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While about 2500 chicks of emperor penguins are raised this year at the colony close to the French Dumont d’Urville Station, two new colonies totaling 6000 chicks have just been observed about 250 km away, near Mertz Glacier by the scientists Dr. André Ancel and Dr. Yvon Ancel, from the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien in Strasbourg (CNRS and Université de Strasbourg). Since a pair of emperor penguins may only successfully raise one chick a year, the population of breeding emperor penguins in this area of the Antarctic can therefore be estimated to more than about 8500 pairs, about threefold that previously thought....

The study, published in Nature, sheds new light on how mass transfers to black holes and how black holes can affect the environment around them. The research was conducted by an international team of researchers, led by scientists in the University of Alberta’s Department of Physics. Using data from three international space agencies spanning 20 years, the scientists used new statistical techniques to study outbursts from stellar-mass black hole X-ray binary systems....

A new type of drug that blocks one of cancer’s key evolutionary escape routes from chemotherapy could be used to treat aggressive breast cancers, a new study has shown. Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, found that the drug could reinvigorate the response to chemotherapy in cancers that had become resistant, in both cells grown in the lab and in mice. The drug, known as BOS172722, works by forcing cancer cells through cell division too quickly — leading to fatal errors in parceling out DNA....

Since the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was launched, its goal has always been to study not only distant astronomical objects, but also the planets within our Solar System. Hubble’s high-resolution images of our planetary neighbors can only be surpassed by pictures taken from spacecraft that actually visit these bodies. However, Hubble has one advantage over space probes: it can look at these objects periodically and observe them over much longer periods than any passing probe could....

A clever new imaging technique discovered at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals a possible plan of attack for many bacterial diseases, such as cholera, lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients, and even chronic sinusitis, that form biofilms that make them resistant to antibiotics. By devising a new fluorescent labeling strategy and employing super-resolution light microscopy, the researchers were able to examine the structure of sticky plaques called bacterial biofilms that make these infections so tenacious....

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and ESA astronaut Tim Peake shared a series of aurora photographs taken from the International Space Station on January 20, 2016. Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) wrote, “#goodmorning #aurora and the Pacific Northwest! #YearInSpace” and Peake (@astro_timpeake) followed up with, “Getting a photo masterclass from @StationCDRKelly – magical #aurora” The dancing lights of the aurora provide spectacular views on the ground, but also capture the imagination of scientists who study incoming energy and particles from the sun....

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology that attracts a lot of attention and debate. Large investments and initiatives are underway from politicians and industry alike, to capture carbon dioxide emissions and tackle climate change. So far, the materials and processes involved have been associated with significant negative side effects and high costs. But now, new research from Chalmers University of Technology and Stockholm University in Sweden has demonstrated the possibility of a sustainable, low-cost alternative with excellent, selective carbon dioxide-capturing properties....

Born from the rubble of a violent collision, hurled through space for millions of years and dismembered by the gravity of planets, asteroid Bennu had a tough life in a rough neighborhood: the early solar system. “Bennu’s Journey,” a new animation created at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, shows what’s known and what remains mysterious about the life of Bennu and the origin of the solar system....

Endophytes are microorganisms that live inside plant cells but do not cause apparent disease. Instead, some endophytes help plants survive by enhancing growth, nutrient acquisition, or resistance to drought or pests. Therefore, scientists are investigating endophytes as potential sources of new medicines and agrichemicals. Xiachang Wang, Lihong Hu and colleagues wanted to screen endophytes from S. sessilifolia for insecticidal activity. To isolate endophytes, the researchers spread fresh, cut-up pieces of S....

According to the study which analyzed data from over 2,700 adolescents and young adults in Canada, intermittent fasting was found to be linked to disordered eating behaviors in women, including binge eating and compensatory behaviors such as vomiting and compulsive exercise. Men who practiced intermittent fasting were also more likely to report compulsive exercise. The prevalence of intermittent fasting behaviors among adolescents and young adults was notable. In total, 47% of women, 38% of men, and 52% of transgender or gender non-conforming individuals reported engaging in intermittent fasting in the past 12 months....

