Science News

• share
• favorite_border

Developed by DHS S&T, the U.S. Army Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC), and Cole Engineering Services Inc. (CESI), the Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment (EDGE), a virtual training platform, allows teachers, school staff, law enforcement officers, and others tasked with school security to create and practice response plans for a wide range of critical incidents.

• share
• favorite_border

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) concluded there is clear evidence that male rats exposed to high levels of radio frequency radiation (RFR) like that used in 2G and 3G cell phones developed cancerous heart tumors, according to final reports released today. There was also some evidence of tumors in the brain and adrenal gland of exposed male rats. For female rats, and male and female mice, the evidence was equivocal as to whether cancers observed were associated with exposure to RFR. The final reports represent the consensus of NTP and a panel of external scientific experts who reviewed the studies in March after draft reports were issued in February.

• share
• favorite_border

Research shows that many soldiers who have never been deployed experience negative emotions such as feelings of guilt and decreased value, connectedness, and camaraderie within their unit. Additional research shows that US Army Reserve/National Guard (USAR/NG) soldiers are at high risk for alcohol misuse. This study examined whether emotions related to non-deployment among USAR/NG soldiers contributed to an increased risk of alcohol misuse.

• share
• favorite_border

The Kepler spacecraft launched in 2009 with the goal of finding exoplanets orbiting distant stars. In the years since, astronomers have used Kepler observations to discover 2,818 exoplanets as well as another 2,679 exoplanet candidates which need further confirmation. On October 30, 2018 NASA announced that Kepler had run out of fuel and would be decommissioned. While spacecraft operations have ceased, its data will continue to be publicly available through the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute. These data will enable new scientific discoveries for years to come.

• share
• favorite_border

ORNL story tips: ORNL’s simulation shows 40 percent fuel savings when cars drive themselves; colliding tin isotopes helps scientists better understand unstable nuclei in exploding stars; new method to control HVACs in buildings provides grid stability, occupant comfort; AK Steel uses neutrons to see how new steel for vehicle components performs during various manufacturing processes.

• share
• favorite_border

The average Uber or Lyft vehicle does not generally come equipped with a car seat, and only in certain cities is it an option to request one.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers from the Cancer Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore have uncovered an association between RNA abnormalities and MM progression.

• share
• favorite_border

The temperatures associated with the earth’s subduction zones have been historically miscalculated, which has major implications for our understanding of how the planet’s deadliest earthquakes and volcanic arcs are generated.

• share
• favorite_border

UCLA researchers have discovered a new protein factor that contributes to a fibroblast cell’s ability to migrate to a wound and participate in its healing process. The study’s results could help scientists prevent cancer cells from using the same mechanisms to move throughout the body and spread.

• share
• favorite_border

In independent studies reported in Science and Nature, scientists from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University report two important advances: They measured collective vibrations of electrons for the first time and showed how collective interactions of the electrons with other factors appear to boost superconductivity.

• share
• favorite_border

A Cornell University-led team has developed modular robots that can perceive their surroundings, make decisions and autonomously assume different shapes in order to perform various tasks – an accomplishment that brings the vision of adaptive, multipurpose robots a step closer to reality.

• share
• favorite_border

Producing the first comprehensive fine-scale map of the world’s remaining marine and terrestrial wild places, conservation scientists writing in the journal Nature say that just 23 percent of the world’s landmass can now be considered wilderness.

• share
• favorite_border

New computer model shows for the first time how the changing climate in Asia, from 5,000 to 1,000 years ago, transformed people’s ability to produce food in particular places. Simulating the probability of crop failures enables the co-authors to get at the causes of some dramatic cultural changes.

• share
• favorite_border

In a new study published in Nature, scientists from the University of Chicago show how a common RNA modification plays an important role in the process of learning and memory formation.

• share
• favorite_border

Using evidence found in teeth from two Neanderthals from southeastern France, researchers from the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report the earliest evidence of lead exposure in an extinct human-like species from 250,000 years ago.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Physical Society (APS) 71st Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference and 60th Annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics will take place next week, Nov. 5-9, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. These two co-located meetings will form one of the largest gatherings of their kind anywhere in the world this year, with more than 2,000 attendees expected from around the world to convene and discuss the basic understanding and groundbreaking applications of different types of plasma science.

• share
• favorite_border

Like a fly that wanders into a flashlight’s beam, a young star’s planet-forming disk is casting a giant shadow, nicknamed the “Bat Shadow.” Hubble’s near-infrared vision captured the shadow of the disk of this fledgling star, which resides nearly 1,300 light-years away in a stellar nursery called the Serpens Nebula. In this Hubble image, the shadow spans approximately 200 times the length of our solar system. It is visible in the upper right portion of the picture. The young star and its disk likely resemble what the solar system looked like when it was only 1 or 2 million years old.

• share
• favorite_border

That creature on the surgical table isn’t Frankenstein’s monster, but with its realistic tissue and organs, it comes close. Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine has introduced state-of-the-art artificial canine cadavers on which veterinary students can practice their surgical skills. The synthetic cadavers mimic living tissue, with individual muscles, bones and organs.

• share
• favorite_border

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is calling for submissions to a Biometric Technology Rally scheduled for Spring 2019

• share
• favorite_border

In an effort to improve American competitiveness in high-intensity laser research, the Department of Energy has established LaserNetUS, a $6.8 million initiative that involves the University of Michigan—one of the field's pioneers.