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Jeremy Vander Kam is the deputy system manager for the Orion spacecraft’s thermal protection system (TPS) at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. He leads the team that developed the heat shield and thermal tiles that will protect Orion from the extremely high temperatures the spacecraft will meet on its way home. “Orion will come blazing through Earth’s atmosphere at temperatures twice as hot as molten lava,” said Vander Kam....

Beetles are often observed being able to tenaciously cling to smooth surfaces, like leaves, hanging on even when those surfaces are bordering on the vertical. A new study reveals that beetles can even keep their footing underwater thanks to tiny bubbles of air trapped between the hair-like structures on their feet. The scientists published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Naoe Hosada, a material scientist at the National Institute for Material Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and Stanislav Gorb, studying biomechanics at the University of Kiel in Germany, have shown how this is possible....

Insect sexual communication relies to a significant extent on pheromones, chemical attractants that specifically allow males and females of a species to mate. Sex pheromones are distinctive to males and females of a species. Even the smallest differences, such as those observed in the formation of new species, ensure that mating no longer takes place, because males and females only find each other through the unmistakable odor of their conspecifics....

Many people wear masks in public to slow the spread of COVID-19, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, masks with exhalation valves do not slow the spread of the disease, and now, new videos from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) show why. The videos, which show airflow patterns through masks with and without exhalation valves, were created by NIST research engineer Matthew Staymates....

Researchers searching the galaxy for planets that could pass the litmus test of sustaining water-based life must find whether those planets fall in what’s known as a habitable zone. New work, led by a team of Penn State researchers, will help scientists in that search. Using the latest data, the Penn State Department of Geosciences team developed an updated model for determining whether discovered planets fall within a habitable zone – where they could be capable of having liquid water and thus sustaining life....

An international team of scientists has discovered that a well-preserved fossilized worm dating from 518-million-years-ago resembles the ancestor of three major groups of living animals. The research team included scientists from the University of Bristol, the University of Oxford, and the Natural History Museum. Named Wufengella and unearthed in China, the fossil worm measures about half an inch long. It was a stubby creature covered in a dense, regularly overlapping array of plates on its back....

A potentially game-changing breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis has been achieved with the development of a system that can capture carbon dioxide emissions before they are vented into the atmosphere and then, powered by solar energy, convert that carbon dioxide into valuable chemical products, including biodegradable plastics, pharmaceutical drugs and even liquid fuels. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have created a hybrid system of semiconducting nanowires and bacteria that mimics the natural photosynthetic process by which plants use the energy in sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water....

The massive galaxy, which is about four billion light-years from Earth, is surrounded by a halo of gas that is much less dense and less magnetized than expected. The finding was published on September 26, 2019, in the journal Science. Co-author Associate Professor Jean-Pierre Macquart, from the Curtin University node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), said gas on the outskirts of galaxies has traditionally been hard to study....

Explore Eta Carinae from the inside-out with the help of supercomputer simulations and data from NASA satellites and ground-based observatories. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Eta Carinae, the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years of Earth, is known for its surprising behavior, erupting twice in the 19th century for reasons scientists still don’t understand. A long-term study led by astronomers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, used NASA satellites, ground-based telescopes and theoretical modeling to produce the most comprehensive picture of Eta Carinae to date....

Younger athletes are at greater risk of atrial fibrillation than older athletes, say researchers. Athletes may have more than twice the risk of irregular heart rhythm Younger athletes are at greater risk of atrial fibrillation than older athletes, say researchers Athletes appear to be almost two and half times more likely than non-athletes to experience irregular heart rhythms (atrial fibrillation), suggests new research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine....

New research from Griffith University has shown that a bacterium commonly present in the nose can sneak into the brain and set off a cascade of events that may lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Associate Professor Jenny Ekberg and colleagues from the Clem Jones Centre for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research at Menzies Health Institute Queensland and Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, in collaboration with Queensland University of Technology, have discovered that the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae can invade the brain via the nerves of the nasal cavity....

Bats are often considered patient zero for many deadly viruses affecting humans, including Ebola, rabies, and, most recently, the SARS-CoV-2 strain of virus that causes coronavirus. Although humans experience adverse symptoms when afflicted with these pathogens, bats are remarkably able to tolerate viruses, and, additionally, live much longer than similar-sized land mammals. What are the secrets to their longevity and virus resistance? According to researchers at the University of Rochester, bats’ longevity and capacity to tolerate viruses may stem from their ability to control inflammation, which is a hallmark of disease and aging....

Patients of Black ethnicity have an increased risk of requiring hospital admission for COVID-19, while patients of Asian ethnicity have an increased risk of dying in hospital from COVID-19, compared to White patients, a study has found. Data analysis published today (Friday, October 9, 2020) in EClinicalMedicine, led by researchers at King’s College London, with support from the NIHR Guy’s and St Thomas’ Biomedical Research Centre and the British Heart Foundation (BHF), examines the relationship between ethnic background and the virus SARS-CoV-2....

Hubble astronomers got a front-row seat to such an interstellar demolition derby when they were alerted to a flash of high-energy radiation from the core of a galaxy 300 million light-years away. Like a police officer arriving quickly at the scene of an accident, Hubble vision was trained on the mayhem before the collision was over. Hubble is too far away to see the doomed star getting sucked in. Instead, Hubble astronomers took the fingerprints of starlight coming from the mishap....

“We are now able to demonstrate, for the first time, that primordial galaxies do have enough food in their environments to sustain both the growth of supermassive black holes and vigorous star formation,” says Emanuele Paolo Farina, of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, who led the research published today in The Astrophysical Journal. “This adds a fundamental piece to the puzzle that astronomers are building to picture how cosmic structures formed more than 12 billion years ago....

In a mouse model, researchers at UCLA showed that growth of new connections between the brain’s neurons and functional recovery may be achieved by blocking the molecule ephrin-A5 from forming after a stroke. Findings Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have identified a novel molecule in the brain that, after stroke, blocks the formation of new connections between neurons. As a result, it limits the brain’s recovery....

By comparing information on the genes and proteins expressed in the brains of thousands of individuals with and without multiple sclerosis, investigators discovered different expression levels of the SHMT1, FAM120B, and ICA1L genes (and their proteins) in brain tissues of patients versus controls. Studying the functions of these genes may uncover new information on the mechanisms involved in the development and progression of multiple sclerosis. “Our findings shed new light on the pathogenesis of MS and prioritized promising targets for future therapy research,” the authors wrote....

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that is known to occur from early childhood. It is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by continuous impairment of social communication and interaction-related behaviors leading to limited ranges of behavioral patterns, interests, and activities, as well as repetitive behaviors. Most autism spectrum disorder patients have behavioral disorders, sometimes accompanied by other developmental disabilities. Because there is currently no accurate molecular diagnosis method, early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is made at a fairly late period....

There are many reasons that the Crab Nebula is such a well-studied object. For example, it is one of a handful of cases where there is strong historical evidence for when the star exploded. Having this definitive timeline helps astronomers understand the details of the explosion and its aftermath. In the case of the Crab, observers in several countries reported the appearance of a “new star” in 1054 A.D. in the direction of the constellation Taurus....

How are negatively charged molecules created in interstellar environments? Interstellar clouds are the birthplaces of new stars, but they also play an important role in the origins of life in the Universe through regions of dust and gas in which chemical compounds form. The research group, molecular systems, led by ERC prize winner Roland Wester at the Institute for ion physics and applied physics at the University of Innsbruck, has set itself the task of better understanding the development of elementary molecules in space....