Achieving a goal considered nearly impossible, JILA physicists have chilled a gas of molecules to very low temperatures by adapting the familiar process by which a hot cup of coffee cools. (more…)
New research by Yale University scientists suggests an explanation for the amount of iron in the Earth’s largest interior layer, the mantle: migrating “iron-rich blobs” generated by chemical interactions in the zone between the planet’s core and mantle. (more…)
Taking into consideration its size, an ancient relative of piranhas weighing about 20 pounds delivered a bite with a force more fierce than prehistoric whale-eating sharks, the four-ton ocean-dwelling Dunkleosteus terrelli and – even – Tyrannosaurus rex.
Besides the force of the bite, Megapiranha paranensis appears to have had teeth capable of shearing through soft tissue the way today’s piranhas do, while also being able to pierce thick shells and crack armoring and bones, according to Stephanie Crofts, a University of Washington doctoral student in biology. (more…)
Two groups — clades — of grasses that once had a common ancestry diverged. The PACMAD clade was predisposed to evolve a more efficient “C4” means of photosynthesis than grasses in the BEP clade. In a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a Brown-led team pinpoints the anatomical differences between the clades that led to the PACMAD’s tendency toward C4.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Even on the evolutionary time scale of tens of millions of years there is such a thing as being in the right shape at the right time. An anatomical difference in the ability to seize the moment, according to a study led by Brown University biologists, explains why more species in one broad group, or clade, of grasses evolved a more efficient means of photosynthesis than species in another clade. (more…)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study of the batteries commonly used in hybrid and electric-only cars has revealed an unexpected factor that could limit the performance of batteries currently on the road.
Researchers led by Ohio State University engineers examined used car batteries and discovered that over time lithium accumulates beyond the battery electrodes – in the “current collector,” a sheet of copper which facilitates electron transfer between the electrodes and the car’s electrical system. (more…)
Like a ship plowing through still waters, the giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is speeding through space, making waves in the dust ahead. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has captured a dramatic, infrared portrait of these glowing waves, also known as a bow shock.
Astronomers theorize that this star was once sitting pretty next to a companion star even heftier than itself. But when that star exploded, Zeta Ophiuchi was kicked away and sent flying. Zeta Ophiuchi, which is 20 times more massive and 80,000 times brighter than our sun, is racing along at about 54,000 mph (24 kilometers per second). (more…)
Researchers from North Carolina State University have created conductive wires that can be stretched up to eight times their original length while still functioning. The wires can be used for everything from headphones to phone chargers, and hold potential for use in electronic textiles. (more…)
A Yale scientist and colleagues in Britain have found a highly unusual ancient marine fossil that retains soft body parts as well as its shell, including limbs, eyes, gills and alimentary system. The fossil represents a new species of ostracod, a tiny crustacean related to crabs, lobsters and shrimps.
“Fossil ostracods often provide evidence of the relative ages of the rocks in which they occur, but it is very difficult to determine their relationship to living forms because only the shell is normally preserved,” said Derek E. G. Briggs, director of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History and a co-author of the research. “This 425-million-year-old new form is remarkable in preserving the limbs and other anatomical features as well.” (more…)
