At asphalt volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico that spew oil, gas and tar, mussels and sponges live in symbiosis with bacteria providing them with food. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and colleagues from the USA have now discovered deep-sea animals living in symbiosis with bacteria that use oil as an …
New finds of fossils and stone tools from the archaeological site of Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, push back the origins of our species by one hundred thousand years and show that by about 300 thousand years ago important changes in our biology and behavior had taken place across most of Africa. The first of our kind. …
A study in the journal nature makes the case for maximum human lifespan increasing to 125 without radical life extension. Some previous work by other researchers argue that there is a limit to human lifespan of around 115 years, with their main rationale being that the maximum reported age at death (MRAD) in Japan, France, …
As noted in a Nextbigfuture article in April, the Earth is an unusually dry for a habitable planet. David Brin points out that this is the safest and best “soft landing” to the Fermi Paradox. That the universe is filled with life-rich water worlds, but our Earth, skating the inner edge of the Sun’s CHZ …
The discovery of a superconducting phase in sulfur hydride under high pressure with a critical temperature above 200 K has provided fresh impetus to the search for superconductors at ever higher temperatures. Although this system displays all of the hallmarks of superconductivity, the mechanism through which it arises remains to be determined. Here researchers provide a …
The Department of Physics of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country researchers have explored superelasticity properties on a nanometric scale based on shearing an alloy’s pillars down to nanometric size. The researchers have found that below one micron in diameter the material behaves differently and requires much higher stress for it to be deformed. This …
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere has developed a new approach to deep learning AI computing, using light instead of electricity, which they say could vastly improve the speed and efficiency of certain deep learning computations Soljačić says that many researchers over the years have made claims about optics-based computers, but that “people dramatically over-promised, and …
Oisin Biotechnologies differs from other companies producing senolytic therapies, the name given to treatments that destroy senescent cells, in one very important way. The Oisin technology is highly adaptable, and can be programmed to kill any class of cell that has some distinct internal marker in the form of high levels of expression of a …
Zhe Fei pointed to the bright and dark vertical lines running across his computer screen. This nano-image, he explained, shows the waves associated with a half-light, half-matter quasiparticle moving inside a semiconductor. “These are waves just like water waves,” said Fei, an Iowa State University assistant professor of physics and astronomy and an associate of …
The use of graphene as an additive can give mechanical and electrical benefits to composite materials, making them multifunctional. In a novel fermentation method, Graphene Flagship researchers have developed graphene-containing rubber foams with unusual mechanical and electrical behaviors: when stretched, the composite foams expand and become more conductive. These unexpected properties could be promising for …
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has two NASA grants. Princeton satellite systems and Princeton Plasma Physics Lab will work on the two projects. Phase I STTRs of $125,000 each will run for one year, at which point we have the opportunity to propose Phase II work up to $750,000. 1. High Efficiency RF Heating for Small …