Top Science News

October 24, 2020

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OSIRIS-REx: Significant Amount of Asteroid

Mother reading to child | (c) (c) fizkes / Adobe

Human Brains Are 'Prewired' to See Words

Rift Valley (stock | (c) (c) Tomasz / Adobe

Turbulent Era Sparked Leap in Human Behavior

Earth (stock image; | (c) (c) Artsiom Petrushenka / Adobe

Wave: Some Exoplanets May Be Able to See Us, Too

Oct. 23, 2020 — Two days after touching down on asteroid Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission team received on Thursday, Oct. 22, images that confirm the spacecraft has collected more than enough material to meet one of ...

Oct. 22, 2020 — Humans are born with a part of the brain that is prewired to be receptive to seeing words and letters, setting the stage at birth for people to learn how to read, a new study suggests. Analyzing ...

Oct. 21, 2020 — The first analysis of a sedimentary drill core representing 1 million years of environmental history in the East African Rift Valley shows that at ...

Oct. 21, 2020 — Three decades after astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that Voyager 1 snap Earth's picture from billions of miles away -- resulting in the iconic Pale Blue Dot photograph - two astronomers now offer ...

Latest Top Headlines

updated 10:46pm EDT

Liberal and conservative | (c) (c) andrii / Adobe

Hot-Button Words Trigger Conservatives and Liberals Differently

Oct. 20, 2020 — Researchers have linked a brain region to what they call neural polarization, offering a glimpse into the partisan brain in the weeks leading up to what is arguably the most consequential U.S. presidential election in ...

Octopus arms with | (c) (c) maskalin / Adobe

Octopus-Inspired Sucker Transfers Thin, Delicate Tissue Grafts and Biosensors

Oct. 16, 2020 — Thin tissue grafts and flexible electronics have a host of applications for wound healing, regenerative medicine and biosensing. A new device inspired by an octopus's sucker rapidly transfers delicate tissue or electronic sheets to the patient, ...

Heart attack concept | (c) (c) peterschreiber.media / Adobe

Reviving Cells After a Heart Attack

Oct. 14, 2020 — Researchers have unraveled potential mechanisms behind the healing power of extracellular vesicles and demonstrated their capacity to not only revive cells after a heart attack but keep cells functioning while deprived of oxygen during a heart attack. The researchers demonstrated this functionality ...

DNA and coronavirus | (c) (c) peterschreiber.media / Adobe

Pinpointing the 'Silent' Mutations That Gave the Coronavirus an Evolutionary Edge

Oct. 16, 2020 — Researchers have identified a number of 'silent' mutations in the roughly 30,000 letters of the COVID-19 virus's genetic code that helped it thrive once it made the leap from bats and other wildlife to humans -- and possibly helped set the stage for ...

Illustration of moon Io, | (c) (c) Luca Oleastri / Adobe

ALMA Shows Volcanic Impact on Io's Atmosphere

Oct. 21, 2020 — New radio images from ALMA show for the first time the direct effect of volcanic activity on the atmosphere of Jupiter's ...

NASA's OSIRIS-REx | (c) NASA/Goddard/University of

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Successfully Touches Asteroid

Oct. 20, 2020 — NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft unfurled its robotic arm Tuesday, and in a first for the agency, briefly touched an asteroid to collect dust and pebbles from the surface for delivery to Earth ...

Foucault's pendulum | (c) (c) Patricia / Adobe

A Billion Tiny Pendulums Could Detect the Universe's Missing Mass

Oct. 14, 2020 — Researchers have proposed a novel method for finding dark matter, the cosmos' mystery material that has eluded detection ...

The Moon (stock | (c) (c) taffpixture / Adobe

Magnetic Fields on the Moon Are the Remnant of an Ancient Core Dynamo

Oct. 15, 2020 — A long discussed theory about the local magnetic spots of the moon suggests that they are the result of magnetization processes caused by impacts of massive bodies on the moon surface. A new study now shows that the Moon must have had an internal core dynamo in ...

