The satellite suffered a computer failure on November 2. The spacecraft is still functioning, but it can no longer retrieve data from its 30-centimeter telescope, which has spotted expolanets by looking for transits, a dimming in the brightness of stars as a planet crosses its path. CoRoT was launched in 2006 and had been monitoring thousands of stars. In 2009, the satellite survived its first computer failure by relying on a second, redundant unit....

How small is the smallest possible particle of ice? It’s not a snowflake, measuring at a whopping fraction of an inch. According to new research published on November 4, 2019, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the smallest nanodroplet of water in which ice can form is only as big as 90 water molecules—a tenth the size of the smallest virus. At those small scales, according to University of Utah chemistry professor and study co-author Valeria Molinero, the transition between ice and water gets a little frizzy....

​Many previous studies have shown a connection between high coffee intake and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Now, a study from Chalmers University of Technology and Umeå University, offers new insight into this connection, using a novel method to help differentiate between the effects of filtered coffee and boiled coffee. “We have identified specific molecules – ‘biomarkers’ – in the blood of those taking part in the study, which indicate the intake of different sorts of coffee....

Widely available, over-the-counter antihistamines have the potential to restore daily function. Antihistamines may provide relief for the millions of people suffering from the painful, debilitating symptoms of long COVID-19 that impair daily functioning. That’s the conclusion of a case report on the experiences of two such patients co-authored by nursing scholars at the University of California, Irvine. The effects of COVID-19 on individuals range from mild symptoms to several weeks of illness to ailments including brain fog, joint pain, exercise intolerance, and fatigue that last for months after the initial infection....

To allay these doubts, Padmanabha Prasanna Simha, from the Indian Space Research Organisation, and Prasanna Simha Mohan Rao, from the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, experimentally visualized the flow fields of coughs under various common mouth covering scenarios. They present their findings in the journal Physics of Fluids, from AIP Publishing. “If a person can reduce the extent of how much they contaminate the environment by mitigating the spread, it’s a far better situation for other healthy individuals who may enter places that have such contaminated areas,” Simha said....

With two huge two telescopes, one (low-frequency) in Australia and the other (mid-frequency) in South Africa, the project will see further into the history of the Universe than ever before. Astronomers like me will use the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) telescopes to trace hydrogen over cosmic time and make precise measurements of gravity in extreme environments. What’s more, we hope to uncover the existence of complex molecules in planet-forming clouds around distant stars, which could be the early signs of life elsewhere in the Universe....

New policies, technologies could help make sense of flood of information. The science community has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with such a flurry of research studies that it is hard for anyone to digest them all, underscoring a long-standing need to make scientific publication more accessible, transparent and accountable, two artificial intelligence experts assert in a data science journal. The rush to publish results has resulted in missteps, say Ganesh Mani, an investor, technology entrepreneur and adjunct faculty member in Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Software Research, and Tom Hope, a post-doctoral researcher at the Allen Institute for AI....

The fact that the Coronavirus can result in severe damage in the human body is known, and also that kidneys can get infected. But what exactly happens in the kidney as a result of the infection, remains elusive until now. In this study, published in Cell Stem Cell, researchers investigated the kidney tissue of COVID-19 patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. They found scarring of the tissue as compared to Intensive Care patients with a non-COVID-19 lung infection and a control group....

With a launch planned in 2027, the CRISTAL mission will carry, for the first time on a polar mission, a dual-frequency radar altimeter, and microwave radiometer, that will measure and monitor sea-ice thickness, overlying snow depth and ice-sheet elevations. These data will support maritime operations in the polar oceans and contribute to a better understanding of climate processes. CRISTAL will also support applications related to coastal and inland waters, as well as providing observations of ocean topography....

Among other activities, NASA will broadcast a televised briefing beginning at 6 p.m. on September 26 from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. APL built and manages the DART spacecraft for NASA. This planetary defense test will show that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it to change the asteroid’s motion in a way that can be measured using ground-based telescopes....

