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.
The flagellum is often cited as an example of natural design ingenuity – it is a powerful nanomachine that allows bacteria to swim effortlessly in search of food. Yet despite being a popular object of study over the last half a century, the flagellum’s exact mechanics remain enigmatic. Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science … Read more
The ultra-relativistic nature of electrons in graphene relates to a topological property of their wave-functions. An international team of physicist, propose a new scanning tunneling microscope approach to measure this topological property in the electronic density near an hydrogen atom grafted on the surface. This method which is published in Nature magazine on September 30th … Read more
Rapid cooling of animal and human donor hearts may decrease accumulation of a chemical that damages the tissue after transplantation, according to a new study in Nature Metabolism. These findings explain why cold organ storage is beneficial for organ preservation, and they may also lead to improved solutions for more efficient use of the limited pool … Read more
How do weapons inspectors verify that a nuclear bomb has been dismantled? An unsettling answer is: They don’t, for the most part. When countries sign arms reduction pacts, they do not typically grant inspectors complete access to their nuclear technologies, for fear of giving away military secrets. Instead, past U.S.-Russia arms reduction treaties have called … Read more
A smart shirt that measures lung function by sensing movements in the chest and abdomen has proved to be accurate when compared to traditional testing equipment, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress. Researchers have used the smart shirts, together with a mobile app, to reliably measure breathing in healthy people … Read more
Darker male giraffes have been found to be more solitary and less social than their lighter-coloured counterparts, according to new research from The University of Queensland. A long-term study revealed that the colour of male giraffes’ spots more strongly relates to their patterns of social association, rather than their age, as previously thought. The paper’s … Read more
Researchers have built a new tool to study molecules using a laser, a crystal and light detectors. This new technology will reveal nature’s smallest sculptures – the structures of molecules – with increased detail and specificity. “We live in the molecular world where most things around us are made of molecules: air, foods, drinks, clothes, … Read more
Budding astronomers from across the Canberra region now have greater access to high-quality telescopes, thanks to the expansion of a unique facility at The Australian National University’s (ANU) Mount Stromlo Observatory. The McNamara-Saunders Astronomical Teaching Telescope 2 (MSATT 2) is designed for students in Years 9 to 12. Its construction follows the success of MSATT … Read more
Using the Subaru, Keck, and Gemini Telescopes, an international team of astronomers has discovered a collection of 12 galaxies which existed about 13.0 billion years ago. This is the earliest protocluster ever found. One of the 12 galaxies is a giant object, known as Himiko, which was discovered a decade ago by the Subaru Telescope … Read more
It’s always good when your intuition turns out to be right, but scientists at Rice University studying proteins and particles were more “right” than they expected. Rice chemists Christy Landes and Stephan Link and lead author and Smalley-Curl Postdoctoral Fellow Qingfeng Zhang reported this week in Science that bovine serum albumin (BSA), a standard-issue protein in nano-bio … Read more