Paro Taktsang temple | (c) (c) ultramansk / Adobe

Ground-Breaking Discovery Finally Proves Rain Really Can Move Mountains

Oct. 16, 2020 — A pioneering technique which captures precisely how mountains bend to the will of raindrops has helped solve a long-standing ...

Masked Earth photo | (c) (c) diy13 / Adobe

Biggest Carbon Dioxide Drop: Real-Time Data Show COVID-19's Massive Impact on Global Emissions

Oct. 14, 2020 — While the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten millions of lives around the world, the first half of 2020 saw an unprecedented decline in carbon dioxide emissions -- larger than during the financial crisis of 2008, the oil crisis of ...

Ficus microcarpa (stock | (c) (c) Hatori_Shisuka / Adobe

Genomic Study Reveals Evolutionary Secrets of Banyan Tree

Oct. 8, 2020 — The banyan fig tree Ficus microcarpa is famous for its aerial roots, which sprout from branches and eventually reach the soil. The tree also has a unique relationship with a wasp that has coevolved with it and is the only insect that can pollinate it. In a new study, researchers identify regions in ...

Tractor spraying field | (c) (c) eleonimages / Adobe

Nitrous Oxide Emissions Pose an Increasing Climate Threat, Study Finds

Oct. 7, 2020 — Rising nitrous oxide emissions are jeopardizing the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, according to a major new study. The growing use of nitrogen fertilizers in the production of food worldwide is increasing atmospheric concentrations of nitrous oxide -- a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent ...

New Key Player in Long-Term Memory

CRISPR/Cas9 gene | (c) (c) wladimir1804 / Adobe

Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Genome Editing

Scientist holding lab | (c) (c) filin174 / Adobe

Could Electromagnetic Fields Treat Diabetes?

Person blowing nose | (c) (c) Alliance / Adobe

Prior 'Common Colds': Less Severe COVID-19?

Oct. 7, 2020 — A research team has discovered that during memory consolidation, there are at least two distinct processes taking place in two different brain networks -- the excitatory and inhibitory networks. The ...

Oct. 7, 2020 — This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry is being awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 method for genome ...

Oct. 6, 2020 — Researchers may have discovered a safe new way to manage blood sugar non-invasively. Exposing diabetic mice to a combination of static electric and ...

Oct. 6, 2020 — Being previously infected with a coronaviruses that cause the 'common cold' may decrease the severity of severe acute respiratory syndrome ...

Latest Health Headlines

updated 10:46pm EDT

New Imaging Method Reveals HIV's Sugary Shield in Unprecedented Detail

Oct. 23, 2020 — Scientists have devised a method for mapping in unprecedented detail the thickets of slippery sugar molecules that help shield HIV from the immune system. Mapping these shields will give researchers a more complete understanding of why antibodies react to some spots on the virus but not others, and may shape the design of new vaccines that target the most vulnerable sites on ...

Research Team Discovers Molecular Processes in Kidney Cells That Attract and Feed COVID-19

Oct. 23, 2020 — What about the kidneys make them a hotspot for COVID-19's cytokine storm? A research team says it's the presence of a protein found on specialized renal transport ...

A New Technique Predicts How Earthquakes Would Affect a City's Hospitals

Oct. 23, 2020 — An international research team has developed a methodology to help disaster preparedness officials in large cities make contingency plans on a region-wide basis to make sure that emergency responders can get patients to the hospital facilities that are likeliest to remain in commission after a ...

34% of Older Adults in the US Are Prescribed Potentially Inappropriate Drugs

Oct. 23, 2020 — The prescription of potentially inappropriate medications to older adults is linked to increased hospitalizations, and it costs patients, on average, more than $450 per year, according to a new ...

Happiness and the Evolution of Brain Size

Oct. 23, 2020 — Serotonin can act as a growth factor for the stem cells in the fetal human brain that determine brain ...

