SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
A new study indicates that some exoplanets may have better conditions for life to thrive than Earth itself has. “This is a surprising conclusion”, said lead researcher Dr Stephanie Olson, “it shows us that conditions on some exoplanets with favourable ocean circulation patterns could be better suited to support life that is more abundant or … Read more
Smartphones that don’t scratch or shatter. Metal-free pacemakers. Electronics for space and other harsh environments. These could all be made possible thanks to a new ceramic welding technology developed by a team of engineers at the University of California San Diego and the University of California Riverside. The process, published in the Aug. 23 issue … Read more
New images taken by a lander on the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu have yielded clues into the composition and origins of its rocks, which bear strong similarities to primitive meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites. The findings from Ralf Jaumann and colleagues present evidence linking the asteroid to a particular class of meteorites, supporting theories … Read more
Over the past 300 years, 79 plants have been confirmed extinct from three of the world’s biodiversity hotspots located in South Africa – the Cape Floristic Region, the Succulent Karoo, and the Maputuland-Pondoland-Albany corridor. According to a study published in the journal Current Biology this week, this represents a shocking 45.4% of all known plant extinctions from … Read more
Polymer chemists and materials scientists have achieved some notable advances that mimic Nature, but one of the most common and practical features of cells has so far been out of reach – intracellular compartmentalization. It refers to the way many different organelles, vesicles and other “water-in-water” soft structures in the cell, contain and isolate chemical … Read more
Researchers at UC San Francisco and the University of Queensland have discovered a scorpion toxin that targets the “wasabi receptor,” a chemical-sensing protein found in nerve cells that’s responsible for the sinus-jolting sting of wasabi and the flood of tears associated with chopping onions. Because the toxin triggers a pain response through a previously unknown … Read more
The enzyme-nitrogenase-can be traced back to the universal common ancestor of all cells more than four billion years ago. Found only in bacteria today, nitrogenase is nevertheless essential for the production of oxygen from water in photosynthesis, making it instrumental in how aquatic bacteria produced Earth’s first molecular oxygen 2.5 billion years ago. “For half … Read more
Neutrinos come in three flavours made up of a mix of three neutrino masses. While the differences between the masses are known, little information was available about the mass of the lightest species until now. It’s important to better understand neutrinos and the processes through which they obtain their mass as they could reveal secrets … Read more
Microbial life on Mars may potentially be transported across the planet on dust particles carried by wind, according to a study conducted in the Atacama Desert in North Chile, a well-known Mars analogue. The findings are published in Scientific Reports. Armando Azua-Bustos and colleagues investigated whether microbial life could move across the Atacama Desert using on … Read more
For the world’s estimated 1.8 billion Muslims – roughly one-quarter of the world population – making a pilgrimage to Mecca is considered a religious duty that must be performed at least once in a lifetime, if health and finances permit. The ritual, known as the Hajj, includes about five days of activities, of which 20 … Read more