Today's Science News
September 19, 2024
Nonfatal opioid overdoses in youth spiked during pandemic - Adolescents' opioid overdoses have risen, particularly due to fentanyl, emphasizing the need for prevention strategies and naloxone education.Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' contains surprisingly accurate physics — suggesting he understood the hidden 'dynamism of the sky' - A new analysis of the brushstrokes and colors in Vincent van Gogh's famous painting Starry Night reveals a striking similarity to "hidden turbulence" in Earth's atmosphere, suggesting the iconic artist had a surprisingly detailed understanding of natural processes.
Radio pollution from SpaceX's new Starlink satellites poses threat to astronomy, scientists say - SpaceX's new Starlink satellites are so radio noisy that they could blind radio astronomy observatories to the universe's most intriguing phenomena, scientists say.
When Will That Star Dim? Amateur Planet-Chasers Got You! - A planet swings in front of its star, dimming the starlight we see.
Robot placed under the control of a fungal overlord - A mushroom's response to environmental changes can be used to control a robot.
The Big Picture: Goldisthal’s Deforested Surroundings. - The Goldisthal pumped-storage power plant stands as a testament to Germany’s commitment to renewable energy and grid stability.
Wuhan market increasingly likely origin point for COVID-19 - An international team of researchers has found more evidence that COVID-19 came from animals in a Wuhan food market.
Exoplanets Could be Hiding Their Atmospheres - One of the most intriguing planetary systems is TRAPPIST-1, with several Earth-sized worlds orbiting a red dwarf star, and astronomers have already scanned planets to search for evidence of an atmosphere.
NASA Develops Process to Create Very Accurate Eclipse Maps - New NASA research reveals a process to generate extremely accurate eclipse maps, which plot the predicted path of the Moon’s shadow as it crosses the face of Earth.
Earth's outer core may hold a hidden 'doughnut' - A newly discovered doughnut shape in Earth's outer core may reveal elements that help drive the formation of the planet's magnetic field.
James Webb Space Telescope witnesses a 'smiling' galactic collision (images) - The James Webb Space Telescope has imaged a collision between two galaxies that appears to have created a beaming smile in space.
What You Need to Know about NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Mission - NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are preparing to launch on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station.
Will Phones Let You Smell What's On The Other End Of The Call One Day? - Phones that transmit odors seem like a great idea, but careful what you wish for!
Droughts likely to be even longer in the future due to climate change - Major climate reports may be underselling the risks of rising emissions.
DAILY DOSE: Including Environmental Costs Will Raise Food Prices; Big Tech Underreports Greenhouse Emissions From Data Centers. - Including environmental costs in grocery prices could raise food costs significantly, urging consumers towards sustainable choices and policy changes.
DNA-Sensing Enzyme Wins the 2024 Lasker Award - Zhijian “James” Chen received this year’s Albert Lasker Award for discovering cGAS, an enzyme which scopes out DNA-based threats and alerts the immune system.
Magnetic mystery at Mercury revealed by BepiColombo probe (video) - The BepiColombo probe's flybys of Mercury have revealed just how sharply and rapidly the planet's local environment changes in response to the solar wind.
Scientist who discovered body's 'fire alarm' against invading bacteria wins $250,000 Lasker prize - One of this year's coveted Lasker Awards has gone to Zhijian "James" Chen, a scientist behind a key immune-system discovery.
South African Rock Art Appears to Draw Upon Extinct Creatures - The San people acted as paleontologists and used fossil finds as a basis for stories and pictures.
China's Yutu 2 rover still going strong after nearly 6 years on the far side of the moon (video) - China's Chang'e 4 rover Yutu 2 has been working on the far side of the moon for nearly six years.
Ohio State Fairgoers Learn About NASA Technologies - NASA Glenn Research Center’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) and Office of Communications staff traveled to the Ohio State Fair in Columbus, Ohio, this summer.
Dr. Kenyon Makes Calls, On and Off the Field - As the director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Dr. Jimmy Kenyon is used to making important decisions at work.
