The planet, which orbits an M-type star, is “the smallest exoplanet yet for which we have such tight constraints on its atmosphere,” said lead author Ian Crossfield. He is an astronomer and assistant professor at the University of Kansas. Key Facts Astronomers often discover and study exoplanets by observing how much light the planets block out as they pass in front of their host stars, a technique known as the “transit method....

Applied physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created an ultrathin, flat lens that focuses light without imparting the distortions of conventional lenses. At a mere 60 nanometers thick, the flat lens is essentially two-dimensional, yet its focusing power approaches the ultimate physical limit set by the laws of diffraction. Operating at telecom wavelengths (i.e., the range commonly used in fiber-optic communications), the new device is completely scalable, from near-infrared to terahertz wavelengths, and simple to manufacture....

The finding was discovered in the laboratory of Michel Cayouette, director of cellular neurobiology research at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) and a medical professor at the University of Montreal. The research, which was recently published in the journal Science Advances, demonstrates how the protein known as ‘numb’ regulates intracellular tau levels, making numb a potential therapeutic agent for tauopathies. Toxic to neurons Tauopathies are a broad group of neurodegenerative diseases that include, but are not limited to, Alzheimer’s disease....

Researchers in the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest investigated if companion pigs and dogs would show their owners the location of a food reward out of their reach (but reachable for their owner). They found that if only the owner was in the room pigs paid her/him as much attention as dogs did. However, when the reward was also present only dogs tried to direct the attention of the owner to the reward location....

A five-year quest to map the universe and unravel the mysteries of “dark energy” began officially on May 17, at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. To complete its quest, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will capture and study the light from tens of millions of galaxies and other distant objects in the universe. DESI is an international science collaboration managed by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) with primary funding for construction and operations from DOE’s Office of Science....

The findings, published on October 9, 2019, in Science Advances, describe a new process important to the future of Antarctica’s ice and the continent’s contribution to rising seas. Models and forecasts do not yet account for the newly understood and troubling scenario, which is already underway. “Warm water circulation is attacking the undersides of these ice shelves at their most vulnerable points,” said Alley, who earned her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder, in the National Snow and Ice Data Center, part of CIRES....

In a paper published in Science Advances, physicists Professor Sum Tze Chien from NTU and Professor Maxim Pshenichnikov from UG used extremely fast lasers to observe how an energy barrier forms when perovskite is joined with a material that extracts the electrical charges to make a solar cell. Conventionally, a solar cell absorbs sunlight and converts it to an electrical charge. During this process, the light particles have more energy than needed to generate the electrical charges in the solar cells....

On Earth, we often look toward the sky longing to know what resides in the rest of the universe; meanwhile, 250 miles above our planet, the International Space Station is looking back. Above us, multiple Earth-observing instruments are mounted on the exterior of several of the station’s modules, including a limb full of cameras, boxes, and tools that hangs off the edge of the station’s Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). Earth-observing CubeSats regularly deploy from the station’s airlock....

New study showed adolescents were less likely to want to engage with schoolwork when mothers spoke with a pressurizing tone. Teenagers are less likely to cooperate and put effort into their mother’s requests when they are said in a controlling tone of voice, researchers have found. Speaking to a son or daughter in a pressurizing tone is also accompanied by a range of negative emotions and fewer feelings of closeness, a new study has discovered....

Scientists have discovered a new, persistent structure in one of two radiation belts surrounding Earth. NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes spacecraft have shown that high-energy electrons in the inner radiation belt display a persistent pattern that resembles slanted zebra stripes. Surprisingly, this structure is produced by the slow rotation of Earth, previously considered incapable of affecting the motion of radiation belt particles, which have velocities approaching the speed of light....

This movie shows how particles move through Earth’s radiation belts, the large donuts around Earth. The sphere in the middle shows a cloud of colder material called the plasmasphere. New research shows that the plasmasphere helps keep fast electrons from the radiation belts away from Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Scientific Visualization Studio The Van Allen belts are a collection of charged particles, gathered in place by Earth’s magnetic field. They can wax and wane in response to incoming energy from the sun, sometimes swelling up enough to expose satellites in low-Earth orbit to damaging radiation....

Joint Bar-Ilan University, Galilee Medical Center study affirms that sufficient vitamin D levels may positively influence the outcome of infection. Vitamin D is most often recognized for its role in bone health, but low levels of the supplement have been associated with a range of autoimmune, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases. Early on in the pandemic health officials began to encourage people to take vitamin D, as it plays a role in promoting immune response and could protect against COVID-19....

The experiment, which placed participants in simulated elections, found not only that communication networks (such as social media) can distort voters’ perceptions of how others plan to vote, but also that this distortion can increase the chance of electoral deadlock or bias overall election outcomes in favor of one party. “The structure of information networks can really fundamentally influence the outcomes of elections,” says David Rand, an associate professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a co-author of a new paper detailing the study....

The duo arrived at the orbiting laboratory on May 31, following a successful launch on May 30 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 7:34 p.m. EDT Saturday, August 1, for undocking of the Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft from the space station and 2:42 p.m. Sunday, August 2, for splashdown, which will be the first return of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft carrying astronauts from the space station....

Scientists at the Milner Centre for Evolution looked at the evolution of the virus that causes Covid19; their findings could help the design of a new vaccine. Scientists investigating the evolution of the virus that causes COVID-19 say that its mutation seems to be directed by human proteins that degrade it, but natural selection of the virus enables it to bounce back. The findings could help in the design of vaccines against the virus....

Thomas Boothby, an assistant professor of molecular biology, and colleagues found how trehalose, a sugar, interacts with proteins to enable tardigrades to survive in the absence of water. Their findings were recently published in the journal Communications Biology. Tardigrades, often known as water bears, are less than half a millimeter long and can tolerate being completely dried out, frozen to just above absolute zero (approximately minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit, when all molecular motion ceases), heated to more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit, irradiated several thousand times beyond what a person can withstand, and even survive the vacuum of outer space....

A multinational team of scientists examined whether high R&D (research and development) expenditures account for high drug prices in the United States in the first known study of its kind. “There is a presumption that high R&D costs justify high drug prices. If that were true, then we’d see a positive association between the two measures,” said first author Olivier Wouters, Ph.D., assistant professor at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences....

Protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 could last eight months or more. New data suggest that nearly all COVID-19 survivors have the immune cells necessary to fight re-infection. The findings, based on analyses of blood samples from 188 COVID-19 patients, suggest that responses to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, from all major players in the “adaptive” immune system, which learns to fight specific pathogens, can last for at least eight months after the onset of symptoms from the initial infection....

The study, conducted by an international team of researchers, demonstrated that short, enjoyable activities like watching a humorous video on YouTube can help individuals cope with daily stressors like negative emails or disliked tasks. In turn, this allows you to be more engaged, creative, and helpful toward your coworkers. The research was led by Vera Schweitzer from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. So, according to this research, the next time you find yourself secretly laughing at a hilarious video your colleague sent to you during the lunch break, you should embrace it....

With yet another COVID-19 booster available for vulnerable populations in the United States, many people find themselves wondering what the end game will be. The mRNA vaccines currently used in the U.S. against COVID-19 have been highly successful at preventing hospitalization and death. The Commonwealth Fund recently reported that the vaccines have prevented over 2 million people from dying and over 17 million from hospitalization in the U.S. alone. However, the vaccines have failed to provide long-term protective immunity to prevent breakthrough infections – cases of COVID-19 infection that occur in people who are fully vaccinated....