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    Researchers Tackle the ‘Spiders’ from Mars

    March 23, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, acquired May 13, 2018 during winter at the South Pole of Mars, shows a carbon dioxide ice cap covering the region and as the sun returns in the spring, “spiders” begin to emerge from the landscape.

    Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic “spiders from Mars,” providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet’s surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice.

    Spiders, more formally referred to as araneiforms, are strange-looking negative topography radial systems of dendritic troughs; patterns that resemble branches of a tree or fork lightning...

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    Cancer Immunotherapy may also treat certain Autoimmune diseases

    March 23, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Cancer
    Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

    A team of researchers has found disrupting the interaction between cancer cells and certain immune cells is more effective at killing cancer cells than current immunotherapy treatments.

    The findings, which include studies in cell lines and animal models, appeared in JCI Insight and focus on a protein called CD6 as a target for a new approach to immunotherapy.

    Over the past two decades, new approaches to cancer treatment have been developed that block immune checkpoints, which are receptors on the surface of certain immune cells, like natural killer T cells. Cancer exploits these immune cells and render them dormant.

    This treatment, called checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy, gives these immune cells a chance to fight back...

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    Novel System Sequesters CO2 and Generates Electricity

    March 23, 2021, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    (a) Schematic illustration of MF Mg-CO2 battery. (b) The XRD profile of the precipitated white solid after discharge process in CO2 sat’d condition and N2 sat’d condition.

    A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a novel system, capable of producing hydrogen and electricity quickly and effectively while cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions significantly.

    Published in the January 2021 issue of Nano Energy, this breakthrough has been carried out by Professor GunTae Kim and his research team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST. In this study, the research team succeeded in developing a membrane-free aqueous metal-CO2 battery...

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    Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Feeds on Smaller Storms

    March 22, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A flake of red peels away from Jupiter’s Great Red Spot during an encounter with a smaller anticyclone, as seen by the Juno spacecraft’s high resolution JunoCam on 12 February 2019. Although the collisions appear violent, planetary scientists believe they are mostly surface effects, like the crust on a crème brûlée.
    Credit: AGU/Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets

    The massive storm near the gas giant’s equator has been shrinking, but collisions with a series of anticyclones are likely only surface deep. The smaller storms cause chunks of red clouds to flake off, shrinking the larger storm in the process. But the new study found that these disruptions are “superficial.” They are visible to us, but they are only skin deep on the Red Spot, not affecting its full depth.

    The ne...

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