OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Search tests instruments, science team

The path of the Main Belt asteroid 12 Victoria, as imaged by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Feb. 11, 2017, during the mission's Earth-Trojan Asteroid Search. This animation is made of a series of five images taken by the spacecraft's MapCam camera that were then cropped and centered on Victoria. The images were taken about 51 minutes apart and each was exposed for 10 seconds. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-osiris-rex-asteroid-instruments-science-team.html#jCp

The path of the Main Belt asteroid 12 Victoria, as imaged by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Feb. 11, 2017, during the mission’s Earth-Trojan Asteroid Search. This animation is made of a series of five images taken by the spacecraft’s MapCam camera that were then cropped and centered on Victoria. The images were taken about 51 minutes apart and each was exposed for 10 seconds. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

During an almost 2-week search, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission team activated the spacecraft’s MapCam imager and scanned part of the surrounding space for elusive Earth-Trojan asteroids—objects that scientists believe may exist in one of the stable regions that co-orbits the sun with Earth...

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3D Bioprinted human Cartilage cells can be Implanted

The illustration shows the formation of blood vessels, i.e., vascularisation, in the bioprinted material implanted in an animal model. Credit: Philip Krantz

The illustration shows the formation of blood vessels, i.e., vascularisation, in the bioprinted material implanted in an animal model. Credit: Philip Krantz

Swedish researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and Sahlgrenska Academy have successfully induced human cartilage cells to live and grow in an animal model, using 3D bioprinting. The results will move development closer to a potential future in which it will be possible to help patients by giving them new body parts through 3D bioprinting. “This is the first time anyone has printed human-derived cartilage cells, implanted them in an animal model and induced them to grow,” says Paul Gatenholm, professor of biopolymer technology at Chalmers University of Technology.

Among else, Professor Gatenholm leads the research team working...

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Artificial Photosynthesis Steps into the Light

1. Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston created a catalyst from three elements – iron, manganese and phosphorus – and then coated it evenly onto an array of titanium dioxide nanorods to create a highly efficient photoanode for artificial photosynthesis. Click on the image for a larger version. Courtesy of the Whitmire Research Group 2. A photo shows an array of titanium dioxide nanorods with an even coating of an iron, manganese and phosphorus catalyst. The combination developed by scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston is a highly efficient photoanode for artificial photosynthesis. Click on the image for a larger version. Courtesy of the Whitmire Research Group

1. Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston created a catalyst from three elements – iron, manganese and phosphorus – and then coated it evenly onto an array of titanium dioxide nanorods to create a highly efficient photoanode for artificial photosynthesis. Click on the image for a larger version. Courtesy of the Whitmire Research Group. 2. (inset) Array of titanium dioxide nanorods with an even coating of an iron, manganese and phosphorus catalyst. The combination developed by scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston is a highly efficient photoanode for artificial photosynthesis.

Lab turns transition metals into practical catalyst for solar, other applications...

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Astronomers find unexpected, Dust-obscured Star Formation in Distant Galaxy

Hubble Space Telescope image of the field containing a massive foreground galaxy cluster, MACSJ0717.5+3745. Pope and colleagues' dusty galaxy is denoted by the red squares which show three images of the same gravitationally lensed background galaxy. A zoom in of each multiple image is shown in the right panels. Credit: Original image by NASA, European Space Agency and the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields team. Color composite from Wikimedia Commons/Judy Schmidt; annotations and zoom panels added by A. Montana.

Hubble Space Telescope image of the field containing a massive foreground galaxy cluster, MACSJ0717.5+3745. Pope and colleagues’ dusty galaxy is denoted by the red squares which show three images of the same gravitationally lensed background galaxy. A zoom in of each multiple image is shown in the right panels. Credit: Original image by NASA, European Space Agency and the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields team. Color composite from Wikimedia Commons/Judy Schmidt; annotations and zoom panels added by A. Montana.

Pushing the limits of the largest single-aperture millimeter telescope in the world, and coupling it with gravitational lensing, University of Massachusetts Amherst astronomer Alexandra Pope and colleagues report that they have detected a surprising rate of star formation, 4X...

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