Author: Cédric M. John, Professor and Head of Data Science for the Environment and Sustainability, Queen Mary University of London Nearly three fourths of Earth is covered by oceans, making the planet look like a pale blue dot from space. But Japanese researchers have made a compelling case that Earth’s oceans were once green, in […]
An international team of scientists has, for the first time, directly observed catalysis in-action at the atomic level. In mesmerizing new videos, single atoms move and shake during a chemical reaction that removes hydrogen atoms from an alcohol molecule. By viewing the process in real time, the researchers discovered several short-lived intermediate molecules involved in […]
Salt may play key role in Martian mudflow formation A study in Communications Earth and Environment suggests that salt could explain how mudflows form on Mars despite the planet’s thin atmosphere. Researchers conducted experiments in Mars-like conditions, finding that salt lowers the freezing point of water, allowing mud to flow longer. Full Story: Eos Underwater […]
Quantum simulation, a concept that once seemed like science fiction, is now revolutionizing the way physicists study the quantum world. The idea, famously suggested by Richard Feynman in the 1980s, is to use a controllable quantum system to mimic the behaviour of another system that is too complex to study directly. Over time, researchers have […]
Author: Albert HiuKa Fok, Postdoctoral Fellow in Neuroscience, McGill University The puzzle of memory has intrigued philosophers and intellects for a very long time. Plato and Aristotle believed that memory was found only in the realm of the soul and the mind, but there was nothing corporeal or physical about it. Memory is closely tied […]
Using the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), astronomers have detected methane in the atmosphere of WISEA J181006.18−101000.5—the closest T dwarf to Earth. Brown dwarfs are intermediate objects between planets and stars. Astronomers generally agree that they are substellar objects occupying the mass range between 13 and 80 Jupiter masses. One subclass of brown dwarfs (with […]
Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa affect up to 70 million people worldwide. In particular, despite its prevalence and long-term duration, there are no effective pharmacological treatments for anorexia. This may change in the future if recent results in mice transfer appropriately to humans, as a “hunger” peptide appears to revert weight loss in mice […]
Asteroid samples reveal ancient salty incubators Samples from asteroids Ryugu and Bennu have revealed the presence of salts, indicating that salty water environments were common in the early solar system. This finding suggests that such environments could have been incubators for life’s building blocks, a discovery that highlights the potential for organic evolution on asteroids […]
Imagine a world where light, instead of merely bouncing off surfaces or passing through transparent materials, is controlled in a completely new and unexpected way. Scientists have recently taken a major step in this direction by discovering what is called a “photonic axion insulator.” While this term might sound complicated, the underlying idea is both […]