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    A Solar Gravitational Lens will be Humanity’s most Powerful Telescope. What are its best targets?

    October 11, 2022, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image of a simulated Earth, at 1024×1024 pixel resolution, at the distance of Proxima Centauri,at 1.3 pc, as projectedby the SGL to an image plane at 650 AU from the Sun. Credit: Toth H. & Turyshev, S.G.

    One of the central predictions of general relativity is that a massive object such as a star, galaxy, or black hole can deflect light passing nearby. This means that light from distant objects can be gravitationally lensed by objects closer to us. Under the right conditions, gravitational lensing can act as a kind of natural telescope, brightening and magnifying the light of distant objects. Astronomers have used this trick to observe some of the most distant galaxies in the universe. But astronomers have also thought about using this effect a little closer to home.

    One idea is to ...

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    Age vs. Genetics: Which is More Important for Determining How we Age?

    October 8, 2022, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    The relative importance of genetics and age in controlling gene expression as a function of evolutionary constraints. Genes further to the right along the x-axis are more evolutionarily “constrained,” and thus more likely to be important in human disease. (Image credit: Peter Sudmant, UC Berkeley)

    Amid much speculation and research about how our genetics affect the way we age, a University of California, Berkeley, study now shows that individual differences in our DNA matter less as we get older and become prone to diseases of aging, such as diabetes and cancer.

    In a study of the relative effects of genetics, aging and the environment on how some 20,000 human genes are expressed, the researchers found that aging and environment are far more important than genetic variation in af...

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    Method to Fabricate Eco-friendly Adsorbents for Heavy Metal Ion Removal by 3D-Printing

    October 8, 2022, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Credit: Environmental Science: Advances

    One of the leading causes of water pollution is heavy metal contamination which has profound adverse effects on human health and the environment. That’s why Clarkson University researchers have developed a cost-effective, 3D printing technology to create sustainable bio-based adsorbents that can effectively remove toxic heavy metal ions from contaminated environments. The 3D printing technique offers a cost-effective, scalable and simple approach to creating tunable adsorbents for environmental remediation that can be used broadly by the community for environmental remediation and sensing applications.

    The work performed in the laboratory of Professor Silvana Andreescu, the Egon Matijevic Chair in Chemistry, was recently featured on the front ...

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    Citizen Scientists Enhance New Europa Images from NASA’s Juno

    October 7, 2022, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    TOP: This pair of images shows the same portion of Europa as captured by the Juno spacecraft’s JunoCam during the mission’s Sept. 29 close flyby. The image at left was minimally processed. A citizen scientist processed the image at right, and enhanced color contrast causes larger surface features to stand out. Credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Navaneeth Krishnan S © CC BY

    BOTTOM: This highly stylized view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was created by reprocessing an image captured by JunoCam during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29. Credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Kevin M. Gill / Fernando Garcia Navarro CC BY 2.0

    Citizen scientists have provided unique perspectives of the recent close flyby of Jupiter’s icy...

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