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Categories: Offbeat: Plants and Animals, Physics: General
Published Researchers develop clever algorithm to improve our understanding of particle beams in accelerators
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Whenever SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's linear accelerator is on, packs of around a billion electrons each travel together at nearly the speed of light through metal piping. These electron bunches form the accelerator's particle beam, which is used to study the atomic behavior of molecules, novel materials and many other subjects. But trying to estimate what a particle beam actually looks like as it travels through an accelerator is difficult, leaving scientists often with only a rough approximation of how a beam will behave during an experiment. Now, researchers have developed an algorithm that more precisely predicts a beam's distribution of particle positions and velocities as it zips through an accelerator.
Published Previously unknown intercellular electricity may power biology
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered that the electrical fields and activity that exist through a cell's membrane also exist within and around another type of cellular structure called biological condensates. Like oil droplets floating in water, these structures exist because of differences in density. Their foundational discovery could change the way researchers think about biological chemistry. It could also provide a clue as to how the first life on Earth harnessed the energy needed to arise.
Published Mushrooms and their post-rain, electrical conversations
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Certain types of fungi can communicate with each other via electrical signals. But much remains unknown about how and when they do so. A group of researchers recently headed to the forest to measure the electrical signals of Laccaria bicolor mushrooms, finding that their electrical signals increased following rainfall.
Published Are the least social animals the most innovative?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Innovating, i.e. the ability to find solutions to new problems or innovative solutions to known problems, it provides crucial benefits for the adaptation and the survival of human beings as well as for animals. What are the characteristics that make specific species or animals to be innovative? A study has analyzed this cognitive skill in ungulates, a group of mammals such as dromedaries, horses and goats, characterized by walking on the tip of their toes or hooves. The results show that those individuals that are less integrated in the group and those that are more afraid of new objects were the best at solving a challenge posed by the researchers: opening a food container.
Published Scientists slow aging by engineering longevity in cells
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed a biosynthetic 'clock' that keeps cells from reaching normal levels of deterioration related to aging. They engineered a gene oscillator that switches between the two normal paths of aging, slowing cell degeneration and setting a record for life extension.
Published A transistor made of wood
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed the first transistor made of wood. Their study paves the way for further development of wood-based electronics and control of electronic plants.
Published Tunneling electrons
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By superimposing two laser fields of different strengths and frequency, the electron emission of metals can be measured and controlled precisely to a few attoseconds. Physicists have shown that this is the case. The findings could lead to new quantum-mechanical insights and enable electronic circuits that are a million times faster than today.
Published Nifty nanoparticles help 'peel back the curtain' into the world of super small things
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Physicists are using nanoparticles to develop new sources of light that will allow us to 'peel back the curtain' into the world of extremely small objects -- thousands of times smaller than a human hair -- with major gains for medical and other technologies.
Published Brain circuits for locomotion evolved long before appendages and skeletons
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists found parallels between the neural circuitry that guides locomotion in sea slugs and in more complex animals like mammals.
Published How a horse whisperer can help engineers build better robots
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research shows us that age-old interactions between people and their horses can teach us something about building robots designed to improve our lives.
Published Jellyfish-like robots could one day clean up the world's oceans
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Roboticists have developed a jellyfish-inspired underwater robot with which they hope one day to collect waste from the bottom of the ocean. The almost noise-free prototype can trap objects underneath its body without physical contact, thereby enabling safe interactions in delicate environments such as coral reefs. Jellyfish-Bot could become an important tool for environmental remediation.
Published Scientists demonstrate unprecedented sensitivity in measuring time delay between two photons
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of researchers has demonstrated the ultimate sensitivity allowed by quantum physics in measuring the time delay between two photons. This breakthrough has significant implications for a range of applications, including more feasible imaging of nanostructures, including biological samples, and nanomaterial surfaces, as well as quantum enhanced estimation based on frequency-resolved boson sampling in optical networks.
Published Mudskippers could be key to understanding evolution of blinking
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Blinking is crucial for the eye. It's how animals clean their eyes, protect them, and even communicate. But how and why did blinking originate? Researchers have studied the mudskipper, an amphibious fish that spends most of its day on land, to better understand why blinking is a fundamental behavior for life on land.
Published Scientists have full state of a quantum liquid down cold
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of physicists has illuminated certain properties of quantum systems by observing how their fluctuations spread over time. The research offers an intricate understanding of a complex phenomenon that is foundational to quantum computing.
Published Better superconductors with palladium
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new age of superconductors may be about to beginn: In the 1980s, many superconducting materials (called cuprates) were based on copper. Then, nickelates were discovered -- a new kind of superconducting materials based on nickel. But now, scientists from Austria and Japan have shown: There is a 'Goldilocks zone' of superconductivity which can neither be reached with cuprates nor with nickelates. Instead, palladium-based materials ('palladates') could be the solution.
Published Putting hydrogen on solid ground: Simulations with a machine learning model predict a new phase of solid hydrogen
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, is found everywhere from the dust filling most of outer space to the cores of stars to many substances here on Earth. This would be reason enough to study hydrogen, but its individual atoms are also the simplest of any element with just one proton and one electron.
Published Whales stop by Gold Coast bay for day spa fix with full body scrubs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new Griffith University study has found that humpback whales will use sandy, shallow bay areas to 'roll' around in sandy substrates to remove dead skin cells on their return journeys south to cooler waters. Using data and footage collected from the tags, whales were observed performing full and side rolls in up to 49m water depth on the sea floor that was lined with fine sand or rubble.
Published Elephant seals drift off to sleep while diving far below the ocean surface
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For the first time, scientists have recorded brain activity in a free-ranging, wild marine mammal, revealing the sleep habits of elephant seals during the months they spend at sea. The new findings show that while elephant seals may spend 10 hours a day sleeping on the beach during the breeding season, they average just 2 hours of sleep per day when they are at sea on months-long foraging trips. They sleep for about 10 minutes at a time during deep, 30-minute dives, often spiraling downward while fast asleep, and sometimes lying motionless on the seafloor.
Published Biologists discover bees to be brew masters of the insect world
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have made a remarkable discovery about cellophane bees -- their microbiomes are some of the most fermentative known from the insect world. These bees, which are named for their use of cellophane-like materials to line their subterranean nests, are known for their fascinating behaviors and their important ecological roles as pollinators. Now, researchers have uncovered another aspect of their biology that makes them even more intriguing.
Published Cannabinoids give worms the munchies, too
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Marijuana (cannabis) is well known for giving people the 'munchies.' Not only does it make people want to eat more, but it also makes them crave the tastiest, most high-calorie foods. Now a new study shows that well-studied nematode worms (C. elegans) react to those chemicals known as cannabinoids in precisely the same way.