Fwd: Science X Newsletter Tuesday, May 3

---------- Forwarded message ---------
Od: Newsletter Science X <not-for-reply@physorg.com>
Date: śr., 4 maj 2022, 02:16
Subject: Science X Newsletter Tuesday, May 3
To: Andrzej Antoni Czerwinski <andrzej.czerwinski22@gmail.com>

Dear Andrzej Antoni Czerwinski,

Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for May 3, 2022:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

Adding energy cost information to energy-efficiency class labels could affect refrigerator purchases

Indigenous peoples have shucked billions of oysters around the world sustainably

Building nanoalloy libraries from laser-induced thermionic emission reduction experiments

Team finds younger exoplanets are better candidates when looking for other Earths

Using electricity to create compounds for pharmaceuticals, other chemicals

Experiments measure freezing point of extraterrestrial oceans to aid search for life

Bacteria make a beeline to escape tight spaces

New Zealand rocket caught but then dropped by helicopter

Study of promising Alzheimer's marker in blood prompts warning about brain-boosting supplements

Why is the 100-year-old BCG vaccine so broadly protective in newborns?

Face shape influences mask fit, suggests problems with double masking against COVID-19

Study finds healthy-appearing lupus skin predisposed to flares, rashes

New technology offers fighting chance against grapevine killer

Recurrent UTIs linked to gut microbiome, chronic inflammation

NASA simulation suggests some volcanoes might warm climate, destroy ozone layer

Nanotechnology news

Building nanoalloy libraries from laser-induced thermionic emission reduction experiments High-entropy nanoalloys (HENA) have widespread applications in materials science and applied physics. However, their synthesis is challenging due to slow kinetics that cause phase segregation, sophisticated pretreatment of precursors, and inert conditions. In a new report now published in Science Advances, Haoqing Jiang and a team of scientists in industrial engineering, nanotechnology and materials science in the U.S., and China, described a process of converting metal salts to ultrafine HENAs on carbonaceous supports using nanosecond pulse lasers. Based on the unique laser induced thermionic emission and etch on carbon, the team gathered the reduced metal elements of ultrafine HENAs stabilized via the defective carbon support. The resulting process produced a variety of HENAs ranging from 1-to-3 nanometers and metal elements of up to 11 grams per hour, with a productivity reaching 7 grams per hour. The HENAs exhibited excellent catalytic performance during oxygen reduction, with great practical potential.

Physics news

	Face shape influences mask fit, suggests problems with double masking against COVID-19 In its updated guidance at the start of 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said loosely woven cloth masks offer the least protection against COVID-19, and N95 and KN95 masks offer the most protection. Still, after more than two years since the pandemic began, there is not a full understanding of mask characteristics for the most optimal protection.
	New control electronics for quantum computers that improve performance, cut costs When designing a next-generation quantum computer, a surprisingly large problem is bridging the communication gap between the classical and quantum worlds. Such computers need a specialized control and readout electronics to translate back and forth between the human operator and the quantum computer's languages—but existing systems are cumbersome and expensive.
	Metamaterial significantly enhances chiral nanoparticle signals The left hand looks like the right hand in the mirror but the left-handed glove does not fit on the right hand. Chirality refers to this property where the object cannot be superimposed on to the mirror image. This property in molecules is an important factor in pharmaceutical research as it can turn drugs toxic.
	Triplewise information tradeoff in quantum measurement has been proved Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment designed to explain quantum superposition and quantum measurement, which are the core characteristics of quantum physics. In this experiment, the cat inside the box can be both alive and dead at the same time (quantum superposition), and its state (dead or alive) is decided the moment the box is opened (measured). Such quantum superposition and measurement are not only the foundation of quantum physics, but also guarantee the safety of quantum computing and cryptography.