Tracer Molecule May Improve Imaging Tests for Brain Injury

Oct. 22, 2020 — Researchers have validated a new radiolabeled molecule that can be used with imaging tests to accurately detect and characterize brain ...

'Spooky' Similarity in How Brains and Computers See

Oct. 22, 2020 — The brain detects 3D shape fragments (bumps, hollows, shafts, spheres) in the beginning stages of object vision - a newly discovered strategy of natural intelligence that researchers also found in artificial intelligence networks trained to recognize visual ...

How'd We Get So Picky About Friendship Late in Life? Ask the Chimps

Oct. 22, 2020 — When humans age, they tend to favor small circles of meaningful, already established friendships rather than seek new ones. People are also more likely to lean toward positive relationships rather than ones that bring tension or conflict. These behaviors were thought to be unique to humans but it turns out chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives, have these traits, too. The study shows ...

Stigma Impacts Psychological, Physical Health of Multiracial People

Oct. 22, 2020 — Policy changes can help to fight stigmas of multiracial Americans, one of the fasting growing minority groups in the United States according to a new ...

Bacterial Metabolism of Dietary Soy May Lower Risk Factor for Dementia

Oct. 22, 2020 — A metabolite produced following consumption of dietary soy may decrease a key risk factor for dementia - with the help of the right bacteria, according to a new ...

New Theory Sheds Light on How the Environment Influences Human Health

Oct. 20, 2020 — Researchers have proposed a groundbreaking new way to study the interaction between complex biological systems in the body and the environment. Their theory suggests the existence of 'biodynamic interfaces,' an intermediate entity between the two realms, as opposed to conventional approaches that analyze individual aspects of the interaction between the environment and humans in isolation, ...

Seeing No Longer Believing: The Manipulation of Online Images

Oct. 21, 2020 — A peace sign from Martin Luther King, Jr, becomes a rude gesture; dolphins in Venice's Grand Canal - manipulated or mis-used images posted as truth. Researchers say image editing software is so common and easy to use, it has the power to re-imagine history. Even the White House is doing it and deadline-driven journalists lack the tools to tell the difference, especially when images come from ...

Last Moments of Star Devoured by Black Hole

Exoplanet illustration | (c) (c) Skórzewiak / Adobe

How Super Flares Affect Planets' Habitability

Abstract illustration of | (c) (c) vchalup / Adobe

Nobel Prize in Physics: Black Holes

The Very Large Telescope | (c) (c) CPO / Adobe

Galaxies Trapped: Supermassive Black Hole

Oct. 12, 2020 — Astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon, known as a tidal disruption event, is the closest such flare recorded to ...

Oct. 7, 2020 — New research will help astrobiologists understand how much radiation planets experience during super flares and whether life could exist on worlds beyond our solar ...

Oct. 6, 2020 — This year's Nobel Prize in Physics is being awarded to Roger Penrose 'for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity' and jointly to Reinhard ...

Oct. 1, 2020 — Astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less than a billion years old. This is the first ...

Latest Physical/Tech Headlines

updated 10:46pm EDT

Chemists Develop Framework to Enable Efficient Synthesis of 'Information-Dense' Molecules

Oct. 23, 2020 — Scientists have developed a theoretical approach that could ease the process of making highly complex, compact molecules. Such molecules are often found in plants and other organisms, and many are considered desirable starting points for developing potential new drugs. But they also tend to be highly challenging for chemists to construct and ...

Extreme Events in Quantum Cascade Lasers

Oct. 23, 2020 — Based on a quantum cascade laser (QCL) emitting mid-infrared light, the researchers developed a basic optical neuron system operating 10,000× faster than biological ...

Charging Electric Cars Up to 90% in 6 Minutes

Oct. 23, 2020 — POSTECH Professor Byoungwoo Kang's research team uncovers a new Li-ion battery electrode material that can achieve high-energy density and high power capability per volume without reducing particle ...

