The ground-shaking that an earthquake generates is only a fraction of the total energy that a quake releases. A quake can also generate a flash of heat, along with a domino-like fracturing of underground rocks. But exactly how much energy goes into each of these three processes is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to measure…
A Rutgers-led team of scientists has uncovered evidence of how galaxies expand by tracing the invisible scaffolding of the universe created by a mysterious substance known as dark matter. In a newly published study in Astrophysical Journal Lettersresearchers used what they said are the largest-ever samples of special galaxies called Lyman-alpha emitters to study how…
If you think a galaxy is big, compare it to the size of the Universe: it’s just a tiny dot which, together with a huge number of other tiny dots, forms clusters that aggregate into superclusters, which in turn weave into filaments threaded with voids — an immense 3D skeleton of our Universe. If that…
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have made light-powered gears on a micrometer scale. This paves the way for the smallest on-chip motors in history, which can fit inside a strand of hair. Gears are everywhere – from clocks and cars to robots and wind turbines. For more than 30 years, researchers have been trying…
In Alaska’s Brooks Range, rivers once clear enough to drink now run orange and hazy with toxic metals. As warming thaws formerly frozen ground, it sets off a chemical chain reaction that is poisoning fish and wreaking havoc on ecosystems. As the planet warms, a layer of permafrost — permanently frozen Arctic soil that locked…
An international team of scientists has revealed how rogue rings of DNA that float outside of our chromosomes — known as extrachromosomal DNA, or ecDNA — can drive the growth of a large proportion of glioblastomas, the most common and aggressive adult brain cancer. The discovery could open the door to much-needed new approaches to…
SEAS researchers have discovered the chemical mechanism by which certain salt compounds break down protein waste, like wool and feathers. The discovery enables a gentler and more sustainable protein recycling process. The textile and meat-processing industries produce billions of tons of waste annually in the form of feathers, wool and hair, all of which are…
When we recall something familiar or explore a new situation, the brain does not always use the same communication routes. An international study led by Claudio Mirasso at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB),…
