News

The moon has more hidden pockets of water ice than previously thought, NASA's SOFIA flying observatory reveals.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is ready to perform an early stow on Tuesday, Oct. 27, of the large sample it collected last week from the surface of the asteroid Bennu to protect and return as much of the sample as possible.

An international multi-institution team of scientists has synthesized graphene nanoribbons—ultrathin strips of carbon atoms—on a titanium dioxide surface using an atomically precise method that removes a barrier for custom-designed carbon nanostructures required for quantum information sciences.

The designers of solar cells know their creations must contend with a wide range of temperatures and all sorts of weather conditions—conditions that can impact their efficiency and useful lifetime.

A new study on genetic pathways in the common liverwort could have future implications for crop manipulation.

The San Andreas fault, which runs along the western coast of North America and crosses dense population centers like Los Angeles, California, is one of the most-studied faults in North America because of its significant hazard risk. Based on its roughly 150-year recurrence interval for magnitude 7.5 earthquakes and the fact that it's been over 300 years since that's happened, the southern San Andreas fault has long been called "overdue" for such an earthquake. For decades, geologists have been wondering why it has been so long since a major rupture has occurred. Now, some geophysicists think the "earthquake drought" could be partially explained by lakes—or a lack thereof.

An international team of astronomers has gained new insights into the physical conditions prevailing in the gas tail of so-called jellyfish galaxies. They are particularly interested in the parameters that lead to the formation of new stars in the tail outside the galaxy disk. They analyzed, for example, the strength and orientation of the magnetic fields in the galaxy JO206.

A viral news report about a woman who claims to have found plastic pellets mixed with rice grains has once again reignited allegations about Chinese fake rice. Rumours about ruthless Chinese rice growers and retailers mixing plastic rice grains with real ones to increase profit at the cost of consumers’ health have been doing the […]The post Scandal Brings Chinese "Plastic Rice" Myth Back Into the Spotlight first appeared on Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities.

Scientists led by the ESRF, the European Synchrotron, Grenoble, France and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, have discovered the composition of red and black inks in ancient Egyptian papyri from circa 100-200 AD, leading to a number of hypotheses about writing practices. The analysis, based on synchrotron techniques, shows that lead was probably used as a dryer rather than as a pigment, similar to its usage in 15th-century Europe during the development of oil painting. They have published their results in PNAS.

Caring for people's health is a prescription for protecting rainforests, slowing climate change and creating significant monetary value, according to a new Stanford-led study.

Simulations from Columbia University researchers show a slight bias toward Trump but less of a tilt than in the 2016 election.

With the tropical storm season in the Atlantic Ocean underway and already well into the Greek alphabet for naming, better storm track prediction has allowed timely evacuations and preparations. However, the formation and intensification of these storms remains challenging to predict, according to an international team of researchers who are studying the origin of tropical cyclones.

Where are small marine animals most vulnerable to getting eaten? The answer has big consequences for coastal ecosystems, where most of the world's fishing takes place, since predators can radically change underwater communities. In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct. 26, an international team of scientists sketched the first global "BiteMap" showing where the ocean's mid-sized predators are most active. By fishing with dried squid baits called "squid pops," they discovered rising temperatures can shape entire communities of predators and have potential impacts lower down the food web.

In the summer of 2018, Rob Mooney, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Limnology, set out on an epic road trip around Lake Michigan. Mooney was no stranger to the drive. In fact, he had already completed eight circuits of the lake over the previous two years as he monitored seasonal changes in dozens of rivers and streams flowing into the lake.

Bats act as reservoirs of numerous zoonotic viruses, including SARS-CoV, MERS CoV, Ebola virus and—most likely—SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen behind the ongoing pandemic. However, the molecular mechanisms bats deploy to tolerate pathogenic viruses has remained unclear.

A new study authored by Southwest Research Institute planetary scientist Dr. Tracy Becker discusses several new views of the asteroid 16 Psyche, including the first ultraviolet observations. The study, which was published today in The Planetary Science Journal and presented at the virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, paints a clearer view of the asteroid than was previously available.

Here's a look at one of the most diabolical and invasive insects: the murder hornet, or the Asian giant hornet.

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.

The invasive wasp is a threat to honeybees.

Nanomechanics at Rice University and the University of Houston are getting ready to rev their engines for the second international Nanocar Race.

Engineers at Rice University and Texas A&M University have found a 2-D material that could make computers faster and more energy-efficient.

Genetic sensors that can detect the activity from genes, rather than just the genes themselves, have been developed by a team led by University of Warwick scientists.

Actin is among the most abundant proteins in cells, and it has many jobs—from giving the cell its very shape and structure to managing networks of proteins crucial to numerous cellular functions. Without it, the fragile fundamental unit of life would crumble.

Few places on Earth are as rich in biodiversity and removed from human influence as the world's largest rainforest—the Amazon. Scientists at Louisiana State University (LSU) have been conducting research within the pristine rainforest for decades. However, they began to notice that some of the animals, specifically birds that forage on and near the forest floor, had become very difficult to find.

National University of Singapore chemists have discovered catalyst-controlled divergent reactions to synthesize three different classes of medium-sized bicyclic compounds from the same starting materials for the development of therapeutic drug molecules.