Science News

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Con la poderosa Cámara de Energía Oscura (DECam por sus siglas en inglés) de 570 megapíxeles, fabricada por el Departamento de Energía de Estados Unidos, los astrónomos han construido una imagen gigante de 1,3 gigapíxeles que muestra la parte central del remanente de Supernova Vela, un cadáver cósmico de una gigantesca estrella que explotó como una supernova. DECam es uno de los instrumentos de imágenes de campo amplio más productivos del mundo y está montada en el Telescopio de 4 metros Víctor M. Blanco de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias de EE.UU en el Observatorio Interamericano Cerro Tololo en Chile, un Programa de NOIRLab de NSF.

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With the powerful, 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), astronomers have constructed a massive 1.3-gigapixel image showcasing the central part of the Vela Supernova Remnant, the cosmic corpse of a gigantic star that exploded as a supernova.

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For telescopes operating in the vacuum of space, or optical equipment in extreme environments, existing coatings are often insufficient. In the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology Aresearchers in China turned to atomic layer deposition and developed an ultrablack thin-film coating for aerospace-grade magnesium alloys. The team used alternating layers of aluminum-doped titanium carbide and silicon nitride and together the materials prevent nearly all light from reflecting off the coated surface. The coating absorbs 99.3% of light while being durable enough to survive in harsh conditions.

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In an article recently published in Scientific Reports, researchers from Bar-Ilan University reveal the mechanism underlying successful machine learning, which enables it to perform classification tasks with resounding success.

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São Paulo State University (UNESP) has chosen Dimensions and Altmetric from Digital Science’s flagship products to advance its world-class research program.

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A new study offers potential insights into how and when we fill out March Madness brackets. The paper found that people are more risk seeking (more likely to predict a relatively improbable outcome) in their later forecasts and are thus more likely to make an incorrect prediction for them.

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Pioneering research unveils lignin nanoparticles as potent UV-blocking agents, with their chemical structure and size effects extensively altering the sun protection efficacy of cosmetics. LNPs with tailored structures outperform conventional additives, offering enhanced UV resistance and eco-friendly solutions for skincare formulations.

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The researchers carried out a hybridization experiment between female koi carp and male Chinese rare minnow, eventually obtaining allodiploid and allotriploid hybrid offspring. They made a systemic comparison between them and found that the triploid hybrids showed faster growth, higher expression of growth-promoting genes and lower expression of growth-inhibiting genes than the diploid hybrids. This study provides implications to explain the faster growth of polyploid fish.

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Researchers use game theory to analyze the eco-label strategy selection of the manufacturer in green supply chain.

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A recent study has highlighted the insignificant health hazards posed by the emissions from waste-to-energy (WtE) facilities in China's Bohai Rim. This investigation brings to light the negligible impact of WtE plant emissions on public health, grounded in sophisticated regression analysis techniques.

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This study discovers that upon induction of different autophagy processes, mitochondria immediately import calcium and calcium concentrations at the ER membrane start to fluctuate. The major calcium import channel in the inner mitochondrial membrane, mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), is required for mitophagy-inducer-initiated mitochondrial calcium uptake. Inhibiting MCU accelerates mitophagy. In neurons derived from a Parkinson’s patient, mitophagy-inducer-triggered mitochondrial calcium influx is faster, which may slow the ensuing mitophagy.

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UC San Diego Professor of Physics Nigel Goldenfeld has shown in theoretical models of turbulence that even molecular motions can create large-scale patterns of randomness over a defined period of time.

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With the Leopoldina Prize for young scientists 2023, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina honors Dr. Jingyuan Xu, who researches novel heating and cooling technologies for the energy transition at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Currently, the young engineer can boast two more significant awards: the Hector RCD Award as well as admission to the Global Young Academy, an exclusive association of international young scientists.

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Individual wellbeing doesn’t always add up to team wellbeing – but reflection and open communication can help

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Researchers found that a formula used in statistical analysis provides a streamlined mathematical description of how neural networks, such as GPT-2, a precursor to ChatGPT, learn relevant patterns in data, known as features. This formula also explains how neural networks use these relevant patterns to make predictions. The team presented their findings in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.

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Researchers have received a three-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to measure cognitive workload with a wearable sensor to monitor how children recover from a brain injury.

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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have tested the performance of a new device that boosts particle signals.

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At high temperatures and densities, plasmas in fusion devices can develop gradients that can grow into instabilities, including edge localized modes (ELMs) that can damage reactor walls. In this research, scientists studied negative triangularity, a way the plasma shape can deviate from an oval. The research found this shaping was inherently free of instabilities across various plasma conditions, including operating reactor conditions.

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New research from the UW examines how three wellness Instagram influencers profited from anti-vaccine misinformation.

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A team of chemists and materials scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new printing process that prints stronger nonmetallic materials in record time, five times faster than traditional 3D printing.

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The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the nation’s most promising innovators in science and technology, today announced the election of Max Mankin to its board of directors, along with four other new board members: Cheri Ackerman, co-founder and CEO, Concerto Biosciences; Steven B. Lipner, executive director, SAFECode; Michael Schnall-Levin, CTO and founding scientist, 10x Genomics; and Alfred Spector, visiting scholar, MIT, and senior advisor, Blackstone.