This simulation of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) space truck reentering Earth’s atmosphere starts by representing the surrounding of the spacecraft as a three-dimensional cloud of interconnected points, a so-called ‘computational grid’. This forms part of the process of modeling the hypersonic motion of gases around the falling spacecraft through ‘Computational Fluid Dynamics’. This study of the ATV’s demise took place as part of the MIDGARD (MultI-Disciplinary modellinG of the Aerothemodynamically-induced fragmentation of Re-entering boDies) activity of the European Space Agency’s Open Space Innovation Platform with the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering....

The research published in Scientific Reports finds that the Jurassic fossil matches a type of wing feather called a primary covert. Primary coverts overlay the primary feathers and help propel birds through the air. The international team of scientists led by the University of South Florida analyzed nine attributes of the feather, particularly the long quill, along with data from modern birds. They also examined the 13 known skeletal fossils of Archaeopteryx, three of which contain well-preserved primary coverts....

Venus and Jupiter part ways following their March 1 rendezvous, while Ceres reaches opposition, and is worth hunting for using binoculars. All month – Jupiter and Venus are visible in the west after sunset. The two planets began the month super close together on March 1, but grow farther apart each night throughout the month.All month – Dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition in March, which means it’s visible throughout the night and is at its brightest for the year....

The US Army Corps of Engineers is removing large volumes of contaminated sediment, equivalent of about 160 million truckloads, from the Indiana Harbor and Canal to create a deeper canal for ships. The canal already contributes a significant number of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) to East Chicago’s air, but this could skyrocket as the Corps dredges into deep sediment. The indoor air in East Chicago already has PCB levels about three times higher than its outdoor air....

Another reason to get cataract surgery: It can make you 48% safer on the road. A new study shows patients’ driving performance improves significantly after cataract surgery. The ability of cataract surgery to restore sight is well known. People say they’re stunned by the vibrancy of color after surgery and the improvement in night vision. Some can even reduce their reliance on glasses. But can you quantify that improved quality of vision?...

As dying stars take their final few breaths of life, they gently sprinkle their ashes into the cosmos through the magnificent planetary nebulae. These ashes, spread via stellar winds, are enriched with many different chemical elements, including carbon. Findings from a study published on July 6, 2020, in Nature Astronomy show that the final breaths of these dying stars, called white dwarfs, shed light on carbon’s origin in the Milky Way....

Among all of the world’s natural kingdoms, however, one rule reigns supreme: There are lots of different species in the tropics, but their numbers drop off sharply as you move toward the poles. “This holds true across virtually all kinds of life and in all kinds of environments, but the reasons why are still hotly contested,” said Prof. David Jablonski, a leading University of Chicago scientist of extinction and biodiversity....

University of Utah engineers demonstrated it is feasible to build the first organic materials that conduct electricity on their edges, but act as an insulator inside. These materials, called organic topological insulators, could shuttle information at the speed of light in quantum computers and other high-speed electronic devices. The study published this week in the journal Nature Communications will help pioneer a new field of research in materials science, in the same way organic materials lowered the cost and eased production of light-emitting diodes and solar cells, says senior author Feng Liu, professor and chair of materials science and engineering....

The study was presented at the recent SPARK Conference on Generic Drug Repurposing for COVID-19 by Professor Yaakov Nahmias, Director of the Center for Bioengineering at Hebrew University. Nahmias applied a well-established existing drug to address the buildup of fats in human lung cells caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Initial lab-based results and new data from 1,500 Israel-based Corona patients have been extremely promising and clinical studies are scheduled to begin this week at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, Israel, joining other clinical centers across the United States, South America, and Europe....

“Despite nearly four decades of effort by the global research community, an effective vaccine to prevent HIV remains an elusive goal,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., chief of the Laboratory and a paper co-author. “This experimental mRNA vaccine combines several features that may overcome shortcomings of other experimental HIV vaccines and thus represents a promising approach.” The experimental vaccine works like mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. However, instead of carrying mRNA instructions for the coronavirus spike protein, the vaccine delivers coded instructions for making two key HIV proteins, Env and Gag....