Новости за 05.05.2021

Scientists are certain that dark matter exists. Yet, after more than 50 years of searching, they still have no direct evidence for the mysterious substance.

Researchers at CRANN (The Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices), and the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin, today announced that a magnetic material developed at the Centre demonstrates the fastest magnetic switching ever recorded.

When it comes to quarks, those of the third generation (the top and bottom) are certainly the most fascinating and intriguing. Metaphorically, we would classify their social life as quite secluded, as they do not mix much with their relatives of the first and second generation. However, as the proper aristocrats of the particle physics world, they enjoy privileged and intense interactions with the Higgs field; it is the intensity of this interaction that eventually determines things like the quantum stability of our universe. Читать дальше...

A survey study of adolescents in Europe suggests that students who are older relative to their peers are more likely to be popular in their school class. Danelien van Aalst of the University of Groningen and Frank van Tubergen of Utrecht University present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on May 5, 2021.

In a feat worthy of a laboratory conceived by J.K. Rowling, MIT researchers and colleagues have turned a "magic" material composed of atomically thin layers of carbon into three useful electronic devices. Normally, such devices, all key to the quantum electronics industry, are created using a variety of materials that require multiple fabrication steps. The MIT approach automatically solves a variety of problems associated with those more complicated processes.

Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could halve how much sea levels rise due to melting ice sheets this century, according to a major new study modelling how Earth's frozen spaces will respond to ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Mitochondria either split in half to multiply within the cell, or cut off their ends to get rid of damaged material. That's the take-away message from EPFL biophysicists in their latest research investigating mitochondrial fission. It's a major departure from the classical textbook explanation of the life cycle of this well-known organelle, the powerhouse of the cell. The results are published today in Nature.

We live in a knowledge society in which science and education is of particular importance. Knowledge is also considered a key driver for economic growth. But under certain circumstances, we all benefit from deliberate ignorance. Ralph Hertwig, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and Christoph Engel, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, explain why deliberately foregoing information in certain areas should even be prescribed and taught.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have shown that pea plants are able to make smart investment decisions when it comes to interactions with their symbiotic bacterial partners. Better understanding of how plants manage these interactions could help with the move towards sustainable agriculture.

New Johns Hopkins University simulations offer an intriguing look into Saturn's interior, suggesting that a thick layer of helium rain influences the planet's magnetic field.

A team of researchers from Universität Freiburg, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Université d'Antananarivo and Stony Brook University has discovered a new species of pelomedusoid turtle in Madagascar. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes the features of the turtle and why they believe it represents the convergent evolution of specialized suction feeders among pleurodire.

A team of researchers with Cardiff University, the Mary Rose Trust, HM Naval Base and the British Geological Survey's National Environmental Isotope Facility has found evidence of racial diversity among the crew of the Mary Rose—a warship from the time of King Henry the VIII. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, they describe their study and analysis of the remains of eight sailors recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose.

Drug carriers that target the vascular endothelium must adhere to the endothelial vessel wall to achieve clinical stability. The particle size is a critical physical property to prescribe particle margination within biological blood flows and those conducted in-lab. While microparticles are optimal for margination, nanoparticles are better for intracellular delivery. In a new report now on Science Advances, Margaret B. Fish and a research team in chemical engineering, pharmacology and cardiovascular... Читать дальше...

Using the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), astronomers from Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China have detected a low frequency, quasi-periodic oscillation in a black hole high mass X-ray binary known as Cygnus X-1. The finding is reported in a paper published April 29 on arXiv.org.

An individual human can maintain stable social relationships with about 150 people. This is the proposition known as "Dunbar's number"—that the architecture of the human brain sets an upper limit on our social lives. A new study from Stockholm University indicates that a cognitive limit on human group sizes cannot be derived in this manner.

Bank credit officers are more likely to approve loan applications earlier and later in the day, while 'decision fatigue' around midday is associated with defaulting to the safer option of saying no.