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Travellers to Mars Need to Avoid the Dust

Universe Today Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 5:11pm

Travellers to Mars Need to Avoid the Dust

Categories: Science

Metasurfaces: Bilayer device can control many forms of polarized light

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 12:16pm
Researchers have created a bilayer metasurface made of two stacked layers of titanium dioxide nanostructures, opening new possibilities for structuring light.
Categories: Science

Social Robots Can Improve Astronauts' Mental Health

Universe Today Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:38am

Many health problems are faced by astronauts who spend significant amounts of time in space. But perhaps one of the most insidious is the danger to their mental health. In particular, a prolonged sense of loneliness that could crop up as part of a long-term deep space mission could have dire consequences. A recent paper from Matthieu Guitton, the editor-in-chief of the journal Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans and a researcher at the CERVO Brain Research Center in Quebec, proposes one potential solution to that risk - social robots.

Categories: Science

Black Hole Found Consuming its Own History

Universe Today Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:24am

One of the common misconceptions about black holes is that they devour not only matter, but also the history of that matter. So when a black hole forms, you can only guess how it came to be. That isn't entirely true. Informational history is only lost when matter crosses the event horizon, and perhaps not even then. The material surrounding a black hole still has a rich history. In a recent study, astronomers have used that history to uncover the origins of a black hole system.

Categories: Science

Diagnosing a dud may lead to a better battery

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:15am
A team of chemists found a way to see into battery interfaces -- tight, tricky spots buried deep inside the cell have long frustrated battery designers.
Categories: Science

We know nanoplastics are a threat -- this new tool can help us figure out just how bad they are

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:15am
While the threat that microplastics pose to human and ecological health has been richly documented and is well known, nanoplastics, which are smaller than one micrometer (1/50th the thickness of an average human hair), are far more reactive, far more mobile and vastly more capable of crossing biological membranes. Yet, because they are so tiny and so mobile, researchers don't yet have an accurate understanding of just how toxic these particles are.
Categories: Science

An efficient self-assembly process for advanced self-healing materials

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:13am
Self-healing coatings are advanced materials that can repair damage, such as scratches and cracks on their own. Researchers have developed an efficient method for preparing self-healing films consisting of alternating layers of highly cross-linked organosiloxane and linear polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Their film is more durable than conventional self-healing PDMS materials, offering superior hardness and greater thermal stability while self-healing at mild temperatures, paving the way for stronger, more reliable, and easier-maintained self-healing materials.
Categories: Science

An efficient self-assembly process for advanced self-healing materials

Computers and Math from Science Daily Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:13am
Self-healing coatings are advanced materials that can repair damage, such as scratches and cracks on their own. Researchers have developed an efficient method for preparing self-healing films consisting of alternating layers of highly cross-linked organosiloxane and linear polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Their film is more durable than conventional self-healing PDMS materials, offering superior hardness and greater thermal stability while self-healing at mild temperatures, paving the way for stronger, more reliable, and easier-maintained self-healing materials.
Categories: Science

A step toward plant-based gelatin

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:10am
Researchers present gum tragacanth as a plant-based alternative to gelatin for creating edible films. The team developed films containing different concentrations of gelatin and gum tragacanth and monitored their survivability in water and saline solutions. They found the optimal combination of gum tragacanth and gelatin for maintaining the gelatin's gel-like behavior was a 3-to-1 ratio of the two, respectively. However, gum tragacanth's inclusion leads to a more porous film, making it prone to penetration by water or saline solutions. Though gum tragacanth cannot replace gelatin completely just yet, even a partial replacement is a step forward.
Categories: Science

The experts that can outsmart optical illusions

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:10am
Medical imaging experts are adept at solving common optical illusions, according to new research. The research is the first to show that people can be trained to do better at solving visual illusions, which was previously thought to be near-impossible. The study shows that medical imaging experts are particularly accurate at judging the size of objects in common optical illusions. In other words, they also literally see better in everyday life!
Categories: Science

Skeptoid #982: Defending Against the Planet Killers

Skeptoid Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 2:00am

All of the ways you've heard that deep space wants to kill us — and how plausible or likely each scenario is.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Categories: Critical Thinking, Skeptic

The tragic termination of the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study

Science-based Medicine Feed - Tue, 04/01/2025 - 12:30am

An invaluable resource is being starved to death with no scientific or ethical justification

The post The tragic termination of the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.
Categories: Science

Lunar Polar Regions Could Have Microbes

Universe Today Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 10:53pm

Could microbes survive in the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of the Moon? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a team of researchers from the United States and Canada investigated the likelihood of long-term survival for microbes in the PSR areas of the Moon, which are craters located at the poles that don’t see sunlight due to the Moon’s small axial tilt. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand unlikely locations where they could find life as we know it throughout the solar system.

Categories: Science

Sampling the Plumes of Jupiter’s Volcano Moon, Io

Universe Today Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 9:57pm

What can a sample return mission from Jupiter’s volcanic moon, Io, teach scientists about planetary and satellite (moon) formation and evolution? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as an international team of more than two dozen scientists discussed the benefits and challenges of a mission to Io with the goal of sampling its volcanic plumes that eject from its surface on a regular basis.

Categories: Science

Four Private Astronauts are About to Make a Polar Orbit for the First Time

Universe Today Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 3:37pm

It’s getting a little harder to be the first humans to achieve something but, if all goes to plan, a team of four private astronauts are expected to head off into a polar orbit around Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule today (31 March) at 9:46pm ET and take the crew over the North and South Poles of Earth. Financed by Chun Wang, a Malta-based investor, they are planning a series of experiments, including attempting to grow oyster mushrooms in microgravity, which could eventually become a source of food for space missions.

Categories: Science

US bridges are at risk of catastrophic ship collisions every few years

New Scientist Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 3:00pm
After a container ship struck and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, researchers began calculating the risks of similar catastrophic incidents for other US bridges – and they’re surprisingly high
Categories: Science

How Can We Find Cryovolcanoes on Europa?

Universe Today Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 2:48pm

Astronomers suspect that Europa has cryovolcanoes, regions where briny water could erupt through Europa's ice shell, throwing water—and hopefully organic molecules—into space. NASA's Europa Clipper and ESA's JUICE mission are on their way and will be able to scan the surface of the icy moon for signs of cryovolcanism. What should they be looking for? Pockets of brine just below the surface could be active for 60,000 years and should be warmer than their surroundings.

Categories: Science

My robot therapist: The ethics of AI mental health chatbots for kids

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 12:12pm
AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use them, especially with children.
Categories: Science

My robot therapist: The ethics of AI mental health chatbots for kids

Computers and Math from Science Daily Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 12:12pm
AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use them, especially with children.
Categories: Science

Scientists pioneer method to tackle 'forever chemicals'

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Mon, 03/31/2025 - 12:12pm
Researchers have developed an innovative solution to a pressing environmental challenge: removing and destroying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly called 'forever chemicals.' A new study unveils a method that not only eliminates PFAS from water systems but also transforms waste into high-value graphene, offering a cost-effective and sustainable approach to environmental remediation.
Categories: Science

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