Now an MIT researcher has observed a similar phenomenon in a completely different system: Earth’s carbon cycle. Daniel Rothman, professor of geophysics and co-director of the Lorenz Center in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, has found that when the rate at which carbon dioxide enters the oceans pushes past a certain threshold — whether as the result of a sudden burst or a slow, steady influx — the Earth may respond with a runaway cascade of chemical feedbacks, leading to extreme ocean acidification that dramatically amplifies the effects of the original trigger....

Hebrew University Researcher Introduces New Approach to Three-Body Problem, Predicts its Outcome Statistics. The “three-body problem,” the term coined for predicting the motion of three gravitating bodies in space, is essential for understanding a variety of astrophysical processes as well as a large class of mechanical problems, and has occupied some of the world’s best physicists, astronomers and mathematicians for over three centuries. Their attempts have led to the discovery of several important fields of science; yet its solution remained a mystery....

One of the biggest mysteries in astroparticle physics has been the origins of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, very high-energy neutrinos, and high-energy gamma rays. Now, a new theoretical model reveals that they all could be shot out into space after cosmic rays are accelerated by powerful jets from supermassive black holes. The model explains the natural origins of all three types of “cosmic messenger” particles simultaneously, and is the first astrophysical model of its kind based on detailed numerical computations....

Because of these exotic conditions, scientists still do not understand what exactly neutron stars themselves are made from, their so-called “equation of state” (EoS). Determining this is a major goal of modern astrophysics research. A new piece of the puzzle, constraining the range of possibilities, has been discovered by a pair of scholars at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS): Carolyn Raithel, John N. Bahcall Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences; and Elias Most, Member in the School and John A....

Using far-UVC light in places where people gather indoors could help prevent the next pandemic. A new type of ultraviolet light that is safe for people took less than five minutes to reduce the level of indoor airborne microbes by more than 98%, a joint study by scientists at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and in the U.K. has found. Even as microbes continued to be sprayed into the room, the level remained very low as long as the lights were on....

In a pair of recently published papers, Michael Rawlins, a professor in the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s geosciences department and associate director of the Climate System Research Center, has made significant gains in filling out our understanding of the Arctic’s carbon cycle—or the way that carbon is transferred between the land, ocean, and atmosphere. In order to better understand future trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and its associated global warming, we need a fuller picture of how carbon cycles between reservoirs in our world....

While passing over the North Island of New Zealand, an astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS) took a photograph of Mount Ruapehu, offering a nadir (straight down) view of the mountain and Tongariro National Park. Ruapehu is an active stratovolcano that stands 2,797 meters (9,177 feet) tall at its highest point. It is the tallest mountain on the North Island. Near the summit lies Crater Lake (Te Wai ā-moe), which is heated by a hydrothermal system within the volcano....

Neutron stars have been called the zombies of the cosmos. They shine even though they’re technically dead, occasionally feeding on neighboring stars if they venture too close. Interestingly, these unusual objects, born when a massive star extinguishes its fuel and collapses under its own gravity, also may help future space travelers navigate to Mars and other distant destinations. NASA recently selected a new mission called the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) to not only reveal the physics that make neutron stars the densest objects in nature, but also to demonstrate a groundbreaking navigation technology that could revolutionize the agency’s ability to travel to the far reaches of the solar system and beyond....

Prof. L. Q. Mai has led a research team at Wuhan University of Technology aiming to improve the electrochemical performance of electrode materials. They have developed a facile and general carbon coating technology. The unique NiCo nanodots decorated carbon shell was constructed on the as-prepared Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 nanoparticles masterly on this basis. The obtained [email protected]&NiCo cathode exhibits enhanced cycling and rate capability with a capacity retention of 95% after 100 cycles at 0....

Whilst nanomaterials have benefited a wide range of industries and revolutionized everyday life, there are concerns over potential adverse effects — including toxic effects following accumulation in different organs and indirect effects from transport of co-pollutants. The European Union H2020-funded NanoSolveIT project is developing a ground-breaking computer-based Integrated Approach to Testing and Assessment (IATA) for the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials. Over the last two years, researchers from the University of Birmingham have worked with experts at NovaMechanics, in Nicosia, Cyprus to develop a decision support system in the form of both stand-alone open software and a Cloud platform....

