Heavens

When it comes to putting technology in space, size and mass are prime considerations. High-power gallium nitride-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are appealing in this regard because they have the potential to replace bulkier, less efficient transistors, and are also more tolerant of the harsh radiation environment of space. Compared to similar aluminum gallium arsenide/gallium arsenide HEMTs, the gallium nitride-based HEMTs are ten times more tolerant of radiation-induced displacement damage.

An international team has made use of the power of the HAWK-I infrared instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) to produce the deepest and most comprehensive view of the Orion Nebula [1] to date. Not only has this led to an image of spectacular beauty, but it has revealed a great abundance of faint brown dwarfs and isolated planetary-mass objects.

A Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California San Diego-led research team analyzing satellite cloud records has found that the cloudy storm tracks on Earth are moving toward the poles and subtropical dry zones are expanding. Cloud tops are also moving higher in the atmosphere.

The record confirms computer climate models that have predicted these changes to have taken place during the past several decades as a consequence of the accumulation of societally generated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

A research team in Japan has now succeeded in developing high precision X-ray deformable mirrors that can be configured as necessary. They are the first to have achieved the formation of three types of X-ray focused beams, which differ in focused spot size, without changing the experimental setup. These findings constitute a considerable step towards developing a multifunctional X-ray microscope, which will be able to perform a variety of microscopic analyses in one device.

In order to live, it is necessary for creatures not only to synthesize essential components, but also degrade harmful or superfluous components. Autophagy, an intracellular degradation system conserved among eukaryotes from yeast to humans, contributes to cell homeostasis via isolating and degrading various unnecessary components within cells. Since autophagy dysfunction is linked to severe diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer, the artificial control of autophagy promises to facilitate the development of therapeutic and preventive treatment for these and severe diseases.

The subtropical weather in Cornwall means new exotic crops such as quinoa and Japanese persimmon are now more likely to succeed, according to a new technique developed by University of Exeter experts to monitor the climate.

Parts of Cornwall have become subtropical since 2000 and this could create opportunities to grow new, unusual plants. Sunflowers, maize, grapevines and tea are already grown in the Duchy.

The once powerful super typhoon Nepartak made landfall in eastern China as a minimal tropical storm after land falling in Taiwan as a typhoon. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of Nepartak over southeastern China after the storm's second landfall.

Gels are found in wide range of products that we use on a day-to-day basis. But what gives gels their solid properties? What stops the particles that they are made up of being able to move like they would in a liquid? A team from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf have now shown that this property of gels is due to directed chains of particles in their network-like structure.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Sometimes, saying "I don't know" may be the best way for sports stars and other celebrities to gain favor with the public when faced with tough questions.

That's the key result from a new case study involving Tom Brady, star quarterback for the New England Patriots, and a news conference he gave concerning the Deflategate scandal.

People actually felt more goodwill from Brady and thought he dodged questions less when he started his answers with "I don't know" or "I have no idea," the study found.

From swarming bees to clustering bacteria colonies, nature stuns with its ability to self organize and perform collective, dynamic behaviors. Now researchers have found a way to mimic these behaviors in active materials on the microscale -- by varying just a single parameter.

Pasadena, CA--Astronomers have believed since the 1960s that a galaxy dubbed UGC 1382 was a relatively boring, small elliptical galaxy. Ellipticals are the most common type of galaxy and lack the spiral structure of disks like the Milky Way we call home. Now, using a series of multi-wavelength surveys, astronomers, including Carnegie's Mark Seibert, Barry Madore and Jeff Rich, have discovered that it is really a colossal Giant Low Surface Brightness disk galaxy that rivals the champion of this elusive class--a galaxy known as Malin 1. Malin 1 is some 7 times the diameter of the Milky Way.

For only the second time in a year, a NASA camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite captured a view of the moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth.

"For the second time in the life of DSCOVR, the moon moved between the spacecraft and Earth," said Adam Szabo, DSCOVR project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The project recorded this event on July 5 with the same cadence and spatial resolution as the first 'lunar photobomb' of last year."

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - As artificial turf systems are increasingly used at all levels, new research is needed to understand how these surfaces can impact athlete safety. A study presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, CO, shows how the infill weight of artificial turf surfaces can directly affect the number of injuries to high school football players.

A team of scientists has developed a system that can forecast the outbreak of dengue fever by simply analyzing the calling behavior of citizens to a public-health hotline. This telephone-based disease surveillance system can forecast two to three weeks ahead of time, and with intra-city granularity, the outbreak of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne virus that infects up to 400,000 people each year.

Graduate students supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) helped helm two separate exoplanet discoveries that could expand researchers' understanding of how planets form and orbit stars.