For elite runners competing in long-distance races, every second counts. So when Nike introduced “advanced shoe technology” in 2017, questions arose about whether the new design would significantly affect performances in professional sports. A new paper published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living found that the new footwear indeed reduced running times for both elite male and female competitors. The study analyzed seasonal best times for elite male and female runners in three race categories – 10 kilometers, half marathon and marathon races – between 2012 and 2019....

The Eocene Epoch was a time of intense global warming, providing a crucial case study for examining how ecosystems react to changing climates. Fossils from Ellesmere Island, Canada provide evidence of a warm, swamp-like environment around 52 million years ago, despite half the year spent in Arctic winter darkness. In this study, Miller and colleagues identify two new species, the first primate relatives ever reported from this ancient Arctic ecosystem....

A new study — the longest coral reef survey to date – provides an in-depth look at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef over the past 91 years. Published, yesterday (September 27, 2019) in the journal Nature Communications by researchers at Bar-Ilan University and Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Israel, and the University of Queensland in Australia, the study concludes that since 1928 intertidal communities have experienced major phase-shifts as a result of local and global environmental change, leaving few signs that reefs will return to their initial state in the near future....

A group of St. Petersburg scientists has proposed and experimentally tested technology for the fabrication of high-efficiency solar cells based on A3B5 semiconductors integrated on a silicon substrate, which in the future may increase the efficiency of the existing single-junction photovoltaic converters by 1.5 times. The development of the technology was forecasted by the Nobel Laureate Zhores Alferov. The results have been published in the journal Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells....

This discovery means that doctors could quickly know which antibiotics will or won’t work for a patient’s life-threatening infection, a quandary that doctors face on a daily basis in hospitals around the world. A Washington State University research team reports on their work in the journal, Biosensors and Bioelectronics. “The idea here is to give the doctors results much more quickly so that they can make clinically appropriate decisions within that timeframe that they’re working, rather than having to wait,” said Douglas Call, Regents Professor in the Paul G....

Astrophysicists believe that this high-energy radiation—which makes neutron stars and black holes shine bright—is generated by electrons that move at nearly the speed of light, but the process that accelerates these particles has remained a mystery. Now, researchers at Columbia University have presented a new explanation for the physics underlying the acceleration of these energetic particles. In a study published online today (November 27, 2019) and in the December issue of The Astrophysical Journal, astrophysicists Luca Comisso and Lorenzo Sironi employed massive super-computer simulations to calculate the mechanisms that accelerate these particles....

Research describing the effect shows that superposition — the ability of an atom to exist in more than one state at the same time — leads to a correction in atomic clocks known as “quantum time dilation.” The research, published today (October 23, 2020) in the journal Nature Communications, takes into account quantum effects beyond Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity to make a new prediction about the nature of time....

The researchers published their results on October 15th, 2019, in Amyloid, The Journal of Protein Folding Disorders. Amyloidosis is a disease group showing the deposition of amyloid that is a misfolded protein originating from the host protein, i.e., in this case LBP. For amyloidosis, unfortunately, no cure is available, but treatments can help symptoms and produce less amyloid protein. “When looking into mammary glands of old rats, interestingly we very often saw needle-shaped amyloid,” said Tomoaki Murakami, DVM, Ph....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Science of the Total Environment. “These are very positive results. The lakes are improving and slowly cleaning themselves up,” states Thomas Holsen, a co-author from Clarkson University. Even with these decreases, it will be another 20 to 30 years until the contaminants in the Great Lakes decline enough to the point that fish from them can be consumed. Older contaminants are being replaced by newer ones, which are mainly flame retardants that are building up in the fish and wildlife....

When Pandemic Hit, Some People Wanted More Sexual Activity It is widely assumed that Americans’ sexual activity took a nosedive during the early chaotic months of the coronavirus pandemic. But a new study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine challenges this popular narrative. In a research letter published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, scientists from Pitt and UPMC found that some people were having more sex during the COVID pandemic than ever before....