The map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) sky produced by the Planck satellite. Red represents slightly warmer regions, and blue slightly cooler regions. The Cold Spot is shown in the inset, with coordinates on the x- and y-axes, and the temperature difference in millionths of a degree in the scale at the bottom. Credit: ESA and Durham University. Click for a full size image

A supervoid is unlikely to explain a ‘Cold Spot’ in the cosmic microwave background, according to the results of a new survey, leaving room for exotic explanations like a collision between universes. The cosmic microwave background (CMB), a relic of the Big Bang, covers the whole sky. At 2.73 degrees above 0K, the CMB has some anomalies, including the Cold Spot. This feature, about 0...

High fat Diet + Vitamin A potentiation of Insulin resistance and body weight increase

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that the human body needs to function properly. But new research presented today at the American Physiological Society (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in Chicago suggests that normal levels of vitamin A within a high-fat diet can negatively affect expression of liver genes associated with glucose and fat metabolism.

Researchers fed 2 groups of rats a high-fat diet for 8 weeks. One group consumed normal amounts of vitamin A (“sufficient”), while the other group ate food that lacked the nutrient (“deficient”). The research team measured the rats’ body mass (an indicator of concentration of body fat) each week...

‘Our team combined a catalyst we recently discovered with new and exciting chemistry to find the first high-yield, low-cost method of manufacturing butadiene,’ says Dionisios Vlachos, Director of the University of Delaware’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation. Credit: University of Delaware/ Jeffrey Chase

Findings by scientists could transform the multi-billion-dollar plastics and rubber industries used for manufacturing tires, toys and myriad other products. These items are produced from butadiene, a molecule traditionally made from petroleum or natural gas. But those humanmade materials could get a lot greener soon, thanks to the ingenuity of a team of scientists from three U.S. research universities...

Professor Fernando Uribe-Romo and his team of students created a way to trigger a chemical reaction in a synthetic material called metal-organic frameworks (MOF) that breaks down carbon dioxide into harmless organic materials. Think of it as an artificial photosynthesis process similar to the way plants convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into food. But instead of producing food, Uribe-Romo’s method produces solar fuel. Credit: Bernard Wilchusky

Process produces energy at the same time. A chemistry professor in Florida has just found a way to trigger the process of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases into clean air and producing energy all at the same time...