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Although most of these aptly named “ghost” particles detected on Earth originate from the Sun or our own atmosphere, some neutrinos come from the cosmos, far beyond our galaxy. Called astrophysical neutrinos, these neutrinos can provide valuable insight into some of the most powerful objects in the universe. An international team of scientists has, for the first time, found evidence of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos emanating from the galaxy NGC 1068 in the constellation Cetus....

NASA’s Terra satellite was able to capture the huge swath of smoke that has been generated by the California wildfires and dispersed by the winds surrounding those fires on August 20, 2020. The NASA Worldview website has an application that can measure distances within the app and measuring this smoke trail showed the trail’s northeast to southwest trail is approximately 1,214 miles long. The smoke has moved as far north and east as Pocatello, Idaho and as far west and south as mid-Baja California, Mexico....

Ice loss from Antarctica and Greenland account for roughly a half-inch of sea level rise between 2003 and 2019. Using the most advanced Earth-observing laser instrument NASA has ever flown in space, scientists have made precise, detailed measurements of how the elevation of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have changed over 16 years. The results provide insights into how the polar ice sheets are changing, demonstrating definitively that small gains of ice in East Antarctica are dwarfed by massive losses in West Antarctica....

The researchers created models that include brain-derived extracellular matrix (ECM) — the complex network of proteins and amino acids with bound sugars naturally found in the brain. The ECM not only provides support for surrounding neural tissue, but also helps to guide cell growth and development. Alterations in ECM composition have been associated with brain tumor progression, which in turn alters patterns of genetic and protein expression in the tumor cells....

This composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located about 160,000 light years from Earth. Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44. The massive stars produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas....

Writing in the journal eLife, the researchers describe how they dissected the biological phenomenon of protein pattern formation into its main functional modules, and then rebuilt the process from the ground up in a completely new way. Proteins self-organize to form patterns in living cells, which are essential for key functions such as cell division, communication, and movement. A striking example is the MinDE system of the bacterium Escherichia coli (E....

The tiny traces of plutonium-244 were found in ocean crust alongside radioactive iron-60. The two isotopes are evidence of violent cosmic events in the vicinity of Earth millions of years ago. Star explosions, or supernovae create many of the heavy elements in the periodic table, including those vital for human life, such as iron, potassium, and iodine. To form even heavier elements, such as gold, uranium, and plutonium it was thought that a more violent event may be needed, such as two neutron stars merging....

Ancient Maya in the once-bustling city of Tikal built sophisticated water filters using natural materials they imported from miles away, according to the University of Cincinnati. UC researchers discovered evidence of a filter system at the Corriental reservoir, an important source of drinking water for the ancient Maya in what is now northern Guatemala. A multidisciplinary team of UC anthropologists, geographers, and biologists identified crystalline quartz and zeolite imported miles from the city....

“Alligator hearts don’t fibrillate – no matter what we do. They’re very resilient,” said Flavio Fenton, a professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, and the report’s corresponding author. Fibrillation is one of the most dangerous arrhythmias, leading to blood clots and stroke when occurring in the atria and to death within minutes when it happens in the ventricles....

Astronomers may have found “the largest individual structure ever identified by humanity,” according to Dr István Szapudi of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Szapudi and his team report their findings in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 2004, astronomers examining a map of the radiation left over from the Big Bang (the cosmic microwave background, or CMB) discovered the Cold Spot, a larger-than-expected unusually cold area of the sky....

Heterostructures of atomically thin layers help control heat transfer. Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have found new ways of controlling how heat flows through thin materials by stacking atomically thin layers of atoms into van der Waals heterostructures. By comparing different stacks of different materials, or even the same material after heat treatment, they found that weak coupling and mismatch between layers helped significantly reduce heat transport. Their finding promises sensitive control of heat flow at the nanoscale in thermoelectric devices....

Since the two moons are not only aligned, but also at relatively similar distances from Cassini, the apparent sizes in this image are a good approximation of the relative sizes of Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across) and Tethys (660 miles or 1,062 kilometers across). This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from 0.34 degrees below the ring plane. The image was taken in red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on September 24, 2015....

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a chemical found in hemp or marijuana plants that does not make users high. Despite CBD only being approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat rare forms of childhood epilepsy, CBD has been widely marketed as a cure-all under the auspices of wellness. These claims have coincided with an explosion in CBD’s popularity raising the troubling question: Are patients using CBD to treat medical conditions that could otherwise be improved or cured by established treatments with verifiable efficacy?...

Researchers found two compounds in coffee that directly influence certain high-sensitivity nicotine receptors in the brain in a cell-based study. These brain receptors in smokers can become hypersensitive following a night of nicotine withdrawal. Although the recently released findings have not yet been tested on humans, they represent a significant advancement in our understanding of how nicotine receptors in the brain are impacted by coffee and cigarettes, according to Roger L....

Based on current data measured in the energy, industry, and mobility sectors, restrictions of social life during the corona pandemic can be predicted to lead to a reduction of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions by up to eight percent in 2020. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), cumulative reductions of about this magnitude would be required every year to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement by 2030....

Fire in enclosed military environments such as ship holds, aircraft cockpits, and ground vehicles is a major cause of material destruction and jeopardizes the lives of warfighters. For example, a shipboard fire on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in May 2008 burned for 12 hours and caused an estimated $70 million in damage. For nearly 50 years, despite the severity of the threat from fire, no new methods for extinguishing or manipulating fire were developed....

The CRADLE app (ComputeR Assisted Detector LEukocoia) searches for traces of abnormal reflections from the retina called leukocoria or “white eye,” a primary symptom of retinoblastoma, as well as other common eye disorders. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, found the app is an effective tool to augment clinical leukocoria screenings, allowing parents to efficiently and effectively screen their children more often throughout their development. CRADLE — developed by Baylor University researchers Bryan F....

Stepping back a bit, studies have shown repeatedly that certain regions of the cerebral cortex (the outermost layer of the brain) get thinner as children develop. And at a mere 3mm thick, on average, studies have reported that kids can apparently lose close to 1mm of gray matter by adulthood. Various hypotheses have been put forth to explain these huge losses. For example, it is established that gray matter cells and their connections can be naturally ‘pruned’, presumably to promote a more efficient brain....

A new extinct species of lizard-like reptile that belongs to the same ancient lineage as New Zealand’s living tuatara has been discovered by Smithsonian researchers. The new species Opisthiamimus gregori, which once inhabited Jurassic North America about 150 million years ago alongside dinosaurs like Stegosaurus and Allosaurus, is described in a paper published on September 15, 2022, in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. In life, this prehistoric reptile would have been about 16 centimeters (about 6 inches) from nose to tail—and would fit curled up in the palm of an adult human hand....

Published today (October 9, 2019) in the scientific journal Addiction, and funded by the National Institute for Health Research, this is the first large-scale assessment of the impact of paying GPs in England to screen patients for higher-risk drinking, and provide advice to those needing to reduce their alcohol consumption. Under the incentive scheme, participating practices were paid £2.38 (approximately $3.04 or €2.71) for each newly registered adult patient they screened for higher-risk drinking....