NASA Glenn Attends Air Shows in Cleveland and Michigan - Subject matter experts and outreach professionals share the NASA mission with thousands at major air shows.
Cheap zinc-ion batteries can be made at a desk - Australian researchers have constructed a safe, cheap zinc battery – using an office laminator!
Mussel-inspired adhesive comes unglued on command - Modern integrated microelectronic devices are often poorly repairable and difficult to recycle.
AI model can reveal the structures of crystalline materials - For more than 100 years, scientists have been using X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of crystalline materials such as metals, rocks, and ceramics.
The Odd Arctic Military Projects Spawned by the Cold War - Many offbeat research efforts were doomed to fail, from atomic subways to a city under the ice.
The Strange Story of the Algorithm Meant to Solve Life, the Universe and Everything - Some researchers dream of solving all mysteries with a common method—but a mathematical paradox may keep such solutions out of reach
This Elegant Math Problem Could Help You Make the Best Choice in House-Hunting and Even Love - Math’s “best-choice problem” could help humans become better decision-makers, at everything from choosing the best job candidate to finding a romantic partner
Visible-light-antenna ligand enhances samarium-catalyzed reactions - Samarium (Sm), a rare earth metal, is important to organic chemists because of the ability of its divalent compounds to efficiently perform single-electron transfer reductions.
Advances in hydrogen research: More efficient isotope separation in sight - The lightest of all elements, hydrogen, is in great demand due to its promising role as a sustainable resource in the energy transition.
Playing with fire: How VR is being used to train the next generation of firefighters - Can VR training for first responders replicate the heat, the smoke and the stress of handling a real blaze?
Here’s What the ‘Manosphere’ Gets Wrong about Cuckoldry - In online forums the term “cuck” has become synonymous with “sucker” and “loser.” But this use distorts its history and meaning, creating a baseless moral panic that harms both women and science
Parrots may offer clues to how our intelligence evolved - Studies of the brainy birds’ abilities to use tools, solve puzzles, speak words and more may teach us about how our species got our smarts.
New computational insights use Marcus theory to unlock the potential of photocatalysis - Dr. Albert Solé-Daura and Prof. Feliu Maseras have explored the application of the Marcus theory, traditionally used to model electron transfer, to estimate the free-energy barriers underlying energy transfer (EnT) processes.
Caught on camera: Satellite tracker photographs secret spacecraft - Satellite tracker and photographer Felix Schöfbänker has captured a variety of secret spacecraft on camera, revealing "things that either were not known, or only were speculated before."
Could we turn the sun into a gigantic telescope? - Using a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, it might be possible to use the sun as a gigantic telescope to peer deep into space.
Photoacoustic sensor achieves high-sensitivity detection of multiple greenhouse gases - Recently, Prof. Gao Xiaoming's team from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, developed a novel photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS)-based sensor that enabled simultaneous, high-sensitive detection of CO2, CH4, and N2O, with improved long-term measurement accuracy.
Microplastics: Meant to last, just not forever and not in our bodies - Megan Hill is an assistant professor of chemistry and leader of the Hill Lab in Colorado State University's College of Natural Sciences.
Hemp shows high promise as potential natural insecticide - Research reveals that hemp leaf extract, containing CBD, effectively kills mosquito larvae, offering a promising alternative to synthetic insecticides.
Record-breaking fires engulf South America, bringing black rain, green rivers and toxic air to the continent - The Amazon fires, fueled by severe drought exacerbated by climate change, have created a toxic smoke cloud spanning about 4 million square miles — an area larger than the entire United States.
When a She-Bear Swims Ashore - This article provides an update to the story “Where Now Grizzly Bear,” published in 2021.
Climate-change-triggered landslide caused Earth to vibrate for nine days - A Greenland landslide caused a mega-tsunami, leading to a global seismic signal, puzzling scientists.
Flexible circuits made with silk and graphene on the horizon - Silk's advancements in microelectronics, particularly silk-on-graphene, promise enhanced biocompatible transistors and neural network applications.
