The proteins that domesticated our genomes

EPFL scientists have carried out a genomic and evolutionary study of a large and enigmatic family of human proteins, to demonstrate that it is responsible for harnessing the millions of transposable elements in the human genome. The work reveals the...

Language delivers fourfold speedups on big-data problems

In today's computer chips, memory management is based on what computer scientists call the principle of locality: If a program needs a chunk of data stored at some memory location,...

Antibody discovery could help create improved flu vaccines

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators, led by Dr. Wayne Marasco, report they have discovered a type of immune antibody that can rapidly evolve to neutralize a wide array of influenza virus strains -- including those the body hasn't yet encountered.Farber Cancer Institute investigators report they have discovered a type of immune antibody that can rapidly evolve to neutralize a wide array of influenza virus strains - including those the...

Related science articles

New tools assess the future of wind power

Using software tools developed by Near Zero, a research group hosted by the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Global Ecology, a team of researchers has completed the largest expert...

Related science article

Westerly winds have blown across central Asia for at least 42 million years

A graduate student collects samples of ancient dust on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The once-remote field site is now close to booming development in the city of Xining, seen in the distance.The gusting westerly winds that dominate the climate in central Asia, setting the pattern of dryness and location of central Asian deserts, have blown mostly unchanged for 42 million years....

Astronomers observe star reborn in a flash

This image of the Stingray nebula, a planetary nebula 2400 light-years from Earth, was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in 1998. In the centre of the nebula the fast evolving star SAO 244567 is located. Observations made within the last 45 years showed that the surface temperature of the star increased by almost 40 000 degree Celsius. Now new observations of the spectra of the star have revealed that SAO 244567 has started to cool again.An international team of astronomers using Hubble have been able to study stellar evolution in real time. Over a period of 30 years dramatic increases in the temperature of the...

NASA sees formation of Central Atlantic Tropical Storm Ian

The low pressure area known as System 94L developed into Tropical Storm Ian on Sept. 14. NOAA's GOES-East satellite data was made into an animation that showed the...

Related science articles

Light tames lethal heart disorders in mice and virtual humans

This is an illustration depicting EKG readings before, during and after the use of light -- optogenetic deffibtillation -- to restore a normal heartbeat to an arrhythmic heart.Using high-tech human heart models and mouse experiments, scientists at Johns Hopkins and Germany's University of Bonn have shown that beams of light could replace electric shocks in patients reeling...

Related science article

NASA sees Tropical Depression Rai over Thailand, Vietnam, Laos

On Sept. 13 at 2:50 a.m. EDT NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Depression Rai and measured very coid cloud-top temperatures (red and yellow) indicating powerful thunderstorms with the potential for heavy rain.After Tropical Depression 19W moved ashore in central Vietnam NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the system and found some powerful thunderstorms over Thailand, Vietnam and Laos capable of dropping...

Related science articles

Explaining why the universe can be transparent

Reionization as illustrated by data from the Hubble and Chandra space telescopes.Two papers published by an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside and several collaborators explain why the universe has enough energy to become transparent.

Chemists offer enhanced 3-D look inside batteries

NYU chemists and their colleagues have developed a method to yield highly detailed, three-dimensional images of the insides of batteries. Shown here is a 3-D image of the inside of a lithium cell after charging and showing dendrite growth -- deposits than can reduce performance and compromise safety -- between the two electrodes that short-circuited the cell.A team of chemists has developed a method to yield highly detailed, three-dimensional images of the insides of batteries. The technique, based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), offers an enhanced...

Land-based food not nutritionally sufficient for wild polar bears, according to new study

A study, by San Diego Zoo Global conservationists, released this week (Sept. 12, 2016) is shedding new light on how scientists evaluate polar bear diet and weight loss during their fasting season. On average, a polar bear loses up to...

Experts anticipate significant continued reductions in wind energy costs

Figure 1. Summary of expert survey findingsTechnology advancements are expected to continue to drive down the cost of wind energy, according to a survey of the world's foremost wind power experts led by Lawrence Berkeley National...

Related science article

Water helps assembly of biofibers that could capture sunlight

A new study from Argonne National Laboratory has shown water can serve a previously undiscovered role to help micelles coalesce to spontaneously form long fibers. The study could help scientists to understand how light-harvesting molecules are incorporated into the micelle fiber as it assembles, which would be a key step to understanding some forms of artificial photosynthesis.When it comes to water, some materials have a split personality - and some of these materials could hold the key to new ways of harnessing solar energy.

Study links altered brain chemistry, behavioral impairments in fish exposed to elevated CO2

This is Lizard Island coral reef with study species, Spiny damselfish (<i>Acanthochromis polyacanthus</i>).Study Links Altered Brain Chemistry, Behavioral Impairments in Fish Exposed to Elevated CO2 Research team studied damselfish behavior and physiology under ocean acidification conditions predicted for year 2300

Killing superbugs with star-shaped polymers, not antibiotics

Polymers attack superbugs.The study, published today in Nature Microbiology, holds promise for a new treatment method against antibiotic-resistant bacteria (commonly known as superbugs).

NASA's Aqua satellite sees Super Typhoon Meranti approaching Taiwan, Philippines

On Sept. 13, 2016, at 1:10 a.m. EDT (0510 UTC), the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed powerful and large Super Typhoon Meranti headed to Taiwan.NASA's Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Super Typhoon Meranti as it continued to move toward Taiwan and the northern Philippines.

Related science article

Termination of lethal arrhythmia with light

Dr. Tobias Br&uuml;gmann Philipp Sasse of the Institute of Physiology I at the University of Bonn.A research team from the University of Bonn has succeeded for the first time in using light stimuli to stop life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia in mouse hearts. Furthermore, as shown in...

Related science article

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP finds powerful storms in Tropical Storm Malakas

On Sept. 13 at 0328 UTC (Sept. 12 at 11:28 p.m. EDT) NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Storm Malakas and measured very coid cloud-top temperatures (red and yellow) indicating powerful thunderstorms with the potential for heavy rain.NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite measured cloud top temperatures as it passed over Tropical Storm Malakas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and found strong storms.

Related science articles

First accurate simulation of a virus invading a cell

For the first time, scientists know what happens to a virus' shape when it invades a host cell, thanks to an experiment by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine...

Manipulation of liquid crystals could help control drug-delivery process

Liquid crystals are strange substances, both fish and fowl. They can flow like a liquid, but have the orderly molecular structure of a crystalline solid. And that internal structure can...

NASA catches Tropical Depression 19W nearing Vietnam after formation

On Sept. 12 NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Depression 19W in the South China Sea and captured this visible image of the storm already moving over Vietnam (left).Early on Sept. 12 Tropical Depression 19W formed east of Vietnam. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the South China Sea and captured a visible image of the storm that had...

Related science articles

Latest science news from other websites