106 articles from MONDAY 23.1.2023

Exotic green comet not seen since stone age returns to skies above Earth

Comet C/2022 E3, which orbits the sun every 50,000 years, will be closest to us next Wednesday and ThursdayAn exotic green comet that has not passed Earth since the time of the Neanderthals has reappeared in the sky ready for its closest approach to the planet next week.Discovered last March by astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in California, comet C/2022 E3...

Women scientists at famed oceanography institute have half the lab space of men

Women constitute 26% of the scientists at the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), but only hold 17% of the space, according to an unprecedented report released last week. SIO’s 56 women scientists have on average half as much research space and one-third the storage space of their 157 male counterparts,...

Twisting up atoms through space and time

One of the most exciting applications of quantum computers will be to direct their gaze inwards, at the very quantum rules that make them tick. Quantum computers can be used to simulate quantum physics itself, and perhaps even explore realms that don't exist anywhere in nature.

Researchers create a low-cost sensor that detects heavy metals in sweat

Heavy metals such as lead and cadmium are present in batteries, cosmetics, food and other things that are part of everyday life. They are toxic when they accumulate in the human organism, potentially causing several health problems, but detecting them in body fluids requires expensive equipment and a controlled laboratory environment. Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil...

Virus plus microplastics equal double whammy for fish health

Microplastics—tiny particles generated as plastics weather and fragment—pose a growing threat to ecosystem and human health. A new laboratory study shows these threats extend beyond direct physical or chemical impacts, revealing that the presence of microplastics increases the severity of an important viral fish disease.

DNA detector exposes hidden Antarctic krill

Like forensic investigators, scientists can use molecular techniques to detect evidence of Antarctic krill in seawater samples collected in the Southern Ocean. The revolutionary technology can identify Antarctic krill DNA within the alphabet soup of DNA molecules shed by numerous other marine creatures, including bacteria, other krill species, and whales.