We are all, quite literally, made of star dust. Many of the chemicals that compose our planet and our bodies were formed directly by stars. Now, a new study using observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reports for the first time that silica—one of the most common minerals … | Continue reading
On the evening of Thursday, Nov. 15, NASA's Kepler space telescope received its final set of commands to disconnect communications with Earth. The "goodnight" commands finalize the spacecraft's transition into retirement, which began on Oct. 30 with NASA's announcement that Keple … | Continue reading
An international team of astronomers has observed the peculiar activity of a nuclear transient event known as PS1-13cbe. The transient, which occurred in the nucleus of the galaxy SDSS J222153.87+003054.2, experienced a rapid flare-up lasting about 70 days. The finding is reporte … | Continue reading
An international team led by Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) researcher Vardan Adibekyan used a novel method to detect solar siblings. The article was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. | Continue reading
Shopping on the internet, storing photos in the cloud, turning up a thermostat with an app—all are commonplace. Now, the internet of things and the cloud are entering the world of chemical research and production, as reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Researchers have use … | Continue reading
On Friday, November 16, a unique film and musical experience, inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope's iconic Deep Field image, premieres at the Kennedy Space Center. The film, titled Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe, features a variety of Hubble's stunning im … | Continue reading
If the thought of taking part in the annual ritual of Black Friday gives you cold chills rather than a rush of excitement, you're not alone. For every avid bargain hunter who plans for the day as if training for a marathon, there's someone else who stays home, secure in the knowl … | Continue reading
At first glance, a bright blue crescent immediately jumps out of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. Is it a bird? A plane? Evidence of extraterrestrial life? No—it's a galaxy. | Continue reading
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have uncovered some unexpected 'foreign' genes in the tiny itch-inducing chigger mite and its more benign but enormous cousin, the giant velvet mite. | Continue reading
Crickets that are exposed to human drugs that alter serotonin levels in the brain are less active and less aggressive than crickets that have had no drug exposure, according to a new study led by researchers from Linköping University. The findings have been published in Scientifi … | Continue reading
KAIST chemists have synthesized seven different iboga and post-iboga natural products from commercially available catharanthine by mirroring nature's biosynthetic post-modification of the iboga skeleton. | Continue reading
A catalyst for carbon dioxide recycling, mineral pentlandite may also be a conceivable alternative to expensive precious metal catalysts. This is the result of a study conducted by researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), Fritz-Haber Institute Berlin and Fraunhofer Umsicht … | Continue reading
Working in cooperation with international colleagues, researchers from the University of Freiburg have described how water-insoluble membrane proteins are transported through the aqueous space between the mitochondrial membranes with the aid of chaperone proteins. The membrane pr … | Continue reading
Bridgett vonHoldt is best known for her work with dogs and wolves, so she was surprised when a bird biologist pulled her aside and said, "I really think you can help me solve this problem." So she turned to a mystery he'd been wrestling with for more than 20 years. | Continue reading
Until recently, scientists thought of viruses as mostly small infectious agents, tiny compared to typical bacteria and human cells. So imagine the surprise when biologist Jeff Blanchard and Ph.D. student Lauren Alteio at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with others at the … | Continue reading
Hundreds of "manual scavengers" die each year cleaning out sewers in cities across India but a machine unveiled for Monday's World Toilet Day could help to end that tragic record. | Continue reading
Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn was reportedly under arrest in Tokyo on Monday, as his firm accused him of "significant acts of misconduct" and said it would seek to oust him. | Continue reading
Scientists from the University of Wollongong (UOW), working with colleagues at China's Beihang University, Nankai University, and Institute of Physics at Chinese Academy of Sciences, have successfully created an atomic scale, two-dimensional electronic kagome lattice with potenti … | Continue reading
China will expand its ban on imports of solid waste, local media reported Monday, almost a year after its first curbs caused havoc in countries that sent their rubbish to the Asian giant. | Continue reading
Disaster coordination authorities have asked 10 communities in Guatemala to evacuate and go to safe areas after an increased eruption of the Volcano of Fire. | Continue reading
A new Dartmouth-Stanford study examining the economic impact of a border wall expansion between the U.S. and Mexico between 2007 to 2010 finds that the expansion minimally reduced unauthorized Mexican migration and was largely harmful to U.S. workers. | Continue reading
The black hole at the centre of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, has been visualised in virtual reality for the first time. The details are described in an article published in the open access journal Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology. | Continue reading
Whether it's the acrobatics of a flock of starlings or the synchronized swimming of a school of fish, nature is full of examples of large-scale collective behavior. Humans also exhibit this behavior, most notably in pelotons, the mass of riders in bicycle races. | Continue reading
Urinating into a cup may be a medical necessity for monitoring the health of the kidney and other issues, but it's often uncomfortable, embarrassing and messy—especially for women. But what if there were a way to comfortably provide a sample without the splashback? | Continue reading
Apple CEO Tim Cook predicts that new regulations of tech companies and social networks to protect personal data are "inevitable." | Continue reading
Wombats, the chubby and beloved, short-legged marsupials native to Australia, are central to a biological mystery in the animal kingdom: How do they produce cube-shaped poop? Patricia Yang, a postdoctoral fellow in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, se … | Continue reading
Marvel comics superheroes Ant-Man and the Wasp—nom de guerre stars of the eponymous 2018 film—possess the ability to temporarily shrink down to the size of insects, while retaining the mass and strength of their normal human bodies. But a new study suggests that, when bug-sized, … | Continue reading
An unexpected twist from a four-seam or a two-seam fastball can make the difference in a baseball team winning or losing the World Series. However, "some explanations regarding the different pitches are flat-out wrong," said Barton Smith, a professor of mechanical and aerospace e … | Continue reading
Flash floods and landslides killed at least 12 people in central Vietnam, officials said Sunday, as hundreds of troops were dispatched to clean up destroyed villages and washed out roads. | Continue reading
An archaeological dig is rekindling a feud between two towns over which was the first in Connecticut. | Continue reading
Romania, one of the EU's poorest members, could emerge as an unlikely challenger to Russia's iron grip on eastern Europe's energy supply thanks to vast oil and gas reserves waiting to be tapped, experts say. | Continue reading
The crushed wreck of an Argentine submarine has been located one year after it vanished into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean with 44 crew members, in the country's worst naval disaster in decades. | Continue reading