ESA's Planetary Defence team The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has approved the naming of ten asteroids – and one comet – after people and places linked to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) efforts to protect…
Study shows stem cells fiercely abide by innate…
[caption id="attachment_11651" align="alignright" width="199"] James Thomson[/caption] The mystery of what controls the range of developmental clocks in mammals — from 22 months for an elephant to 12 days for an opossum — may lie in the…
Science checkout continues for ExoMars orbiter
[caption id="attachment_11647" align="alignnone" width="625"] ExoMars science orbit 5–6 March[/caption] Next week, the ExoMars orbiter will devote two days to making important calibration measurements at the Red Planet, which are needed for the science phase of…
Improving DNA-detecting transistors
Graphene-based transistors could soon help diagnose genetic diseases. [caption id="attachment_11644" align="alignnone" width="891"] Figure: Schematic of a graphene-based field-effect transistor (left) and an atomic force microscopy image of graphene covered with single-stranded probe DNA (right).[/caption] Researchers…
New “tougher-than-metal” fiber-reinforced hydrogels
A team of Hokkaido University scientists has succeeded in creating “fiber-reinforced soft composites,” or tough hydrogels combined with woven fiber fabric. These fabrics are highly flexible, tougher than metals, and have a wide range of…