Faraway object offers clues about planet formation The Kuiper Belt Arrokoth, the farthest object ever visited by a spacecraft, is helping astronomers better understand how planets are formed, according to a trio of papers published in Science. “[W]e believe the result marks a significant advance in understanding overall planetesimal and planet formation,” said Alan Stern […]
Proteins can perform a huge number of biological functions with amazing efficiency. In order to achieve these different functions, proteins rely on the precise 3D arrangement of functional groups which are referred to as the protein fold. Some of these functions include acting as a catalyst in biochemical reactions; in these cases proteins are called […]
For a long time Alzheimer disease has been studied mostly as a neuronal disease. However, recently the role of the immune system is getting more attention and its involvement more clear. Recent research has shown that a subpopulation of T cells could be key to early Alzheimer’s detection. How were these T cells discovered? Firstly […]
In the previous entry, I presented some critical thesis by historian Ylva Hasselberg regarding the applicability of economic theoretic tools to the study of the social construction of scientific knowledge. To those claims, I think we can respond with the following arguments. In the first place, we have to make a clear and emphatic distinction […]
Climate change may be speeding up ocean currents Ocean currents around the world, both on the surface and deeper, are faster than they were 20 years ago, likely due to the changing climate. “While we expected some response to the increased winds over the past two decades, that the acceleration was above and beyond that […]
Achieving room temperature superconductivity is among the most pursued but elusive goals of scientists. I n December 2014 researchers claimed to have observed superconductivity as high as 200 K in hydrogen sulfide at high pressure, breaking all the records thus far. This meant that cuprates could be knocked from their position as the highest temperature […]
Author: Martha Villabona works at Centro Nacional de Innovación e Investigación Educativa (CNIIE) of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, where she coordinates the area of multiple literacies. In the digital world, news are multiplying and causing readers to only choose those headlines that most interest them. This does not happen randomly or […]
The relationship between siblings is, for most people, the longest they will ever enjoy. It is fundamental for many of us, but especially for children, who live together regularly with their brother or sister, and where the fraternal relationship is part of daily life, of play and leisure, of learning basic skills, of emotional development […]
Glass bead chilled to its ground state Researchers have cooled a glass bead to close to absolute zero using a single laser with astonishing results: “Other cold-atom experiments can also create superpositions and quantum states, but what they can never do is create a superposition of all of the atoms in one place and all […]
Condensed matter • Materials • Nanotechnology • Quantum physics • Theoretical physics
Plasmonic nanostructures confine light to dimensions far smaller than the free-space wavelength, as they mix optical fields with electronic excitations. It was not until the 1990s, with the appearance of accurate and reliable nanofabrication techniques, that plasmonics blossomed. It was found then that local fields around nanostructures could be directly measured by near-field scanning optical […]