Underwater snow gives clues about Europa"s icy shell
Below Europa's thick icy crust is a massive, global ocean where the snow floats upwards onto inverted ice peaks and submerged ravines. The bizarre underwater snow is known to occur below ice shelves on Earth, but a new study shows that the same is li.....»»
Reclaimed by floods, wildlife returns to Romania"s Danube Delta
Tour guide Eugen Grigorov steered his boat past half-underwater combine harvesters and last year's flooded crops in a part of Romania's Danube Delta reclaimed by the great river......»»
Underwater mapping reveals new insights into melting of Antarctica"s ice shelves
An international research team—including scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA)—deployed an unmanned submersible beneath the Dotson Ice Shelf in West Antarctica. The underwater vehicle, "Ran," was programmed to dive into the cavity.....»»
Elusive predicted water structure created in the laboratory
Clathrate hydrates are complex water structures that contain foreign guest molecules inside a host water-molecule shell. A predicted clathrate hydrate phase structure has been stably synthesized in the lab and may play an important role in future mat.....»»
How bacteria attach their cloaks of invisibility to immune defenses
Bacteria have different strategies for protecting themselves. Some bacterial pathogens surround themselves with a shell made of many sugar chains that lie close together, also known as capsular polymers. This protects the bacteria from drying out and.....»»
What shapes a virus"s pandemic potential? SARS-CoV-2 relatives yield clues
Two of the closest known relatives to SARS-CoV-2—a pair of bat coronaviruses discovered by researchers in Laos—may transmit poorly in people despite being genetically similar to the COVID-19-causing virus, a new Yale study reveals......»»
Quordle today – hints and answers for Sunday, July 28 (game #916)
Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions......»»
Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth to rip apart their prey, researchers find
Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons' teeth are tipped with iron. Led by researchers from King's College London, the study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide clues to.....»»
Going deeper for healthy offshore reefs in Storm Bay
Scientists have used high-tech underwater robots to take a closer look at the deep offshore reefs on the east coast of Bruny Island in Tasmania and have revealed the seabed biodiversity there for the first time......»»
New date for Earth"s largest iron deposits offers clues for future exploration
Research led by Curtin University reveals that Earth's largest iron ore deposits—in the Hamersley Province of Western Australia—are about one billion years younger than previously believed, a discovery which could greatly boost the search for mor.....»»
Adding to the story of ancient human migration: Evidence of early maritime activities in Indonesia"s Tanimbar islands
New evidence of human occupation in southeast Indonesia dating back 42,000 years offers fresh clues about the route taken by some of the first humans to arrive in our region, according to a study from The Australian National University (ANU). The res.....»»
A new way to control the magnetic properties of rare earth elements
The special properties of rare earth magnetic materials are due to the electrons in the 4f shell. Until now, the magnetic properties of 4f electrons were considered almost impossible to control......»»
Signatures of life could survive near surfaces of the moons Enceladus and Europa, NASA experiment suggests
Europa, a moon of Jupiter, and Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, have evidence of oceans beneath their ice crusts. A NASA experiment suggests that if these oceans support life, signatures of that life in the form of organic molecules (e.g. amino acids, nu.....»»
Bursting of underwater oil drops: How pollution may remain in water after oil spill cleanups
Oil drops from underwater oil spills can break into tinier droplets at the surface that remain suspended in the water, according to research from the University of Illinois Chicago. That means cleanups after disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill.....»»
First observation of the nuclear two-photon decay in bare atomic nuclei
For the first time, an international research team has succeeded in observing a two-photon decay on a so-called bare atomic nucleus from which the entire electron shell has been removed......»»
Harnessing big data helps scientists hone in on new antimicrobials
Researchers have developed a strategy to identify new antimicrobial drugs with therapeutic promise from bacterial datasets, providing clues for discovering alternatives to traditional antibiotics......»»
Ancient microbes offer clues to how complex life evolved
A new study published in Science Advances reveals a surprising twist in the evolutionary history of complex life. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have discovered that a single-celled organism, a close relative of animals, harbors the r.....»»
Local dragonflies expose mercury pollution patterns
A new study has unveiled surprising findings about mercury pollution: where it comes from and how it moves through the environment vary significantly depending on the ecosystem. In drier regions, most mercury is deposited through rain and snow. In we.....»»
Ground surface conditions found to impact speed and distance of leaking natural gas
When natural gas leaks from a subsurface pipeline, a ground cover of water/snow saturation, asphalt paving or a combination of these can cause the gas to migrate away from the leak site up to three to four times farther than through dry soil, a new s.....»»
World"s rarest whale may have washed up on New Zealand beach, possibly shedding clues on species
Spade-toothed whales are the world's rarest, with no live sightings ever recorded. No one knows how many there are, what they eat, or even where they live in the vast expanse of the southern Pacific Ocean. However, scientists in New Zealand may have.....»»
A hopping robot could explore Europa using locally harvested water
Various forms of hopping robots have crept into development for use in different space exploration missions. We've reported on their use on asteroids and even our own moon. But a study funded by NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) in 2018 p.....»»