Earth news

	NASA simulation suggests some volcanoes might warm climate, destroy ozone layer A new NASA climate simulation suggests that extremely large volcanic eruptions called "flood basalt eruptions" might significantly warm Earth's climate and devastate the ozone layer that shields life from the sun's ultraviolet radiation.
	Investigating Earth's interior using the distribution of electrical conductivity and density in the crust Knowledge about the structure and composition of the Earth's crust is important for understanding the dynamics of the Earth. For example, the presence or absence of melt or fluids plays a major role in plate tectonic processes. Most our knowledge in this area comes from geophysical surveys. However, the relationship between measurable geophysical parameters and the actual conditions in the Earth's interior is often ambiguous. To improve this state of affairs, LMU geophysicist Max Moorkamp has developed a new method, whereby data on the distribution of electrical conductivity and density in the Earth's crust is combined and processed using a method derived from medical imaging. "The advantage is that the relationships between the two parameters are part of the analysis," says Moorkamp. "For geophysical applications, this is completely new."
	Tasmania goes net carbon negative by reducing logging Tasmania has become one of the first jurisdictions in the world to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and increase removals to become net carbon negative, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU) and Griffith University.
	Federal plan to thin forest on Pine Mountain draws lawsuits from Patagonia, Ojai and others Popular Ventura, California-based clothing brand Patagonia, the city of Ojai, Ventura County and several environmental groups are suing the U.S. Forest Service in an attempt to stop a forest-thinning project on Pine Mountain in Los Padres National Forest.
	Thirty years of climate research funding has overlooked the potential of experimental transformative technologies A new study from the University of Sussex Business School reveals the technologies and academic disciplines that are being overlooked by research funders in the global fight against climate change.
	New portal improves forecasts of devastating storms in West Africa An online portal developed by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) will enable forecasters in West Africa to provide communities with earlier and more reliable warnings about large storms.
	Study develops framework for forecasting contribution of snowpack to flood risk during winter storms In the Sierra Nevada, midwinter "rain-on-snow" events occur when rain falls onto existing snowpack, and have resulted in some of the region's biggest and most damaging floods. Rain-on-snow events are projected to increase in size and frequency in the coming years, but little guidance exists for water resource managers on how to mitigate flood risk during times of rapidly changing snowpack. Their minute-by-minute decisions during winter storms can have long-lasting impacts to people, property, and water supplies.
	Heat wave sparks blackouts, questions on India's coal usage An unusually early and brutal heat wave is scorching parts of India, with acute power shortages affecting millions as demand for electricity surges to record levels.

