The scientists published their findings in the journal Nanotechnology. Currently, information is stored by printing the 1s and 0s of binary data as magnetic dots onto a metal surface. The amount of information that can be stored is relative to the spacing of the dots. The closer the dots are positioned, the more data can be stored. The dots have become so close together with current technology that reducing the spacing in between them would cause instability due to neighboring dots’ magnetic fields....

Previous research points to the effect of social stressors on developing upper respiratory infections, holding clues to COVID-19 risk. Months of self-isolation and social distancing have taken their toll. Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, has produced a body of research that suggests that interpersonal stressors many are experiencing during quarantine are associated with an increased vulnerability to upper respiratory viruses and perhaps coronavirus....

By 2030, Sentinel-6/Jason-CS will add to nearly 40 years of sea level records, providing us with the clearest, most sensitive measure of how humans are changing the planet and its climate. The mission consists of two identical satellites, Sentinel-6A and Sentinel-6B, launched five years apart. The Sentinel-6A spacecraft was on display for the media on November 15, 2019, for the last look in its clean room in Germany’s IABG space test center....

Researchers at Linköping University, LiU, have discovered that small changes in the structure of known tracer molecules can enable them to recognize either amyloid beta or tau. These small molecules, which have previously been developed by the researchers, bind to a specific target protein. When the molecules are illuminated, they emit a signal in the form of light at a different wavelength. “This opens the possibility of developing more advanced diagnostic tools for diseases in which amyloid beta and tau are involved,” says Peter Nilsson, professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology....

Researchers from Edith Cowan University in Perth Western Australia have developed a simple, low-cost way to predict preeclampsia, one of the leading causes of maternal-fetal mortality worldwide. Preeclampsia can cause devastating complications for women and babies, including brain and liver injury in mothers and premature birth. Survey gives early warning ECU researchers assessed the health status of 593 pregnant Ghanaian women using the Suboptimal Health Questionnaire. The Suboptimal Health Questionnaire was developed in 2009 by Professor Wei Wang from ECU’s School of Health and Medical Sciences....

Current hopes of detecting life on planets outside of our own Solar System rest on examining the planet’s atmosphere to identify chemical compounds that may be produced by living beings. Ozone – a variety of oxygen – is one such molecule, and is seen as one of the possible tracers that may allow us to detect life on another planet from afar. In Earth’s atmosphere, this compound forms the ozone layer that protects us from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation....

What are some skywatching highlights in June 2021? Catch Saturn and Jupiter in the morning, and the constellation Scorpius after dark! Plus skywatchers in the Northeast U.S., Eastern Canada, and Northern Europe can see a partial solar eclipse on June 10th. Video Transcript: What’s Up for June? A partial solar eclipse, the scorpion’s sting, and June is for Juno! Following last month’s total lunar eclipse, June brings us a solar eclipse....

Scientists, according to Andrey Savelyev, today have two versions of why this happens. The first is that a photon, after being converted into an electron (and this, as is known, in contrast to a neutral photon, a charged particle) falls into a magnetic field, deviates from its path, and does not reach the Earth, even after being transformed again in the photon. The second version explains the behavior of particles flying to our planet not by their interaction with an electromagnetic field, but by contact with hydrogen “spilled” in the intergalactic space....

Could this lead to an unsinkable ship? A wearable flotation device that will still float after being punctured? Electronic monitoring devices that can survive in long term in the ocean? All of the above, says Chunlei Guo, professor of optics and physics, whose lab describes the structure in a paper published today (November 6, 2019) in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. The structure uses a groundbreaking technique the lab developed for using femtosecond bursts of lasers to “etch” the surfaces of metals with intricate micro- and nanoscale patterns that trap air and make the surfaces superhydrophobic, or water repellent....

Senior author Julien Husson, a biophysicist at École Polytechnique near Paris, and collaborators showed previously that certain white blood cells, called T cells, can push and pull perceived threats via specialized connections. To exert such forces, a cell must reorganize its internal structure, making itself more rigid. In the current study, Husson’s team devised a micropipette rheometer to measure the rigidity, along with the viscosity, of a white blood cell during its transformation....

