A key component of a future gravitational wave observatory passed a series of tests with flying colors, while coming closer to experiencing true free fall than any other human-made object ever has. At the heart of the experiment is a two-kilogram cube of a high-purity gold and platinum alloy that is currently sailing through space almost completely free of any force other than gravity.
Heavens
HANOVER, N.H. - June 7, 2016 - Dam removal in New England is not only an important aspect of river restoration but it also provides an opportunity to enhance the magnitude and rate of river re-connection, and improve watershed resilience in response to human impact on the environment, if a broader strategic removal approach is implemented throughout the region, according to a new Dartmouth-led study published in Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.
Recording artists are frequently the face of commercial products -- and children and adolescents are frequently their target audience. Now, a new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center finds that the vast majority of the food and beverage products marketed by some of the most popular music stars are unhealthy.
And this type of advertising is contributing to the alarming rise in childhood and teen obesity, the authors warn.
Galaxies "waste" large amounts of heavy elements generated by star formation by ejecting them up to a million light years away into their surrounding halos and deep space, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.
The research, which was recently published online in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, shows that more oxygen, carbon and iron atoms exist in the sprawling, gaseous halos outside of galaxies than exist within the galaxies themselves, leaving the galaxies deprived of raw materials needed to build stars and planets.
Astronomers have used Hubble to measure the distances to stars in nineteen galaxies more accurately than previously possible. They found that the Universe is currently expanding faster than the rate derived from measurements of the Universe shortly after the Big Bang. If confirmed, this apparent inconsistency may be an important clue to understanding three of the Universe's most elusive components: dark matter, dark energy and neutrinos.
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the universe is expanding 5 percent to 9 percent faster than expected.
"This surprising finding may be an important clue to understanding those mysterious parts of the universe that make up 95 percent of everything and don't emit light, such as dark energy, dark matter, and dark radiation," said study leader and Nobel Laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and The Johns Hopkins University, both in Baltimore, Maryland.
NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) calculated rainfall that occurred over a week and caused major flooding in Texas and Oklahoma, as well as soaking rains in South Carolina from Tropical Depression Bonnie.
IMERG uses data from NASA and the Japan Aerospace Agency's Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) satellite and other satellites.
Each injury means a little more as individuals age -- more impact and more healing time.
A group of scientists and dermatologists are now looking at the role sweat glands play in how aging skin recovers from wounds. It's a step to better learn about aging skin, in order to better treat -- and slow -- the process.
Their research, recently published in Aging Cell, compared 18 elderly subjects' skin to 18 young adults' skin, to see how each group healed from skin lesions. The lesions were smaller than the diameter of a pencil eraser, performed under local anesthesia.
A Montana State University physicist who has developed a new model that predicts the speed of solar plasma during solar flares, likening it to the path traveled by a thrown baseball, will present his findings at the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society conference being held this week in Boulder, Colorado.
The team, led by the University of Cambridge, have invented a way to make such sheets on industrial scales, opening up applications ranging from smart clothing for people or buildings, to banknote security.
Using a new method called Bend-Induced-Oscillatory-Shearing (BIOS), the researchers are now able to produce hundreds of metres of these materials, known as 'polymer opals', on a roll-to-roll process. The results are reported in the journal Nature Communications.
Sweden, the country hosting this year's European Obesity Summit in Gothenburg (1-4 June) has always been associated with good health indicators. However new research presented at the summit shows that obesity has continued to increase across mid-Sweden since the start of the new millennium. The study is by Dr Anu Molarius, Competence Centre for Health, Västmanland County Council, Västerås, Sweden, and colleagues.
Fish that are bred to be bolder or more shy show corresponding changes to their body shape and locomotion, suggesting that personality changes affect other seemingly unrelated traits. The findings could be useful in animal breeding, pest management and studies of complex human behaviors.
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission known as GPM passed over Tropical Depression Bonnie and found heavy rainfall from a few thunderstorms within.
Tropical Storm Bonnie weakened to a tropical depression on May 29, 2016. The circulation was labeled as "post-tropical" and has been moving very slowly to the northeast near the Carolinas coastline. Bonnie developed organized convection near the center and on June 2, 2016 the system was again labeled a tropical depression.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A team of physicists and mathematicians has come up with a statistical technique that puts the fine details back into computer simulations of large-scale phenomena like air circulation in the atmosphere and currents in the ocean.
The modern city is a place where a vibrant array of ideas, sights, sounds and smells intermingle to spawn creativity, expression and innovation. We are drawn to the noise, the constant connectivity and the delicious food.
Simply put, society is tuned to the pulse of the city -- but at what cost?