In a newly published study, scientists identify the mechanism for controlling calcium influx in cells, helping researchers better understand the molecular causes of the disruption of brain functioning that occurs in stroke and other neurological disorders. When brain cells are overwhelmed by an influx of too many calcium molecules, they shut down the channels through which these molecules enter the cells. Until now, the “stop” signal mechanism that cells use to control the molecular traffic was unknown....

“It’s something I’d been dreaming of for a long time,” says Edoardo Charbon, an EPFL professor and head of the Advanced Quantum Architecture Laboratory in EPFL’s School of Engineering. “MegaX is the culmination of over 15 years of research on single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), which are photodetectors used in next-generation image-sensor technology.” And Charbon has good reason to be proud, since he and his research team have developed the world’s first million-pixel camera....

War sand is sand that is a result from wartime operations. The beaches of Normandy are covered in a fine dust of particles resulting from the D-Day operations of World War II. The grains are hidden among the beaches of the Normandy. Geologist Earle McBride, from the University of Texas at Austin, states that up to 4% of the sand of the beaches of Normandy is made up of this shrapnel....

By most benchmarks, MIT chemical engineering spinoff Verdox has been enjoying an outstanding year. Launched in 2019, the carbon capture and removal startup announced $80 million in funding in February from a group of investors that included Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Then, in April — after being recognized by Bloomberg New Energy Finance as one of the year’s top energy pioneers — the company and partner Carbfix won a $1 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal milestone award....

Cambridge-based E25Bio, which developed the test, is now preparing to submit it to the FDA for “emergency use authorization,” which would grant temporary approval for using the device on patient samples during public health emergencies. Elsewhere around MIT, several other research groups are working on projects that may help further scientists’ understanding of how coronaviruses are transmitted and how infection may be prevented. Their work touches on fields ranging from diagnostics and vaccine development to more traditional disease prevention measures such as social distancing and handwashing....

Capacitors can charge and release energy quickly by using electric fields to store charges on negative and positive plates. The plates are separated by an electrolyte, a solid or liquid material that conducts ions. Applying a positive or negative electric potential to the capacitor causes the ions to flow in one direction or the other. Newer capacitors, called supercapacitors, are made from advanced composite materials and nanomaterials that offer higher energy storage capacities and increased power, with a virtually unlimited cycle life....

The second-most distant quasar ever discovered now has a Hawaiian name. Astronomers have discovered the second-most distant quasar ever found using three Maunakea Observatories in Hawai‘i: W. M. Keck Observatory, the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, and the University of Hawai‘i-owned United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). It is the first quasar to receive an indigenous Hawaiian name, Pōniuāʻena, which means “unseen spinning source of creation, surrounded with brilliance” in the Hawaiian language....

The challenge supports NASA’s ALLGO feasibility study to develop an innovative lightweight gantry system using inflatable components that can be tightly packaged and easily deployed on the lunar surface. GrabCAD ran the challenge on behalf of NASA. “Almost every submission had innovative ideas, giving NASA a sourcebook for future concept development work,” said Kevin Kempton, the ALLGO study and challenge lead at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “I am impressed with the results of the challenge and the collaboration within the GrabCAD community....

The new electrode concept comes from the laboratory of Ju Li, the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and professor of materials science and engineering. It is described in the journal Nature, in a paper co-authored by Yuming Chen and Ziqiang Wang at MIT, along with 11 others at MIT and in Hong Kong, Florida, and Texas. The design is part of a concept for developing safe all-solid-state batteries, dispensing with the liquid or polymer gel usually used as the electrolyte material between the battery’s two electrodes....

One of the most recognizable constellations in the sky is Orion, the Hunter. Among Orion’s best-known features is the “belt,” consisting of three bright stars in a line, each of which can be seen without a telescope. The westernmost star in Orion’s belt is known officially as Delta Orionis. (Since it has been observed for centuries by sky-watchers around the world, it also goes by many other names in various cultures, like “Mintaka”....

Through analysis of ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica, a research team led by Lund University in Sweden has found evidence of an extreme solar storm that occurred about 9,200 years ago. What puzzles the researchers is that the storm took place during one of the sun’s more quiet phases – during which it is generally believed our planet is less exposed to such events. The sun is a prerequisite for all life on Earth....

In a recently published study led by a team of scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), it was found that the pulses from the magnetar become significantly fainter when going from low to high radio frequencies: it has a ‘steep’ radio spectrum. Its radio emission is not only steeper than the four other radio magnetars, but also steeper than ~90% of all pulsars! Additionally, they found the magnetar had become over 10 times brighter in only two weeks....

The researcher team — led by Northwestern University and École Polytechnique in France — was surprised and puzzled to watch the particle curve around the obstacle and then stick to its backside. The obstacle, it seemed, had the particle effectively trapped. After a series of simulations and experiments, the researchers unraveled the physics at play behind this strange phenomenon. Three factors caused the unexpected trapping behavior: electrostatics, hydrodynamics, and erratic random movement of the surrounding molecules....

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the mission. Two mission specialists will be announced later, following review by NASA and its international partners. The mission is expected to launch no earlier than 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Moghbeli, Mogensen, and the additional mission specialists will join an expedition crew aboard the space station....

Engineers are welding the core stage structures for the Artemis III mission, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface, through a process called friction stir welding. Each of the structures for the core stage has rings that attach the pieces together to produce one stage during final assembly. The rings are trimmed down to 1/1000th of an inch at the ring machining center then sent to another part of the facility for the next phase of manufacturing....

The sun emitted a mid-level flare, peaking at 3:16 a.m. EDT on April 11, 2013. The M6.5 flare on the morning of April 11, 2013, was also associated with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), another solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later. CMEs can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. Experimental NASA research models show that the CME began at 3:36 a....

In a dusty robotics yard at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the Shapeshifter team is testing a 3D-printed prototype of this unusual explorer. A contraption that looks like a drone encased in an elongated hamster wheel rolls across the yard, then splits in half. Once separated, the two halves rise on small propellers, effectively becoming flying drones for aerial exploration. These 3D-printed parts are only the beginning; the team imagines a series of up to 12 robots that could transform into a swimming probe or a team of cave explorers....

The color-enhanced image was taken at 11:31 p.m. PDT on May 23, 2018 (2:31 a.m. EDT on May 24), as the spacecraft performed its 13th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 44,300 miles (71,400 kilometers) from the planet’s cloud tops, above a southern latitude of 71 degrees. JunoCam takes advantage of Juno’s unique polar orbit, studying the atmospheric dynamics and clouds right up to Jupiter’s poles, which no spacecraft has ever done before....

The intrepid probe continues to send volumes of pictures and other data from the July 14 encounter – stashed on its digital recorders – over a radio link to Earth stretching billions of miles. As the pictures reach home, they remind us that 2015 was the year a small world on the planetary frontier captured our imagination, thanks to an inspired team of government, academic and commercial partners determined to expand the frontiers of science and explore an entirely new realm of the solar system....

An engine firing on January 11, 2012 will be the biggest maneuver that NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft will perform on its flight between Earth and Mars. The action will use a choreographed sequence of firings of eight thruster engines during a period of about 175 minutes beginning at 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST or 2300 Universal Time). It will redirect the spacecraft more precisely toward Mars to land at Gale Crater....