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    The Collective Power of the Solar System’s Dark, Icy Bodies

    July 8, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image:
    Scientists have long struggled to explain the existence of the solar system’s “detached objects,” which have orbits that tilt like seesaws and often cluster in one part of the night sky. (Credit: Steven Burrows/JILA)

    Two new studies by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder may help to solve one of the biggest mysteries about the dark, icy bodies of the outer solar system: why so many of them don’t circle the sun the way they should.

    The outermost reaches of our solar system are a strange place – filled with dark and icy bodies with nicknames like Sedna, Biden and The Goblin, each of which span several hundred miles across.

    The orbits of these planetary oddities, which scientists call “detached objects,” tilt and buckle out of the plane of the solar system, amon...

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    Age-related Impairments Reversed in Animal Model

    July 7, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    With age the frequency of adipose tissue eosinophils decreases gradually. This leads to the production of inflammatory mediators, which promote age-related impairments (e.g. frailty and immunosenescence). Eosinophil cell transfers increase the frequency of these cells in adipose tissue and dampen age-related chronic low-grade inflammation. This results in systemic rejuvenation of the aged organism. © DBMR, University of Bern, D. Brigger

    Frailty and immune decline are two main features of old age. Researchers now demonstrate in an animal model that these two age-related impairments can be halted and even partially reversed using a novel cell-based therapeutic approach.

    Elderly people are more prone to infectious diseases as the function of their immune system continuously declines w...

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    2D Semiconductors found to be close-to-ideal Fractional Quantum Hall Platform

    July 7, 2020, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Illustration of the monolayer WSe2 hosting "composite fermions"
    A monolayer semiconductor is found to be a close-to-ideal platform for fractional quantum Hall state—a quantum liquid that emerges under large perpendicular magnetic fields. The image illustrates monolayer WSe2 hosting “composite fermions,” a quasi-particle that forms due to the strong interactions between electrons and is responsible for the sequence of fractional quantum Hall states.

    Columbia University researchers report that they have observed a quantum fluid known as the fractional quantum Hall states (FQHS), one of the most delicate phases of matter, for the first time in a monolayer 2D semiconductor. Their findings demonstrate the excellent intrinsic quality of 2D semiconductors and establish them as a unique test platform for future applications in quantum computing...

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    Dying Stars Breathe Life into Earth: Study

    July 7, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    NGC 7789, also known as Caroline’s Rose, is an old open star cluster of the Milky Way, which lies about 8,000 light-years away toward the constellation Cassiopeia. It hosts a few White Dwarfs of unusually high mass, analyzed in this study.
    Credit: Guillaume Seigneuret and NASA

    As dying stars take their final few breaths of life, they gently sprinkle their ashes into the cosmos through the magnificent planetary nebulae. These ashes, spread via stellar winds, are enriched with many different chemical elements, including carbon.

    Findings from a study published today in Nature Astronomy show that the final breaths of these dying stars, called white dwarfs, shed light on carbon’s origin in the Milky Way.

    “The findings pose new, stringent constraints on how and when carbon was produce...

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