Timekeeping Theory Combines Quantum Clocks and Einstein's Relativity

Oct. 23, 2020 — Cool research story with connections to atomic clocks, Einstein and quantum mechanics. The research shows the 'spooky' interference that can impact even the most sophisticated ...

Stars and Planets Grow Up Together as Siblings

Oct. 23, 2020 — ALMA shows rings around the still-growing proto-star IRS ...

Exploring the Source of Stars and Planets in a Laboratory

Oct. 23, 2020 — New computer simulation aims to verify a widely held but unproven theory of the source of celestial ...

Galactic Archaeology

Oct. 22, 2020 — Computational astrophysics study modeled for the first time faint supernovae of metal-free first stars, yielding carbon-enhanced abundance patterns for star formation. Study investigated formation of first stars and the origin of elements heavier than hydrogen, helium, ...

AI and Photonics Join Forces to Make It Easier to Find 'New Earths'

Oct. 21, 2020 — By combining photonics with artificial intelligence, scientists have developed a sensor that will help decipher the 'twinkle' of stars and allow for Earth-based exploration of planets around distant ...

Future VR Could Employ New Ultrahigh-Res Display

Oct. 22, 2020 — Repurposed solar panel research could be the foundation for a new ultrahigh-resolution microdisplay. The OLED display would feature brighter images with purer colors and more than 10,000 pixels per ...

AI Detects Hidden Earthquakes

Oct. 22, 2020 — Tiny movements in Earth's outermost layer may provide a Rosetta Stone for deciphering the physics and warning signs of big quakes. New algorithms that work a little like human vision are now detecting these long-hidden microquakes in the growing mountain of seismic ...

New Tool Can Diagnose Strokes With a Smartphone

Oct. 22, 2020 — A new tool could diagnose a stroke based on abnormalities in a patient's speech ability and facial muscular movements, and with the accuracy of an emergency room physician -- all within minutes from an interaction with a ...

Reviewing Multiferroics for Future, Low-Energy Data Storage

Oct. 22, 2020 — Big data and exponential demands for computations are driving an unsustainable rise in global ICT energy use. A new study reviews the use of the 'multiferroic' material bismuth-ferrite, which allows for low-energy switching in data storage devices and could be applied in a future generation of ultra-low-energy ...

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Environment News

October 24, 2020

Archaeopteryx fossil | (c) (c) Cheattha / Adobe

Dinosaur Feather Study Debunked

Illustration depicting | (c) (c) anibal / Adobe

Modern Humans, Neanderthals, in Europe Earlier

Plastic bottles and | (c) (c) vladimirzuev / Adobe

Plastic-Eating Enzyme 'Cocktail' Created

Illustration of | (c) (c) Elenarts / Adobe

Prehistoric Flying Reptiles Had No Feathers?

Sep. 30, 2020 — A new study provides substantial evidence that the first fossil feather ever to be discovered does belong to the iconic bird-like dinosaur, Archaeopteryx. This debunks a recent theory that the fossil ...

Sep. 28, 2020 — Modern humans arrived in westernmost Europe 41,000 to 38,000 years ago, about 5,000 years earlier than previously known, according to an ...

Sep. 28, 2020 — The same team who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme PETase have now created an enzyme 'cocktail' which can digest plastic up to six times ...

Sep. 28, 2020 — Experts have examined the evidence that prehistoric flying reptiles called pterosaurs had feathers and believe they were, in fact, ...

Latest Environment Headlines

updated 10:46pm EDT

Elkhorn Coral Actively Fighting Off Diseases on Reef

Oct. 23, 2020 — As the world enters a next wave of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are aware now more than ever of the importance of a healthy immune system to protect ourselves from disease. This is not only true for humans but corals too, which are in an ongoing battle to ward off deadly diseases spreading on a ...

Not All Cats Are Grey in the Dark!

Oct. 23, 2020 — Using two mode-locked femtosecond lasers and a single photon counting detector, scientists have recorded broad spectra with close to one hundred thousand colors in almost complete ...

