With the trillions of watts contained in one brief pop of a powerful laser, the universe became a bit less mysterious. Scientists recently used powerful laser beams to recreate, on a small scale, the highly supersonic velocities at work in newborn stars and simulated the fiery jets that burst from their poles.
Continue reading about Star power: Astronomers recreate stellar jet with laser blast
New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) may help in the recovery of lost vision for patients with corneal scarring.
Continue reading about Human umbilical stem cells cleared mice’s cloudy eyes
New scientific evidence refutes the preconception that testosterone causes aggressive, egocentric, and risky behavior. A study with more than 120 experimental subjects has shown that the sexual hormone with the poor reputation can encourage fair behaviors if this serves to ensure one’s own status.
Continue reading about Testosterone does not induce aggression, study shows
Very often in science, the unexpected discovery turns out to be the most significant. Researchers weren’t looking for a breakthrough in the transmission of terahertz signals, but there it was: a plasmonic material that would, with adjustments to its temperature and/or magnetic field, either stop a terahertz beam cold or let it pass completely.
Continue reading about See-through surprise: Lab makes solid material transparent to terahertz waves
Researchers report being able to get mice with sickle-cell disease to start producing fetal hemoglobin again — potentially compensating for damaged adult hemoglobin and making symptoms of sickle-cell disease much milder.
Continue reading about New approach to sickle-cell disease shows promise in mice
Ice chemists are studying the surface structure of snow crystals and why sharp transitions in shape occur at different temperatures. The differences they see not only explain why no two snowflakes are identical, but also hold implications for their ozone research in the Arctic Ocean region.
Continue reading about Snowflake chemistry could give clues about ozone depletion
A new study projects that the severity of the H1N1 flu during the autumn-winter flu season in the United States will likely be less than previously feared.
Continue reading about Severity of H1N1 flu in US during current flu season may be less than feared
During photosynthesis at high light intensities dangerous oxygen radicals can form inside cells. Dinoflagellates have a unique light-harvesting complex (antenna) which can divert superfluous energy extremely efficiently to avoid this cell damage. Biophysicists have now been able to determine which molecules in the antenna are of significance.
Continue reading about How dinoflagellates protect themselves during photosynthesis
An extensive study made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope deepens a long-standing mystery in the study of stars similar to the Sun. Unusual year-long variations in the brightness of about one third of all Sun-like stars during the latter stages of their lives still remain unexplained. Over the past few decades, astronomers have offered many [...]
Continue reading about Brightness variations of sun-like stars: The mystery deepens
Two new studies show that the thalamus — the small central brain structure often characterized as a mere pit-stop for sensory information on its way to the cortex — is heavily involved in sensory processing, and is an important conductor of the brain’s complex orchestra. Published in Nature Neuroscience and the Proceedings of the National [...]
Continue reading about The thalamus, middleman of the brain, becomes a sensory conductor