Scientists in Cambridge University suggest molecules, vital to the development of life, could have formed from a process known as graphitization. Once verified in the laboratory, it could allow us to try and recreate plausible conditions for life's emergence.
Like boulders, rocks, and pebbles scattered across a landscape, asteroids come in a wide range of sizes. Cataloging asteroids in space is tricky because they are faint and they don't stop to be photographed as they zip along their orbits around the sun.
Next-generation wireless signals will no longer emanate indiscriminately from a base station as is the case now but will likely take the form of targeted directional beams. However, any physical interference—an object or a person passing nearby, for example—could interrupt the signal, posing a literal obstacle toward the implementation of ultrafast millimeter-wave and sub-terahertz wireless networks.
The idea that earthquakes release stress by a single strong quake along a single fault plane may need to be corrected. A recent study by researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with the participation of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and international partner institutions points out that it would be more accurate to speak of a zone with numerous fault planes, some of which are parallel.
Human mini-lungs grown by University of Manchester scientists can mimic the response of animals when exposed to certain nanomaterials. The study is published in Nano Today.
A team of researchers from the University of Cologne and the University of Würzburg have found in training studies that the distinction between known and unknown words can be trained and leads to more efficient reading. Recognizing words is necessary to understand the meaning of a text. When we read, we move our eyes very efficiently and quickly from word to word.
Migration and reproduction are two of the most demanding events in a bird's annual cycle, so much so that the vast majority of migratory birds separate the two tasks into different times of the year.
Bacterial restriction-modification systems are responsible for protecting cells from foreign genetic material, for example, bacteriophages and plasmids. Immune systems require strict regulation, as bacteria, like humans, can have autoimmune reactions—an attack on their own DNA.
The deadly heat wave that hit Africa's Sahel region in early April would not have occurred without human-induced climate change, according to a study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group published Thursday.
Making ever smaller and more powerful chips requires new ultrathin materials: 2D materials that are only 1 atom thick, or even just a couple of atoms. Think about graphene or ultra-thin silicon membrane for instance.
Many of us would love the superpower to fly, and for good reason: Flight offers a crucial evolutionary advantage. Flying enables an animal to travel large distances quickly, in search of food and new habitats, while expending far less energy than walking. Through flight, insects colonized the planet and fostered the massive diversification of flowering plants by acting as efficient pollinators. They also enabled the evolution of other creatures like reptiles, birds, and mammals by serving as ample food supply.
A new ancient species of snake dubbed Vasuki Indicus, which lived around 47 million years ago in the state of Gujarat in India, may have been one of the largest snakes to have ever lived, suggests new research published in Scientific Reports. The new species, which reached an estimated length of between 11 and 15 meters, was part of the now extinct madtsoiidae snake family, but represented a distinct lineage that originated in India.
A geo-environmental scientist from Japan has composed a string quartet using sonified climate data. The 6-minute-long composition—titled "String Quartet No. 1 "Polar Energy Budget"—is based on over 30 years of satellite-collected climate data from the Arctic and Antarctic and aims to garner attention on how climate is driven by the input and output of energy at the poles.
Flow-through reactors packed with enzymes can produce certain chemicals in a gentle and careful way. However, their performance has so far been limited. A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and RWTH Aachen University has now been able to increase the yield a thousandfold.
A new study, led by Qingyun Liu, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Genetics, has uncovered a genetic feature known as "transcriptional plasticity," which plays a pivotal role in governing the transcriptional response of Mycobacteria to stressful conditions.
Prof. Zhang Ying's group from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with domestic universities and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States, has experimentally observed current-driven antiskyrmion sliding.
In response to the escalating fire crises in the Amazon, a timely study has revealed alarming shortcomings in the emergency fire bans implemented by the Brazilian Government. Initially seen as a promising solution in 2019, these bans have consistently fallen short in subsequent years, revealing a pressing need for strategies that address the underlying causes of each type of fire.
Direct utilization of water as a source of hydrogen atoms and molecules is fundamental to the evolution of the ecosystem and industry. However, liquid water is an unfavorable electron donor for forming these hydrogen species due to its redox inertness.
Biomineralized columns, stacked in layers like a sandwich gave Cambrian brachiopod shells their strength and flexibility 520 million years ago.
Evidence in lampreys for the presence of a rudimentary sympathetic nervous system, previously thought to be unique to jawed vertebrates, has been presented in Nature. The finding may prompt a rethink of the origins of the sympathetic nervous system, which operates without conscious thought and controls the fight or flight reaction.
Most people are familiar with the DNA double-helix. Its twisted ladder shape forms because the long pieces of DNA that make up our genome are exactly complementary—every adenine paired to a thymine, and every cytosine paired to a guanine. Sequences of these four nucleotides hold the information needed to build the proteins in our bodies, but they also encode their own double-helical structure.
Using data from various space telescopes and astronomical surveys, Armenian researchers have investigated three star-forming regions. The study identified hundreds of young stellar objects and provided important information regarding the stellar content of these regions. The new findings were presented in a paper published April 5 in the Astrophysics and Space Science journal.
A small amount of sweat could be all that's needed to power fitness trackers of the future, new research led by Deakin University's Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) reveals.
An international research collaboration between Vanderbilt University and the Madrid-based de la Prida lab in the Cajal Institute led to the development of AI models that detect and analyze hippocampal ripples, which are considered biomarkers of memory.
California's second wet winter in a row has left L.A's water supplies in good shape for at least another year, but the inevitable return to dry conditions could once again put the city's residents in a precarious position.