Astronomy and Space news

	Team finds younger exoplanets are better candidates when looking for other Earths As the scientific community searches for worlds orbiting nearby stars that could potentially harbor life, new Southwest Research Institute-led research suggests that younger rocky exoplanets are more likely to support temperate, Earth-like climates.
	Experiments measure freezing point of extraterrestrial oceans to aid search for life Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley have conducted experiments that measured the physical limits for the existence of liquid water in icy extraterrestrial worlds. This blend of geoscience and engineering was done to aid in the search for extraterrestrial life and the upcoming robotic exploration of oceans on moons of other planets.
	New Zealand rocket caught but then dropped by helicopter Using a helicopter to catch a falling rocket is such a complex task that Peter Beck likens it to a "supersonic ballet."
	NASA visualization rounds up the best-known black hole systems Nearby black holes and their stellar companions form an astrophysical rogues' gallery in this new NASA visualization.
	Predicting how soon the universe could collapse if dark energy has quintessence A trio of astrophysicists, two from Princeton, the other from New York University, has calculated estimations on how soon the universe could collapse if theories regarding dark energy as having quintessence are correct. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cosmin Andrei, Anna Ijjas, and Paul Steinhardt suggest it could be as soon as 100 million years from now.
	Spacecraft navigation uses X-rays from dead stars The remnants of a collapsed neutron star, called a pulsar, are magnetically charged and spinning anywhere from one rotation per second to hundreds of rotations per second. These celestial bodies, each 12 to 15 miles in diameter, generate light in the X-ray wavelength range. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a new way spacecraft can use signals from multiple pulsars to navigate in deep space.
	Scientists begin studying 50-year-old frozen Apollo 17 samples Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recently received samples of the lunar surface that have been curated in a freezer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston since Apollo 17 astronauts returned them to Earth in December 1972.
	NASA, Boeing say Starliner on track for May 19 launch Boeing's Starliner capsule is finally ready to reattempt a key test launch to the International Space Station on May 19, officials said Tuesday.
	NASA's Mars Helicopter scouts ridgeline for Perseverance science team NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter recently surveyed an intriguing ridgeline near the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater. The images—captured on April 23, during the tiny helicopter's 27th flight—were taken at the request of the Perseverance Mars rover science team, which wanted a closer look at the sloping outcrop.
	DLR provides female measuring mannequins for the NASA Artemis I mission In 2022, NASA's Artemis I mission will send a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew to the moon for the first time in almost 50 years. On this uncrewed test flight, it will be the twin measuring mannequins Helga and Zohar on board the Orion capsule. The MARE experiment devised by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), will use two identical "phantoms" representative of the female body to investigate radiation exposure throughout the flight, which may last up to six weeks. The mission is vital in light of NASA's plan to send the first woman to the moon during the Artemis program. Researchers at the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne developed the experiment and have now delivered it to NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for installation. A new radiation protection vest also forms part of the experiment and will undergo testing. Artemis I is now planned to launch in summer 2022. The assembly and installation of the measuring mannequins is scheduled to take place approximately four weeks before the launch.
	NASA's EMIT will map tiny dust particles to study big climate impacts To help researchers model climate effects, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation mission will measure the composition of minerals that become airborne dust.
	Image: Tantalus Fossae on Mars This network of long grooves and scratches forms part of a giant fault system on Mars known as Tantalus Fossae, and is shown here as seen by ESA's Mars Express. At first glance, these features look as if someone has raked their fingernails across the surface of the Red Planet, gouging out lengthy trenches as they did so.
	Hubble views a galactic oddity The ultra-diffuse galaxy GAMA 526784 appears as a tenuous patch of light in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This wispy object resides in the constellation Hydra, roughly four billion light-years from Earth. Ultra-diffuse galaxies such as GAMA 526784 have a number of peculiarities. For example, they can have either very low or high amounts of dark matter, the invisible substance thought to make up the majority of matter in the universe. Observations of ultra-diffuse galaxies found some with an almost complete lack of dark matter, whereas others consist of almost nothing but dark matter. Another oddity of this class of galaxies is their unusual abundance of bright globular clusters, something not observed in other types of galaxies.
	Amazing achievements from the Parker Solar Probe In 2018, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe on an unprecedented mission to study the sun up close. The mission was defined with three key scientific goals:
	Humanity will need to survive about 400,000 years if we want any chance of hearing from an alien civilization If there are so many galaxies, stars, and planets, where are all the aliens, and why haven't we heard from them? Those are the simple questions at the heart of the Fermi Paradox. In a new paper, a pair of researchers ask the next obvious question: How long will we have to survive to hear from another alien civilization?
	Which parts of Mars are the safest from cosmic radiation? In the coming decade, NASA and China plan to send the first crewed missions to Mars. This will consist of both agencies sending spacecraft in 2033, 2035, 2037, and every 26 months after that to coincide with Mars opposition (i.e., when Earth and Mars are closest in their orbits). The long-term aim of these programs is to establish a base on Mars that will serve as a hub that accommodates future missions, though the Chinese have stated that they intend for their base to be a permanent one.
	Blood clot expert working with NASA to study blood flow, clot formation in zero gravity Are astronauts more likely to develop blood clots during space missions due to zero gravity? That's the question NASA is trying to answer with help from UNC School of Medicine's Stephan Moll, MD, professor in the UNC Department of Medicine. A new publication in Vascular Medicine shows the results of an occupational surveillance program spurred by the development of a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the jugular vein of an astronaut, which is described in detail in a New England Journal of Medicine publication from 2020.
	NASA's SDO sees sun release strong solar flare The Sun emitted a strong solar flare on May 3, 2022, peaking at 9:25 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Technology news

