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Using Gold Nanoparticles to Rapidly Detect Cancer DNA

An atomic force microscopy image showing the interaction behavior of genomic DNA with the gold surface. Image credit: Sina et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07214-w.
Dec 11, 2018 by Sam Sander Effron

Using as little as 1 picogram of purified DNA sample (think 2.5 trillion times lighter than a penny), scientists at the University of Brisbane have developed a method that permits the swift detection of cancer DNA in a patient sample of cell-free DNA, which circulates systemically. These researchers took advantage of the finding that cancers have drastically different patterns of methylation on their genomic sequences than normal cells. These endow...

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An artist concept of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / Goddard.

OSIRIS-REx Finds Water-Bearing Minerals on Asteroid Bennu

Dec 11, 2018 by News Staff

New data from two instruments on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft — the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal...

This illustration shows the position of NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, outside of the heliosphere, a protective bubble created by the Sun that extends well past the orbit of Pluto. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Voyager 2 Reaches Interstellar Space

Dec 11, 2018 by News Staff

Forty-one years after it launched into space, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere. Called the heliopause, this...

This image from InSight’s robotic-arm mounted Instrument Deployment Camera shows the instruments on the spacecraft’s deck, with the Martian surface of Elysium Planitia in the background. The color-calibrated picture was acquired on December 4, 2018 (Sol 8); in the foreground, a copper-colored hexagonal cover protects the SEIS seismometer; the gray dome behind SEIS is the wind and thermal shield, which will be placed over SEIS; to the left is a black cylindrical instrument, the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3); HP3 will drill up to 16 feet (5 m) below the Martian surface, measuring heat released from the interior of the planet; above the deck is InSight’s robotic arm, with the stowed grapple directly facing the camera; to the right can be seen a small portion of one of the two solar panels that help power InSight and part of the UHF communication antenna. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight Records Sound of Wind on Mars

Dec 10, 2018 by News Staff

On December 1, 2018, NASA’s InSight lander captured a haunting low rumble caused by vibrations from the Martian wind, estimated to be blowing between...

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

SETI Astronomers Find No Evidence for Artificial Transmitters on Oumuamua

Dec 7, 2018 by News Staff

In October 2017, a fast moving object of extrasolar origin, named ‘Oumuamua, was discovered close to the Earth with a ground-based telescope in Hawai’i....

A reticulated siren (Siren reticulata) from the waters of northwestern Florida (Okaloosa County) rests on an aquarium floor. Image credit: Pierson Hill.

Reticulated Siren: New Salamander Species Discovered

Dec 7, 2018 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers has discovered a new species of salamander living in Alabama and the Panhandle region of Florida, the United States. A reticulated...

An artist’s impression of Weewarrasaurus pobeni. Image credit: James Kuether.

New Dinosaur Species Discovered in Australia: Weewarrasaurus pobeni

Dec 6, 2018 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Australia have found a fossil fragment from a new species of ornithopod dinosaur that walked the Earth approximately 100 million years...

The moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita). Image credit: Alexander Vasenin / CC BY-SA 3.0.

First Jellyfish Genome Sheds Light on Evolution of Animal Complexity

Dec 6, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States and Germany has sequenced and analyzed the genome of the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita). The results show...

The current, widely recognized model of the Universe, called LambdaCDM, tells us nothing about what dark matter and dark energy are like physically. We only know about them because of the gravitational effects they have on other, observable matter. Dr. Farnes’ model offers a new explanation. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Livio / Hubble 20th Anniversary Team, STScI.

Negative-Mass Dark Fluid: Astonishing New Theory Could Explain Universe’s Missing 95%

Dec 5, 2018 by News Staff

The standard cosmological model known as LambdaCDM can only explain 5% of the observable Universe. The remaining 95% is famously made up almost entirely...

The collision of two black holes is seen in this still from a computer simulation. Image credit: SXS.

Physicists Detect Four New Gravitational Waves

Dec 4, 2018 by News Staff

The twin LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, and the Virgo...

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on a mission to explore the asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu

Dec 4, 2018 by News Staff

After traveling through space for more than two years and 1.2 billion miles (2 billion km), NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource...

ALMA image of Europa. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / S. Trumbo et al.

Astronomers Create Global Thermal Maps of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Dec 3, 2018 by News Staff

A new series of daytime images of Europa from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has helped astronomers create first global thermal...

A stone tool from Ain Boucherit, Algeria. Image credit: Sahnouni et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aau0008.

2.4-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools, Cutmarked Bones Found in Algeria

Nov 30, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists has uncovered 2.4-million-year-old stone artifacts and cutmarked bones at the archaeological...

The Lascaux Shaft Scene: a panel with a rhino, a duck/goose and a disemboweled aurochs/bison with a dying man on the main wall. Image credit: © Ministère de la Culture / Centre National de la Préhistoire / Norbert Aujoulat.

European Paleolithic Art Reveals Use of Complex Astronomy

Nov 29, 2018 by News Staff

As far back as 40,000 years ago (Upper Paleolithic), ancient people kept track of time using relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy. The Lascaux Shaft...

Mitochondrial DNA is the small circular chromosome found inside mitochondria, which are organelles found in cells and sites of energy production. Image credit: Darryl Leja, NHGRI.

Study Shows Mitochondrial DNA Can Be Passed Through Fathers

Nov 29, 2018 by The Conversation

Some things you learn in school turn out not to be true, for example that there are just five senses or three states of matter. Now cutting-edge research...

An artist’s impression of Elasmotherium sp. Image credit: W. S. Van der Merwe, www.deviantart.com/willemsvdmerw.

Giant Siberian Rhinoceros Lived alongside Early Modern Humans

Nov 28, 2018 by News Staff

For a long time it was believed that a giant rhinoceros called Elasmotherium sibericum went extinct around 200,000 years ago — well before the...

InSight Successfully Lands on Mars, Sends First Images

Nov 27, 2018 by News Staff

After an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (458 million km) journey from Earth, NASA’s InSight lander successfully touched down Monday, November 26,...

An artist’s impression of the hot-Jupiter HD 2685b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Discovers New Hot Jupiter: HD 2685b

Nov 27, 2018 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a hot-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting the early F-type star...

This is an illustration showing a simulated view of NASA’s InSight lander about to land on the surface of Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight Landing on Mars: Watch Live

Nov 26, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet...

The cellular compartment of the tumor microenvironment is made up of tumor cells, immune cells, and stromal cells. Image credit: National Cancer Institute.

Oncolytic Virus Developed that Targets Cancer Cells and Associated Stromal Cells

Nov 26, 2018 by Sam Sander Effron

Researchers from the University of Oxford and PsiOxus Therapeutics have successfully adapted an oncolytic adenovirus that specifically kills cancer cells,...

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