In the composite image above, NuSTAR data is represented as blue and is overlaid with observations by the X-ray Telescope (XRT) on the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hinode mission, represented as green, and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), represented as red. NuSTAR’s relatively small field of view means it can’t see the entire Sun from its position in Earth orbit, so the observatory’s view of the Sun is actually a mosaic of 25 images, taken in June 2022....

Callisto is named after a mythological Greek goddess and one of Artemis’ hunting attendants and is meant to show how commercial technology could assist future astronauts on deep space missions. The payload will demonstrate how astronauts and flight controllers can use human-machine interface technology to make their jobs simpler, safer, and more efficient, and advance human exploration in deep space. Yesterday, flight controllers moved each solar array to a different position as the Integrated Communications Officer, or INCO, tested the WiFi transfer rate between the camera on the tip of the solar array panels and the camera controller....

On February 12, 2019, one of the twin Van Allen Probes begins a series of orbit descent maneuvers to bring its lowest point of orbit, called perigee, just under 190 miles closer to Earth. This will bring the perigee from about 375 miles to about 190 miles — a change that will position the spacecraft for an eventual re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere about 15 years down the line. “In order for the Van Allen Probes to have a controlled re-entry within a reasonable amount of time, we need to lower the perigee,” said Nelli Mosavi, project manager for the Van Allen Probes at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland....

How does the immune system fight pathogens? The immune system has two distinct components: mucosal and circulatory. The mucosal immune system provides protection at the mucosal surfaces of the body. These include the mouth, eyes, middle ear, the mammary and other glands, and the gastrointestinal, respiratory, and urogenital tracts. Antibodies and a variety of other anti-microbial proteins in the sticky secretions that cover these surfaces, as well as immune cells located in the lining of these surfaces, directly attack invading pathogens....

Like trailers for the coming attraction, new images show asteroid 2012 DA14 on its way to a record-close approach to Earth on February 15. One image, taken by amateur astronomer Dave Herald of Murrumbateman, Australia, on February 13, shows the asteroid as a tiny white dot in the field of view. Another set of animated images, obtained by the Faulkes Telescope South in Siding Springs, Australia, on February 14, and animated by the Remanzacco Observatory in Italy, shows the asteroid as a bright spot moving across the night sky....

The University of Texas Hexapro vaccine candidate – delivered via the UQ-developed and Vaxxas-commercialized high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) – provided protection against COVID-19 disease with a single, pain-free ‘click’ from a pocket-sized applicator. Dr. David Muller, from UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, said the vaccine patch produced strong immune responses that were shown to be effective when the mice were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19....

Neurons that control hunger in the central nervous system also regulate immune cell functions, implicating eating behavior as a defense against infections and autoimmune disease development, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS). Autoimmune diseases have been on a steady rise in the United States. These illnesses develop when the body’s immune system turns on itself and begins attacking its own tissues....

Scientists have been working on developing adhesives for the marine environment that are inspired by organisms that fix themselves to underwater surfaces, like mussels. These catechol-based glues are easily oxidized and so eventually lose their adhesiveness, making them less than satisfactory for their intended purpose. In the current study published in Nature Communications, Hokkaido University’s Hailong Fan and Jian Ping Gong with their colleagues explored the possibility of developing adhesives that utilize electrostatic interaction to stick to negatively charged surfaces such as rocks, glass, and metals under the sea....

First dynamic global surveillance system being rolled out this week in 195 countries, including U.S. A new COVID-19 global surveillance system has been developed which can dynamically track not just where the virus is now, but where it is going, how fast it will arrive and whether that speed is accelerating. The new surveillance system, the first to dynamically track the virus, is being rolled out in 195 countries today (December 3, 2020)....

New information from NASA’s New Horizons Mission has revealed more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto. From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, scientists continue to discuss the findings at this week’s 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. “The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew about Pluto and turned it upside down,” said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington....

