Myth, busted: Formation of Namibia’s fairy circles isn’t due to termites
Plants are "ecosystem engineers" that survive by forming optimal geometric patterns. Enlarge / Drone image of car driving through the NamibRand Nature Reserve, one of the fairy-circle regions in Namibia. (credit: Stephan Getzin).....»»
Drunk driver busted after iPhone calls cops after crash
A drunk driver was apprehended by the police after his iPhone automatically called emergency dispatch.Crash DetectionOn Wednesday, a 46-year-old man from New Zealand crashed his car into a tree at 1:00 am. After detecting the crash, his iPhone 14 aut.....»»
In Spain, storks" trash diet driven by climate change
The storks float and swoop in formation, circling over a landfill in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains north of Madrid. Then a garbage truck pulls up and disgorges its contents. One by one, they dive to the ground: breakfast is here.....»»
Face-on view of galaxy NGC 4303 reveals its arms are filled with active star formation
Galaxies fill a lot of roles in the universe. The most obvious one is star formation factories. Without that activity, the cosmos would be a very different place. The European Southern Observatory and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array recently zeroe.....»»
WEAVE spectrograph begins study of galaxy formation and evolution
More than 500 astronomers from all over Europe, including members of Catalan universities and research centers—the UPC and the ICCUB—have designed and planned a total of five years of operations for the WEAVE spectrograph, a powerful instrument r.....»»
Outflows from baby star affect nearby star formation
Baby stars don't always play nice with their siblings. New observations show an outflow of high-speed gas from one baby star colliding with a nearby dense cloud of gas where other stars are in the process of being born. These observations clearly sho.....»»
Astronomers come closer to understanding how Mercury formed
Simulations of the formation of the solar system have been largely successful. They are able to replicate the positions of all the major planets along with their orbital parameters. But current simulations have an extreme amount of difficulty getting.....»»
Astronomers detect a second planet orbiting two stars
Planets orbiting binary stars are in a tough situation: They have to contend with the gravitational pull of two separate stars. Planetary formation around a single star like our sun is relatively straightforward compared to what circumbinary planets.....»»
Webb telescope catches early galaxy formation in action
Astronomers from the Cosmic Dawn Center have unveiled the nature of the densest region of galaxies seen with the James Webb Space telescope in the early universe. They find it to be likely the progenitor of a massive, Milky Way-like galaxy, seen at a.....»»
Quantum vortex formation in the lab
Quantized vortices can be generated in classical experiments of liquid helium and ultracold dilute gases to conduct fundamental and comparative studies of different superfluids. In a new report published in Science Advances, Ivan Gnusov and a researc.....»»
Did the Seeds of Life Ride to Earth Inside an Asteroid?
Biological amino acids could have celestial or terrestrial roots. An experiment simulated their formation in deep space—but the mystery isn’t solved yet......»»
How intracellular fluid flows influence the formation of complex patterns
The formation of patterns is a universal phenomenon that underlies fundamental processes in biology. An example are the concentration patterns of proteins, which direct vital cellular processes, including cell division, polarity, and movement. These.....»»
Study finds unexpected interactions in formation of secondary organic aerosols in the atmosphere
Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) consists of extremely small particles generated in the atmosphere from natural and human-made emissions. It is a major constituent of PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 micrometers) worldwide th.....»»
Crew Dragon astronauts to receive rare space medal from the White House
Outside of space circles, the space medal is not a particularly well-known honor. Enlarge / NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken (foreground) work on Crew Dragon's touchscreen displays. (credit: NASA) Vice Preside.....»»
Predicting human group sizes with physics
Only by knowing the average number of friends each person has, scientists at Complexity Science Hub (CSH) were able to predict the group sizes of people in a computer game. For this purpose, they modeled the formation of social groups on an example f.....»»
Researchers identify important molecular switch for hearing development
In the inner ear, there are two different types of sensory cells that are responsible for hearing. An MHH research team has now identified the molecular switch for the formation of these inner and outer hair cells and thus found an important building.....»»
James Webb peers into icy cloud to learn about exoplanet formation
Researchers using James Webb have peered into a molecular cloud to look for these ices which could be formed into future exoplanets......»»
Physicists solve riddle of two-dimensional quasicrystal formation from metal oxides
The structure of two-dimensional titanium oxide breaks up at high temperatures when one adds barium; instead of regular hexagons, rings of four, seven and ten atoms are created that order aperiodically......»»
Scientists open new window on the physics of glass formation
Research from an international team of scientists has cast new light on the physics of vitrification—the process by which glass forms......»»
Understanding of point defect mechanism boosts photovoltaic performance of antimony selenosulfide
Recently, a research team led by Prof. Chen Tao from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) revealed the formation and evolution of the point defect of antimony selenosulfide. This work was p.....»»
Researchers find potential mechanism of solar light bridge formation and penumbra disappearance
Sunspots are the most noticeable manifestation of solar magnetic field concentrations in the photosphere. A typical mature sunspot has an umbra and a penumbra. Light bridges (LBs) are the strip-like bright features, two ends of which connect the penu.....»»