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A team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has spotted sugar molecules in the gas surrounding a young Sun-like star. This is the first time sugar been found in space around such a star, and the discovery shows that the building blocks of life are in the right place, at the right time, to be included in planets forming around the star. The astronomers found molecules of glycolaldehyde — a simple form of sugar — in the gas surrounding a young binary star, with similar mass to the Sun, called IRAS 16293-2422....

The team published their research today (October 25) in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. It included researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is recognized as the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas because of its significant impact on global warming and climate change. Because of this, a number of satellite missions dedicated to atmospheric greenhouse measurements have been developed in the last decade....

Although the effectiveness of medications to treat adults with opioid use disorder has been well established, there has been little research about how — or even if — such treatment works in adolescents. Now, a new review of the literature suggests that, in addition to adults, adolescents with severe opioid use disorder can be treated with one of three medications: methadone, buprenorphine (Subutex/Suboxone), or extended-release naltrexone (Vivitrol). The study was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs....

According to research, while there are techniques that can assist individuals in coping with negative emotions, such as avoiding exposure to political news, they may also dampen their motivation to take action on political issues they are passionate about. “When it comes to politics, there can be a trade-off between feeling good and doing good,” said Brett Q. Ford, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto....

Born in 1863, Wolf had a habit of dramatically altering the astronomy landscape. Something of a prodigy, he discovered his first comet at only 21 years old. Then in 1890, he boldly declared that he planned to use wide-field photography in his quest to discover new asteroids, which would make him the first to do so. Two years later, Wolf had found 18 new asteroids. He later became the first person to use the “stereo comparator,” a View-Master-like device that showed two photographs of the sky at once so that moving asteroids appeared to pop out from the starry background....

A newly published study from Harvard University found that in just 20 generations in 15 years green anoles evolved larger toe pads equipped with more sticky scales to allow for better climbing. Though it’s often portrayed as a process that takes place over thousands of years, under the right circumstances the evolution of enhanced traits in a species can occur with surprising speed. Exhibit A involves green anoles. The only anole species native to the United States, these small lizards are typically found on or near the base of trees, where they feed largely on insects....

According to the researchers’ report in the journal Acta Astronautica, the sprayer was able to eliminate over 98% of the moon dust simulant in a vacuum environment with little to no harm to the spacesuits, outperforming any previously studied techniques. While people have managed to put men on the moon, they haven’t figured out how to keep them clean there. Similar to the clingiest packaging peanuts, moon dust sticks to everything that it touches....

There’s one particularly cunning type of pricing strategy that marketers use to get you to switch your choice from one option to a more expensive or profitable one. It’s called the decoy effect. Imagine you are shopping for a Nutribullet blender. You see two options. The cheaper one, at $89, promotes 900 watts of power and a five-piece accessory kit. The more expensive one, at $149, is 1,200 watts and has 12 accessories....

A new look at a “star factory” … Practicing Moonwalks here on Earth … And an Earthly assist for a NASA spacecraft … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! Webb’s New Star-Filled “Pillars of Creation” Image A new Webb Space Telescope image of the iconic Pillars of Creation – a star factory of sorts – is visually stunning and could help us better understand how stars form within clouds of gas and interstellar dust....

Singularities, such as those at the centre of black holes, where density becomes infinite, are often said to be places where physics ‘breaks down’. However, this doesn’t mean that ‘anything’ could happen, and physicists are interested in which laws could break down, and how. Now, a research team from Imperial College London, the Cockcroft Institute and Lancaster University have proposed a way that singularities could violate the law of conservation of charge....

For the first time, scientists have transplanted neural cells derived from a monkey’s skin into its brain and watched the cells develop into several types of mature brain cells, according to the authors of a new study in the journal Cell Reports. After six months, the cells looked entirely normal, and were only detectable because they initially were tagged with a fluorescent protein. Because the cells were derived from adult cells in each monkey’s skin, the experiment is a proof-of-principle for the concept of personalized medicine, where treatments are designed for each individual....

