Science X Newsletter Week 49

Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 49:

	Gamma-ray laser moves a step closer to reality A physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has performed calculations showing hollow spherical bubbles filled with a gas of positronium atoms are stable in liquid helium.
	World first as artificial neurons developed to cure chronic diseases Artificial neurons on silicon chips that behave just like the real thing have been invented by scientists—a first-of-its-kind achievement with enormous scope for medical devices to cure chronic diseases, such as heart failure, Alzheimer's, and other diseases of neuronal degeneration.
	Student solves a 100-year-old physics enigma An EPFL Bachelor's student has solved a mystery that has puzzled scientists for 100 years. He discovered why gas bubbles in narrow vertical tubes seem to remain stuck instead of rising upward. According to his research and observations, an ultra-thin film of liquid forms around the bubble, preventing it from rising freely. And he found that, in fact, the bubbles are not stuck at all—they are just moving very, very slowly.
	Giant tortoises found to be trainable and to have long memories A trio of researchers with the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, the Hebrew University and Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Maxingstrasse, has found that giant tortoises are not only trainable, but have long memories. In their paper published in the journal Animal Cognition, Tamar Gutnick, Anton Weissenbacher and Michael Kuba describe training exercises they carried out with the huge tortoises and what they learned from them.
	Drone images show Greenland ice sheet becoming more unstable as it fractures The world's second-largest ice sheet, and the single largest contributor to global sea-level rise, is potentially becoming unstable because of fractures developing in response to faster ice flow and more meltwater forming on its surface.
	Permanent hair dye and straighteners may increase breast cancer risk Scientists at the National Institutes of Health found that women who use permanent hair dye and chemical hair straighteners have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who don't use these products. The study published online Dec. 4 in the International Journal of Cancer and suggests that breast cancer risk increased with more frequent use of these chemical hair products.
	First experimental genetic evidence of the human self-domestication hypothesis A new University of Barcelona study reveals the first empirical genetic evidence of human self-domestication, a hypothesis that humans have evolved to be friendlier and more cooperative by selecting their companions depending on their behaviour. Researchers identified a genetic network involved in the unique evolutionary trajectory of the modern human face and prosociality, which is absent in the Neanderthal genome. The experiment is based on Williams Syndrome cells, a rare disease.
	Drugs that quell brain inflammation reverse dementia Drugs that tamp down inflammation in the brain could slow or even reverse the cognitive decline that comes with age.
	Researchers discover stress in early life extends lifespan Some stress at a young age could actually lead to a longer life, new research shows.
	Researchers discover new way to split and sum photons with silicon A team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of California, Riverside have found a way to produce a long-hypothesized phenomenon—the transfer of energy between silicon and organic, carbon-based molecules—in a breakthrough that has implications for information storage in quantum computing, solar energy conversion and medical imaging. The research is described in a paper out today in the journal Nature Chemistry.
	France bans two US pesticides, citing risk to bees French authorities on Wednesday banned two US pesticides which ecologists deem harmful to bees.
	NASA finds Indian Moon lander with help of amateur space enthusiast India's Vikram lunar lander, which crashed on its final approach to the Moon's surface in September, has been found thanks in part to the sleuthing efforts of an amateur space enthusiast.
	Can a single-celled organism 'change its mind'? New study says yes Once, single-cell life claimed sole dominion over the earth. For some three billion years, unfathomable generations of unicellular organisms ate, grew and reproduced among only each other. They evolved into predators and prey, thrived and spread across the primordial waters and land, and formed complex and dynamic ecosystems in every ecological niche on the planet. Around 600 million years ago, some even crossed the threshold into multicellularity.
	How saving the ozone layer in 1987 slowed global warming The Montreal Protocol, an international agreement signed in 1987 to stop chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) destroying the ozone layer, now appears to be the first international treaty to successfully slow the rate of global warming.
	A momentous view on the birth of photoelectrons The creation of photoelectrons through ionisation is one of the most fundamental processes in the interaction between light and matter. Yet, deep questions remain about just how photons transfer their linear momentum to electrons. With the first sub-femtosecond study of the linear photon momentum transfer during an ionisation process, ETH physicists provide now unprecedented insight into the birth of photoelectrons.
	Eating only during a 10-hour window improved health for those with metabolic syndrome What if a clock did a better job than a scale at promoting weight loss, improving sleep and preventing diabetes? New research suggests it's about time to consider that possibility.
	Scientists have found out why photons from other galaxies do not reach Earth An international group of scientists, including Andrey Savelyev, associate professor of the Institute of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and Information Technologies of the IKBFU, has improved a computer program that helps simulate the behavior of photons when interacting with hydrogen spilled in intergalactic space. Results are published in the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
	Diabetes drug has unexpected, broad implications for healthy aging Metformin is the most commonly prescribed type 2 diabetes drug, yet scientists still do not fully know how it works to control blood sugar levels. In a collaborative effort, researchers from the Salk Institute, The Scripps Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College have used a novel technology to investigate why it functions so well. The findings, which identified a surprising number of biochemical "switches" for various cellular processes, could also explain why metformin has been shown to extend health span and life span in recent studies. The work was published in Cell Reports on December 3, 2019.
	Climate models are often attacked, but most of the time they're remarkably good The computer models used to simulate what heat-trapping gases will do to global temperatures have been pretty spot-on in their predictions, a new study found.
	Researchers find protein promotes cancer, suppresses anti-tumor immunity Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that a protein involved in immune response to microbes also can fuel cancer development and suppress immune response to the disease.

---

This email is a free service of Science X Network
You received this email because you subscribed to our list.
If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, please unsubscribe here.
You are subscribed as jmabs1@gmail.com. You may manage your subscription options from your Science X profile