Scientists seeking to bring to Earth the fusion that powers the sun and stars must control the hot, charged plasma -- the state of matter composed of free-floating electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions -- that fuels fusion reactions. For scientists who confine the plasma in magnetic fields, a key task calls for mapping the shape of the fields, a process known as measuring the equilibrium, or stability, of the plasma. At the U.S.
ITHACA, N.Y. - Using nature's color palette from early Earth, Cornell University astronomers have created a cosmic "cheat sheet" in order to understand where discovered exoplanets may fall along their own evolutionary spectrum.
Jack O'Malley-James, a research associate at the Carl Sagan Institute, and Lisa Kaltenegger, professor of astronomy and director of the Carl Sagan Institute, co-authored "Expanding the Timeline for Earth's Photosynthetic Red Edge Biosignature" published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Travellers returning to Barcelona mirrored the 2017 Zika outbreak in Cuba, according to a study led by the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, an institution supported by "la Caixa".
Zika virus spread throughout Latin America between 2015 and 2016, followed by a decrease in the number of new cases. Cuba, however, was one of the last countries to report cases: the first autochthonous case was confirmed in March 2016, and recent data indicate that an outbreak with over 600 reported cases occurred mid-2017 in Cienfuegos.
The liver is one of the largest and most versatile organs of the human body. It turns sugars, proteins, and fats from our food into substances useful for the body and releases them to the cells. In addition to its role in human metabolism, the liver is an immunological organ, which is indispensable for detoxifying the blood. Most strikingly, the liver is the only internal organ that can regenerate back to its full size with only 25% of its original mass.
AMES, Iowa - A new study from Iowa State University entomologists describes how mosquitoes fight off parasites that cause malaria, a disease that sickens millions of people every year.
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, affecting children's health and wellbeing and leading to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer later in life. The number of children with obesity continues to rise globally, particularly for children living in poverty.
Robots are good at making identical repetitive movements, such as a simple task on an assembly line. (Pick up a cup. Turn it over. Put it down.) But they lack the ability to perceive objects as they move through an environment.
A German-Swiss team around Professor Oliver Daumke from the MDC has investigated how a protein of the dynamin family deforms the inner mitochondrial membrane. The results, which also shed light on a hereditary disease of the optic nerve, have been published in Nature.
A new model based on daily oceanographic data and the movements of tagged whales has opened the potential for stakeholders to see where in the ocean endangered blue whales are most likely to be so that ships can avoid hitting them.
Cars built in the last decade have been shown to be safer than older models, including in the most common types of crashes - frontal collisions. However, a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Virginia's Center for Applied Biomechanics shows that women wearing seat belts are significantly more likely to suffer injury than their male counterparts.