Heavens

Among the most striking objects in the universe are glittering, dense swarms of stars known as globular clusters. Astronomers had long thought globular clusters formed their millions of stars in bulk at around the same time, with each cluster's stars having very similar ages, much like twin brothers and sisters. Yet recent discoveries of young stars in old globular clusters have scrambled this tidy picture.

Among the most striking objects in the universe are the dense, glittering swarms of stars known as globular clusters. Astronomers had long thought globular clusters formed their millions of stars in bulk at around the same time, with each cluster's stars having very similar ages, much like twin brothers and sisters. Yet the recent discoveries of young stars within old globular clusters have scrambled this tidy picture.

URBANA, Ill. - Although agricultural weed Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) primarily impacts southern U.S. states, new research shows it could soon spread further north and damage soybean yields in Illinois.

An analysis of long-term trends in the amount of mercury in rainfall and other forms of precipitation in North America found recent increases at many sites, mostly in the center of the continent. At other sites, including those along the East Coast, mercury levels in rainfall have been trending steadily downward over the past 20 years.

A great childhood pleasure is playing with Legos® and marveling at the variety of structures you can create from a small number of basic elements. Such control and variety of superstructures is a goal of polymer chemists, but it is hard to regulate their specific size and how the pieces fit together. This week in ACS Central Science, researchers report a simple system to make different nano-architectures with precision.

IC 1613 is a dwarf galaxy in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). This VST image [1] shows the galaxy's unconventional beauty, all scattered stars and bright pink gas, in great detail.

Montreal, Jan. 26, 2016 -- Whether you're waiting for a bus that seems like it will never show up, or experiencing a sudden power outage on the subway, you are not alone: public transit woes are common around the world.

New research from Concordia University in Montreal uses mobile technology to map routes, calculate travel times and help alleviate some of the most pesky transport issues.

Tropical cyclone Corentin was the first named tropical cyclone of 2016 in the South Indian Ocean. The GPM core satellite measured rainfall in the weakening storm.

Corentin caused little danger because its genesis, maturation and dissipation all occurred over the Southern Indian Ocean about equidistant from the distant shores of Madagascar and Australia. The storm never affected land areas.

While the Big Bang theory has been a very successful model of the birth of our universe, astrophysical observations found that it does require very special initial conditions. Determining the primordial universe scenario that preceded the Big Bang and gave rise to such initial conditions has been a topic of contention among scientists. The most popular theory of the primordial universe is cosmic inflation, during which the universe was expanding with an extremely fast exponential rate.

Role of 'professional love' in early years settings studied by University of Sheffield researchers

Anonymous survey explored how early years workers felt about 'loving' the children in their careWhile the majority of practitioners believe showing affection to the children in their care is important, concerns exist about how others view the appropriateness of their actions

A toolkit for early years practitioners has been created by researchers at the University of Sheffield after a study examined whether they should 'love' the children in their care.

NASA satellites obtained a number of different views of the great winter storm that left many snowfall records from Virginia to New York City from January 22 to 24, 2016. RapidScat provided a look at the strong winds that led to flooding in southern New Jersey, while NASA's Aqua satellite and NASA/USGS's Landsat satellite provided images of the post-storm snowy blanket.

In a new study, scientists from The University of Texas at Dallas and their colleagues suggest a novel way for probing the beginning of space and time, potentially revealing secrets about the conditions that gave rise to the universe.

The prevailing model of the birth of the universe is the big bang theory, which describes the rapid expansion of the universe from a highly compressed primordial state. While the big bang is a successful genesis model, it does, however, require special initial conditions.

There is little dispute that in the wake of European colonists' arrival in the New World, Native American populations were decimated by disease and conflict. But when it comes to the timing, magnitude, and effects of this depopulation -- it depends on who you ask.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Teens without homes, many of whom have suffered at the hands of those entrusted with providing them care and kindness, often refuse to seek warmth and nourishment at shelters.

But there's new evidence that drop-in centers -- safe havens with fewer rules and no older adults -- could open doors to jobs, sobriety and housing that is safe and secure.

The study confirmed what lead researcher Natasha Slesnick has seen in two decades of work with homeless youths: Drop-in centers tailored to their needs and age have greater appeal for the hardest-to-reach kids.

An international team of researchers has found for the first time that the connection between a galaxy cluster and surrounding dark matter is not characterized solely by the mass of clusters, but also by their formation history.