	Adding energy cost information to energy-efficiency class labels could affect refrigerator purchases To guide consumers in their choice of electrical appliances and devices, over a decade ago the European Union introduced an energy efficiency labeling scheme. This scheme gives potential buyers an idea of much electrical energy is consumed by different devices, so that they can make more informed choices.
	Trained neural network pipeline simulates physical systems of rigid and deformable bodies and environmental conditions From "Star Wars" to "Happy Feet," many beloved films contain scenes that were made possible by motion capture technology, which records movement of objects or people through video. Further, applications for this tracking, which involve complicated interactions between physics, geometry, and perception, extend beyond Hollywood to the military, sports training, medical fields, and computer vision and robotics, allowing engineers to understand and simulate action happening within real-world environments.
	Dual membrane offers hope for long-term energy storage A new approach to battery design could provide the key to low-cost, long-term energy storage, according to Imperial College London researchers.
	Soft assistive robotic wearables get a boost from rapid design tool Soft, pneumatic actuators might not be a phrase that comes up in daily conversations, but more likely than not you might have benefited from their utility. The devices use compressed air to power motion, and with sensing capabilities, they've proven to be a critical backbone in a variety of applications such as assistive wearables, robotics, and rehabilitative technologies.
	Artificial skin could give robots a sense of touch similar to humans One of many special human qualities is the ability to handle objects with skill and precision. This is all down to our sense of touch, which is particularly acute in the tips of our fingers. Using our hands, we are able to explore the shape and composition of objects and to feel the texture of their surface—and all without ever clapping eyes on them.
	Wi-Fi may be coming soon to a lamppost near you As Wi-Fi is deployed more widely in cities, and perhaps at higher frequencies, it may depend on an abundant urban asset: streetlight poles.
	Researchers investigate Apple's privacy labels CyLab researchers have been studying privacy nutrition labels for over a decade, so when Apple introduced privacy labels in their app store a little over a year ago, the researchers were eager to investigate them.
	Researcher creates free comment moderation software for YouTube As an expert in building a safer and fairer internet, Rutgers Assistant Professor Shagun Jhaver long suspected that digital content creators from minority groups suffered disproportionate online harassment. But when he heard about a 35-year-old Brazilian YouTuber who suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized after a barrage of digital hate, he decided to do something about it.
	Georgia sets $1.5B in aid for electric vehicle maker Rivian The state of Georgia and local governments will give Rivian Automotive $1.5 billion of incentives to build a 7,500-job, $5 billion electric vehicle plant east of Atlanta, according to documents the company and state signed Monday.
	Beyond electric cars: How electrifying trucks, buses, tractors and scooters will help tackle climate change When you think of an electric vehicle, chances are you'll picture a car. But there's a quiet revolution going on in transport. It turns out electrification can work wonders for almost all of our transport options, from electric bikes to motorbikes to buses to freight trains and even to tractors and heavy trucks. There will soon be no need to burn petrol and diesel in an internal combustion engine.
	How our bushfire-proof house design could help people flee rather than risk fighting the flames By 2030, climate change will make one in 25 Australian homes "uninsurable" if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, with riverine flooding posing the greatest insurance risk, a new Climate Council analysis finds.
	Q&A: Exploring the intricacies of designing software for research ethics Data are arguably the world's hottest form of currency, clocking in zeros and ones that hold ever more weight than before. But with all of our personal information being crunched into dynamite for enterprise solutions and the like, with a lack of consumer data protection, are we all getting left behind?
	Critics see risk in 'algorithmic' stablecoins A new type of digital asset called an algorithmic stablecoin is gaining steam among crypto-enthusiasts—and drawing steam among critics, who warn its risks are in plain sight.
	Using desserts to decode computer science The past decade has seen great strides in innovative food experiences like 3D-printed food, ingestible sensors, combining robots with food service and eating with augmented reality. So far, these experiences have only involved using technology alongside existing food.
	Size of mobile web pages increased tenfold in ten years, with implications for energy consumption According to estimates, the ICT sector's share of the world's energy consumption will surpass 20 percent by the end of this decade. One of the reasons is the huge increase in the number and size of websites, says Jukka Manner, Professor of Networking Technology at Aalto University. He recently studied the size and energy consumption of Finland's most popular websites with his research group.
	Improving virtual shopping The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to do more activities online than they had in the past, including shopping. However, there are concerns that e-commerce does not match the experience of browsing and shopping in the real world. Research in the International Journal of Technology Marketing has looked at the psychological response of consumers to the increasingly anthropomorphic virtual agents often used on e-commerce sites in an effort to replicate the in-store shopping experience and engagement. Indeed, anthropomorphic virtual agents already exist that can help inform consumers about new products, assist them in making their decisions as to what to buy, and answer questions about a product in which they are interested.
	How Venice, Italy can cut carbon emissions from social housing Research using software developed at Berkeley Lab recently pinpointed actions that could help the historic canal city of Venice, Italy slash energy use and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
	Subtle signals can influence whether people trust online recommendations Subtle labels that tip off how online recommendation systems choose their selections, such as book and movie choices, may influence whether people trust those systems, according to a team of researchers. They may also tip off people on whom to blame when those recommendations go awry.
	Automatic audio logging system successfully used to map the sound of Norway birds Cheap, reliable audio recorders developed at Imperial have been used to reliably identify birds by their songs in a large trial in Norwegian forests.
	Boosting access reliability in wireless communications With the emerging Internet-of-Things that holds promise for operating everything from smart homes to smart cities, fifth-generation wireless communication must be able to handle the demands for low delay and high reliability. To meet these demands, researchers propose the use of reconfigurable intelligent surface technology for grant-free massive access to boost the reliability of access in wireless communication.
	Advancing beyond 5G in wireless communications From 3G to 4G to 5G, wireless communications are evolving, and the next step is underway. What will constitute 6G, and how will it work with existing infrastructure? An international collaboration set out to begin answering such questions and published their investigation on April 29 in Intelligent and Converged Networks.
	The promise and challenge of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces The world is more connected than ever before, with reliable and consistent wireless communications transmitting to and from individual users—but the technology is evolving to something even better, according to an international research team.
	Amazon plans to add 2,500 office jobs in Southern California Amazon is significantly expanding its white-collar presence in Southern California, announcing office leases to accommodate 2,500 new corporate and technology jobs in Santa Monica, Irvine and San Diego.
	Timing, among other factors, improves aging in next-generation wireless communications In wireless communications, channels can not only change, but they can also age. For contemporary systems, these connections between the transmitter and the receiver break down over time, user movement and power dissipation. Understanding how channels age in future systems, as well as how to mitigate such issues, are key to developing the next generation of wireless communications, according to an international collaboration studying the topic in reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted systems.
	LinkedIn settles with U.S. over alleged pay discrimination The career-networking service LinkedIn has agreed to pay $1.8 million in back wages to hundreds of female workers to settle a pay discrimination complaint brought by U.S. labor investigators.

