Four Extremely Young Asteroid Families identified

Brazilian researchers dated the families using a numerical simulation method to process current data to go back in time to the asteroid formation era (image: NASA)

Brazilian researchers dated the families using a numerical simulation method to process current data to go back in time to the asteroid formation era (image: NASA)

Researchers dated the families using a numerical simulation method to process current data to go back in time to the asteroid formation era. Four families of extremely young asteroids have been identified by researchers affiliated with São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Guaratinguetá, Brazil. An article on the discovery has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“We identified the new families by means of numerical simulation using the backward integration method (BIM), which is much more precise than other methods for dating asteroid families...

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Technology and Therapy help individuals with Chronic Spinal Cord Injuries take Steps

Participant Kelly Thomas, trainer Katie Vogt. Credit: University of Louisville

Participant Kelly Thomas, trainer Katie Vogt.
Credit: University of Louisville

Of 4 research participants living with traumatic, motor complete spinal cord injury, 2 are able to walk over ground following epidural stimulation paired with daily locomotor training. In addition, all 4 participants achieved independent standing and trunk stability when using the stimulation and maintaining their mental focus. The study was conducted at the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville (UofL) and is published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. The study was funded by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, University of Louisville Hospital and Medtronic plc.

This ground-breaking progress is the newest development in a string of outcomes at ...

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Smaller, Faster and more Efficient Modulator sets to revolutionize Optoelectronic industry

The new tiny modulator drives data at higher speeds and lower costs. Credit: Second Bay Studios/Harvard SEAS

The new tiny modulator drives data at higher speeds and lower costs.
Credit: Second Bay Studios/Harvard SEAS

A research team comprising members from City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Harvard University and renowned information technologies laboratory has successfully fabricated a tiny on-chip lithium niobate modulator, an essential component for the optoelectronic industry. The modulator is smaller, more efficient with faster data transmission and costs less. The technology is set to revolutionise the industry.

The electro-optic modulator produced in this breakthrough research is only 1 to 2 cm long and its surface area is about 100 times smaller than traditional ones...

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Ancient Mars had Right Conditions for Underground Life, new research suggests

New research shows that ancient Mars likely had ample chemical energy to support the kinds of underground microbial colonies that exist on Earth. Credit: NASA / JPL

New research shows that ancient Mars likely had ample chemical energy to support the kinds of underground microbial colonies that exist on Earth.
Credit: NASA / JPL

A new study shows evidence that ancient Mars probably had an ample supply of chemical energy for microbes to thrive underground. “We showed, based on basic physics and chemistry calculations, that the ancient Martian subsurface likely had enough dissolved hydrogen to power a global subsurface biosphere,” said Jesse Tarnas, a graduate student at Brown University and lead author of a study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. “Conditions in this habitable zone would have been similar to places on Earth where underground life exists.”

Earth is home to what are known as subsurface lithotrophic microbial ecosystems – Sli...

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