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    Last of Universe’s Missing Ordinary Matter

    June 21, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A simulation of the cosmic web, or diffuse tendrils of gas connecting galaxies across the universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, E. Hallman (CU Boulder); Nicastro et al. Observations of the missing baryons in the warm–hot intergalactic medium. Nature, 2018; 558 (7710): 406 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0204-1

    A simulation of the cosmic web, or diffuse tendrils of gas connecting galaxies across the universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, E. Hallman (CU Boulder); Nicastro et al. Observations of the missing baryons in the warm–hot intergalactic medium. Nature, 2018; 558 (7710): 406 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0204-1

    Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have helped to find the last reservoir of ordinary matter hiding in the universe. Ordinary matter, or “baryons,” make up all physical objects in existence, from stars to the cores of black holes. But until now, astrophysicists had only been able to locate about two-thirds of the matter that theorists predict was created by the Big Bang.

    In the new research, an international team pinned down the missing third, finding it in the space between galaxies...

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    Putting the Brakes on Metastatic Cancer

    June 21, 2018, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology

    Overview of the in vivo screen for genes required for productive motility. a HEp3 cells were transduced with a pooled whole human genome lentiviral shRNA library and injected intravenously into 100 ex ovo avian embryos. Compact metastatic colonies derived from single cancer cells were excised 6 days post injection, expanded and analyzed by Illumina deep sequencing. Colonies were re-injected individually to validate their phenotype and prioritized based on a composite compactness (C.I.) index. Selected screen hits that produced metastatic colonies that were significantly more compact than those produced by cancer cells transduced with scramble shRNA transduced cells were selected for further analysis. b Composite compactness index (C.I.) distribution of screen hits relative to positive (anti-CD151) and negative (scramble shRNA) controls. Screen hits that are significantly more compact than negative control are indicated in green. Clones containing a single shRNA species are in bold. For clones containing multiple shRNAs, the two most predominant shRNAs are shown. Statistical significance was determined using one-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). c Table summarizing shRNA gene IDs from significantly compact clones containing single shRNA. Gene cards (http://www.genecards.org) and KEGG pathway (http://www.genome.jp) databases were used for gene function annotations

    Overview of the in vivo screen for genes required for productive motility. a HEp3 cells were transduced with a pooled whole human genome lentiviral shRNA library and injected intravenously into 100 ex ovo avian embryos. Compact metastatic colonies derived from single cancer cells were excised 6 days post injection, expanded and analyzed by Illumina deep sequencing. Colonies were re-injected individually to validate their phenotype and prioritized based on a composite compactness (C.I.) index. Selected screen hits that produced metastatic colonies that were significantly more compact than those produced by cancer cells transduced with scramble shRNA transduced cells were selected for further analysis. b Composite compactness index (C.I...

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    Spintronics: Controlling Magnetic Spin with Electric Fields

    June 20, 2018, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Hugo Dil and Juraj Krempasky with the experimental set-up at the Paul Scherrer Institut. Credit: Hugo Dil/EPFL

    Hugo Dil and Juraj Krempasky with the experimental set-up at the Paul Scherrer Institut. Credit: Hugo Dil/EPFL

    Physicists have found a way to reverse electron spins using electric fields for the first time, paving the way for programmable spintronics technologies. Spintronics is a field of physics that studies the spin of electrons, an intrinsic type of magnetism that many elementary particles have. The field of spintronics has given rise to technological concepts of “spintronic devices,” which would run on electron spins, rather than their charge, used by traditional electronics.

    In order to build programmable spintronic devices we first need to be able to manipulate spins in certain materials...

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    Explosive Volcanoes spawned mysterious Martian Rock Formation

    June 20, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    

    An isolated hill in the Medusae Fossae Formation. The effect of wind erosion on this hill is evident by its streamlined shape. Credit: High Resolution Stereo Camera/European Space Agency.

    An isolated hill in the Medusae Fossae Formation. The effect of wind erosion on this hill is evident by its streamlined shape. Credit: High Resolution Stereo Camera/European Space Agency.

    

    Explosive volcanic eruptions that shot jets of hot ash, rock and gas skyward are the likely source of a mysterious Martian rock formation, a new study finds. The new finding could add to scientists’ understanding of Mars’s interior and its past potential for habitability, according to the study’s authors.

    The Medusae Fossae Formation is a massive, unusual deposit of soft rock near Mars’s equator, with undulating hills and abrupt mesas. Scientists first observed the Medusae Fossae with NASA’s Mariner spacecraft in the 1960s but were perplexed as to how it formed...

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