Krill’s role in carbon sequestration amazes scientists - Antarctic krill are likely amongst the world’s most important carbon-storing organisms, according to a new study published in the influential Nature Communications journal.
Viral Activation Can Shape Breast Milk Composition - A new study employs a multiomic approach to study how cytomegalovirus activation impacts breast milk bioactive factors and the infant microbiota.
Exotic species invasions enhance biodiversity response to climate change - A study reveals climate change drives both exotic plant invasions and loss of native biodiversity, with mixed ecological impacts.
Actually, Ceres Might Have Formed in the Asteroid Belt After All - Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest planetary body in the Asteroid Belt.
Metal Part 3D Printed in Space for the First Time - Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has had a profound impact on the way we do business.
Biobots arise from the cells of dead organisms − pushing the boundaries of life, death and medicine. - The discovery of postmortem cellular functions challenges traditional views on life and death, revealing potential for new biological treatments.
Rocket Lab aborts launch of 5 'Internet of Things' satellites at last second (video) - Rocket Lab's Electron vehicle appeared to fire up briefly today (Sept. 18) before shutting down, resulting in a launch abort.
Why Cyprus’ dwarf hippos and elephants were really driven extinct - There’s new evidence that humans drove to extinction the unique megafauna on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Did Mars Once Have a Third, Larger Moon? - We are all familiar with our one Moon but other planets have different numbers of moons; Mercury has none, Jupiter has 95 and Mars has two.
The Marshall Star for September 18, 2024 - NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Calvin, center left, joins team members at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center for a Climate and
NASA's 'Hidden Figures' women awarded Congressional Gold Medals - Though they may never shed the label, the women who worked for NASA as human computers during the space race are no longer "hidden figures," and they now have Congressional Gold Medals to prove it.
ESA's JUICE spacecraft confirmed Earth is habitable. Here's why - JUICE successfully identified water and the building blocks of life in Earth's atmosphere.
The Early Universe Had a Lot of Black Holes - The Hubble Deep Field and its successor, the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, showed us how vast our Universe is and how it teems with galaxies of all shapes and sizes.
'Transformers One' is an end of summer sensation certain to please fans (review) - Paramount's new all-CG animated 'Transformers' film delivers a dynamic origin story for the shapeshifting robots from outer space.
New understanding of the limits on nano-noise - Nanotechnology enables groundbreaking material properties for smaller, faster electronics, but noise hinders performance.
Iron winds and molten metal rains ravage a hellish hot Jupiter exoplanet - "Our observations indicate the presence of powerful iron winds, probably fuelled by a hot spot in the atmosphere."
NASA Deputy Administrator Talks Future of Agency in Silicon Valley - NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy spent time at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, on Sept. 16, 2024, engaging with center leaders
The largest volcano on Mars may sit above a 1,000-mile magma pool. Could Olympus Mons erupt again? - A low-density, weak-gravity region has been found below Olympus Mons and the Tharsis volcanoes, while Mars' northern hemisphere is littered with puzzling high-gravity structures beneath the surface.
NASA Shares Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Remarks - NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released his remarks as prepared for Wednesday’s Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in Washington.
Harnessing nature's rhythm: Piezocatalysis for organic pollutant degradation - With the rapid growth of industrial and agricultural activities, water bodies are increasingly contaminated with harmful organic pollutants such as dyes, antibiotics, and bisphenol A.
2nd Kuiper Belt? Our solar system may be much larger than thought - Eleven objects found at the extremities of the solar system could mark the location of a 'Kuiper Belt 2.'
The Earth Might Have Been a Ringed Planet Long Ago - The gas giants in the outer solar system are the homes to ring systems today, but almost half a billion years ago, our planet may have had a temporary ring, too.
SETI Scientists Scan TRAPPIST-1 for Technosignatures - If there's an advanced civilization in the TRAPPIST-1 system living on multiple worlds, there's a way to eavesdrop on their conversation from world to world.
