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
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 new science is emerging that promises to become the defining field of the 21st century. More than a narrow specialization, it is not just a new field, but a new way of doing science—a new way of organizing intellectual fields and endeavors. Given its wide influence, it goes by several names, but one that … Read more
A tardigrade gets a dose of CRISPR tools to change one of its genes and those of the eggs it will produce. Credit: 2024 Tokiko Saigo et al. Certain species of tardigrades are highly and extremely resilient to various extreme conditions fatal to most other life forms. The genetic basis for these extraordinary abilities remains … Read more
Overlaid on an image from NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter, this map shows the path of Persistence between January 21 and June 11. The white dots show where the rover stopped after completing a pass near the Neretva Vallis river channel. The pale blue line shows the path of the rover inside the channel. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University … Read more