In orange, the location of the Barmaz site, looking south. It is located on the plain, at the foot of the Chablais massif, which rises to an altitude of 2500 m. The site is divided into two contemporary burial areas called Barmaz I (dark blue) and Barmaz II (light blue) (Honegger and Desideri 2003, modified). … Read more
Credit: Public Domain Pixabay/CC0 Bacteriophages, viruses that attack and destroy bacteria, are ubiquitous in the natural world where they play a vital role in regulating microbial populations in ways that are not yet well understood. New research led by the University of Utah and University College London (UCL) has found that bacterial plant pathogens are … Read more
WASHINGTON – The four instruments on NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft are returning scientific data for the first time since a computer malfunction last November, as scientists hope to keep the mission going for another decade. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced June 13 that four instruments on the spacecraft, which measure plasma waves, magnetic fields and … Read more
Summary: A new study details how AI and computer simulations train robotic exoskeletons to help users conserve energy while walking, running and climbing stairs. This method eliminates the need for lengthy human-involved experiments and can be applied to various assistive devices. The breakthrough offers significant potential to help those with mobility challenges, increasing access to … Read more
We may be entering a renaissance for human spaceflight research as record numbers of private citizens go into space — and as scientists improve techniques for gathering data for these intrepid test subjects. A sign that rebirth is imminent appeared earlier this week, when the journal Nature published a small batch of papers detailing the … Read more
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have mapped, for the first time ever, the plasma “burps” of a supermassive black hole-powered quasar that resides relatively close to Earth. While supermassive black holes with masses millions or billions of times that of the sun are thought to reside at the heart of all galaxies, not all … Read more
Originally thought of as little more than a road without rocks slowing the rover, Neretva Vallis has offered a wealth of geological options for the science team. After swerving across a dune field to avoid rocks that rattle the wheels, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover reached its latest area of scientific interest on June 9. The … Read more
How it works: A proton (far left) from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator at CERN hits carbon nuclei (small gray spheres). This produces a shower of various elementary particles, including a large number of neutral pions (orange sphere). As the unstable neutral pions decay, they emit two high-energy gamma rays (curly yellow arrows). These … Read more
By analyzing the chemistry of shells like these, scientists can learn about the temperature and movement of ancient ocean waters. Credit: Brian T. Huber/Smithsonian Institution When it comes to the ocean’s response to global warming, we’re not in completely uncharted waters. A UC Riverside study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth’s past caused … Read more
A ‘Hot Neptune’ exoplanets has been found to contain sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere – an atmosphere that also erupts into space as the planet orbits the poles of its star in a highly inclined orbit every three and a third days. The existence of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet, named GJ … Read more