Surgeons Identify—And Save—A Patient’s Chess-Playing Brain Area - Neuroscientists at the University of Barcelona set about on a search for brain areas involved in chess-related tasks so that surgeons could avoid them when removing a tumor
Scuba-Diving Lizards Create an Air Bubble Over Their Heads to Swim Underwater - Scientists compared one group of water anoles underwater abilities to another group whose bubble-making capacity was blocked
'What is normal today may not be normal in a year's time': Dr. Dinesh Bhugra on the idea of 'normal' in psychiatry - Live Science spoke with leading psychiatrist Dr. Dinesh Bhugra ahead of his appearance at the HowTheLightGetsIn festival in London.
Bioengineers create new substrate to study wood-decomposing enzyme - Researchers want to transform the natural and abundant resource wood into useful materials, and central to that is a molecular machine found in fungi that decomposes the complex raw material into its basic components.
A Star Was Kicked Out of a Globular Cluster by an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole - Astronomers have solid evidence for the existence of stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes.
Some diabetes drugs tied to lower risk of dementia, Parkinson's disease - A class of drugs for diabetes may be associated with a lower risk of dementia and Parkinson's disease, according to a new study.
Explaining dramatic planet-wide changes after world's last 'Snowball Earth' event - Some of the most dramatic climatic events in our planet's history are 'Snowball Earth' events that happened hundreds of millions of years ago, when almost the entire planet was encased in ice up to 0.6 miles thick.
Researchers spot largest black hole jets ever discovered - The jets are 140 times larger than the Milky Way.
Hawaii hikers report exploding guts as norovirus outbreak hits famous trail - First the Grand Canyon, now an eruption around the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
How Ancient Societies Viewed Mental Illness and the Horrific Treatments of That Time - When it comes to mental illness, we’ve come a long way since the days of superstition and sorcery.
Materials scientist describes new world order for glasses, liquids - In 1543, Copernicus pitched the heliocentric idea that the Earth orbited the sun.
Science Crossword: Cosmic Goals - Play this crossword inspired by the October 2024 issue of Scientific American
First 50 face transplants worldwide show promising survival rate - The long-term outcomes for people undergoing face transplants seem optimistic, according to an evaluation of the first 50 operations undertaken globally since 2005.
Nature-inspired patterns boost polymer toughness - Biological systems are renowned for their ability to create strong yet resilient structures.
How ‘Embeddings’ Encode What Words Mean — Sort Of - Machines work with words by embedding their relationships with other words in a string of numbers.
First liquid-liquid extraction trial finds porous liquids can separate harmful or unwanted alcohols from mixtures - A world-first study has successfully used porous liquids to achieve liquid-liquid separation for the first time, creating exciting potential for advancing both environmental sustainability and public health.
Zymo Research Stands by Its Innovative cfDNA Technology in Response to Qiagen’s Lawsuit - Zymo Research respects intellectual property rights and is confident that this technology represents a significant advancement in nucleic acid purification.
Homemade 'play-putty' can read the body's electric signals - Researchers demonstrates the effectiveness of homemade play putty at reading brain, heart, muscle and eye activity.
Magnifying deep space through the 'carousel lens' - A newly discovered cluster-scale strong gravitational lens, with a rare alignment of seven background lensed galaxies, provides a unique opportunity to study cosmology.
Why petting your cat leads to static electricity - Static electricity was first observed in 600 B.C., but researchers have struggled to explain how rubbing causes it.
Metal exposure can increase cardiovascular disease risk - Metal exposure from environmental pollution is associated with increased calcium buildup in the coronary arteries at a level comparable to traditional risk factors, according to a new study.
Gargantuan black hole jets are biggest seen yet - Astronomers have spotted the biggest pair of black hole jets ever seen, spanning 23 million light-years in total length.
NASA's Webb provides another look into galactic collisions - Astronomers examined galaxy Arp 107 which has revealed a wealth of information about star-formation and how two galaxies collided hundreds of million years ago.
