Page 393 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

ExLLSM (expansion/lattice light-sheet microscopy) images neural structures with molecular contrast over millimeter-scale volumes, including (clockwise from top right) mouse pyramidal neurons and their processes; organelle morphologies in somata; dendritic spines and synaptic proteins across the cortex; stereotypy of projection neuron boutons in Drosophila; projection neurons traced to the central complex; and (center) dopaminergic neurons across the brain, including the ellipsoid body (circular inset). Image credit: Gao et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aau8302.

Powerful New 3D-Imaging Technique Maps Fruit Fly and Mouse Brains in Unprecedented Detail

Jan 18, 2019 by News Staff

A revolutionary new technique combines a rapid 3D microscopy technique known as lattice light-sheet microscopy with expansion microscopy for nanoscale...

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Saturn’s Rings are 10 to 100 Million Years Old, Much Younger than Planet

Jan 18, 2019 by News Staff

In the final phase of NASA’s Cassini mission, the spacecraft dived between Saturn and its innermost ring, at altitudes 1,616-2,423 miles (2,600-3,900...

Smokers have biological ages that are higher than their chronological ages. Image credit: Insilico Medicine.

Smoking Speeds Up Aging, Says New Study

Jan 18, 2019 by News Staff

By employing age-prediction models developed using supervised deep learning techniques, a research team at Insilico Medicine, Inc. — one of the leaders...

Messier 61 is aligned face-on towards Earth, thus presenting us with a breathtaking view of its structure. The gas and dust of the intricate spiral arms are studded with billions of stars. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Captures Incredible Image of Messier 61

Jan 17, 2019 by News Staff

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile has captured an amazing new photo of the spiral galaxy Messier 61. Messier 61 is...

Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii). Image credit: J.J. Harrison / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Research Reveals How Facial Tumor Disease Became Transmissible in Tasmanian Devils

Jan 17, 2019 by News Staff

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), the world’s largest living carnivorous marsupial, is threatened with extinction by a horizontally transmitted...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Cassini Team Finds Evidence of Summer Rainfall at Titan’s North Pole

Jan 17, 2019 by News Staff

Observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft provide evidence of rainfall on the north pole of Saturn’s moon Titan. The rainfall would be the first...

Kinouchi et al reveal that fasting affects peripheral circadian clocks in the liver and skeletal muscle. Fasting operates by influencing the circadian clock and fasting-sensitive transcription factors, thereby cooperatively achieving fasting-specific temporal gene regulation. Image credit: Kinouchi et al, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.11.077.

Study: Fasting Affects Peripheral Circadian Clocks, Improves Overall Health

Jan 17, 2019 by News Staff

Fasting affects peripheral circadian clocks in the liver and skeletal muscle, causing them to rewire their metabolism, which can ultimately lead to improved...

Infrared lamp. Image credit: Bernd Marczak.

Newly-Developed Chemical Process Converts Infrared into Visible Light

Jan 16, 2019 by News Staff

A group of researchers has succeeded in developing a chemical process to convert infrared into visible light. The technology, described in the journal...

Zhao et al demonstrate that HSCs have a back-up system in stressed condition. Both reserve and active stem HSCs are maintained in the bone marrow by specific niches. While the latter are chemo-sensitive, the former survive and restore stem cells, and thereby generate the blood system. Image credit: Zhao et al, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.12.093.

Blood-Forming Stem Cells Have Back-Up System in Stressed Condition, New Study Shows

Jan 16, 2019 by News Staff

Blood-forming (hematopoietic) adult stem cells reside deep in the bone marrow and are responsible for regenerating the body’s blood supply including...

These raw images were used to create an animation demonstrating the propeller-like rotation of Ultima Thule in the seven hours between 3 p.m. EST (8 p.m. GMT) on December 31, 2018, and 12:01 a.m. EST (5:01 a.m. GMT) on January 1, 2019, as seen by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Amazing NASA Video Shows Ultima Thule Approach

Jan 16, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft took a series of images between 3 p.m. EST (8 p.m. GMT) on December 31, 2018, and 12:01 a.m. EST (5:01 a.m. GMT) on January...

Two seeds of Chenopodium berlandieri spp. jonesianum adhering along one side showing truncate cross section as well as variation in seed coat thickness and margin configuration that varies from flattened to slightly rounded. Image credit: Gary Crawford.

Archaeologists Find 2,900-Year-Old Seeds of Domesticated Goosefoot in Canada

Jan 16, 2019 by News Staff

A team of Canadian archaeologists has found a cache of charred seeds of the pitseed goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri spp. jonesianum), a form of quinoa...

Fever is an evolutionarily conserved response in both endothermic and ectothermic species and confers survival benefits during infection and injury. Lin et al identify that the Hsp90-a4-integrin axis serves as a thermal sensory pathway that responds to fever to promote T cell trafficking and enhance immune surveillance during infection. Image credit: Lin et al, doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2018.11.013.

Fever Helps Fight Off Infection by Altering Immune Cells

Jan 16, 2019 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal Immunity, fever alters surface proteins on immune cells to make them better able to travel via blood vessels...

In this electron micrograph, Varroa destructor (arrow) is wedged between the abdominal plates of a honey bee’s exoskeleton. Image credit: UMD / USDA / PNAS.

Varroa Mites Feed Primarily on Honeybee Fat Body Tissues, Not Hemolymph

Jan 15, 2019 by News Staff

A parasite called the varroa mite (Varroa destructor) is the most serious pest of European honeybees (Apis mellifera) worldwide. For decades, scientists...

An artist’s impression of a view of the HD 98800BaBb binary star system and the surrounding disk. Image credit: Mark Garlick, University of Warwick.

ALMA Discovers Binary Star System with Polar Protoplanetary Disk

Jan 15, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted the first example of a binary system that has flipped its protoplanetary...

Photons emitted near rotating black holes encode quantum information that can be measured by actual quantum information technology. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Spacetime Geometry near Rotating Black Holes Acts Like Quantum Computer, Physicist Says

Jan 15, 2019 by News Staff

According to a theoretical paper published in the Annals of Physics, by Dr. Ovidiu Racorean from the General Direction of Information Technology in Bucharest,...

Knee osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative joint disease, is typically the result of wear and tear and progressive loss of articular cartilage. Image credit: Bruce Blaus / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Menopausal Hormone Therapy Effective against Knee Osteoarthritis: Study

Jan 15, 2019 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Menopause, shows that women receiving menopausal hormone therapy had a significantly lower prevalence of symptomatic...

The Steward 2.3-m Bok Telescope image of M31N 2008-12a and its surrounding super-remnant. Image credit: Darnley et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0825-4.

Astronomers Find Nova Super-Remnant in Andromeda Galaxy

Jan 14, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found that M31N 2008-12a, a frequently erupting ‘nova’ located in the Andromeda Galaxy, is surrounded by a...

When we remember a past event, the brain reconstructs that experience in reverse order. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Study Shows How Human Brain Reconstructs Memories

Jan 14, 2019 by News Staff

Remembering is a reconstructive process, yet little is known about how the reconstruction of a memory unfolds in time in the brain. In a study published...

This image of the elliptical galaxy Messier 89 is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). Two 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 / S. Faber et al.

Hubble Spots ‘Perfectly Spherical’ Elliptical Galaxy: Messier 89

Jan 14, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the massive galaxy Messier 89, which is found in the constellation of Virgo. This image of the...