SciTech Daily

May 1, 2013

VLA Identifies Discrete Sources of Radio Waves Coming from Distant Galaxies

Using data from the Very Large Array, astronomers have for the first time identified discrete sources that account for nearly all the radio waves coming from distant galaxies. Staring at a small patch of sky for more than 50 hours with the ultra-sensitive Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), astronomers have for the first [...]

May 1, 2013

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NASA’s Fermi Dodges a Defunct Cold War Spy Satellite

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has a close call with the 3,100-pound Cosmos 1805, a defunct Cold-War spy satellite, avoiding a near collision. NASA scientists don’t often learn that their spacecraft is at risk of crashing into another satellite. But when Julie McEnery, the project scientist for NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, checked her email [...]

May 1, 2013

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Chandra Reveals an Enormous Cloud of Hot Gas Enveloping Two Colliding Galaxies

A burst of star formation that lasted for at least 200 million years may be responsible for a cloud of hot gas, which contains the mass of 10 billion Suns, spans 300,000 light years, and radiates at more 7 million degrees, that is surrounding two merging spiral galaxies. Scientists have used Chandra to make a [...]

April 30, 2013

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Researchers Uncover Molecular Pathway to Grow New Arteries

Scientists from Yale and UCL have identified a new mechanism that regulates VEGFR2 transport in vascular cells, opening new therapeutic opportunities for developing drugs to stimulate or inhibit blood vessel formation. Scientific collaborators from Yale School of Medicine and University College London (UCL) have uncovered the molecular pathway by which new arteries may form after [...]

April 30, 2013

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Two New Extrasolar Planets KOI-200b and KOI-889b Detected

Two new transiting, close-in, giant extrasolar planets KOI-200b and KOI-889b, have been detected and characterized with Kepler, SOPHIE and HARPS-N. An international team of astronomers, including Alexandre Santerne of the EXOEarths team at CAUP, has identified and characterized two new exoplanets thanks to combined observations from the Kepler space telescope plus the SOPHIE and HARPS-N [...]

April 30, 2013

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Scientists Control Chirality in Carbon Nanotubes

A team of researchers have managed to control chirality in carbon nanotubes, achieving an epitaxial formation of Co nanoparticles by reducing a well-developed solid solution in CO. An ultimate goal in the field of carbon nanotube research is to synthesize single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with controlled chiralities. Twenty years after the discovery of SWNTs, scientists [...]

April 30, 2013

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Researchers Increase the Stiffness of Silicone Liquid Crystal by 90 Percent

In a newly published study, researchers from Rice University report that the liquid crystal phase of silicone becomes 90 percent stiffer when silicone is subjected to a low-amplitude (5%), repetitive (dynamic) compression. Houston – Squeeze a piece of silicone and it quickly returns to its original shape, as squishy as ever. But scientists at Rice [...]

April 30, 2013

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Herschel Runs Out of Liquid Coolant, Stops Making Observations

Launched roughly four years ago, the Herschel space telescope has run out of liquid coolant and has stopped making observations. Pasadena, California — The Herschel observatory, a European space telescope for which NASA helped build instruments and process data, has stopped making observations after running out of liquid coolant as expected. The European Space Agency [...]

April 30, 2013

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Cassini Views a Spinning Vortex at Saturn’s North Pole

Taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, this NASA image of the day shows the spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm. The spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Measurements have sized the eye at a [...]

April 29, 2013

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Hubble Views Young Star PV Cep

This Hubble image shows the young star PV Cep, which is located in the northern constellation of Cepheus at a distance of over 1600 light-years from Earth. The Universe is rarely static, although the timescales involved can be very long. Since modern astronomical observations began we have been observing the birthplaces of new stars and [...]

April 29, 2013

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Preprogrammed Immune Cells Can Fight Specific Pathogens

A new study from Cornell University demonstrates a way to grow preprogrammed immune cells that can fight specific pathogens, potentially transforming the methods used to prevent infectious disease. Immune cells in newborns appear to be more ready to do battle than previously thought. New Cornell research shows that small populations of preprogrammed immune cells can [...]

April 29, 2013

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Natural Dental Wear Protects Teeth Against Fatigue Failure

In a newly published study, researchers analyzed modern human teeth, finding that material loss protects teeth against fatigue failure. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt together with dental technicians have digitally analyzed modern human teeth using an engineering approach, finite element method, to [...]