Fiber-optic cables run underneath nearly all city grids across the United States and provide internet and cable TV to millions, but what if those systems could also provide valuable information related to hazardous events such as earthquakes and flooding? A team of researchers at Penn State have found they can do just that. The scientists are using fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology to turn existing telecommunication infrastructure that is already installed underground into a valuable resource for monitoring ground vibrations. "We discovered the fibers could pick up a wide variety of signal vibrations, from thunderstorms to human walking steps to music concerts," said Tieyuan Zhu, assistant professor of geophysics at Penn State and principal investigator on ...

American Geophysical Union U.S. Geological Survey Joint ReleaseWASHINGTON--Southern California can now expect to see post-wildfire landslides occurring almost every year, with major events expected roughly every ten years, a new study finds. The results show Californians are now facing a double whammy of increased wildfire and landslide risk caused by climate change-induced shifts in the state's wet and dry seasons, according to researchers who mapped landslide vulnerability in the southern half of the state. "This is our attempt to get people thinking about where these hazards are going to be before there's even a fire," said Jason Kean, a hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver and lead author ...

HOUSTON - (Feb. 25, 2021) - A new theory by Rice University scientists could boost the growing field of spintronics, devices that depend on the state of an electron as much as the brute electrical force required to push it. Materials theorist Boris Yakobson and graduate student Sunny Gupta at Rice's Brown School of Engineering describe the mechanism behind Rashba splitting, an effect seen in crystal compounds that can influence their electrons' "up" or "down" spin states, analogous to "on" or "off" in common transistors. "Spin" is a misnomer, since quantum physics constrains electrons ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Graphene is incredibly strong, lightweight, conductive ... the list of its superlative properties goes on. It is not, however, magnetic -- a shortcoming that has stunted its usefulness in spintronics, an emerging field that scientists say could eventually rewrite the rules of electronics, leading to more powerful semiconductors, computers and other devices. Now, an international research team led by the University at Buffalo is reporting an advancement that could help overcome this obstacle. In a study published today in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers describe how they paired a magnet with graphene, and induced what they describe as "artificial magnetic texture" in the nonmagnetic wonder material. "Independent of each ...

As climate change increases the occurrence of catastrophic natural disasters around the world, international organizations are looking for ways to reduce the risk of such disasters. One approach under exploration is the humanitarian community's forecast-based early action (FbA), which seeks to enable pre-emptive actions based on forecasts of extreme events. With FbA, disaster response shifts toward anticipating disasters to ameliorate their destructive effects. However, the development of data-based triggers and metrics for action rely on timely and accurate information. A group of researchers publishing in SPIE's END ...

HOUSTON - (Feb. 25, 2021) - COVID-19 can be diagnosed in 55 minutes or less with the help of programmed magnetic nanobeads and a diagnostic tool that plugs into an off-the-shelf cell phone, according to Rice University engineers. The Rice lab of mechanical engineer Peter Lillehoj has developed a stamp-sized microfluidic chip that measures the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein in blood serum from a standard finger prick. The nanobeads bind to SARS-CoV-2 N protein, a biomarker for COVID-19, in the chip and transport it to an electrochemical sensor that detects minute amounts of the biomarker. The ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., February 24, 2021--The Beaufort Sea, the Arctic Ocean's largest freshwater reservoir, has increased its freshwater content by 40 percent over the last two decades, putting global climate patterns at risk. A rapid release of this freshwater into the Atlantic Ocean could wreak havoc on the delicate climate balance that dictates global climate. "A freshwater release of this size into the subpolar North Atlantic could impact a critical circulation pattern, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which has a significant influence on northern-hemisphere climate," ...