GJ436 is a star that has already made much ink to flow, as it hosts a exoplanet nicknamed the hairy planet that evaporates like a comet. In this study, researchers at UNIGE showed that in addition to its huge cloud of gas, the planet GJ436b also has a very special orbit. It is “polar”: instead of turning in the equatorial plane of the star, the planet passes almost above the stellar poles....

The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science on February 8, 2020, was co-directed by Peter Ungar, Distinguished Professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas. This greater durophagy – animal eating behavior suggesting the consumption of hard objects – among the dog-like canids means they likely consumed bones and other less desirable food scraps within human settlement areas, Ungar said. It provides supporting evidence that there were two types of canids at the site, each with a distinct diet, which is consistent with other evidence of early-stage domestication....

The study, published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, found that celebrations that involve a social gathering, eating or drinking, and the intentional recognition of a positive life event can increase perceived social support. Previous research has shown that perceived social support, or the belief that one has a network of people who care about them and are available to provide help and support, is linked to improved health and well-being outcomes, such as increased lifespan and reduced anxiety and depression....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Neurology. The reported exercise didn’t have to be strenuous. Going for a walk several times a week sufficed. However, the scientists report that doing exercises that challenged the mind had little impact in stopping brain shrinkage. “Our study showed no real benefit to participating in mentally and socially stimulating activities on brain size, as seen on MRI scans, over the three-year time frame....

Excitonium has a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign… well… excited! Professor of Physics Peter Abbamonte and graduate students Anshul Kogar and Mindy Rak, with input from colleagues at Illinois, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Amsterdam, have proven the existence of this enigmatic new form of matter, which has perplexed scientists since it was first theorized almost 50 years ago. The team studied non-doped crystals of the oft-analyzed transition metal dichalcogenide titanium diselenide (1T-TiSe2) and reproduced their surprising results five times on different cleaved crystals....

“Implementing our approach with magnetic materials is a promising path towards efficient magneto-optical effects,” said CCNY physicist Vinod M. Menon, whose group led the study. “Achieving this goal can enable their use for applications in everyday devices like lasers, or for digital data storage.” Dr. Florian Dirnberger, the study’s lead author, believes that their work exposed a largely unexplored realm of strong interactions between light and magnetic crystals. “Research in recent years brought forth a number of atomically flat magnets that are exceptionally well-suited to be studied by our approach,” he noted....

Physicists have reproduced a pattern resembling the cosmic microwave background radiation in a laboratory simulation of the Big Bang, using ultracold cesium atoms in a vacuum chamber at the University of Chicago. “This is the first time an experiment like this has simulated the evolution of structure in the early universe,” said Cheng Chin, professor in physics. Chin and his associates reported their feat in the August 1 edition of Science Express, and it will appear soon in the print edition of Science....

Extreme stellar activity and winds, especially in M dwarf stars, play an important role in the development of a planet and its atmosphere. These kinds of activity are linked to a star’s magnetic activity, but unfortunately, models are still unable to predict how atmospheric initial conditions evolve under intense radiation environments. Nevertheless, progress has been made using simple models. In the case of Proxima Centauri b, scientists have found that it is probably subject to wind pressures ten thousand times larger than occur on the Earth....

Matter is heated to millions of degrees as it is pulled toward a black hole. This hot matter glows in X-rays. Researchers are using measurements of the polarization of these X-rays to test and refine models that describe how black holes swallow matter, becoming some of the most luminous sources of light — including X-rays — in the universe. The new measurements from Cygnus X-1, published recently by the journal Science, represent the first observations of a mass-accreting black hole from the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, an international collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI)....

The best hope for people with an inherited form of kidney disease that causes kidney failure is dialysis or a kidney transplant. But a study led by Yale researchers reveals a potential strategy for developing new drug therapies for these patients. Senior author Barbara Ehrlich and her team used mouse models and human tissue samples to study one of the two mutated genes that lead to autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)....