Comet C/2006 P1 — also known as Comet McNaught, named for astronomer Robert McNaught, who discovered it in August 2006 — was one of the brightest comets visible from Earth in the past 50 years. Throughout January 2007, the comet fanned across the Southern Hemisphere’s sky, so bright it was visible to the naked eye even during the day. McNaught belongs to a rarefied group of comets, dubbed the Great Comets and known for their exceptional brightness....

While daytime napping is common in Asia, especially in China, India, and Spain, people in the USA still nap less, and effectively sleep less overall. The concept of sleeping 8 hours a night is a relatively recent emphasis, but over the ages, people have been experimenting with different sleeping patterns. There is plenty of historical evidence of alternate sleep cycles. Given the chance, the human body will naturally settle into a split sleep schedule....

When astronomers explore the contents and constituent parts of a galaxy somewhere in the Universe, they use various techniques and tools. One of these is to spread out the incoming light from that galaxy into a spectrum and explore its properties. This is done in much the same way as a glass prism spreads white light into its constituent wavelengths to create a rainbow. By hunting for specific signs of emission from various elements within a galaxy’s spectrum of light — so-called emission lines — or, conversely, the signs of absorption from other elements — so-called absorption lines — astronomers can start to deduce what might be happening within....

Extreme precipitation in the tropics comes in many forms: thunderstorm complexes, flood-inducing monsoons, and wide-sweeping cyclones like the recent Hurricane Isaac. Global warming is expected to intensify extreme precipitation, but the rate at which it does so in the tropics has remained unclear. Now an MIT study has given an estimate based on model simulations and observations: With every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, the study finds, tropical regions will see 10 percent heavier rainfall extremes, with possible impacts for flooding in populous regions....

In their report in the February 28 issue of the journal Cell, they show that blocking this pathway—which involves interactions between tumor cells and the surrounding tissues—leads to regression of all four molecular subtypes of medulloblastoma in several mouse models. “Our finding that a pathway carrying signals from host cells to tumor cells via placental growth factor and its receptor neuropilin 1 is critical to the growth of medulloblastoma, regardless of molecular subtype, strongly supports evaluating antibodies against these proteins as a novel therapeutic approach to this pediatric cancer,” said Rakesh Jain, the A....

Results of a recent clinical study by researchers from Western University and University of Arkansas reveal the presence of a unique blood marker, which may further the understanding of possible gut linked environmental contributors to autism. The findings may also forecast potential blood tests for early screening to identify and potentially treat the condition, even before symptoms present. The discovery, made by Drs. Richard Frye and Stepan Melynk of Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas and Western’s Dr....

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have published pioneering research showing that a drug used to treat certain types of lymphoma was able to dislodge the dormant virus in patients receiving treatment for HIV. The existence of persistent reservoirs of dormant HIV in the immune system that are not attacked by anti-AIDS drugs is believed to be a major reason why infection reemerges once patients stop taking their medication....

New research from the University of Leicester suggests that processes similar to those that power Jupiter’s auroras could be responsible for radio emissions detected from a number of objects outside our solar system. University of Leicester planetary scientists have found new evidence suggesting auroras – similar to Earth’s Aurora Borealis – occur on bodies outside our solar system. Auroras occur on several planets within our solar system, and the brightest – on Jupiter – are 100 times brighter than those on Earth....

“We thought the usual way amyloids arise is when a protein, having for some reason gone bad or become misfolded, cues amyloid formation in a stochastic, unregulated process,” explains Kausik Si, Ph.D., Stowers investigator, and associate scientific director. “We found instead that amyloids can form at a very specific time, in a very specific cell, in a very specific way.” Amyloids are usually understood in the context of their associated neurotoxic or degenerative states....

The adulthood of a midge fly is decidedly brief — about three days. But a new study of its mating swarm may yield lasting benefits for analyses of bird flocks, fish schools, human crowds, and other forms of collective animal motion. “This is a field where there’s been almost no quantitative data,” said Nicholas T. Ouellette of the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science, principal investigator of the research, published on January 15 in the journal Scientific Reports....