Scientists finally capture water’s hidden state that’s both solid and liquid

Despite being one of the most familiar substances on Earth, water holds many secrets that scientists are still working to understand. When confined to extremely small spaces — such as within certain proteins, minerals, or artificial nanomaterials — water behaves in ways that are drastically different from its bulk liquid…

Terremoto di magnitudo 4.3 vicino a San Francisco – Mondo – Ansa.it

Un terremoto di magnitudo 4.3 ha colpito Berkeley, in California, nelle prime ore del mattino (circa mezzogiorno in Italia. Lo fa sapere l’Istituto statunitense per il monitoraggio dei terremoti (Usgs). Al momento non si ha notizia di vittime o danni ma la scossa è stata chiaramente avvertita a San Francisco…

A hormone that silences the immune system may unlock new cancer treatments

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how a hormone interacts with a receptor on the surface of immune cells to shield cancer cells from the body’s natural defenses. The findings, published in Nature Immunology, could lead to new immunotherapy approaches for treating cancer as well as potential treatments…

When cancer cells feel squeezed, they become more dangerous

Cancer cells are notoriously flexible, taking on new features as they move around the body. Many of these changes are due to epigenetic modifications, which influence how DNA is packaged, and not due to mutations in the DNA itself. Such modifications are difficult to target for cancer therapy because they…

Want a younger brain? Harvard researchers say eat like this

Following a green-Mediterranean diet — which includes green tea and the aquatic plant Mankai — is associated with slower brain aging, according to a study. The study, published recently in the journal Clinical Nutrition, was co-authored by researchers at Ben-Gurion University, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the…

Why alcohol blocks the liver from healing, even after you quit

Excessive alcohol consumption can disrupt the liver’s unique regenerative abilities by trapping cells in limbo between their functional and regenerative states, even after a patient stops drinking, researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators at Duke University and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago describe in a new study. This…

Addio estate, è l’equinozio d’autunno – Spazio e Astronomia – Ansa.it

Estate addio. Alle 20,19 italiane di lunedì 22 settembre, scatta l’equinozio d’autunno. Il Sole è alto sull’equatore e le ore di luce e quelle di buio saranno nello stesso numero in tutto il mondo, segnando l’arrivo dell’autunno nell’emisfero settentrionale e quello della primavera nell’emisfero meridionale. Ha salutare l’evento un Saturno…

Hidden for 125 years, a Welsh fossil turns out to be a dinosaur

Paleontologists at the University of Bristol have officially identified a new species of dinosaur from Triassic fossil beds in South Wales, near Penarth – more than 125 years after the specimen was initially reported. Using modern digital scanning techniques the researchers were able to shed new light on the fossil…

Tiny new lenses, smaller than a hair, could transform phone and drone cameras

A new approach to manufacturing multicolor lenses could inspire a new generation of tiny, cheap, and powerful optics for portable devices such as phones and drones. The design uses layers of metamaterials to simultaneously focus a range of wavelengths from an unpolarized source and over a large diameter, overcoming a…

New crystal camera lets doctors see inside the body like never before

Physicians rely on nuclear medicine scans, like SPECT scans, to watch the heart pump, track blood flow and detect diseases hidden deep inside the body. But today’s scanners depend on expensive detectors that are difficult to make. Now, scientists led by Northwestern University and Soochow University in China have built…

Ordinary ice found to have shocking electrical powers

A study co-led by ICN2 reveals that ice is a flexoelectric material, meaning it can produce electricity when unevenly deformed. Published in Nature Physics, this discovery could have major technological implications while also shedding light on natural phenomena such as lightning. Frozen water is one of the most abundant substances…