Today’s top science and technology news. 17 November 2018.
Accessed on 17 November 2018, 0549 UTC.
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Comment: Here are today’s top science and technology news stories from https://phys.org. Views expressed in this science news summary are those of the reporters and correspondents.
Thanks for joining us today.
Until next time,
Russ Roberts
https://hawaiisciencedigest.blogspot.com
Solving mazes with single-molecule DNA navigators
The field of intelligent nanorobotics is based on the great promise of molecular devices with information processing capabilities. In a new study that supports the trend of DNA-based information carriers, scientists have …
ColorUNet: A new deep CNN classification approach to colorization
A team of researchers at Stanford University has recently developed a CNN classification method to colorize grayscale images. The tool they devised, called ColorUNet, draws inspiration from U-Net, a fully convolutional network …
A new lead on a 50-year-old radiation damage mystery
For half a century, researchers have seen loops of displaced atoms appearing inside nuclear reactor steel after exposure to radiation, but no one could work out how.
Half of the world’s annual precipitation falls in just 12 days, new study finds
Currently, half of the world’s measured precipitation that falls in a year falls in just 12 days, according to a new analysis of data collected at weather stations across the globe.
Scientists produce 3-D chemical maps of single bacteria
Scientists at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory—have used ultrabright x-rays to image single bacteria …
Treated superalloys demonstrate unprecedented heat resistance
Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory have discovered how to make “superalloys” even more super, extending useful life by thousands of hours. The discovery could improve materials performance for electrical generators …
Abell 1033: To boldly go into colliding galaxy clusters
Hidden in a distant galaxy cluster collision are wisps of gas resembling the starship Enterprise—an iconic spaceship from the “Star Trek” franchise.
SpaceX gets nod to put 12,000 satellites in orbit
SpaceX got the green light this week from US authorities to put a constellation of nearly 12,000 satellites into orbit in order to boost cheap, wireless internet access by the 2020s.
A way to make batteries almost any shape desired
A team of researchers from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Harvard University and Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology has developed a way to make batteries in almost any shape that can be imagined. …
From the ashes of a failed pain drug, a new therapeutic path emerges
In 2013, renowned Boston Children’s Hospital pain researcher Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, Ph.D., and chemist Kai Johnsson, Ph.D., his fellow co-founder at Quartet Medicine, believed they held the key to non-narcotic pain relief. …
Cell study reveals how head injuries lead to serious brain diseases
UCLA biologists have discovered how head injuries adversely affect individual cells and genes that can lead to serious brain disorders. The life scientists provide the first cell “atlas” of the hippocampus—the part of the …
Infinite-dimensional symmetry opens up possibility of a new physics—and new particles
The symmetries that govern the world of elementary particles at the most elementary level could be radically different from what has so far been thought. This surprising conclusion emerges from new work published by theoreticians …
Dodging antibiotic resistance by curbing bacterial evolution
With many disease-causing bacteria ratcheting up their shields against current drugs, new tactics are vital to protect people from treatment-resistant infections.
Overflowing crater lakes carved canyons across Mars
Today, most of the water on Mars is locked away in frozen ice caps. But billions of years ago it flowed freely across the surface, forming rushing rivers that emptied into craters, forming lakes and seas. New research led …
New discovery shows glass made from exploding stars
The next time you’re gazing out of the window in search of inspiration, keep in mind the material you’re looking through was forged inside the heart of an exploding ancient star.
PNW woodlands will be less vulnerable to drought, fire than Rocky Mountain, Sierra forests
Forests in the Pacific Northwest will be less vulnerable to drought and fire over the next three decades than those in the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, computer modeling by researchers in Oregon State University’s College …
Take a weight off: Tears, joy as kilo gets historic update (Update)
In a historic vote, more than 50 nations unanimously approved an overhaul of the international measurement system that underpins global trade and other human endeavors, uniting Friday behind new definitions for the kilogram …
Newborn babies’ brain responses to being touched on the face measured for the first time
A newborn baby’s brain responds to being touched on the face, according to new research co-led by UCL.
New research uncovers the predatory behavior of Florida’s skull-collecting ant
“Add ‘skull-collecting ant’ to the list of strange creatures in Florida,” says Adrian Smith a scientist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University. His new research describes the …
Communal rearing gives mice a competitive edge
Research by scientists at the University of Liverpool suggests that being raised communally makes mice more competitive when they’re older.
By solving a mystery of gene repair, scientists uncover an exception to biology’s rules
About 15 years ago, UNC Lineberger’s Dale Ramsden, Ph.D., was looking through a textbook with one of his students when they stumbled upon a scientific mystery.
When your brain won’t hang up: Sustained connections associated with symptoms of autism
For decades, scientists have examined how regions of the brain communicate to understand autism. Researchers at University of Utah Health believe the symptoms of autism may result from sustained connections between regions …