NASA gives green light for OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to visit another asteroid
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will swing by Earth to deliver a sample from asteroid Bennu on Sept. 24, 2023. But it won't clock out after that......»»
Asteroid Ceres is a former ocean world that slowly formed into a giant, murky icy orb
Since the first sighting of the first-discovered and largest asteroid in our solar system was made in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, astronomers and planetary scientists have pondered the make-up of this asteroid/dwarf planet. Its heavily battered and dimp.....»»
AI bots now beat 100% of those traffic-image CAPTCHAs
I, for one, welcome our traffic light-identifying overlords. Enlarge / Examples of the kind of CAPTCHAs that image-recognition bots can now get past 100 percent of the time. (credit: Arxiv, Plesner et al.) Anyone who has.....»»
Study: Cats in little crocheted hats shed light on feline chronic pain
The custom-made caps hold electrodes in place and reduce motion artifacts during EEGs. Enlarge / “When you spend more time putting electrodes back on than you do actually recording the EEGs, you get creative." (credit: Alienor.....»»
Black hole jet appears to boost rate of nova explosions
There's a 2.5x boost in nova frequency, and all reasonable explanations fail. Enlarge / One of the jets emitted by galaxy M87's central black hole. (credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)) The intense ele.....»»
Research team succeeds in ultra-fast switching of tiny light sources
Extremely thin materials consisting of just a few atomic layers promise applications for electronics and quantum technologies. An international team led by TU Dresden has now made remarkable progress with an experiment conducted at Helmholtz-Zentrum.....»»
Lunar dust dynamics: Unveiling the charging properties and particle behavior of Chang"e-5 samples in an electric field
A study published in Engineering has shed new light on the behavior of lunar regolith particles under the influence of an external electric field, a discovery that could revolutionize space exploration and lunar resource utilization. The research, co.....»»
Ryugu samples call into question previous ideas about the formation of carbon-rich asteroids
Asteroid Ryugu possibly did not travel as far from its place of origin to its current near-Earth orbit as previously assumed. New research published in the journal Science Advances suggests that Ryugu was formed near Jupiter......»»
Green and digital transitions are putting environmental problems on the back burner, says study
The European Green Deal is a package of political initiatives to ensure that the EU reaches climate neutrality by 2050. Faced with this challenge, the parallel goals of the green and digital transitions are at the center of the European Commission's.....»»
How a protein keeps gene clusters quiet in the cell nucleolus
In a discovery that sheds light on the complex mechanisms of gene regulation, scientists at EPFL have uncovered a critical role for the protein ZNF274 in keeping certain gene clusters turned off by anchoring them to the cell nucleolus. The study is p.....»»
How iron and metabolic constraints can aid gene discovery for photosynthesis and biofuel production
The single-cell green alga Chromochloris zofingiensis is an emerging model organism for photosynthesis and metabolism research. Previous research has shown that with the addition of glucose, Chromochloris zofingiensis shuts off photosynthesis, rerout.....»»
Nonlinear optical metasurface achieves electrically tunable third-harmonic generation
A recent study has unveiled a transformative nonlinear optical metasurface technology. This new technology, characterized by structures smaller than the wavelength of light, paves the way for significant advancements in next-generation communication.....»»
NASA confirms space station cracking a “highest” risk and consequence problem
NASA and Roscosmos have not agreed on the point at which the leak rate is untenable. Enlarge / A high-resolution commercial Earth-imaging satellite owned by Maxar captured this view of the International Space Station on June 7 wi.....»»
Wall lizards shed light on how animals prevent harm in territorial disputes
A study appearing in Behavioral Ecology shows that in male wall lizards, certain behaviors have a greater influence on the way they resolve territorial disputes than their size and coloration......»»
Advanced data shed light on gravitational basins of attraction that shape the movement of galaxies
A new study has mapped out the gravitational basins of attraction in the local universe, offering fresh insights into the large-scale cosmic structures that shape the movement of galaxies. The study has been published in Nature Astronomy......»»
Some people insist the Tijuana River is poisoning them: Officials disagree
The Tijuana River should not be flowing this time of year. But throughout the dry season, it has—delivering millions of gallons a day of an unnatural mix of water, neon green sewage and industrial waste from Tijuana through the city of Imperial Bea.....»»
Hubble finds that a black hole beam promotes stellar eruptions
In a surprise finding, astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the blowtorch-like jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of a huge galaxy seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. The stars, called.....»»
NASA"s Artemis science instrument gets tested in moon-like sandbox
On Sept. 9 and 10, scientists and engineers tested NASA's LEMS (Lunar Environment Monitoring Station) instrument suite in a "sandbox" of simulated moon regolith at the Florida Space Institute's Exolith Lab at the University of Central Florida in Orla.....»»
Dark matter could have slight interaction with regular matter, study suggests
The reason we call dark matter dark isn't that it's some shadowy material. It's because dark matter doesn't interact with light. The difference is subtle, but important. Regular matter can be dark because it absorbs light. It's why, for example, we c.....»»
Advancing green chemistry: A tandem catalyst for efficient biomass conversion
The global demand for sustainable energy sources has intensified the search for environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels. Biomass waste, a byproduct of various industrial processes, presents an untapped potential for the production of bi.....»»
Shedding light on a decades-old protein sorting mystery
Christian de Caestecker, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Ian Macara, Louise B. McGavock Professor and chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, has proposed and validated a mechanism that addresses a decades-old mystery surrounding epi.....»»