The best-known 2-D material is graphene, which is a form of carbon, but recently researchers have been investigating other 2-D materials, such as molybdenum disulfide, which have their own, distinct advantages. Producing useful electronics, however, requires integrating multiple 2-D materials in the same plane, which is a tough challenge. In 2015, researchers at King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia developed a technique for depositing molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) next to tungsten diselenide (WSe2), with a very clean junction between the two materials....

A gold particle five nanometers in width weighs just a few megadaltons, a tiny unit of measure used in biochemistry that is equivalent to the atomic mass unit. However, researchers at the California Institute of Technology and CEA-Leti, a government-funded research organization in Grenoble, France, have built a scale that weighs single objects, including nano-particles and human antibody molecules. It’s the first device of its kind that can be used to determine the masses of individual molecules....

In a paper appearing in the November 18 issue of Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrate the use of these new particles, which carry distinct sensors for fluorescence and MRI, to track vitamin C in mice. Wherever there is a high concentration of vitamin C, the particles show a strong fluorescent signal but little MRI contrast. If there is not much vitamin C, a stronger MRI signal is visible but fluorescence is very weak....

Babies who are born vaginally were found to have higher antibody levels after receiving vaccines for lung infections and meningitis compared to those born via Caesarian section. These findings may influence discussions about C-sections between expectant mothers and healthcare providers, and may also inform the development of more personalized vaccination plans. Researchers studied the relationship between gut microbes and antibody levels after vaccination in a cohort of 120 babies, who were vaccinated at 8 and 12 weeks against lung infections and meningitis....

According to Dr. Christian Ohneiser, the lead author of the study and a member of the Department of Geology, it appears that ice ages occurred much more frequently than previously believed. “Until this research, it was common knowledge that over the last million years global ice volume, which includes Antarctica’s ice sheets, expanded and retreated every 100,000 years. However, this research shows they actually advanced and retreated much more often – every 41,000 years – until at least 400,000 years ago,” he says....

A transgenic mouse developed at Cincinnati Children’s to model the deadly childhood immune disease HLH (hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis) may play a key role in saving lives during the COVID-19 virus pandemic. One of the genetically engineered mouse strain’s inventors–Cincinnati Children’s cancer pathologist Gang Huang, PhD– is co-investigator on a small clinical trial that successfully tested a drug used to treat to HLH (ruxolitinib) to dramatically reverse respiratory and multi-system inflammation in severely ill COVID-19 patients....

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) shows that regular physical activity is a safe diabetes prevention strategy for people residing in relatively polluted regions. The study, which is the first to investigate the combined effects of physical activity and pollution exposure on type 2 diabetes risk, is by Dr Cui Guo and Professor Lao Xiang Qian, Faculty of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, and Dr Hsiao Ting Yang, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands, and colleagues....

In a new study, an international team led by Sebastian Stumpf from the University of Vienna describes a fossil skeleton of an ancient shark, which is assigned to a new, previously unknown genus and species. This rare fossil find comes from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in England, a series of sedimentary rocks that was formed in a shallow, tropical-subtropical sea during the Upper Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. The fossil shark skeleton was found more than 20 years ago on the southern coast of England and is now held in the Etches Collection....

The research team led by Francisco Förster at the University of Chile used the Blanco Telescope to find 26 supernovae coming from red supergiants. Their goal was to study the shock breakout, a brief flash of light preceding the main supernova explosion. But they could not find any signs of this phenomenon. On the other hand, 24 of the supernovae brightened faster than expected. To solve this mystery, Takashi Moriya at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) simulated 518 models of supernovae brightness variations and compared them with the observational results....

The cruel impact of COVID-19, the virus that emerged in late 2019 and has claimed 5 million lives to date, is chronicled in daily headlines. It has robbed us of loved ones, jobs, plans and so much more. The impact on those who treat the sick and dying has been the focus of much study and the exhaustion of health care workers pulling extra shifts and covering for inadequate staffing is well documented....