Newly formed dwarf galaxies were likely the reason that the universe heated up about 13 billion years ago, according to new work by an international team of scientists that included a University of Virginia researcher. The finding opens an avenue for better understanding the early period of the universe's 14 billion year history.
Heavens
How many of Seattle's residents could live off food grown in their city?
If abundant P-Patches and backyard gardens teeming with kale come to mind, you're like many residents who assume urban agriculture in Seattle could support 50, 80 or even 100 percent of the people who live in the city.
NASA's RapidScat instrument and Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM core satellite analyzed the surface winds and rainfall rates occurring System 90L, an unusual storm in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which may become subtropical.
For the past few days System 90L, a low pressure center far south-southwest of the Azores, has been monitored by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) for possible development into a subtropical or tropical storm.
After the Big Bang, the Universe expanded and, by cooling down, the matter progressively took shape. The first stars and galaxies form several hundred thousand years later. One billion year later the Universe is observed to be reheated, and hydrogen, the most abundant element, is again ionized, as it was shortly after the Big Bang. How has this important transformation, named cosmic reionization, been possible?
The world's largest canyon may lie under the Antarctic ice sheet, according to analysis of satellite data by a team of scientists, led by Durham University.
Although the discovery needs to be confirmed by direct measurements, the previously unknown canyon system is thought to be over 1,000km long and in places as much as 1km deep, comparable in depth to the Grand Canyon in USA, but many times longer.
Zooming in on black holes is the main mission for the newly installed instrument GRAVITY at ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile. During its first observations, GRAVITY successfully combined starlight using all four Auxiliary Telescopes. The large team of European astronomers and engineers, led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, who designed and built GRAVITY, are thrilled with the performance. During these initial tests, the instrument has already achieved a number of notable firsts.
High levels of vitamin D are linked to improved fertility and reproductive success, a study of wild sheep has found.
The study, carried out on a remote Hebridean island, adds to growing evidence that vitamin D - known as the sunshine vitamin - is associated with reproductive health.
Experts hope that further studies will help to determine the relevance of the results for other mammals, including people.
Ants don't get distracted by social information when on the move, only fully responding to it when at rest, a new study from the University of Bristol, UK indicates. Such sporadic monitoring of the social environment may reduce information overload and enhance the robustness of complex societies, the researchers suggest.
Higher consumption of potatoes before pregnancy is associated with greater risk of developing diabetes while pregnant (known as gestational diabetes mellitus or GDM), concludes a study published by The BMJ today.
The US-based researchers suggest that substituting potatoes with other vegetables, legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils), or whole grain foods might lower the risk.
From launching the most powerful spherical tokamak on Earth to discovering a mechanism that halts solar eruptions, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory advanced the boundaries of clean energy and plasma science research in 2015. Here, in no particular order, are our picks for the Top-5 developments of the year:
1. Starting up the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U)
(BOSTON) Geographic location is an important predictor of the quality grades assigned to Medicare Advantage insurance plans, and the federal government should consider accounting for geographic differences to allow for fairer comparisons among plans, Boston University School of Public Health researchers say in a new study.
In the last year, astronomers from the University of Wyoming have discovered roughly 100 of the fastest-moving stars in the Milky Way galaxy with the aid of images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and use of the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) on Jelm Mountain near Laramie, Wyo.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A large new study reveals previously unknown risk factors associated with an eye condition that causes serious progressive nearsightedness at a relatively young age.
The findings, made through the largest-ever clinical study of the condition called keratoconus, could help more people receive newer treatments that can slow the problem and protect their vision.
In African children, a 3-dose intramuscular (i.m.) artesunate regimen is non-inferior to the WHO-recommended regimen for the treatment of severe malaria, according to a trial published this week in PLOS Medicine. The trial, conducted by Peter Kremsner at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany and Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, Lambaréné, Gabon, and colleagues, did not show non-inferiority of a similar 3-dose intravenous (i.v.) regimen.
Shortly after NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tropical Storm Pali it strengthened into a record-breaking hurricane.