The Milky Way may be our own galactic neighborhood, but it still has some surprises in store. To wit: the most comprehensive structural analysis of the galaxy ever conducted indicates that ours is not a run-of-the-mill spiral one after all. Using NASA’s infrared Spitzer Space Telescope to sample light from some 30 million stars in the Milky Way, astronomers observed a long bar of relatively old stars spanning the center of the galaxy....
They say home is where the heart is, but until recently patients who had suffered biventricular failure could survive only with the help of an artificial heart tethered to large, immobile driver system to maintain blood circulation while they awaited a heart transplant. This could be changing; artificial heart–maker SynCardia Systems, Inc., in Tucson, Ariz., last month announced that three patients surgically implanted with the company’s technology have been able to walk out of their respective hospitals and wait for donated replacement hearts in the comfort of their own homes....
In 1917 Albert Einstein faced a confusing problem as he tried to reconcile his new theory of gravity, the general theory of relativity, with the limited understanding of the universe at the time. Like most of his contemporaries, Einstein was convinced that the universe must be static–neither expanding nor contracting–but this desired state was not consistent with his equations of gravity. In desperation, Einstein added an extra, ad hoc cosmological term to his equations to counterbalance gravity and allow for a static solution....
By Richard Lough BUENOS AIRES, Dec 21 (Reuters) - An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognized the ape as a “non-human person” unlawfully deprived of its freedom, local media reported on Sunday. Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition - a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person’s detention or imprisonment - in November on behalf of Sandra, a 29-year-old Sumatran orangutan at the Buenos Aires zoo....
Dolly the cloned ewe has been at the center of controversy since she was announced to the world in 1997. Beneath the philosophical considerations, the science of the cloning feat–in particular the type of cell used to kick off the process–has been an issue of some debate. Some have argued that so-called adult stem cells–root cells in most tissue that kick into action to replace damaged tissue–must have been involved. But a new test in mice shows that adult stem cells are actually worse than regular cells for the purposes of cloning with current techniques....
Rapid urban growth and climate change will leave more than 1 billion urban dwellers with a water shortage by 2050, according to a study released last week. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study shows urban growth rates alone leaving 993 million city residents living on less than 100 liters of water a day. The effects of climate change add 100 million people to that toll....
As the Danube River reaches record high levels and thousands flee Europe’s worst flooding in more than a decade, scientists already are predicting that this deluge may be a portent of things to come. In Passau, in southern Germany at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers, floodwaters reached 42.3 feet over the last few days. The previous record was in 1501, when levels reached 40 feet. Extreme weather of the kind ravaging the Danube and Elbe rivers in Central Europe is expected to become more frequent....
Retired American soccer star Brandi Chastain recently agreed to donate her brain to concussion research after her death. Females are often an unseen part of the concussion story even though they suffer more concussions than males, have more severe symptoms and are slower to recover. Just why is not completely clear, but the deficit in knowledge is slowly beginning to change thanks to women’s advocates behind Pink Concussions. The group gathered last weekend at Georgetown University to review the science behind concussions, and also to develop recommendations on gender-specific prevention protocols and clinical practices on how best to treat females with concussions....
At any given moment, scientists say, there should be at least one interstellar object—perhaps a castaway asteroid or comet from another star—passing through the inner solar system. In 2017 astronomers discovered the first such interloper known as it flashed past our planet at high speed. Dubbed ‘Oumuamua, this mysterious object is now outbound from our solar system, already too far away for further telescopic scrutiny and traveling too fast for any current spacecraft to ever catch up....
In recent years the U.S. national laboratories have laid out an ambitious research agenda for particle physics. About 170 scientists and engineers at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., have been developing designs and technologies for the International Linear Collider (ILC), a proposed machine that would explore the frontiers of high-energy physics by smashing electrons into their antimatter counterparts [see “Building the Next-Generation Collider,” by Barry Barish, Nicholas Walker and Hitoshi Yamamoto; Scientific American, February 2008]....
