Hubble uncovers largest known group of star clusters, clues to dark matter
(Phys.org) —NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered the largest known population of globular star clusters, an estimated 160,000, swarming like bees inside the crowded core of the giant grouping of...
View ArticleNew catalyst class uses halogen bridges for environmentally friendlier...
Catalysts are essential for the chemical industry because they accelerate reactions and increase their yields. However, many of today's catalysts are based on expensive and environmentally harmful...
View ArticleFunctioning 'mechanical gears' seen in nature for the first time
a plant-hopping insect found in gardens across Europe - has hind-leg joints with curved cog-like strips of opposing 'teeth' that intermesh, rotating like mechanical gears to synchronise the animal's...
View ArticleInternational structures needed for equitable access to DNA identification...
The April 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza Factory Building in Bangladesh, in which more than 1,130 people were killed, is only the latest in a long line of events that has made plain the plight of the...
View ArticleMovement of marine life follows speed and direction of climate change
Scientists expect climate change and warmer oceans to push the fish that people rely on for food and income into new territory. Predictions of where and when species will relocate, however, are based...
View ArticleAntarctic research details ice melt below massive glacier
An expedition of international scientists to the far reaches of Antarctica's remote Pine Island Glacier has yielded exact measurements of an undersea process glaciologists have long called the "biggest...
View ArticleStem cells are wired for cooperation, down to the DNA
We often think of human cells as tiny computers that perform assigned tasks, where disease is a result of a malfunction. But in the current issue of Science, researchers at The Mount Sinai Medical...
View ArticleVoyager 1 spacecraft reaches interstellar space, study confirms
University of Iowa space physicist Don Gurnett says there is solid evidence that NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first manmade object to reach interstellar space, more than 11 billion miles...
View ArticleToxic methylmercury-producing microbes more widespread than realized
Microbes that live in rice paddies, northern peat bogs and other previously unexpected environments are among the bacteria that can generate highly toxic methylmercury, researchers at Oak Ridge...
View ArticleScientists make detailed map of current between insulators
When scientists found electrical current flowing where it shouldn't be – at the place where two insulating materials meet– it set off a frenzy of research that turned up more weird properties and the...
View ArticleMolecular mirror images assigned: Safer drugs thanks to a new solution to a...
Just like gloves, molecules come in so-called left-handed and right-handed versions. Until now, however, it could be determined only with great difficulty whether a certain molecule is right-handed or...
View ArticleSpacemen 'flew blind' from space station as sensors failed
The three crew of the International Space Station (ISS) who returned to Earth this week endured a hair-raising descent after their height sensors failed, a Russian cosmonaut revealed on Friday.
View Article"Red nugget" galaxies were hiding in plain sight
In 2005 the Hubble Space Telescope spotted unusually small galaxies densely packed with red stars in the distant, young universe. They were nicknamed "red nuggets," not only because they are small and...
View ArticleSimulation capability illuminates geothermal energy potential
An Idaho FALCON is offering insight into underground happenings worldwide.
View ArticleElectronic whisper: New technology transmits audio messages via finger's touch
Disney Research, Pittsburgh, has added a new dimension to interpersonal communication, creating a microphone that enables a person to record an audio message, transmit it silently through his body and...
View ArticleNRL achieves highest open-circuit voltage for quantum dot solar cells
WASHINGTON—U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) research scientists and engineers in the Electronics Science and Technology Division have demonstrated the highest recorded open-circuit voltages for...
View ArticleUnexpected interaction between ocean currents and bacteria
For the first time, researchers have successfully demonstrated an interaction between ocean currents and bacteria: The unexpected interaction leads to the production of vast amounts of nitrogen gas in...
View ArticleFirst reported self-healing polymer that spontaneously and independently...
Scientists in Spain have reported the first self-healing polymer that spontaneously and independently repairs itself without any intervention. The new material could be used to improve the security and...
View ArticleCatalysts team up with textiles
In future, it will be much easier to produce some active pharmaceutical substances and chemical compounds than was the case to date. An international team working with chemists from the...
View ArticleNew findings challenge assumptions about origins of life
Before there was life on Earth, there were molecules. A primordial soup. At some point a few specialized molecules began replicating. This self-replication, scientists agree, kick-started a biochemical...
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