decline in major test

The second (and third) time was not the charm for Roche’s experimental antibody drug for Alzheimer’s disease. The company last night announced gantenerumab had failed to show a statistically significant benefit in two large, late-stage clinical trials that tested its ability to slow patients’ cognitive decline—echoing a previous failure in another so-called phase 3...

Earth's cathedrals: Europe's mountains are cultural heritage, not just natural heritage

In 2019, alpinism was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible heritage of humanity and "shared culture made up of knowledge of the high-mountain environment, the history of the practice and associated values, and specific skills." However, alpinism is inextricably linked to mountains—places of extraordinary interest that need to be defended even more. The Alpine landscape protection initiatives...

Research documents rich heritage of Afro-descendant women living in Ecuador

Celebrating and sharing the lived history of Afro-Ecuadorian women, passed down through generations via the spoken word, is the objective of a collaborative research project led by Northumbria University and Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, alongside partners from the Mujeres de Asfalto collective, a Black feminist creative arts organization.

Fish fossils show first cooking may have been 600,000 years earlier than thought

After examining carp remains, researchers claim people who lived 780,000 years ago liked their fish well doneEarly human ancestors living 780,000 years ago liked their fish well done, Israeli researchers have revealed, in what they said was the earliest evidence of fire being used to cook.Exactly when our ancestors started cooking has been a matter of controversy among archaeologists because it is...

High-fat diet can provoke pain sensitivity without obesity, diabetes

A new study in mice suggests that a short-term exposure to a high-fat diet may be linked to pain sensations even in the absence of a prior injury or a preexisting condition like obesity or diabetes. The study found that a high-fat diet induced hyperalgesic priming -- a neurological change that represents the transition from acute to chronic pain -- and allodynia, which is pain resulting from...

Power of 'thank you' for couples

Greater levels of perceived gratitude protect couples against common stressors such as financial problems and ineffective arguing and promote relationship stability, according to a new study.