News Feeds

Laser plasma acceleration is a potentially disruptive technology: It could be used to build far more compact accelerators and open up new use cases in fundamental research, industry and health. However, on the path to real-world applications, some properties of the plasma-driven electron beam as delivered by current prototype accelerators still need to be refined. DESY's LUX experiment has now made significant progress in this direction: Using a clever correction system, a research team was able to significantly improve the quality of electron bunches accelerated by a laser plasma accelerator. This brings the technology a step closer to concrete applications, such as a plasma-based injector for a synchrotron storage ring.

Laser plasma acceleration is a potentially disruptive technology: It could be used to build far more compact accelerators and open up new use cases in fundamental research, industry and health. However, on the path to real-world applications, some properties of the plasma-driven electron beam as delivered by current prototype accelerators still need to be refined. DESY's LUX experiment has now made significant progress in this direction: Using a clever correction system, a research team was able to significantly improve the quality of electron bunches accelerated by a laser plasma accelerator. This brings the technology a step closer to concrete applications, such as a plasma-based injector for a synchrotron storage ring.

When materials are created on a nanometer scale -- just a handful of atoms thick -- even the thermal energy present at room temperature can cause structural ripples. How these ripples affect the mechanical properties of these thin materials can limit their use in electronics and other key systems. New research validates theoretical models about how elasticity is scale-dependent -- in other words, the elastic properties of a material are not constant, but vary with the size of the piece of material.

A new study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals the neural mechanisms that contribute to urinary incontinence, a common condition affecting stroke survivors that has a significant impact on their quality of life. The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team of urologists, neurosurgeons, and imaging experts. The study utilized an innovative method of repeated bladder filling and voiding while participants were inside the MRI, during which their brain function was measured.

A new study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals the neural mechanisms that contribute to urinary incontinence, a common condition affecting stroke survivors that has a significant impact on their quality of life. The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team of urologists, neurosurgeons, and imaging experts. The study utilized an innovative method of repeated bladder filling and voiding while participants were inside the MRI, during which their brain function was measured.

A study showed that different processing methods significantly affect the biochemical composition of plant-based foods. Current food classification systems do not sufficiently acknowledge the biochemical composition of the product.

Globally, only 14 per cent of the plastic we use is recycled – but some countries achieve higher rates and new technologies could change the picture drastically

A machine controlled by AI that sprays bears with the chilli pepper chemical capsaicin could reduce dangerous confrontations with people

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been detected in athletic clothing. Should we be worried?

The post Is your workout gear killing you? first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Today UC Davis ecologist Susan Harrison returns with some bird photos and, at the end, a couple of reptiles and mammals. Susan’s captions and notes are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them:

Ibises, Meadowlarks, and Others

It’s early April and the skies are still often cloudy, snow is lingering on the distant mountaintops, and the wildflowers are getting underway.   Birds are singing, chasing, nest-seeking, and flashing their breeding colors.  These photos are from two of northern California’s wildlife refuges at this invigorating, promising time of year.

White-Faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, with a westward view to  Snow Mountain, the Coast Ranges’ tallest peak at 7,057’:

White-faced Ibises have gone from uncommon to quite abundant around here in the past 25 years, possibly because flooded rice fields are being managed to support wetland wildlife.   To appreciate these Ibises’ iridescent beauty, it helps to get close to them on a sunny day, as I attempted to do at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.

White-faced Ibises:

Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) are abundant in open fields, dominating the soundscape with their complex resonant songs.  One artfully arranged himself in a bed of Goldfields (Lasthenia californica), while another showed off his tonsils.

Western Meadowlarks:

Marsh Wrens (Cistothorus palustris) are also loudly melodious in their namesake habitat:

Belted Kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon) are quite hard to approach with a camera, but this one was perched next to a bird-viewing platform that obscured his view of me:

Nuttall’s Woodpeckers (Dryobates nuttalli) and other woodpeckers are in the same order as Kingfishers, and there is a bit of a family resemblance:

Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) are common in the refuges’ shallowly flooded fields:

Clark’s Grebes (Aechmophorus clarkii) are on the verge of doing their spectacular springtime mating dances:

Western Pond Turtles (Actinemys marmorata) like to sunbathe together, and on first glance, these ones looked like turtles all the way down:

P.S.  Last night when I’d just gotten this post ready to send, we found two Gray Foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) curled up on the patio furniture, in a picture of canid domestic bliss!

A newly discovered settlement in the north-western Nile delta was built by the Egyptian New Kingdom perhaps 3500 years ago and included a temple dedicated to pharaoh Ramesses II

Solvej Balle's newly translated speculative novel, On the Calculation of Volume (parts I and II), examines the numbing effects of time through the old trope of being stuck in a single day. It is an effective meditation

An AI analysis finds that since the 1970s, speeches by US Congress members have shifted to favour language such as “fake news” and “mislead” over words such as “science” and “statistics”

What can exozodiacal dust, also called exozodi, teach astronomers about identifying Earth-like exoplanets? This is what a recently submitted NASA white paper—which highlights key findings from the annual Architecture Concept Review—hopes to address as a team of researchers discussed how exozodi orbiting within a star’s habitable zone (HZ) could interfere with detecting Earth-like exoplanets. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand observational constraints of observing Earth-like exoplanets and what improvements could be made for future telescopes and instruments to overcome these constraints.

Astronomers have peered back in time to find what looks like a population of 'hidden' galaxies that could hold the key to unlocking some of the universe's secrets. If their existence is confirmed it would 'effectively break current models of galaxy numbers and evolution'. The possible galaxies may also provide the missing piece of the puzzle for the energy generation in the universe in infrared light. That's because their combined light would be enough to top-up the energy budget of the universe to the maximum we observe, effectively accounting for all remaining energy emission at these long wavelengths.

There have been several claims of quantum computers performing at a level impossible to match with a classical computer – most of which have been refuted. Could there be a mathematical reason why this keeps happening?

A baby has been born after being conceived via IVF performed by a machine, with a medical professional merely overseeing the process

In a new study, researchers created an AI model of the mouse visual cortex that predicts neuronal responses to visual images.

New technology could enable more sustainable and cheaper production of bio-oils to replace petroleum-based products in electronic, construction and automotive applications. The technology, known as PYROCOTM, uses high temperatures without oxygen to convert treated sewage (biosolids) into a carbon-rich product called biochar, which can act as a catalyst to produce phenol-rich bio-oil.

A new multimodal tool combines a large language model with powerful graph-based AI models to efficiently find new, synthesizable molecules with desired properties, based on a user's queries in plain language.