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Wattle and other acacias were found at the oldest archaeological site on the land of the Martu in the Australian Western Desert. Image credit: University of Western Australia.

New Study Offers Insight into Earliest Uses of Firewood in Australia

Mar 18, 2022 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of Western Australia and Curtin University has examined charcoal from ancient rock shelters to learn about the...

Yan et al. designed an acoustic fabric, woven with a fiber that is designed from a piezoelectric material that produces an electrical signal when bent or mechanically deformed: (a) the tympanic membrane is a four-layer construct composed of circumferentially and radially oriented high-modulus collagen fibers, which are key for sound conduction; the tympanic membrane motion is ultimately transmitted to the cochlea through the ossicular chain, wherein short cilia fibers convert pressure waves into electrical signals (ionic), which are picked up by the nervous system; (b) in the acoustic fabric, high-modulus Twaron yarns and cotton yarns are oriented at right angles, mimicking the construction of the tympanic membrane; this construction converts faint audible frequency sound pressure waves into low-order mechanical vibration modes; within that same medium, a single strand of piezoelectric elastomeric fiber transducer is woven, leading to a synergistically coupled fabric, where sound transduction is a collective effect; this results in a fabric capable of operating as a sensitive microphone that detects weak sound signals (for example, human speech) as low as 10-7 atm. Image credit: Yan et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04476-9.

Newly-Developed ‘Acoustic Fabric’ Converts Sounds into Electrical Signals

Mar 18, 2022 by News Staff

Fabrics, by virtue of their composition and structure, have traditionally been used as acoustic absorbers. Inspired by the auditory system, a team of engineers...

Chen et al. observed an association between lithium use and a decreased risk of developing dementia. Image credit: James Heilman / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Study: Lithium Treatment May Decrease Risk of Developing Dementia

Mar 17, 2022 by News Staff

In a study involving 29,618 patients, prescription lithium use was associated with a lower risk of receiving a diagnosis of dementia and its subtypes,...

Sesso et al. examined whether cocoa extract supplementation decreases total cardiovascular disease among older adults. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Cocoa Flavanols May Help Reduce Cardiovascular Risk

Mar 17, 2022 by News Staff

In the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), a team of researchers led by Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists examined whether...

https://cdn.sci.news/images/2022/03/image_10628-Yuxisaurus-kopchicki.jpg

New Species of Armored Dinosaur Unearthed in China

Mar 17, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of thyreophoran dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic epoch has been identified from a partial skeleton with cranial and...

Life reconstruction of Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae. Image credit: San Diego Natural History Museum.

Saber-Toothed Mammal Fossil Unearthed in California

Mar 16, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a bobcat-sized creature from a extinct lineage of carnivorous placental mammals. Life reconstruction...

While the purpose of this image was to focus on the bright star at the center for alignment evaluation, Webb’s optics and NIRCam are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up. At this stage of Webb’s mirror alignment, known as fine phasing, each of the primary mirror segments have been adjusted to produce one unified image of the same star using only the NIRCam instrument. This image of a star called 2MASS J17554042+6551277 uses a red filter to optimize visual contrast. Image credit: NASA / STScI.

Webb’s Optics Works Successfully, NASA Says

Mar 16, 2022 by News Staff

Following the completion of mirror alignment steps, the Webb team expects that the telescope’s optical performance will be able to meet or exceed its...

Use of the reverse phosphorolysis action of acholetin phosphorylase (AchP) provides an efficient method to enzymatically synthesize acholetin, which is a new biodegradable polymeric material. Image credit: Macdonald et al., doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.1c01570.

Scientists Create New Type of Biodegradable Polymeric Material

Mar 16, 2022 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia and elsewhere has identified a bacterial enzyme that can make a new type of polysaccharide,...

An artist’s impression of a rocky asteroid. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge.

Small Asteroid Disintegrates over Norwegian Sea

Mar 16, 2022 by News Staff

A small near-Earth asteroid called 2022 EB5 disintegrated over the Norwegian Sea just two hours after its discovery on March 11, 2022. An artist’s impression...

Coelho et al. provide a guide for the search for surface life on icy worlds based on biota from Earth’s icy environments. Image credit: Jack Madden.

Astrobiologists Create Catalog of Icy World Surface Biosignatures

Mar 15, 2022 by News Staff

With thousands of discovered exoplanets and new missions that will explore our Solar System, the search for life in the Universe has entered a new era....

The New Caledonian storm petrel (Fregetta lineata) off Nouméa, New Caledonia, in January 2020. Image credit: Hadoram Shirihai, Tubenoses Project.

New Species of Storm Petrel Identified

Mar 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Based on the numbers seen at sea, both off Australia and New Caledonia, the population of the New Caledonian storm petrel (Fregetta lineata) is in the...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Early Universe Experienced Phase Transition that Created Supermassive Black Holes, Study Suggests

Mar 15, 2022 by News Staff

The formation of ultrarare supermassive black holes, with masses over one billion solar masses, in the first billion years of the Universe is an open question...

Theloderma khoii, holotype, male, in life. Image credit: Ninh et al., doi: 10.5852/ejt.2022.794.1655.

New Species of Mossy Frog Discovered in Vietnam

Mar 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers has described a new species of the tree frog genus Theloderma from northeastern Vietnam. Theloderma khoii, holotype,...

PSR J2030+4415 generated an extremely long beam of matter and antimatter. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Stanford University / M. de Vries / NSF / AURA / Gemini Consortium.

Chandra Spots Huge Filament of Matter and Antimatter from Gamma-Ray Pulsar

Mar 15, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have observed a remarkable X-ray filament generated by the gamma-ray pulsar PSR J2030+4415. PSR J2030+4415...

Wei et al. found that honeybee tongue hairs’ hydrophobicity can prevent the hairs from being adhered to the soft tongue surface, which could significantly enhance the deformability of the tongue when honeybees feed at various surfaces and promote their adaptability to different environments. Image credit: Jiangkun Wei.

Honeybee Tongue Hairs are Stiff and Hydrophobic, New Study Shows

Mar 14, 2022 by News Staff

The honeybee tongue, foraging liquid food in nature, has a unique segmented surface covered with dense hairs. Since honeybees are capable of using their...

This image from the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows Messier 99, a spiral galaxy some 42 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Image credit: ESO / PHANGS.

VLT Observes Hidden Depths of Messier 99

Mar 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have produced a spectacularly detailed image of the central...

Hutchemys walkerorum. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.

Cretaceous-Period Softshell Turtle Lived alongside Giant Dinosaurs

Mar 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of softshell turtle from a partial carapace found in North Dakota, the United States. Hutchemys walkerorum....

Locations of four vertical cross sections (thick, solid lines) on two LLSVPs (yellow). Image credit: Yuan & Li, doi: 10.1038/s41561-022-00908-3.

Study: Two Blob-Like Structures in Earth’s Mantle Have Different Densities and Compositions

Mar 14, 2022 by News Staff

Seismic observations have recently revealed two seismic anomalies in Earth’s lowermost mantle, one beneath Africa and the other beneath the Pacific Ocean,...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1097, a barred spiral galaxy some 48 million light-years away in the constellation of Fornax. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. Seven filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Sand / K. Sheth.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on NGC 1097

Mar 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a finely detailed image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097. This Hubble image shows NGC 1097, a barred...