1. Ahuna Mons seen in a simulated perspective view. The elevation has been exaggerated by a factor of two. The view was made using enhanced-color images from NASA’s Dawn mission.
Credit: NASA
2. Ceres’ mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons is seen in this mosaic of images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Dawn took these images from 385 kilometers (240 miles ) above the surface, in December 2015. The resolution of the image is 35 meters (120 feet) per pixel.
Credit: NASA

A recently discovered solitary ice volcano on the dwarf planet Ceres may have some hidden older siblings, say scientists who have tested a likely way such mountains of icy rock – called cryovolcanoes – might disappear over millions of years. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft discovered Ceres’s 2.5-mile tall Ahuna Mons cryovolcano in 2015...

Artist’s impression of a stray black hole storming through a dense gas cloud. The gas is dragged along by the strong gravity of the black hole to form a narrow gas stream. Credit: Keio University

By analyzing the gas motion of an extraordinarily fast-moving cosmic cloud in a corner of the Milky Way, astronomers found hints of a wandering black hole hidden in the cloud. This result marks the beginning of the search for quiet black holes; millions of such objects are expected to be floating in the Milky Way although only dozens have been found to date.

It is difficult to find black holes, because they are completely black. In some cases black holes cause effects which can be seen...

Study highlights mRNA-based vaccines and therapies. A new Zika vaccine candidate has the potential to protect against the virus with a single dose, according to a research team led by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. As reported in Nature this week, preclinical tests showed promising immune responses in both mice and monkeys. “We observed rapid and durable protective immunity without adverse events, and so we think this candidate vaccine represents a promising strategy for the global fight against Zika virus,” said Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, a professor of Infectious Disease at Penn. “We hope to start clinical trials in 12 to 18 months.”

Prompted by the recent Zika virus outbreaks in Latin America and some parts of the United States, scientis...

Multiple Colors Output on Voile through 3D Colloidal Crystals with Robust Mechanical Properties

“Fast fashion” might be cheap, but its high environmental cost from dyes polluting the water near factories has been well documented. To help stem the tide of dyes from entering streams and rivers, scientists report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a nonpolluting method to color textiles using 3D colloidal crystals.

Dyes and pigments are chemical colors that produce their visual effect by selectively absorbing and reflecting specific wavelengths of visible light. Structural or physical colors – such as those of opals, peacock feathers and butterfly wings – result from light-modifying micro- and nanostructures...