Chemistry news

	Using electricity to create compounds for pharmaceuticals, other chemicals What do gunpowder, penicillin and Teflon all have in common? They were inventions that took the world by storm, but they were all created by complete accident.
	Slippery coating fends off frost while being kind to the environment Before we get our hands full of formulas and formulations, let's begin with "A Song of Ice and Fire."' Adapted from George R. R. Martin's novels of the same name, there's a riveting sequence in HBO's water-cooler show "Game of Thrones."
	Seashell-inspired sugar shield protects materials in hostile environments Word of an extraordinarily inexpensive material, lightweight enough to protect satellites against debris in the cold of outer space, cohesive enough to strengthen the walls of pressurized vessels experiencing average conditions on Earth and yet heat-resistant enough at 1,500 degrees Celsius or 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit to shield instruments against flying debris, raises the question: what single material could do all this?
	Physicists develop ideal testing conditions of solar cells for space applications Researchers at the University of Oklahoma, with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the University of North Texas, the NASA Glenn Research Center and several collaborators within the space power community, have recently published a paper in the journal Joule that describes the optimal conditions for testing perovskite solar cells for space.

Biology news

	Indigenous peoples have shucked billions of oysters around the world sustainably A new global study of Indigenous oyster fisheries co-led by Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History anthropologist Torben Rick and Temple University anthropologist and former Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow Leslie Reeder-Myers shows that oyster fisheries were hugely productive and sustainably managed on a massive scale over hundreds and even thousands of years of intensive harvest. The study's broadest finding was that long before European colonizers arrived, the Indigenous groups in these locations harvested and ate immense quantities of oysters in a manner that did not appear to cause the bivalves' populations to suffer and crash.
	Bacteria make a beeline to escape tight spaces A newly published study by researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa revealed that bacteria alter their swimming patterns when they get into tight spaces—making a beeline to escape from confinement.
	New technology offers fighting chance against grapevine killer Scientists at UC Riverside have a shot at eradicating a deadly threat to vineyards posed by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, just as its resistance to insecticide has been growing.
	The Jurassic rise of squamates as supported by lepidosaur disparity and evolutionary rates Scientists have found that a key modern group of reptiles that includes lizards and snakes—known as squamates—diverged in the Jurassic period, 50 million years earlier than previously thought.
	Tired Australian magpies sing less, sing later and are less motivated Sleep deprived Australian magpies are tired and unmotivated, just like humans, according to new research from La Trobe University in Melbourne which has found that, after a poor night's sleep, the common black and white songbird shifts their normal singing from twilight to midday, have a reduced song bandwidth and struggle with cognitive tasks.
	Cancer origin identified through cell 'surgery' Research from the University of Warwick sheds new light on a key cause of cancer formation during cell division (or mitosis), and points towards potential solutions for preventing it from occurring.
	How the black rat colonized Europe in the Roman and Medieval periods New ancient DNA analysis has shed light on how the black rat, blamed for spreading Black Death, dispersed across Europe—revealing that the rodent colonized the continent on two occasions in the Roman and Medieval periods.
	Rare fossil of ancient dog species discovered by paleontologists Sometime around 14,000 years ago, the first humans crossed the Bering Strait to North America with canines, domesticated dogs they used for hunting, by their side.
	Catastrophe theory can shed new light on how drought affects plants Sometimes things are fine—until they're not. A boat capsizes. A bridge collapses. The stock market takes an extreme turn.
	Beetle iridescence a deceptive form of warning coloration, study finds A new study published today in Animal Behaviour shows for the first time that brilliant iridescence and gloss found in some animals can have a protective function by working as a form of deceptive warning coloration, and that it is the key feature of iridescence, its changing colors, that is important for this effect.