After traveling several billion miles toward the Sun, a wayward young comet-like object orbiting among the giant planets has found a temporary parking place along the way. The object has settled near a family of captured ancient asteroids, called Trojans, that are orbiting the Sun alongside Jupiter. This is the first time a comet-like object has been spotted near the Trojan population. The unexpected visitor belongs to a class of icy bodies found in space between Jupiter and Neptune. Called "Centaurs," they become active for the first time when heated as they approach the Sun, and dynamically transition into becoming more comet-like. Visible-light snapshots by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal that the vagabond object shows signs of comet activity, such as a tail, ...

Researchers have discovered that there may be a new pathway in the brain that provides pain relief and reduces cravings for opioids. Over a third of the U.S. population suffers from chronic pain, with little to no reported relief from medication. Transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive form of brain stimulation that may offer a new treatment option for these underserved members of our community. In a recent paper in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina evaluated two different strategies for relieving pain with TMS: applying TMS to the motor cortex and the ...

When birds see a predator in their midst, one defensive strategy is to call out loudly, attracting other birds of the same or different species to do the same. Sometimes individuals within this "mobbing flock" will fly over or at the predator or attack it directly. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on February 25 have found that male superb lyrebirds do something rather unexpected: they imitate a mobbing flock in courtship and even in the act of mating with a female. "Our paper shows that male superb lyrebirds regularly create a remarkable acoustic illusion of a flock of mobbing birds ...

Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have discovered a new type of bone cell that may reveal new therapeutic approaches for osteoporosis and other skeletal diseases. The new cells, which the researchers term 'osteomorphs', are found in the blood and bone marrow, and fuse together to form osteoclasts, specialised cells that break down bone tissue. They have a unique genomic profile that reveals promising and as yet unexplored targets for therapy. "This discovery is a game-changer, which not only helps us understand bone biology but presents significant new in-roads for osteoporosis therapy," says co-senior ...

A 20% shift in beverage sales from small to medium-sized plastic bottles could reduce the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste in the USA by over 9,000 tonnes annually, a study in Scientific Reports suggests. PET is the dominant material used in plastic bottles containing non-alcoholic beverages. Rafael Becerril-Arreola and Randolph Bucklin weighed 187 differently sized PET bottles sold by the best-selling beverage brands in Minnesota, USA, to identify which bottles sizes were the most efficient at delivering the highest volume of beverage for the lowest packaging weight. To validate their findings, the researchers combined data on sales of different sized PET bottles ...

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a new way to harness properties of light waves that can radically increase the amount of data they carry. They demonstrated the emission of discrete twisting laser beams from antennas made up of concentric rings roughly equal to the diameter of a human hair, small enough to be placed on computer chips. The new work, reported in a paper published Thursday, Feb. 25, in the journal Nature Physics, throws wide open the amount of information that can be multiplexed, or simultaneously transmitted, by a coherent light source. A common example of multiplexing is the transmission of multiple telephone calls ...

Never before in over 1000 years the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), also known as Gulf Stream System, has been as weak as in the last decades. This is the result of a new study by scientists from Ireland, Britain and Germany. The researchers compiled so-called proxy data, taken mainly from natural archives like ocean sediments or ice cores, reaching back many hundreds of years to reconstruct the flow history of the AMOC. They found consistent evidence that its slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented in the past millennium; it is likely linked to human-caused climate change. The giant ocean circulation is relevant for weather patterns ...

More intense and frequent fires are reducing the size of tree communities in many regions of the world. Slower-growing tree species are better at surviving fires, but these may capture less atmospheric carbon and reduce nutrient availability in the soil. Not all regions are suitable for planting trees to tackle climate change; schemes must consider local wildfire frequency, vegetation cover and climate, and how these might change over time. Researchers have analysed decades' worth of data on the impact of repeated fires on ecosystems across the world. Their results, published today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, show that repeated fires are driving long-term changes to tree communities and reducing their population ...

Until recently, scientists believed that the primary cilium - an antenna-like structure found on the surface of most human cells - was largely vestigial and had little bearing on the day-to-day lives of human beings. But more recently, a relatively small number of people have been found to have rare genetic disorders affecting the cilium, characterized by a number of health problems, including common conditions like diabetes, kidney failure, and liver fibrosis. Now, an analysis of genes involved in the function of the cilium found that the same genes causing its rare diseases might ...

