Other Sciences News

Plutonium Acts Like Ions in a Salt, New Study Shows

This image shows a pellet of plutonium-238 dioxide. The pellet is glowing red because of the heat generated by the radioactive decay (primarily alpha) of the fuel. Such pellets were used in radioisotope thermoelectric generators that powered NASA’s Galilleo and Cassini spacecraft on missions to Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. Image credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Sep 16, 2016 by News Staff

Plutonium, a heavy, silvery metal with 15 isotopes that is produced by the neutron irradiation of natural uranium, is formidably complex element that does not always act as expected. New research published in the journal Physical Review B shows that plutonium does not share electrons when it bonds with fluorine atoms. This image shows a pellet of plutonium-238 dioxide. The pellet is glowing red because of the heat generated by the radioactive decay...

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Top and side views of 136-atom (upper row) and 374-atom (lower row) silver nanoclusters: the metal cores of these clusters have a diameter of 2 and 3 nm, respectively; silver atoms in the metal core are denoted by large orange sphere; the core is protected by a silver-thiol layer (green: silver; yellow: sulfur; carbon: gray. Image credit: Huayan Yang et al.

Researchers Create Record-Breaking Silver Nanoparticles

Sep 13, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has synthesized and characterized two diamond-shaped nanoclusters of 136 and 374 silver atoms. Top and side views...

Group work can harm memory, researchers say.

Study Shows Group Work Can Harm Memory

Sep 13, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published in the Psychological Bulletin reveals that collaborating in a group to remember information is harmful. Group work can harm memory,...

Geographic distribution of the 6,452 word lists analyzed in this study. Colors distinguish different linguistic macroareas, regions with relatively little or no contact between them (but with much internal contact between their populations). These are North America (orange), South America (dark green), Eurasia (blue), Africa (green), Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands (red), and Australia (fuchsia). Image credit: Damián E. Blasi et al.

Unrelated Languages Often Use Same Sounds for Common Objects and Ideas, Research Finds

Sep 13, 2016 by News Staff

A careful statistical examination of words from 6,000+ languages shows that humans tend to use the same sounds for common objects and ideas, no matter...

A colorized scanning electron micrograph of human hair. Image credit: Scanning Electron Microscopy Laboratory, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Scientists Develop Forensic Method to Identify Humans Using Hair Proteins

Sep 12, 2016 by News Staff

A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-led interdisciplinary research team has developed the first-ever biological identification method that exploits...

Moon. Image credit: Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Moon is Proto-Earth’s Mantle, Researchers Say

Sep 12, 2016 by News Staff

Measurements of potassium in lunar and terrestrial rocks have disproved the leading hypotheses for the origin of Earth’s sole natural satellite. Moon....

The Relative Citation Ratio is article level and field independent and provides an alternative to the invalid practice of using journal impact factors to identify influential papers. Image credit: Unsplash.

Relative Citation Ratio: New Metric Measures Influence of Scientific Research

Sep 8, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the National Institute of Health led by George Santangelo has developed a new article-level metric: the Relative Citation Ratio. The...

Transmission electron micrographs of brain thin sections, identifying two distinct types of magnetite morphologies: rounded particles (left) and angular particles (right). Image credit: Barbara A. Maher et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1605941113.

Pollution-Derived Magnetic Particles Detected in Human Brain

Sep 6, 2016 by News Staff

Anthropogenic (combustion-derived) nanoparticles of magnetite, a strongly magnetic mineral, have been discovered to be lodged in human brains — and...

The ratio of volatile elements in Earth’s mantle suggests that virtually all of the planet’s life-giving carbon came from a collision with an embryonic planet about 100 million years after Earth formed. Image credit: A. Passwaters / Rice University / NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Proto-Earth Collided with Mercury-Like Planetary Embryo about 4.4 Billion Years Ago

Sep 6, 2016 by News Staff

In a new paper in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers offer a new answer to a long-debated question: how did carbon-based life develop on Earth,...

Movement for Learning. Image credit: Loughborough University.

Scientists: Four-Year-Olds are not Physically Ready to Start School

Sep 6, 2016 by News Staff

According to a team of researchers at Loughborough University, UK, many four-year-olds are not physically ready to start school. Movement for Learning....

Forensic facial reconstruction of another Australopithecus species - A. afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Australopithecus afarensis ‘Lucy’ Died after Falling from Tall Tree, Anthropologists Say

Aug 30, 2016 by News Staff

‘Lucy,’ perhaps the world’s most famous early human ancestor, probably died after falling from a tall tree, according to an international team of...

A false-color photomicrograph of the first isolated bulk (1.7 micrograms) sample of berkelium. Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Chemists Unlock Secrets of Element Berkelium

Aug 26, 2016 by News Staff

In the latest edition of Science, an international team of chemists from the United States and Germany captures the fundamental chemistry of berkelium. A...

Honey is considered an added sugar. Image credit: Estel Heitz.

American Heart Association: Children Should Consume Less Than 25 Grams of Added Sugars Daily

Aug 23, 2016 by News Staff

Children ages 2 to 18 should eat or drink less than six teaspoons of added sugars daily (equivalent to about 100 calories or 25 grams), according to new...

Normal anatomy of the human eye and orbit, anterior view. Image credit: Patrick J. Lynch / CC BY 2.5.

Researchers Discover New Type of Eye Movement

Aug 23, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Tübingen in Germany has discovered a new type of eye movement that is synchronized with blinking. Normal anatomy...

Dresden Codex Venus Table Reveals Ancient Mayans Made Major Discovery in Astronomy, Math

Aug 17, 2016 by News Staff

The Preface of the Venus Table of the Dresden Codex, first panel on left, and the first three pages of the Table. Image credit: University of California,...

Neanderthals consumed plants, too. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.

Schizophrenia Emerged after Homo sapiens Diverged from Neanderthals, Researchers Say

Aug 15, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr. Ole Andreassen of the University of Oslo in Norway and the University of California, San Diego, has found evidence for...

An ‘out of body experience’ could help people suffering from chronic pain.

‘Out of Body Experience’ Can Tackle Chronic Pain, Research Shows

Aug 11, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published in the European Journal of Pain shows that inducing a virtual ‘out of body experience’ can significantly reduce the intensity...

Blue whirl. Image credit: University of Maryland.

Blue Whirl: Scientists Discover New Type of Fire Tornado

Aug 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists at the University of Maryland has discovered a beautiful, swirling flame phenomenon, the ‘blue whirl,’ which evolves from a fire...

250,000-year-old stone tool that tested positive for rhino protein residue. Image credit: April Nowell.

Hominins Used Stone Tools to Butcher Rhinos, Other Animals 250,000 Years Ago

Aug 9, 2016 by News Staff

New research led by University of Victoria’s April Nowell reveals surprisingly sophisticated adaptations by early humans living 250,000 years ago in...

Continuous motion of a self-propelling droplet of Galinstan under a pH gradient, shown at different time intervals. The droplet is placed in a fluidic channel, midway between two reservoirs filled with different electrolytes of acidic and basic nature. Image credit: RMIT University.

Elastic Electronics One Step Closer with Self-Propelling Liquid Metals

Aug 5, 2016 by News Staff

A pioneering work by an international team of scientists from Australia and Switzerland is setting the foundation for moving beyond solid state electronics...

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