Marine Biology: Sponges as Biomonitors of Micropollution

Oct. 23, 2020 — Sponges are filter feeders that live on particulate matter -- but they can also ingest microscopic fragments of plastics and other pollutants of anthropogenic origin. They can therefore serve as useful bioindicators of the health of marine ...

War on Plastic Is Distracting from More Urgent Threats to Environment, Experts Warn

Oct. 23, 2020 — A team of leading environmental experts have warned that the current war on plastic is detracting from the bigger threats to the ...

Fish Exposed to Even Small Amounts of Estrogen Produce Fewer Males

Oct. 23, 2020 — A biologist conducted experiments with North American freshwater fish called least killifish. She found that fish exposed to estrogen in concentrations of 5 nanograms per liter in controlled lab conditions had fewer males and produced fewer offspring. Scientists have found estrogen at as much as 16 times that concentration in streams adjacent to sewage treatment ...

DNA in Fringe-Lipped Bat Feces Reveals Unexpected Eating Habits

Oct. 22, 2020 — By examining the guano of the fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus), biologists encountered surprising results about its eating habits and foraging ...

Soil Fungi Act Like a Support Network for Trees

Oct. 22, 2020 — New research is first to show that growth rate of adult trees is linked to fungal networks colonizing their ...

Obesity and Disease Tied to Dramatic Dietary Changes

Oct. 21, 2020 — The 'mismatch hypothesis' argues that our bodies evolved to digest the foods that our ancestors ate, and that human bodies will struggle and largely fail to metabolize a radically new set of foods. This intuitive idea is hard to test directly, but the Turkana, a pastoralist population in remote Kenya, present a natural experiment: genetically homogenous populations whose diets stretch across a ...

Clovis People: Narrow Window of Tool-Making

Oct. 23, 2020 — There is much debate surrounding the age of the Clovis -- a prehistoric culture named for stone tools found near Clovis, New Mexico in the early 1930s -- who once occupied North America during the end of the last Ice Age. New testing of bones and artifacts show that Clovis tools were made only during a brief, 300-year period from 13,050 to 12,750 years ...

Seabird Response to Abrupt Climate Change 5,000 Years Ago Transformed Falklands Ecosystems

Oct. 23, 2020 — A 14,000-year paleoecological reconstruction of the sub-Antarctic islands has found that seabird establishment occurred during a period of regional cooling 5,000 years ago. Their populations, in turn, shifted the Falkland Islands ecosystems through the deposit of high concentrations of guano that helped nourish tussac, produce peat and increase ...

Ancient Maya Built Sophisticated Water Filters

Oct. 22, 2020 — Ancient Maya in the once-bustling city of Tikal built sophisticated water filters using natural materials they imported from miles away, according to new research. A multidisciplinary team of anthropologists, geographers and biologists identified quartz and zeolite, a crystalline compound consisting of silicon and aluminum, that created a natural molecular sieve. Both minerals are used in modern ...

These Two Bird-Sized Dinosaurs Evolved the Ability to Glide, but Weren't Great at It

Oct. 22, 2020 — Despite having bat-like wings, two small dinosaurs, Yi and Ambopteryx, struggled to fly, only managing to glide clumsily between the trees where they lived, researchers report. Unable to compete with other tree-dwelling dinosaurs and early birds, they went extinct after just a few million years. The findings support that dinosaurs evolved flight ...

How Coronavirus Took Hold in N. America, Europe

People social distancing | (c) (c) Photocreo Bednarek / Adobe

Strict Social Distancing, Lower COVID-19 Risk

Hands raised to sunset, | (c) (c) ipopba / Adobe

Unconscious Learning Underlies Belief in God?

Person and shadow, | (c) (c) Jorm S / Adobe

Brain Circuit Damaged by Social Isolation

Sep. 10, 2020 — Early interventions were effective at stamping out coronavirus infections before they spread, according to a new study. Combining virus genomics with epidemiologic simulations and travel records, the ...

