Taking the pulse of a supermassive black hole
(Phys.org) —Rare heartbeat-like pulsations detected from a supermassive black hole may grant scientists better insight into these exotic objects, according to two University of Alabama astronomers who...
View ArticleBetter batteries possible with new spectroscopic technique
(Phys.org) —A new technique developed at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source could help scientists better understand and improve the materials required for high-performance lithium-ion batteries that...
View ArticleSoftware allows digital brushstrokes
(Phys.org) —A good painter uses simple strokes of a brush to bring texture, contrast and depth to a blank canvas. In comparison, computer programs can have difficulty reproducing the complex and varied...
View ArticleSolarCity to back up solar with Tesla batteries
The solar panel installer SolarCity is beginning to address one of solar power's big drawbacks: The sun doesn't always shine.
View ArticleProbing for biological polymorphs
(Phys.org) —Humans have devised many amazing and versatile materials (such as plastic and steel) that do not exist in nature. On the other hand, nature has created structures and substances that...
View ArticleWhat happened to comet ISON?
Astronomers have long known that some comets like it hot. Several of the greatest comets in history have flown close to the sun, puffing themselves up with solar heat, before they became naked-eye...
View ArticleMicrosoft joins move to encrypt Web traffic
Microsoft is joining the movement to encrypt traffic that flows across its networks, citing "serious concerns" about government surveillance.
View ArticleResearchers propose foundering of lower island-arc crust explains continental...
(Phys.org) —Oliver Jagoutz of MIT and Mark Behn of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are suggesting in a paper they've had published in the journal Nature, that foundering of lower island-arc crust...
View ArticleDNA helicity and elasticity explained on the nanoscale
A simple mechanical model to effectively implement the well-known double-stranded structure and the elasticity of DNA on a nano-meter scale has been developed by Jae-Hyung Jeon and Wokyung Sung of...
View ArticleProtein clumps as memory: Yeast cells are able to form a memory through an...
Yeast has a somewhat complicated love life: on the one hand, a mother cell can produce genetically identical daughter cells through mitosis (cell division); on the other hand, yeast cells, who exist in...
View ArticleMembrane enzymes 'stop and frisk' proteins indiscriminately
For what is believed to be the first time, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have illuminated the inner workings of an important class of enzymes located inside the outer envelopes of cells....
View ArticleScientists describe how mosquitoes are attracted to humans
Female mosquitoes, which can transmit deadly diseases like malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus and filariasis, are attracted to us by smelling the carbon dioxide we exhale, being capable of tracking...
View ArticleNew method of DNA editing allows synthetic biologists to unlock secrets of a...
A group of University of Illinois researchers, led by Centennial Chair Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Huimin Zhao, has demonstrated the use of an innovative DNA...
View ArticleAstronomers discover planet that shouldn't be there
An international team of astronomers, led by a University of Arizona graduate student, has discovered the most distantly orbiting planet found to date around a single, sun-like star. It is the first...
View ArticleProteins' passing phases revealed
A new method to identify previously hidden details about the structures of proteins may speed the process of novel drug design, according to scientists at Rice University.
View ArticleAncient 'fig wasp' lived tens of millions of years before figs
A 115-million-year-old fossilized wasp from northeast Brazil presents a baffling puzzle to researchers. The wasp's ovipositor, the organ through which it lays its eggs, looks a lot like those of...
View ArticleTeam creates brand associations by mining millions of images from social media
The images people share on social media—photos of favorite products and places, or of themselves at bars, sporting events and weddings—could be valuable to marketers assessing their customers'...
View ArticleHacker modifies toy drone to hack and take over other toy drones
(Phys.org) —Well known hacker Samy Kamkar has figured out a way to program a store-bought drone to take away control of other store-bought drones from their owners, and then to give the enslaved drones...
View ArticleJILA team develops 'spinning trap' to measure electron roundness
JILA researchers have developed a method of spinning electric and magnetic fields around trapped molecular ions to measure whether the ions' tiny electrons are truly round—research with major...
View ArticleSlippery fault unleashed destructive Tohoku-Oki earthquake and tsunami
For the first time, scientists have measured the frictional heat produced by the fault slip during an earthquake. Their results, published December 5 in Science, show that friction on the fault was...
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