Welcome to the “Sci-news.com” update from Hawaii Science Digest.
Top story: A new telescope called the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory would use a telescope with mirror larger than Hubble’s.
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Accessed on 27 December 2019, 0705 UTC.
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ASTRONOMY
HabEx: New Mission Proposed to Search for Second Earth
The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) would use a telescope with a mirror larger than Hubble’s, and would employ origami techniques to utilize an external ‘starshade,’ which would block the light from target stars and enable the search for and characterization of Earth-like exoplanets around them. HabEx, a space telescope with ultraviolet (UV), optical, and near-infrared (near-IR) imaging…
SPACE EXPLORATION
Mars Express Captures New Views of Martian Moon Phobos
On November 17, 2019, ESA’s Mars Express orbiter made a close flyby of Phobos, the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars. The probe tracked Phobos as the tiny moon passed in front of the spacecraft’s High Resolution Stereo Camera, capturing Phobos’ motions and surface in detail. Phobos is an unusual satellite, orbiting closer to its planet than any other moon in the Solar…
ARCHAEOLOGY
Gold Jewelry and Artifacts Found in Two Bronze Age Tombs in Greece
A team of archaeologists from the University of Cincinnati has found two Bronze Age tombs in Pylos, an ancient city on the southwest coast of Greece, while investigating the area around the recently-discovered tomb of the Griffin Warrior. The 3,500-year-old beehive-shaped tombs contained a wealth of cultural artifacts and jewelry and were littered with flakes of gold leaf. An aerial view of the site…
PALEONTOLOGY
Flowering Plants Reached Australia 126 Million Years Ago: Study
Australia’s oldest angiosperms (flowering plants) are approximately 126 million years old, and they resembled modern magnolias, buttercups and laurels, according to new research published in the Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. Rocks containing microscopic pollen were collected to determine the age of fossil leaves from Castle Cove, Otway Ranges, Victoria, Australia. Image credit: Vera Korasidis. “Our…
BIOLOGY
Scientists Create Molecular Map of Striatum
Striatum, the inner part of the brain, is considered central to decision-making and the development of various addictions. In mouse models and with methods used for mapping cell types and brain tissue, a team of researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden was able to visualize the organization of different opioid-islands in striatum. Märtin et al define the molecular identity of striatal projections…
PHYSICS
Researchers Demonstrate Chip-to-Chip Quantum Teleportation
A research team led by University of Bristol scientists has successfully demonstrated quantum teleportation of information between two programmable micrometer-scale silicon chips. The team’s work, published in the journal Nature Physics, lays the groundwork for large-scale integrated photonic quantum technologies for communications and computations. Llewellyn et al realize an array of microring…
MEDICINE
Blue Light is Less Disruptive to Sleep than Previously Thought
Using dim, cooler lights in the evening and warmer lights in the day may be more beneficial to our health, according to a new study in mice from University of Manchester researchers. Changes in the spectral content of ambient light are detectable to most mammals as a blue shift in the color of twilight. Mouland et al show that these blue colors suppress circadian responses to light, supporting robust…
GENETICS
Researchers Use CRISPR to Create Compact Tomato Plants
An international team of scientists has used the CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology to restructure vine-like tomato plants into extremely compact, early yielding plants suitable for urban agriculture and even space missions. A gene-edited tomato plant. Image credit: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The new gene-edited tomato plants look nothing like the long vines you might find growing in a backyard…
GEOLOGY
Southwestern U.S. Was Once Similar to Today’s Tibetan Plateau: Study
New research suggests that during the Late Cretaceous epoch to the Early Paleogene epoch (80-50 million years ago), much of the southwestern United States had elevations in excess of 3 km (10,000 feet) and looked more like the Tibetan plateau. This map shows locations of samples analyzed to estimate crustal thickness during the Laramide orogeny. Text in white boxes is the average crustal thickness…
OTHER SCIENCES
Scientists Create Molecular Map of Striatum
Striatum, the inner part of the brain, is considered central to decision-making and the development of various addictions. In mouse models and with methods used for mapping cell types and brain tissue, a team of researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden was able to visualize the organization of different opioid-islands in striatum. Märtin et al define the molecular identity of striatal projections…
New Study Identifies Key Characteristics of Expert Liars
Study: Iron Crystals Accumulate and Compact into Thick Layer on Top of Earth’s Inner Core
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Russ Roberts
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