Early dingoes are related to dogs from New Guinea and East Asia - New archaeological research has discovered for the first time clear links between fossils of the iconic Australian dingo, and dogs from East Asia and New Guinea.
Researchers discover highest second-harmonic generation response in deep-ultraviolet phosphate - In the field of nonlinear optics (NLO), deep-ultraviolet (DUV) NLO crystals have garnered attention due to their crucial role in all-solid-state lasers.
Template synthesis creates multilayered perovskites with unique ferroelectric behavior - A group of Nagoya University researchers in Japan has synthesized 4- and 5-layered versions of the important electrical material perovskite.
More than 39 million deaths from antimicrobial resistance estimated by 2050 - More than 39 million deaths are estimated to directly result from antibiotic-resistant (AMR) infections between now and 2050.
How Your Brain Tells Speech and Music Apart - Simple cues help people to distinguish song from the spoken word
Why Are There Fewer Spotted Lanternflies in New York City? - Invasive spotted lanternflies are spreading across the metro areas of New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., despite professional and amateur attempts to reduce their numbers
Musk's satellites 'blocking' view of the universe - Radio waves from the satellites are "blinding" radio telescopes and hurting research, say scientists.
Quantum ‘Ghost Imaging’ Reveals the Dark Side of Plants - Entanglement lets researchers watch plants in action without disruptive visible light
Use of injectable GLP-1 weight-loss drugs skyrockets among teens - Their long-term safety is still an issue for kids.
Why Early Prostate Cancer Screening Matters for Black Men - According to the American Cancer Society, Black men are about 70 percent more likely than white men to develop prostate cancer in their lifetime and twice as likely to die from the disease.
Ozone layer improving long-term, but dipped last year - Despite a slump caused by a large volcanic eruption, the ozone layer is still improving in the long term, according to an annual global report.
Mystery of Deep-Ocean ‘Biotwang’ Sound Has Finally Been Solved - A strange sound dubbed “biotwang” was first heard bouncing around the Mariana Trench 10 years ago, and scientists have finally figured out where it comes from
Supermoon and lunar eclipse delight stargazers - The Moon appeared brighter and bigger as it reached its closest point in its orbit around the Earth.
Astronomers Have Found a Star with a Hot Jupiter and a Cold Super Jupiter in Orbit - Located in the constellation Ursa Major, roughly 300 light-years from Earth, is the Sun-like star HD 118203 (Liesma).
Wildlife charity declares 'butterfly emergency' - The charity is calling on the government to ban pesticides that can harm butterflies and bees.
September 17, 2024
Future Gravitational Wave Observatories Could See the Earliest Black Hole Mergers in the Universe - In February 2016, scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) confirmed they made the first-ever detection of gravitational waves (GWs).“Scuba-diving” lizards use bubble to breathe underwater - Researchers have found a type of lizard – referred to as the chicken nugget of the forest – that can hide underwater thanks to a special bubble they produce around their nostrils.
Climate change is turbo-charging Somalia’s problems - but there's still hope - Despite facing a catastrophic combination of challenges, there is optimism in the African country.
Whistleblower testifies Titan sub tragedy was 'inevitable' - Former employee David Lochridge tells a public hearing the whole idea of OceanGate was to "make money".
Moving the lens on rural suicides - Rural Australia is rich in diversity and warrants nuanced understanding about suicide within and across rural areas.
Record-Breaking Rainfall in Carolinas and Europe Explained - On opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Central Europe and North Carolina have both been drenched by torrential rains
'Scuba-diving' lizards use bubble to breathe underwater and avoid predators - A species of semi-aquatic lizard produces a special bubble over its nostrils to breathe underwater and avoid predators.
A key NASA commercial partner faces severe financial challenges - "The business model had to change."
Freshwater oysters could be key to developing stronger, 'greener' adhesives - If you think oysters are just delicious seafood, think again.
The Next President Should End NASA’s Space Launch System Rocket - Rather than building an obsolescent, obscenely-over-budget jumbo rocket, NASA should turn to building truly innovative space technologies and plan a realistic lunar landing program
Tiny robots and AI algorithms could help to craft material solutions for cleaner environments - Many human activities release pollutants into the air, water and soil.