In a new paper in The Astrophysical Journal, Harvard-Smithsonian Center For Astrophysics (CfA) astronomers Federico Fraschetti, Jeremy Drake, Julian Alvardo-Gomez, Sofia Moschou, and Cecilia Garraffo and a colleague carry out theoretical simulations of the effects of high-energy protons from a stellar wind on nearby exoplanets. These particles are produced by stellar flares or by shock waves driven by magnetic events in the stellar corona. Measurements of solar eruptive events provide the scientists with a basis for their simulations....

Treating patients with acute respiratory failure is a constant challenge in intensive care medicine. In most cases, the underlying cause is lung inflammation triggered by a bacterial infection or – more rarely, despite being frequently observed at present due to the corona pandemic – a viral infection. During the inflammation, cells of the immune system – the white blood cells – migrate to the lungs and fight the pathogens. At the same time, however, they also cause “collateral damage” in the lung tissue....

That’s how most digital devices that rely on synchronous circuits work. Built-in clocks allow the same amount of time for the completion of each computational function. Based on a binary system of ones and zeros, it’s reliable, but it also means that the system can run only as fast as the slowest function in the chain. “In a clocked implementation, everything has to fit into a time budget, so unless you make everything faster, your chip doesn’t run faster — and ‘everything’ includes things you don’t always need,” said Rajit Manohar, the John C....

Natural gas, which is mostly methane, is viewed as a significant “bridge fuel” to help the world move away from the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuels, since burning natural gas for electricity produces about half as much carbon dioxide as burning coal. But methane is itself a potent greenhouse gas, and it currently leaks from production wells, storage tanks, pipelines, and urban distribution pipes for natural gas. Increasing its usage, as a strategy for decarbonizing the electricity supply, will also increase the potential for such “fugitive” methane emissions, although there is great uncertainty about how much to expect....

This study, led by Fang Li, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, examined the mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 enters cells. Specifically, the team of scientists investigated how the virus “unlocks” human cells using a surface spike protein as the “key.” They made three important findings: the tip of the viral key binds strongly to human cells;the tip of the viral key is often hidden; andwhen new virus particles are made, the viral key is already pre-activated by a human enzyme....

A newly published study from Yale University shows that although Capuchin monkeys exhibit a number of irrational behaviors similar to humans, the monkeys aren’t fooled by expensive brands. In at least one respect, Capuchin monkeys are smarter than humans — they don’t assume a higher price tag means better quality, according to a new Yale study appearing in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology. People consistently tend to confuse the price of a good with its quality....

The discovery makes it possible to ‘derive’ any Sanskrit word – to construct millions of grammatically correct words including ‘mantra’ and ‘guru’ – using Pāṇini’s revered ‘language machine’ which is widely considered to be one of the great intellectual achievements in history. Leading Sanskrit experts have described Rajpopat’s discovery as ‘revolutionary’ and it could now mean that Pāṇini’s grammar can be taught to computers for the first time. While researching his PhD, published December 14, Dr....

A life of avoidance, detachment, and relocation might not be suitable for all, but for the single-cell eukaryote Stentor roeseli, confirmation of this idiosyncratic behavior pattern has been a long time coming. In a study published today (December 5, 2019) in Current Biology, researchers at Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School hope to put to rest a century-old scientific debate by demonstrating that the low-level organism S. roeseli is capable of decision making....

Watching immersive 3D videos of icy Arctic scenes helps to relieve burning pain and could hold hope for treating chronic pain, a study has found. Scientists from Imperial College London have found that using virtual reality headsets could combat increased sensitivity to pain, by immersing people in scenes of icebergs, frigid oceans, and sprawling icescapes. In a small proof-of-concept study, published in Pain Reports, a team from Imperial used VR video to reduce peoples’ scores of perceived ongoing pain as well their sensitivity to painful stimuli....