New research using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) suggests supermassive black holes in the early Universe underwent sporadic yet intense periods of growth in the first billion years after the Big Bang. Scientists determined this by comparing theoretical models to data from the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S), the deepest X-ray image ever obtained, and other Chandra surveys. This central region of the CDF-S, where red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high-energy X-rays detected by Chandra, is seen in the main panel....

The diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease has shaken many lives, with over 10 million people currently living with the condition. Although there is no cure, early detection of symptoms can lead to better management of the disease. As the disease progresses, changes in speech can occur alongside other symptoms. Lithuanian researcher Rytis Maskeliūnas from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) along with colleagues from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) attempted to detect early signs of Parkinson’s disease through analysis of voice data....

The study, which is the most comprehensive of its type to date, examined the extinction risk and physical features (such as wing length and beak shape) of 99% of all extant bird species. The researchers found that in simulated scenarios in which all threatened and near-threatened bird species became extinct, there would be a significantly greater reduction in the physical (or morphological) diversity among birds than in scenarios where extinctions were random....

Normally hardly compatible Plastics are made of long chains of one or several chemical basic modules, so-called monomers. Plastics distinguished by high crystallinity and water repellency, therefore mechanically highly resilient and stable, are widely used. A well-known example is high-density polyethylene (HDPE), whose basic modules consist of non-polar hydrocarbon molecules. What may on the one side be advantageous properties for applications can also have adverse effects: It is very energy intensive and inefficient to recycle such plastics and recover the basic modules....

Nearsightedness is a common eye disorder that can lead to irreversible vision impairment in older individuals and often develops in childhood. The condition is believed to be caused by a combination of genetics, limited time spent outdoors, and prolonged years of education. Genetic studies have identified more than 450 genetic variants associated with an increased risk of nearsightedness, but few have been shown to increase risk specifically in people with the associated lifestyle factors....

An international team of astrophysicists led by Australian Professor Matthew Bailes, from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence of Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), has shown exciting new evidence for ‘frame-dragging’ — how the spinning of a celestial body twists space and time — after tracking the orbit of an exotic stellar pair for almost two decades. The data, which is further evidence for Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, is published today (January 31, 2020) in the prestigious journal, Science....

In a new study published yesterday (October 8, 2019) in the journal Biological Conservation, an international team of researchers recommends the need for additional measures to protect and conserve one of the most iconic Antarctic species — the emperor penguin (Aptenodyptes forsteri). The researchers reviewed over 150 studies on the species and its environment as well as its behavior and character in relation to its breeding biology. Current climate change projections indicate that rising temperatures and changing wind patterns will impact negatively the sea ice on which emperor penguins breed, and some studies indicate that emperor populations will decrease by more than 50% over the current century....

EPFL scientists have combined two materials with advantageous electronic properties – graphene and molybdenite – into a flash memory prototype that is promising in terms of performance, size, flexibility, and energy consumption. After the molybdenite chip, we now have molybdenite flash memory, a significant step forward in the use of this new material in electronics applications. The news is even more impressive because scientists from EPFL’s Laboratory of Nanometer Electronics and Structures (LANES) came up with a truly original idea: they combined the advantages of this semiconducting material with those of another amazing material – graphene....

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have captured this eye-catching image of planetary nebula PN A66 33 — usually known as Abell 33. Created when an aging star blew off its outer layers, this beautiful blue bubble is, by chance, aligned with a foreground star, and bears an uncanny resemblance to a diamond engagement ring. This cosmic gem is unusually symmetric, appearing to be almost circular on the sky....

The EPA’s top administrator said she didn’t know. Whether she didn’t know the percentage precisely and didn’t want to generalize or couldn’t even hazard a ballpark guess, the attack was on. Either way, the answer to that question is there is a lot less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than most people think, and according to University of Alberta climatology researcher Andrew Bush, that’s all the more reason to be wary of even the slightest changes....

Jack Wilson, a post-doctoral researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, led a team that reprocessed data collected from 2002 to 2009 by the neutron spectrometer instrument on NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft. In bringing the lower-resolution compositional data into sharper focus, the scientists spotted unexpectedly high amounts of hydrogen — which at high latitudes is a sign of buried water ice — around sections of the Martian equator....

The discovery was published as the cover of the Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. “The species is characterized by males being dwarf, with their minute bodies always riding on the dorsal side of females,” said paper author Naoto Jimi, postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Polar Research, Research Organization of Information and Systems. “It is the first case of extreme sexual size dimorphism in scale worms.” Scale worms are found in every ocean, from low tidal areas to deep seas....

The international team, led by the University of Cambridge, found that calcium can mediate the interaction between small membranous structures inside nerve endings, which are important for neuronal signaling in the brain, and alpha-synuclein, the protein associated with Parkinson’s disease. Excess levels of either calcium or alpha-synuclein may be what starts the chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, represent another step towards understanding how and why people develop Parkinson’s....

Spacesuits are not only a classic icon of human space exploration, they are also a personalized spaceship that mimics all of the protections from the harsh environment of space and the basic resources that Earth and its atmosphere provide. The new suit that will be worn on Artemis missions is called the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU for short. Its history is a tale of engineering evolution, traced all the way back to the Mercury space suits that were, themselves, upgraded Navy high-altitude flight suits....

Meaning ‘the capes’ in Spanish, Los Cabos is a region composed of mountains and coastal plains and is largely dry and rocky with over 320 days of sunshine each year. The area encompasses the two cities of Cabo San Lucas (visible in the bottom-left) and San José del Cabo (visible to the right). The area along the coast between the two cities, often referred to as the Los Cabos Resort Corridor or simply the Corridor, stretches around 30 km along the highway and features a plethora of beaches dotted primarily with hotels, resorts and golf courses....

Benben Saxum and 11 other features on the asteroid are the first to receive official Bennu feature names approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features. The accepted names were proposed by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx team members, who have been mapping the asteroid in detail over the last year. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, is currently visiting the asteroid and is scheduled to collect a sample from Bennu’s surface this summer....

If your lip starts to tingle and itch, it often means that you’re about to get a cold sore. The result is small, painful blisters filled with the highly contagious herpes simplex virus (HSV). About 80 percent of the global population carries the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Once a person contracts the virus, it remains in the body for the rest of their life and usually goes entirely unnoticed....

There was a period in the very early Universe — known as the “cosmic dark ages” — when elementary particles, formed in the Big Bang, had combined to form neutral hydrogen but no stars or galaxies existed yet to light up the Universe. This period began less than half a million years after the Big Bang and ended with the formation of the first stars. While this stage in the evolution of our Universe is indicated by computer simulations, direct evidence is sparse....

SAM: Box jellies can really ruin your day, possibly…end your life. ANDREW: Box jellyfish are not cute. SAM: Andrew! They are cute, they’re very cute. If looks could kill, at least these are really cute looks. One of these five adorable animals might be the last thing you ever see. 1. The Slow Loris Very few mammals are known to be venomous—the slow loris is one of them. Toxins from one Indonesian species of slow loris come from a gland on the surface of the slow loris’ arm that they use to chemically communicate with potential mates....

Everyone who has ever cooked even a single dish knows that replacing one ingredient can lead to significant changes in its taste, color, and other characteristics. This is especially pertinent for products made from a small number of ingredients. How can modern science aid bread making or brewing? People have been baking bread and brewing beer for millennia, and it would seem that it would be extremely hard to discover something fundamentally new in these fields....