process

The ‘Powerhouse of The Cell’ Could Be Secretly Helping Mammal Eyes Process Light

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For you to read this article, the eyes have to perform quite the task – light enters the cornea and travels through the pupil and lens to the retina at the back, where light-sensitive cells such as cones and rods then pass things on to the brain via electrical signals in the optic nerve.   … Read more

This Weirdly Tilted Black Hole Could Upend Our Understanding of How They Form

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Black holes could make a strong case for being the most fascinating phenomena in the whole Universe, and scientists are constantly discovering more about the way that they work and behave – including how they’re created in the first place.   Now, a new study of an unusually misaligned one some 10,000 light-years away from … Read more

For The First Time, a Tatooine-Like Planet Has Been Detected Via a Wobbling Star

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Not all planetary systems are alike. Out there in the big, wide galaxy, a number of different configurations have been spotted, some vastly different from our home system. These include extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, that orbit not one, but two stars, like the fictional Star Wars world of Tatooine.   Now, for the first time, astronomers … Read more

There’s a Reason 90% of Drugs Fail Clinical Trials, And We Can Fix It

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It takes 10 to 15 years and around US$1 billion to develop one successful drug. Despite these significant investments in time and money, 90 percent of drug candidates in clinical trials fail.   Whether because they don’t adequately treat the condition they’re meant to target or the side effects are too strong, many drug candidates … Read more

Scientists Can Now Turn Stem Cells Into Bone Using Nothing More Than Sound

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Stem cells have the superpower of turning into any other kind of cell – a superpower that some animals use to regrow limbs; for medicine, they yield the potential to help us repair parts of the human body that have been damaged by injury or disease.   Carrying out those repairs requires the ability to manipulate stem … Read more

The Mysterious Origins of King Tutankhamen’s Space Rock Dagger Just Got Clearer

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You may already know the legend of King Tutankhamen’s space dagger – an iron weapon forged from the rock of meteorites, and entombed with the ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Now a new study has revealed more details about this most fascinating and mysterious of artifacts.   A thorough chemical analysis involving high-resolution photography and X-rays has … Read more

Giant Haul of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts Spills The Lost Secrets of Mummification

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A deposit of hundreds of embalming tools uncovered in Abusir, Egypt – probably the largest ever found – offers clues into a lavish funeral that likely took place about 2,600 years ago.    The deposit of at least 370 ceramic jars – some of which carried heads to represent sacred animal deities – could provide … Read more

Scientists Convert Donor Lungs to Universal Blood Type in a Medical First

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Patients can wait a long time for potentially life-saving lung transplants, since the need to find close matches complicates the process. One of the characteristics that need to be matched is patient and donor blood type.   Now new research shows that the blood type of some donated lungs could be altered before transplant, which … Read more

Newly Invented Catalyst Dramatically Increases The Efficiency of Turning CO2 Into Fuel

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It took nature decades of photosynthesis, followed by eons of intense heat and pressure from geological activity to bake atmospheric carbon dioxide into the long chains of hydrocarbon that make up fossil fuels.   We don’t have the luxury of millions of years to mop up the excess carbon from our atmosphere, but advances in … Read more

This Is The James Webb Space Telescope’s First-Ever Photograph of a Star

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Star light, star bright, the James Webb Space Telescope has seen its first star (though it wasn’t quite tonight) – and even taken a selfie, NASA announced Friday. The steps are part of the months-long process of aligning the observatory’s enormous golden mirror that astronomers hope will begin unraveling the mysteries of the early Universe … Read more