Photo shows PandaX, a xenon-based detector in China.
Credit: PandaX.

An international team of scientists that includes University of California, Riverside, physicist Hai-Bo Yu has imposed conditions on how dark matter may interact with ordinary matter – constraints that can help identify the elusive dark matter particle and detect it on Earth.

Dark matter – nonluminous material in space – is understood to constitute 85% of the matter in the universe. Unlike normal matter, it does not absorb, reflect, or emit light, making it difficult to detect. Physicists are certain dark matter exists, having inferred this existence from the gravitational effect dark matter has on visible matter. What they are less certain of is how dark matter interacts with ordinary matter – or even if it does.

In the s...

Spontaneous spikes being similar to nerve impulses of neurons was generated from a POM/CNT complexed network. Credit: Osaka University

Molecular/carbon nanotube network devices enable artificial spiking neurons that mimic nerve impulse generation. Researchers have created extremely dense, random SWNT/ POM network molecular neuromorphic devices, generating spontaneous spikes similar to nerve impulses of neurons. They conducted simulation calculations of the random molecular network model complexed with POM molecules, which are able to store electric charges, replicating spikes generated from ] random molecular network. They also demonstrated that this molecular model would very likely become a component of reservoir computing devices...

Wen Zhou et al. Structure of the Human cGAS–DNA Complex Reveals Enhanced Control of Immune Surveillance. Cell, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.026

Scientists have defined the structure and key features of a human immune-surveillance protein that guards against cancer and bacterial and viral infections. The identification of two human-specific variations in the protein closes a critical knowledge gap in immunology and cancer biology.

The human body is built for survival. Each one of its cells is closely guarded by a set of immune proteins armed with nearly foolproof radars that detect foreign or damaged DNA...

Fresh oranges. Credit: © Nitr / Fotolia

A new study has shown that people who regularly eat oranges are less likely to develop macular degeneration than people who do not eat oranges. Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 50 and followed them over a 15-year period.

The research showed that people who ate at least one serving of oranges every day had more than a 60% reduced risk of developing late macular degeneration 15 years later. Lead Researcher Associate Professor Bamini Gopinath from the University of Sydney said the data showed that 3flavonoids in oranges appear to help prevent against the eye disease...