Physicists discover “hidden turbulence” throughout van Gogh’s Starry Night - Scientists measured scaling of the brush strokes to arrive at their conclusions.
Van Gogh painting mirrors real atmospheric physics - Scientists have peered at Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night painting and discovered it displays a startling resemblance to real atmospheric turbulence.
When Was Halley’s Comet Last Seen and Will It Ever Return? - Halley’s Comet appears only once every 75 years, sparking excitement among both casual observers and astronomers.
Rare woolly rhino mummies emerge from the permafrost - The new finds confirm the existence of a feature seen in cave art.
Greener pastures: Better ammonia production for a more sustainable future - Energy demands are at an all-time high, as is the need to be environmentally conscious.
Bacterial Communication Has Evolved To Warn Colonies of Existential Threats - Bacteria sucked into an artificial "black hole" leave a chemical signature that warns other members of the colony to stay away, say researchers.
Team discovers naturally occurring DNA-protein hybrids - Thanks to a serendipitous discovery and a lot of painstaking work, scientists can now build biohybrid molecules that combine the homing powers of DNA with the broad functional repertoire of proteins—without having to synthesize them one by one, researchers report in a new study.
Climate a more fundamental threat than terror - Lammy - Foreign Secretary David Lammy vows to put climate change at the heart of the UK's foreign policy.
New results from the CMS experiment put W boson mass mystery to rest - Physicists on the CMS experiment announce the most elaborate mass measurement of a particle that is notoriously difficult to study and has captivated the physics community for decades.
Book Review: How One Weird Rodent Ecologist Tried to Change the Fate of Humanity - A biography of the scientist whose work led to fears of a ‘population bomb’
Book Review: A Return to the Creepy Tensions of ‘Area X’ - In Absolution , Jeff VanderMeer explores the mysteries in his Southern Reach Trilogy
New Sickle Cell Treatments Highlight the Power of Patient Perspectives - Illuminating the experience of people living with sickle cell could improve patients’ lives and enhance all of medicine
Going Back to the Moon, Researching Chickadee Hybrids and Understanding Addiction - This month’s issue covers the reasons it’s so hard to go back to the moon, the science of empathy and new advances in treating sickle cell disease
Contributors to Scientific American’s October 2024 Issue - Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories
Sitting in a Chair All Day Can Lead to Disease. Standing Up and Moving Around Every Hour Can Help - Days spent in a desk chair can lead to heart disease or cancer.
Readers Respond to the May 2024 Issue - Letters to the editors for the May 2024 issue of Scientific American
What Is Sickle Cell Disease? - You have around 35 trillion red blood cells moving around your body at all times.
Hybrid Chickadees Reveal How Species Boundaries Can Shift and Blur - When different chickadee species meet, they sometimes choose each other as mates—with surprising results
Hidden Patterns Show Nobel Prize Science Trends - Time lags between discoveries and awards show how the Nobel Prizes reward science
Book Review: Cryptography Is as Much an Art as a Science - A delightful course on keeping (and cracking) secrets
Why Is It So Much Harder for NASA to Send People to the Moon Now Than It Was during the Apollo Era? - NASA's Artemis moon program faces challenges the Apollo missions never did
A Global Initiative to Advance Sickle Cell Research Could Benefit Millions - Increased funding and new public health policies for sickle cell research are needed to ease the burden on low-income nations and improve patient care
The Arctic Seed Vault Shows the Flawed Logic of Climate Adaptation - The difficulties of the Svalbard seed repository illustrate why we need to prevent climate disaster rather than plan for it
Book Review: Powerful Myths Shape a Postapocalyptic World - In a postapocalyptic world on the verge of its next crisis, history gets rewritten
People Living with Sickle Cell Disease Share Their Experiences - Life expectancy for people with sickle cell in the U.S. has increased to about 50 years, but some people with the disease still face stigma and other barriers in health care