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The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the nation’s most promising innovators in science and technology, today announced the election of Michael Schnall-Levin to its board of directors, along with four other new board members: Cheri Ackerman, co-founder and CEO, Concerto Biosciences; Steven B. Lipner, executive director, SAFECode; Max Mankin, co-founder and CTO, Modern Hydrogen; and Alfred Spector, visiting scholar, MIT, and senior advisor, Blackstone.

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Michigan State University researchers have provided new answers to that question by analyzing soil microbes near a mine fire that’s been burning for more than 60 years.

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High-temperature superconductor magnets have the potential to lower the costs of operating particle accelerators and enable powerful new technologies like fusion reactors. But quenches – the sudden, destructive events wherein a part of the material loses superconductivity – are a major barrier to their deployment.

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The Portman lab at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester discovered that the male roundworms use pheromones and touch signals to determine the sex, age, nutritional health, and mating history of the hermaphrodites and show preference toward worms that have not previously mated with another male and are nutritionally healthy.

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The best measurements from Hubble show the universe is now expanding faster than predicted based on observations of how it looked shortly after the big bang. Some scientists suggested that Hubble observations are wrong due to some creeping inaccuracy in its deep-space yardstick. However, Webb’s sharp infrared views of milepost markers known as Cepheids agree with Hubble data.

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In 2021, two Stony Brook University researchers began conducting a survey study on attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) among American adults. Some of their recent findings, published in the journal Seeds of Science, show a shift in Americans’ views on AI.

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In the current climate of increased medical mistrust, survey data show sexual minority adults are more open to using COVID-19 screening and tracking tools, challenging stereotypes and highlighting the need for inclusive health care solutions.

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In cancer research, seeing is believing. Before they can diagnose or treat cancer, researchers and doctors need to have a clear understanding of what’s happening at a microscopic level. While existing technology allows us to see things the naked eye can’t, a team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is working to standardize a process for staining and seeing cancer in a whole new perspective – in 3D (three dimensions).

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The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is partnering government-funded research institutes and universities to create a hyper-realistic metaverse that can be touched.

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A Chula researcher has been successful in adding value to agricultural waste generated by industrial factories by transforming cassava waste and sewage sludge into organic fertilizer to replace the use of chemical fertilizers. He has also come up with a special formula of microbial inoculum that increases nutrients needed by plants.

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Researchers have developed a new method for controlling the polarization of light that could lead to advances in cryptography, imaging, and other fields. This method uses liquid crystals to create holograms enabling the manipulation of vectorial field at different points.

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Skin injuries caused by prolonged pressure often occur in people who are unable to change their position independently – such as sick newborns in hospitals or elderly people. Thanks to successful partnerships with industry and research, Empa scientists are now launching two smart solutions for pressure sores.

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In the astronomy field, the term “nearby” is quite relative. Neighboring galaxies to our home galaxy, the Milky Way, are a few million light-years away. In contrast, some of the most distant galaxies ever detected, closer to the Big Bang, are billions of light-years away.

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Theoretical models can fill the gaps in experimental physics, but using a single imperfect theoretical model can be misleading. To improve the quality of predictions, researchers created a machine learning method that combines the results of several imperfect models.

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A new research unveils a groundbreaking approach to air quality monitoring, leveraging the power of surveillance cameras with a state-of-the-art hybrid deep learning model.

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A recent study introduces a novel methodology for evaluating the economic viability and competitive edge of onshore wind energy against traditional power sources. This approach underscores the potential of wind power to reach grid parity, where its cost becomes comparable or lower than conventional electricity sources. The research marks a significant step in understanding the dynamics of renewable energy markets and highlights the role of wind power in China's ambitious environmental goals.

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Our Senior Fellow Professor Enge Wang recently visited HKIAS between 4 March to 8 March 2024 and participated in academic exchanges at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK).

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Through the work of Florida State University’s Coastal & Marine Laboratory and the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative, there is a plan to help restore one of the country’s great fisheries.

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In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re featuring Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D., a professor of bioengineering at Rice University who has been solving women’s health challenges globally for the past two decades.

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A pilot program led by Argonne and the Civic Infrastructure Collaborative uncovers a fun and creative way to make urban transportation more environmentally friendly.

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The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back.

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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Oklahoma State University have identified key genes and the mechanism by which they control flowering in sorghum, an important bioenergy crop.

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In a new study, Sanford Burnham Prebys researchers, led by Andrei L. Osterman, Ph.D., combined experimental evolution in a continuous culturing device with whole genome sequencing of evolving cultures to track how two bacterial pathogens acquired drug resistance against a pair of antibiotics, one long-used and the other experimental.

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Dr. Park Jong-ho's research team at the Clean Fuel Research Laboratory of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has successfully developed a key material & process technology that significantly reduces the cost of capturing carbon dioxide, which is essential for the production of blue hydrogen.

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A new field promises to usher in a new era of using machine learning and computer vision to tackle small and large-scale questions about the biology of organisms around the globe.

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