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Researchers at the Paris-Saclay “Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Modelling” laboratory (AIM – CNRS/CEA/Université Paris Diderot), of the CEA’s Military Applications Division (DAM) and from the Universe and Theories Laboratory (LUTH – Observatoire de Paris/CNRS/Université Paris Diderot) at the Paris Observatory, have succeeded in modelling an enigmatic phenomenon of quasi-periodic oscillations present on the surface of strongly magnetic “white dwarf” stars, called “polars”.

The Nobel Prize winner Roderick MacKinnon suggested that ion channels were like rigid tubes through which molecules of varying size move. Now it seems that he was wrong: a team of scientists from SISSA Trieste and the Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste at AREA Science Park used the most robust technique in this field, X-ray crystallography, to watch ionic channels to change their diameter as they adjust to the size of the ions crossing them.

(Phys.org)—It was a good week for new technology as a team of researchers at Columbia University announced a way to get renewable energy from evaporating water—they have come up with two devices, one a piston-based engine that generates electricity while floating, and the other, a rotary engine that powers a tiny car. Also, another team with members from the U.S

A trio of researchers working at Imperial College in London has created a new development technique for constructing nanofilms that not only requires less energy but results in a product that is able to stand up to organic solvents. In their paper published in the journal Science, Santanu Karan, Zhiwei Jiang and Andrew Livingston describe their new process and the uses to which it might be put

Being the daddy isn’t important for male gorillas when it comes to their relationships with the kids; it’s their rank in the group that makes the difference, says new research published in Animal Behaviour. The authors of the study, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – now with Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago – the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (Atlanta USA) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany) say this supports the theory that for most of their evolution, gorillas lived in groups with one male and several females.

The human and economic losses resulting from extreme weather events during the last several years vividly demonstrate the US’ historically shortsighted approach to development. The ill-advised, fast-paced construction of human settlements in low-lying, coastal and riverine environments prone to flooding has long been the American way.

A study conducted by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has revealed the importance of single males in small, threatened populations. Results from a study of endangered New Zealand hihi birds (Notiomystis cincta), published this week in Evolutionary Applications, showed that bachelor males who don’t hold breeding territories, known as ‘floaters’, could help maintain genetic diversity and decrease the likelihood of inbreeding by sneakily fathering chicks.

NOEMA (Northern Extended Millimeter Array), the most powerful millimetre radio telescope of the Northern Hemisphere, has unveiled its first astronomical image: a unique and spectacular view of a previously unknown region of extreme star formation in the ‘Medusa merger’ – a luminous collision of two galaxies at more than 100 million light years from Earth.

MX3D is an R&D startup focused on 3D-printing metals and resin in mid-air, without the need for support structures. They pride themselves in “robotic technology with which we can 3D print beautiful, functional objects in almost any form.” Now they say “We are going to print a steel bridge in Amsterdam.” The robots will be printing in steel and the robots will print that bridge over water in Amsterdam.

An international team, led by researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, has developed a new, timelier method to identify harmful bacteria levels on recreational beaches. The new model provides beach managers with a better prediction tool to identify when closures are required to protect beachgoers from harmful contaminates in the water.