Sep. 10, 2020 — Using public transportation, visiting a place of worship, or otherwise traveling from the home is associated with a significantly higher likelihood ...

Sep. 9, 2020 — Individuals who can unconsciously predict complex patterns, an ability called implicit pattern learning, are likely to hold stronger beliefs that there is a god who creates patterns of events in the ...

Aug. 31, 2020 — Researchers have identified specific sub-populations of brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, a key part of the brain that regulates social behavior, ...

Latest Society/Education Headlines

updated 10:46pm EDT

Tackling Alarming Decline in Nature Requires 'Safety Net' of Multiple, Ambitious Goals

Oct. 22, 2020 — A 'safety net' made up of multiple ambitious and interlinked goals is needed to tackle nature's alarming decline, according to an international team of researchers analyzing the new goals for biodiversity being drafted by the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity ...

Management of Exploited Transboundary Fish Stocks Requires International Cooperation

Oct. 21, 2020 — Marine fish species are migratory in nature and not respectful of human-made territorial boundaries, which represents a challenge for fisheries management as policies tend to focus at the national level. With an average catch of 48 million tonnes per year, and USD $77 billion in annual fishing revenue, these species support critical fisheries, and ...

Interactions Within Larger Social Groups Can Cause Tipping Points in Contagion Flow

Oct. 20, 2020 — Contagion processes, such as opinion formation or disease spread, can reach a tipping point, where the contagion either rapidly spreads or dies out. When modeling these processes, it is difficult to capture this complex ...

Congress Must Clarify Limits of Gene-Editing Technologies

Oct. 21, 2020 — How the next Congress decides to handle the issue editing human sperm and eggs will affect the science, ethics and financing of genomic editing for decades to come, said a law professor who studies the ethical and policy implications of advanced ...

Novel Software Assesses Phonologial Awareness

Oct. 14, 2020 — Understanding sounds in language is a critical building block for child literacy, yet this skill is often overlooked. Researchers have now developed a new software tool to assess children's phonological awareness -- or, how they process the sound structure of ...

Distracted Learning a Big Problem, Golden Opportunity for Educators, Students

Oct. 14, 2020 — Although experts say using electronic media while doing schoolwork negatively impacts learning, many students believe they're immune to any ill effects because they're good multitaskers, according to recent ...

More Young Adults Are Abstaining from Alcohol

Oct. 12, 2020 — Fewer college-age Americans drink alcohol, compared to nearly 20 years ago, according to a new ...

New Virtual Reality Software Allows Scientists to 'Walk' Inside Cells

Oct. 12, 2020 — Virtual reality software which allows researchers to 'walk' inside and analyze individual cells could be used to understand fundamental problems in biology and develop new treatments for ...

Screen Time Can Change Visual Perception -- And That's Not Necessarily Bad

Sep. 30, 2020 — The coronavirus pandemic has shifted many of our interactions online, with Zoom video calls replacing in-person classes, work meetings, conferences and other events. Will all that screen time damage our vision? Maybe not. It turns out that our visual perception is highly adaptable, according to new ...

Children Will Wait to Impress Others -- Another Twist on the Classic Marshmallow Test

Sep. 10, 2020 — When it comes to self-control, young children are better able to resist temptation and wait for greater rewards if they take into consideration the opinions of ...

Being a Selfish Jerk Doesn't Get You Ahead: Study

Aug. 31, 2020 — Two studies provide empirical evidence to settle the question of whether being aggressively Machiavellian helps people get ahead. The studies concluded that being a jerk provides no advantage in career advancement. Any power boost disagreeable people get from being intimidating is offset by their poor interpersonal relationships, the studies ...

Winning the Digital Transformation Race: Three Emerging Approaches for Leading Transition

July 28, 2020 — New research has outlined three new approaches that digital innovators can take to reduce the risk of failure and seize competitive advantage in the ...

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