The 2020 U.S. election could not have come at a more tumultuous time—amid a global pandemic, widespread unemployment, demands for racial justice, all amplified by blatant disdain for science, evidence and human rights. From shepherding and normalizing hatred and bigotry as domestic policy to slowing down meaningful progress on climate to eroding the pillars of our democracy, the impacts of the 2016 U.S. election will continue to ripple through the world for decades to come....
Paradise, Ariz.—The Chiricahua Mountains here in far southeastern Arizona boast some of the most spectacular birding in the country; at no other time is this truer than in the early fall during the peak of hummingbird migration. The tiny travelers, which play crucial roles in pollination and ecological stability, make their way down the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Madres. They are attracted to a major seasonal change that happens on this borderland sky island during these months....
The things you don’t think about can often bring you the most joy. They manifest themselves to you at the most wonderful moments. Yes, sometimes they then leave you for a children’s party magician, but that’s not what happened to Kristoffer Koch. In 2009, this no-doubt relaxed Norwegian wafted about his computer and decided to do a little online shopping. He spent 150 kroner (around $25.43) on some Bitcoins. Actually, it was slightly more complex than that....
Unexpectedly losing a loved one launched 18-year-old Debra* into an episode of major depression, triggering dangerous delusions that landed her in a hospital. Her doctor immediately started her on an antidepressant and on risperidone (Risperdal), an antipsychotic. In little more than a month, her weight shot up by 15 pounds. “Gaining weight made it even more difficult for me to want to leave my house because I felt self-conscious,” Debra says....
Barely visible needles, or “microneedles,” are poised to usher in an era of pain-free injections and blood testing. Whether attached to a syringe or a patch, microneedles prevent pain by avoiding contact with nerve endings. Typically 50 to 2,000 microns in length (about the depth of a sheet of paper) and one to 100 microns wide (about the width of human hair), they penetrate the dead, top layer of skin to reach into the second layer—the epidermis—consisting of viable cells and a liquid known as interstitial fluid....
A trusting young woman puts her hands in a box with a transparent top. She is participating in an experiment, but this one has the aura of a magic show. The investigators ask her to hold her hands steady between vertical blue lines. She does so, watching her hands carefully. They do not appear to move, nor does she feel as if they are moving. The investigators flick a switch, and the box darkens on one side, obscuring her right hand....
Ocean acidification may create an impact similar to extinction on marine ecosystems, according to a study published Monday. The study, exploring naturally acidic waters near volcanic vents in the Mediterranean Ocean off Italy, suggests that ocean acidification as a result of human emissions can degrade entire ecosystems – not just individual species, as past studies have shown. The result, scientists say, is a homogenized marine community dominated by fewer plants and animals....
NASA has lost or misplaced more than 500 of the moon rocks its Apollo astronauts collected and brought back to Earth, according to a new agency report. In an audit released Thursday (Dec. 8), NASA’s Office of Inspector General states that the agency “lacks sufficient controls over its loans of moon rocks and other astromaterials, which increases the risk that these unique resources may be lost.” The report stresses the importance of maintaining stricter guidelines for the release of lunar materials to researchers, and more meticulous inventory procedures for their storage and return....
School shootings feel random in their location yet predictable in their occurrence. Killers target elementary, high school and college students in urban, suburban and rural communities. The children killed are Hispanic, white, Black, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, transgender and cisgender. This year school shootings have occurred more than weekly on average, with 27 in 2022 (so far). Many go virtually unmentioned on the national stage, however, until the “unthinkable” happens, and 19 nine- to 11-year-old children and two teachers die unspeakable deaths at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex....
This may come as painful news to parents: toddlers are more likely to copy the actions of a crowd than those performed by one person, according to new research in Current Biology. “When we think of peer pressure, we think of teenagers and the reasons they start smoking or drinking,” says Daniel Haun of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. “We don’t necessarily think of two-year-olds as being under peer pressure....
