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New Measurements of Fine-Structure Constant Suggest Laws of Nature Not as Constant as Previously Thought

This artist’s impression shows how ULAS J1120+0641, a very distant quasar powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, may have looked. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.
Apr 29, 2020 by News Staff

The fine-structure constant is a measure of electromagnetism — one of the four fundamental forces in nature; the others are gravity, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, a team of researchers reported that four new measurements of light emitted from ULAS J1120+0641, a quasar located approximately 12.9 billion light-years away, reaffirm past studies that have measured tiny variations...

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Hubble resolved roughly 30 fragments of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on April 20, 2020. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Jewitt, University of California, Los Angeles / Q. Ye, University of Maryland.

Hubble Space Telescope Witnesses Breakup of Comet ATLAS

Apr 29, 2020 by News Staff

New images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the long-period comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20 and 23, 2020, provide the sharpest views...

SEM image of Bacillus subtilis biofilm. Image credit: A. Bridier et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044506.

Bacterial Communities Have Memory, New Study Shows

Apr 29, 2020 by News Staff

Collectives of bacteria, or biofilms, stimulated with light remembered the exposure hours after the initial stimulus, according to new research. Reported...

Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae. Image credit: Dennis King.

New Species of Moray Eel Discovered

Apr 28, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

A team of researchers from South Africa has discovered that the Indo-Pacific undulated moray eel (Gymnothorax undulatus), first described by the French...

An artist’s impression of a rocky asteroid. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge.

High-Inclination Centaur Asteroids Came from Interstellar Space: Study

Apr 28, 2020 by Natali Anderson

At least 17 high-inclination Centaurs and two trans-Neptunian objects were captured by the Solar System from the interstellar medium, according to a new...

Glowing young tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum). Image credit: Planta.

Researchers Create Glowing Tobacco Plants

Apr 27, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists has genetically engineered tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) with a fungal bioluminescence system. This biological...

Sahara was Earth’s Most Dangerous Place 100 Million Years Ago

Apr 27, 2020 by News Staff

A large number of ferocious predators, including predatory dinosaurs, pterosaurs and crocodile-like creatures, made Sahara the most dangerous place on...

This Hubble image shows the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbor NGC 2020. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / STScI.

NASA and ESA Unveil Turbulent Stellar Nursery as Official Hubble 30th Anniversary Image

Apr 24, 2020 by News Staff

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers used the telescope to take a portrait of the giant...

Lava streaming from an active vent during the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea volcano. Image credit: U.S. Geological Survey.

Extreme Rainfall Triggered 2018 Eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Researchers Say

Apr 23, 2020 by News Staff

The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii was likely initiated by prolonged, and at times extreme, rainfall in the months leading up to the event,...

This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow) isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. Image credit: NIAID.

Could COVID-19 Pandemic Be Controlled Using Existing Vaccines Like MMR or BCG?

Apr 23, 2020 by The Conversation

The race is on to develop a vaccine that can protect us from the COVID-19 pandemic. An impressive 115 vaccine candidates are currently being investigated,...

The Unified Geologic Map of the Moon. Image credit: U.S. Geological Survey / Lunar and Planetary Institute / South Dakota School of Mines and Technology / NASA / JAXA.

Researchers Create Comprehensive Geologic Map of Moon

Apr 23, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has released...

A composite image of Venus as seen by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft. Image credit: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

MESSENGER Finds Chemically Distinct Regions in Atmosphere of Venus

Apr 22, 2020 by News Staff

A new analysis of archival data from NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft reveals a sudden rise...

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (red) infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample. Image credit: NIAID.

Study Reveals New Clues about Biology of COVID-19

Apr 22, 2020 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Cell pinpoints the likely cell types SARS-CoV-2, a new coronavirus behind the COVID-19 disease, infects; it also shows...

Fomalhaut b Doesn’t Exist, Astronomers Say

Apr 21, 2020 by News Staff

The directly-imaged massive exoplanet Fomalhaut b is actually a dispersing cloud of dust, produced by a catastrophic collision between two large planetesimals...

This rendering depicts the secretion of cytokines, the tiny pink bits, from a cell. Image credit: Scientificanimations.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Antibody-Like Proteins May Halt COVID-19 Cytokine Storm

Apr 21, 2020 by News Staff

Cytokines are signaling proteins that stimulate inflammation and other immune responses. ‘Cytokine storm,’ or cytokine release syndrome, plays a critical...

Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov on December 9, 2019. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / K. Meech, University of Hawaii / D. Jewitt, University of California, Los Angeles.

Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Has Unusual Chemical Composition

Apr 21, 2020 by News Staff

Comets spend most of their lives at large distances from any star, during which time their interior compositions remain relatively unaltered. Cometary...

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample. Image credit: NIAID.

Genetic Variability in Immune System May Affect Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2

Apr 20, 2020 by News Staff

Genetic variability in the human immune system may affect susceptibility to and severity of infection by SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus which causes the...

Star Hurtling around Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Validates Einstein’s General Relativity

Apr 17, 2020 by News Staff

At the center of the Milky Way lurks Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole that is four million times the mass of the Sun. Located 26,000 light-years...

Neutrophils forming NETs in cell culture. Note the expelled DNA strings (arrows). Scanning electron microscopy of neutrophils 3 h after plating and coculturing with 4T1 breast cancer cells. Scale bar - 25 µm. Image credit: Barnes et al, doi: 10.1084/jem.20200652.

Study Links Neutrophil Infiltration in Lungs to COVID-19 Symptoms

Apr 17, 2020 by News Staff

A little known yet powerful function of overactive white blood cells known as neutrophils — the ability to form neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)...

Red Dwarf Kepler-1649 Has Earth-Sized Exoplanet in Habitable Zone

Apr 16, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope have discovered an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a low-mass star called Kepler-1649. An...

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