Headlines

Prussian blue goes from pigment to purification

The deep, murky pigment known as Prussian blue put the "blue" in traditional blueprints, colored Hokusai's "Great Wave off Kanagawa" and today is used for industrial purposes, from laundry to battery components to poison control. Now, research from the University of Chicago

Hair-width LEDs could eventually replace lasers

LEDs no wider than a human hair could soon take on work traditionally handled by lasers, from moving data inside server racks to powering next-generation displays. New research co-authored by UC Santa Barbara doctoral student Roark Chao points to a practical path forward. The

Curiosity rover captures Martian spiderwebs up close

For about six months, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has been exploring a region full of geologic formations called boxwork, low ridges standing roughly 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) tall with sandy hollows in between. Crisscrossing the surface for miles, the formations suggest

Auroras on Ganymede and Earth share striking similarities

New observations of Ganymede reveal a striking similarity between the auroras on the largest moon in the solar system and those on Earth. The international team of astrophysicists, led by researchers from the University of Liège, has produced new results indicating that,

Twisting optical fiber creates a robust new pathway for light

Light powers everything from communications to sensing, yet even tiny imperfections can scatter it and weaken signals. To address this, a team led by the University of Bath—working with the University of Cambridge and international partners—has developed a new structure that

Charged nanoparticles linked to higher fish embryo mortality

Plastic contamination in freshwater ecosystems continues to rise, resulting in micro- and nanoparticle accumulation in the aquatic environment. A new study by an aquatic ecology group at the University of Eastern Finland investigated how these tiny plastic particles and their

Study reveals hidden climate impact of digital industries

Digital technologies are widely viewed as drivers of efficiency, growth, and innovation. However, their contribution to climate change is significantly greater than previously understood. A new study published in the journal Communications Sustainability shows that digital

Scientists deliver new molecule for getting DNA into cells

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a new molecule which carries DNA into biological cells, to treat or vaccinate against illnesses. Many existing options rely on molecules with a strong positive charge, which can cause harmful inflammation. The team

Exomoons could reveal themselves through lunar eclipses

Our solar system hosts almost 900 known moons; more than 400 orbit the eight planets while the remaining orbit dwarf planets, asteroids, and Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). Of these, only a handful are targets for astrobiology and could potentially support life as we know it,

Fracking in Argentina 'linked to hundreds of tremors'

The extraction of gas and oil by fracking—large-scale fracturing of underground rocks by injecting water, sand and additives—is generating growing concern in Argentine Patagonia. Neuquén province—home to the country's largest hydrocarbon reserves—has experienced an increase in

AI deep denoiser can remove clouds from satellite images

Thick cloud cover can completely obscure the surface of the Earth from satellite view, while thinner haze and shadows distort the image of rural and urban regions. As such, many remote sensing images for monitoring climate, crops, and urban growth are only partially usable.

Courtship is complicated, even in fruit flies

Love is in the air for the vinegar fly. Drosophila melanogaster has long been a model for understanding how brains translate sensory information into courtship behavior. Male flies perform a multitude of romantic actions—orienting, tapping, chasing and singing—directed toward

A new method reveals hidden rules of gene control

Inside every cell, thousands of molecular signals collide, overlap, and compensate, obscuring the true drivers of gene expression. Scientists have now developed a way to silence that cellular noise, revealing transcription drivers by reconstructing transcription outside of the