A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star prompted the formation of the solar system. In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material. As cosmochemists, they look for remnants of stellar explosions in meteorites to help determine the conditions under which the solar system formed....

Prior research identified four distinct dating trajectories from 6th to 12th grade: Low, Increasing, High Middle School, and Frequent. In a new study published in the Journal of School Health, researchers found that adolescents who were not in a romantic relationship had good social skills and low depression, and fared better or equal to peers who dated. The study included 594 10th graders. Investigators compared the four dating groups using teacher ratings and student questionnaires....

Diet based mitigation may be used hand in hand with vaccination against Covid-19. The links between diet-related diseases and COVID-19 is now widely accepted based on scientific evidence. In this regard, obesity has been identified by the CDC as a strong risk factor for severe COVID-19 illness. Still, scientists trying to understand why Covid19 had mild symptoms in some and much more severe symptoms in others. Vaccination against COVID-19 is essential....

Their velvety black plumage is so dark it gives the illusion that adjacent patterns of color glow brilliantly, an effect much appreciated by mate-hunting females, according to the researchers. Optical measurements showed that these feather patches absorb up to 99.95% of the direct incident light, a percentage comparable to manmade ultra-black materials used in the lining of space telescopes. Microscopic structures of the wings even resemble those designed by engineers to create ultra-black materials used to facilitate light absorption in solar panels....

Astronomers analyzing a long-lasting blast of high-energy light observed in 2013 report finding features strikingly similar to those expected from an explosion from the universe’s earliest stars. If this interpretation is correct, the outburst validates ideas about a recently identified class of gamma-ray burst and serves as a stand-in for what future observatories may see as the last acts of the first stars. “One of the great challenges of modern astrophysics has been the quest to identify the first generation of stars to form in the universe, which we refer to as Population III stars,” explained lead scientist Luigi Piro, the director of research at the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology in Rome, a division of Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF)....

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have developed a new method for the active degradation of organic pollutants in solution by using swimming microengines. The mobile microcleaners consist of an outer iron and an inner platinum layer, thereby combining two functionalities. Hydrogen peroxide, which must be added to the contaminated solution, acts as fuel for the platinum micromotors and as reagent for degrading organic pollutants on the iron layer....

After trekking this summer through a narrow, sand-lined pass, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recently arrived in the “sulfate-bearing unit.” This long-sought region of Mount Sharp is enriched with abundant salty minerals. Scientists hypothesize that the minerals were left behind billions of years ago when the water dried up in streams and ponds. Assuming this hypothesis is correct, these minerals offer tantalizing clues as to how – and why – the Red Planet’s climate changed from being more Earth-like to the frozen desert it is today....

Astronomers have conjectured that these ripples also contain traces of an initial burst of expansion — the so-called inflation — which swelled the new universe by thirty-three orders of magnitude in a mere ten-to-the-power-minus-thirty-three seconds. Clues about the inflation should be faintly present in the way the cosmic ripples are curled, an effect that is expected to be perhaps one hundred times fainter than the ripples themselves. CfA astronomers and their colleagues, working at the South Pole, have been working to find evidence for such curling, the “B-mode polarization....

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have obtained what is likely the first direct observation of a forming planet still embedded in a thick disc of gas and dust. If confirmed, this discovery will greatly improve our understanding of how planets form and allow astronomers to test the current theories against an observable target. An international team led by Sascha Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) has studied the disc of gas and dust that surrounds the young star HD 100546, a relatively nearby neighbor located 335 light-years from Earth....

Instead of forming alone, our Galaxy merged with another large galaxy early in its life, around 10 billion years ago. The evidence is littered across the sky all around us, but it has taken Gaia and its extraordinary precision to show us what has been hiding in plain sight all along. Gaia measures the position, movement, and brightness of stars to unprecedented levels of accuracy. Using the first 22 months of observations, a team of astronomers led by Amina Helmi, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, looked at seven million stars – those for which the full 3D positions and velocities are available – and found that some 30,000 of them were part of an ‘odd collection’ moving through the Milky Way....

In my laboratory I study the molecular structure of RNA viruses – like the one that causes COVID-19 – and how they replicate and multiply in the host. As the virus infects more people and the pandemic spreads, SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve. This process of evolution is constant and it allows the virus to sample its environment and select changes that make it grow more efficiently. Thus, it is important to monitor viruses for such new mutations that could make them more deadly, more transmissible or both....

A cross-disciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and clinicians announced today that they have begun a Phase I clinical trial of an implantable vaccine to treat melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer. The effort is the fruit of a new model of translational research being pursued at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University that integrates the latest cancer research with bioinspired technology development. It was led by Wyss Core Faculty member David J....

Watching and helping from space … And a sample wide shot from Mars … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! Moon Mountain Named in Honor of NASA Mathematician A mesa-like mountain near the Moon’s South Pole has been named “Mons Mouton” after NASA mathematician Melba Mouton. In the early days of NASA, she led a group of mathematicians whose calculations helped track spacecraft in orbit....

Some recognition for a unique mission … And a small find that is a pretty big deal … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! Building a Legacy of Culture and Knowledge On February 10, NASA collaborated with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture for a Black History Month event highlighting contributions by African Americans to space and technology....

The MPA was created in 2010 around the Chagos Archipelago, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), banning all fishing there. The new study examined information on illegal fishing in the MPA — a vast (640,000 km²/250,000 mi2) area containing pristine and remote reefs. Enforcement data suggests more than 14,000 sharks were caught in the MPA from 2010-20, but discussions with fishers in the region suggest the true number was “considerably higher....

Deducing the scale of tsunamis from the ’roundness’ of deposited gravel. Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University and Ritsumeikan University have found a link between the “roundness” distribution of tsunami deposits and how far tsunamis reach inland. They sampled the “roundness” of gravel from different tsunamis in Koyadori, Japan, and found a common, abrupt change in composition approximately 40% of the “inundation distance” from the shoreline, regardless of tsunami magnitude. Estimates of ancient tsunami size from geological deposits may help inform effective disaster mitigation....

The air we breathe in our homes, schools, and workplaces can be polluted with harmful PFAS chemicals, according to a study published today (August 31, 2021) in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. A new measurement technique developed by the research team detected PFAS chemicals in the air of kindergarten classrooms, university offices and laboratories, and a home—some with levels as high as those measured at an outdoor clothing company and carpet stores selling PFAS-treated products....

The trash talk in the study was decidedly mild, with utterances such as “I have to say you are a terrible player,” and “Over the course of the game your playing has become confused.” Even so, people who played a game with the robot ― a commercially available humanoid robot known as Pepper ― performed worse when the robot discouraged them and better when the robot encouraged them. Lead author Aaron M....

The global scientific collaboration, led by the University of Leeds, reveals that a feared switch of the world’s undisturbed tropical forests from a carbon sink to a carbon source has begun. Intact tropical forests are well-known as a crucial global carbon sink, slowing climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in trees, a process known as carbon sequestration. Climate models typically predict that this tropical forest carbon sink will continue for decades....

One of South America’s most prominent volcanoes is producing early warning signals of a potential collapse, new research has shown. Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador — known locally as “The Black Giant” — is displaying the hallmarks of flank instability, which could result in a colossal landslide. New research, led by Dr. James Hickey from the Camborne School of Mines, has suggested that the volcano’s recent activity has led to significant rapid deformation on the western flank....