Researchers at Stockholm University are getting closer to corner light dark-matter particle models. Observations can rule out some axion-like particles in the quest for the content of dark matter. The article is now published in the Physical Review Letters.
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PITTSBURGH, April 22, 2016 - Areas in the U.S. with the highest drug-overdose death rates are not always places with high drug trafficking, according to a new University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis published in the journal Preventive Medicine.
Drug-overdose mortality rates have increased an average of 6.7 percent per year since 1979 but held relatively steady in most U.S. border counties, indicating that drugs appear to pass through these counties without affecting the death rates of their residents.
A century ago, more than 60,000 tigers roamed the wild. Today, the worldwide estimate has dwindled to around 3,200. Poaching is one of the main drivers of this precipitous drop. Whether killed for skins, medicine or trophy hunting, humans have pushed tigers to near-extinction. The same applies to other large animal species like elephants and rhinoceros that play unique and crucial roles in the ecosystems where they live.
A new study of a quarter-million Miami-Dade County Medicare beneficiaries showed that higher levels of neighborhood greenness, including trees, grass and other vegetation, were linked to a significant reduction in the rate of chronic illnesses, particularly in low-to-middle income neighborhoods.
For the 26th birthday of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers are highlighting a Hubble image of an enormous bubble being blown into space by a super-hot, massive star. The Hubble image of the Bubble Nebula, or NGC 7635, was chosen to mark the 26th anniversary of the launch of Hubble into Earth orbit by the STS-31 space shuttle crew on April 24, 1990
Most of the cosmic rays that we detect at Earth originated relatively recently in nearby clusters of massive stars, according to new results from NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft. ACE allowed the research team to determine the source of these cosmic rays by making the first observations of a very rare type of cosmic ray that acts like a tiny timer, limiting the distance the source can be from Earth.
Most of the cosmic rays arriving at Earth from our galaxy come from nearby clusters of massive stars, according to new observations from the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS), an instrument aboard NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft.
The distance between the galactic cosmic rays' point of origin and Earth is limited by the survival of a very rare type of cosmic ray that acts like a tiny clock. The cosmic ray is a radioactive isotope of iron, 60Fe, which has a half life of 2.6 million years. In that time, half of these iron nuclei decay into other elements.
The life expectancy gap between America's rich and poor is shrinking for the young, a new study reports. In fact, life expectancy at birth has been improving for virtually all income groups born in 1990 onward. The results reveal that many of the U.S. policies directed at improving the health of the young and the poor may have been successful.
Traces of 60Fe detected in space indicate that a nearby supernova occurred within the last few million years. The iron isotope 60Fe, which is very rare, is created when a massive star collapses in the form of supernova. Walter Binns et al. detected 60Fe in cosmic rays flying through space, revealing that the contents of a nearby supernova are being sprinkled on Earth to this day. Some previous reports have found samples of the isotope that have accumulated on Earth and the Moon in the distant past, but this is the first measurement of the present-day rate.
A new paper in the journal npj Microgravity explores the options for astronauts who want to prevent menstrual bleeding during their space missions. The paper, written by authors at King's College London and Baylor College of Medicine, reviews contraceptive devices available including those already used by military and aviation personnel, and calls for more research into the effect of hormone treatments on bone mineral loss in space.
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, released to celebrate Hubble's 26th year in orbit, captures in stunning clarity what looks like a gigantic cosmic soap bubble. The object, known as the Bubble Nebula, is in fact a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by the brilliant star within it. The vivid new portrait of this dramatic scene wins the Bubble Nebula a place in the exclusive Hubble hall of fame, following an impressive lineage of Hubble anniversary images.
Once a powerful Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, Tropical Cyclone Fantala continues to move north of Madagascar on April 21. NASA's Terra satellite and GPM satellite passed over the storm finding heavy rainfall, a clouded eye, and vertical wind shear affecting the storm as it turned in its track.
NASA's Human Research Program is releasing the first half of a video series entitled Omics: Exploring Space Through You to highlight its Twins Study, in conjunction with its National DNA Day Reddit Ask Me Anything event at 10 a.m. CDT/11 a.m. EDT, Monday, April 25, 2016. The series explores space through you by using omics to look more closely at individual health.
Bremerhaven/Germany, 21 April 2016. Sea ice physicists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), are anticipating that the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean this summer may shrink to the record low of 2012. The scientists made this projection after evaluating current satellite data about the thickness of the ice cover. The data show that the arctic sea ice was already extraordinarily thin in the summer of 2015. Comparably little new ice formed during the past winter.
- Experts say pre-participation screening should be abandoned
- The harms outweigh any benefits
- Critical data on national screening withheld
Young athletes should not undergo screening to prevent sudden cardiac arrest because it is not proven to save lives, suggests an analysis of the available evidence published in The BMJ today.
The findings show that the harms outweigh any benefits, and no robust evidence exists to confirm it actually prevents deaths.