What The Study Did: Researchers in this observational study of more than 10,000 U.S. Air Force basic trainees examined whether symptoms and laboratory results on the first day of COVID-19 diagnosis are associated with development of a case cluster in a congregate setting. Authors: Joseph E. Marcus, M.D., of the Brooke Army Medical Center at Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0202) Editor's Note:  Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding ...

What The Study Did: This research letter describes the various otolaryngologic manifestations in patients 18 years or younger with pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2. Authors: Ryan C. T. Cheong, B.Sc.(Hons), M.B.B.S., of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust in London, United Kingdom, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2020.5698) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest ...

What The Study Did: Data from five studies were pooled to investigate whether cognitive decline among older U.S. adults varied by sex. Authors: Deborah A. Levine, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study:  Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0169) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial ...

What The Study Did: Researchers looked at whether state legalization of recreational cannabis was associated with changes in use by women before, during and after pregnancy. Authors: Kara R. Skelton, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0138) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, ...

Antarctica's northern George VI Ice Shelf experienced record melting during the 2019-2020 summer season compared to 31 previous summers of dramatically lower melt, a University of Colorado Boulder-led study found. The extreme melt coincided with record-setting stretches when local surface air temperatures were at or above the freezing point. "During the 2019-2020 austral summer, we observed the most widespread melt and greatest total number of melt days of any season for the northern George VI Ice Shelf," said CIRES Research Scientist Alison Banwell, lead author of the study published in The Cryosphere. Banwell and her co-authors--scientists at ...

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have discovered new fundamental insights for developing lithium metal batteries that perform well at ultra-low temperatures; mainly, that the weaker the electrolyte holds on to lithium ions, the better. By using such a weakly binding electrolyte, the researchers developed a lithium metal battery that can be repeatedly recharged at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius--a first in the field. Researchers report their work in a paper published Feb. 25 in Nature Energy. In tests, the proof-of-concept battery retained 84% and 76% of its capacity over 50 cycles at -40 and -60 degrees Celsius, respectively. Such performance is unprecedented, researchers ...

The exfoliation of graphite into graphene layers inspired the investigation of thousands of layered materials: amongst them transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). These semiconductors can be used to make conductive inks to manufacture printed electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, defects in their structure may hinder their performance. Now, Graphene Flagship researchers have overcome these hurdles by introducing 'molecular bridges'- small molecules that interconnect the TMD flakes, thereby boosting the conductivity and overall performance. The results, published in Nature Nanotechnology, come from a multidisciplinary collaboration between Graphene Flagship partners the University of Strasbourg and CNRS, France, AMBER and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, ...

Human rights law can provide a transparent and fair framework for vaccine allocations, researchers suggest. - All countries face the ethical challenge of how to allocate limited supplies of safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines - Researchers say that governments should look to human rights principles and commitments to help them decide who should get priority for the first available doses of COVID-19 vaccine. - A human rights approach would include social vulnerability alongside medical vulnerability in decision-making because health is affected by social factors. - National vaccine roll-outs should take account of these overlapping vulnerabilities As Governments around the world wrestle with the question of designing ...

Future fully autonomous vehicles will rely on sensors to operate, one type of these sensors is LiDAR LiDAR sensor's effectiveness in detecting objects at a distance in heavy rain decreases, researchers from WMG, University of Warwick have found Researchers used the WMG 3xD simulator to test the sensor detection of objects in rain, simulating real world roads and weather High level autonomous vehicles (AVs) are promised by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and technology companies to improve road safety as well as bringing economical and societal benefits to us all. All high-level AVs rely heavily on sensors, and in the paper, 'Realistic LiDAR with Noise Model for Real-Tim Testing of Automated Vehicles in ...