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    Mushrooms are Full of Antioxidants that may have Antiaging potential

    November 10, 2017, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    porcini mushrooms

    porcini mushrooms

    Mushrooms may contain unusually high amounts of two antioxidants that some scientists suggest could help fight aging and bolster health, according to a team of Penn State researchers. In a study, researchers found that mushrooms have high amounts of the ergothioneine and glutathione, both important antioxidants, said Robert Beelman, professor emeritus of food science and director of the Penn State Center for Plant and Mushroom Products for Health. He added that the researchers also found that the amounts the two compounds varied greatly between mushroom species. “What we found is that, without a doubt, mushrooms are highest dietary source of these two antioxidants taken together, and that some types are really packed with both of them,” said Beelman...

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    Expanding Light Echo Spotted around Supernova

    November 10, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Light from a supernova explosion in the nearby starburst galaxy M82 is reverberating off a huge dust cloud in interstellar space. The supernova, called SN 2014J, occurred at the upper right of M82, and is marked by an "X." The supernova was discovered on Jan. 21, 2014. The inset images at top reveal an expanding shell of light from the stellar explosion sweeping through interstellar space, called a "light echo." The images were taken 10 months to nearly two years after the violent event (Nov. 6, 2014 to Oct. 12, 2016). The light is bouncing off a giant dust cloud that extends 300 to 1,600 light-years from the supernova and is being reflected toward Earth. SN 2014J is classified as a Type Ia supernova and is the closest such blast in at least four decades. A Type Ia supernova occurs in a binary star system consisting of a burned-out white dwarf and a companion star. The white dwarf explodes after the companion dumps too much material onto it. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Y. Yang (Texas A&M University and Weizmann Institute of Science); Acknowledgment: M. Mountain (AURA) and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

    Light from a supernova explosion in the nearby starburst galaxy M82 is reverberating off a huge dust cloud in interstellar space. The supernova, called SN 2014J, occurred at the upper right of M82, and is marked by an “X.” The supernova was discovered on Jan. 21, 2014. The inset images at top reveal an expanding shell of light from the stellar explosion sweeping through interstellar space, called a “light echo.” The images were taken 10 months to nearly two years after the violent event (Nov. 6, 2014 to Oct. 12, 2016). The light is bouncing off a giant dust cloud that extends 300 to 1,600 light-years from the supernova and is being reflected toward Earth. SN 2014J is classified as a Type Ia supernova and is the closest such blast in at least four decades...

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    Cosmos Code helps Probe Space Oddities

    November 9, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Shown here is a multi-physics simulation of an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) jet colliding with and triggering star formation within an intergalactic gas cloud (red indicates jet material, blue is neutral Hydrogen [H I] gas, and green is cold, molecular Hydrogen [H_2] gas. Credit: Chris Fragile

    Shown here is a multi-physics simulation of an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) jet colliding with and triggering star formation within an intergalactic gas cloud (red indicates jet material, blue is neutral Hydrogen [H I] gas, and green is cold, molecular Hydrogen [H_2] gas. Credit: Chris Fragile

    XSEDE ECSS program helps optimize astrophysics code for Knights Landing processors on Stampede2 supercomputer. Black holes make for a great space mystery. They’re so massive that nothing, not even light, can escape a black hole once it gets close enough. A great mystery for scientists is that there’s evidence of powerful jets of electrons and protons that shoot out of the top and bottom of some black holes. Yet no one knows how these jets form.

    Computer code called Cosmos now fuels supercomputer simu...

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    Wireless handheld Spectrometer Transmits Data to Smartphone

    November 9, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Biology/Biotechnology

    A new pencil-like wireless spectrometer can be used with a smartphone to collect 3-D spectral images of the body and other objects. This design could make the device useful for point-of-care diagnostics. Credit: Dan Wang, Beijing University of Chemical Technology

    A new pencil-like wireless spectrometer can be used with a smartphone to collect 3-D spectral images of the body and other objects. This design could make the device useful for point-of-care diagnostics. Credit: Dan Wang, Beijing University of Chemical Technology

    Easy-to-use spectrometer less than $300, holds promise for remote medical diagnostics. A new smartphone-compatible device that is held like a pencil could make it practical to acquire spectral images of everyday objects and may eventually be used for point-of-care medical diagnosis in remote locations. Spectral images, which contain more color information than is obtainable with a typical camera, reveal characteristics of tissue and other biological samples that can’t be seen by the naked eye...

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