PASADENA, Calif.-A quarterly review of research at the California Institute of Technology:
Decades-Old Mystery of Gamma-Ray Bursts Solved by International Team of Astronomers
Using a variety of space- and ground-based instruments, astronomers have found good support for the idea that short gamma-ray bursts--those only a few thousandths of a second in duration--are caused by violent collisions in star-forming galaxies between a black hole and a neutron star, as well as by collisions between two neutron stars. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12747.html.
Interdisciplinary Scientists Propose Paradigm Shift in Robotic Space Exploration
A team of scientists has outlined core changes in the robotic exploration of the solar system, involving not just spaceborne orbiters but orbiter-guided blimps carrying instruments such as optical and thermal cameras and ground-penetrating radar, along with herds of small, robotic, ground-based explorers. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12753.html.
Cracks or Cryovolcanoes? Surface Geology Creates Clouds on Titan
Geological activity on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan--maybe outgassing cracks and perhaps icy cryovolcanoes--is belching puffs of methane gas into the atmosphere of the moon, creating clouds. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12752.html.
Geologists Uncover New Evidence About the Rise of Oxygen
Banded-iron formations (BIFs), mineral deposits with alternating bands of iron oxide and silica, have long been thought to be the key toward knowing when molecular oxygen was first produced on Earth. Now researchers say that purple bacteria--primitive organisms that don't produce oxygen--could have in fact made BIFs. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12758.html.
North Atlantic Corals Could Lead to Better Understanding of the Nature of Climate Change
Environmental scientists are making advances in "reading" the climatic history of the planet by looking at the radiocarbon of deep-sea corals from the North Atlantic Ocean. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12762.html.
Researchers Uncover New Details about How Signals Are Transmitted in the Brain
A new breakthrough in understanding how brain signals are transmitted could someday help pharmacologists design new drugs for treating a host of neurological disorders as well as for reducing alcohol and nicotine cravings. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12764.html.
Modified Mice Test Alzheimer's Disease Drugs
A strain of genetically engineered mice offers scientists the unprecedented opportunity to test the efficacy of a novel generation of therapeutic drugs for Alzheimer's disease, while offering insight into possible new treatments for the disease. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12766.html.
New Study of Supernovae May Absolve Einstein of His Self-Confessed "Biggest Blunder"
Based on an ongoing study of exploding stars in the distant universe, astrophysicists have concluded that the effect of the "dark energy" that is speeding up the expansion of the universe is within 10 percent of that of Albert Einstein's celebrated cosmological constant. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12767.html.
Deciphering the Mystery of Bee Flight
One of the most elusive questions in science has finally been answered: How do bees fly? http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12772.html.
Powerful New Supercomputer Analyzes Earthquakes
One of the most powerful computer clusters in the academic world--a 2,048-processor supercomputer--has been created in order to unlock the mysteries of earthquakes. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12771.html.
Caltech Researchers Achieve First Electrowetting of Carbon Nanotubes
Researchers have succeeded in getting carbon nanotubes to suck up liquid mercury. The feat, previously not thought possible, could have important applications in nanolithography, the production of nanowires with unique quantum properties, nano-sized plumbing, and electronic circuitry many times smaller than the smallest currently in existence. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12774.html.
World Network Speed Record Shattered for Third Consecutive Year
Scientists and engineers have succeeded in transmitting data at an average rate of 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) for several hours at a time. The rate is sufficient for transmitting five feature-length DVD movies on the Internet from one location to another in a single second. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12780.html.
Physicists Achieve Quantum Entanglement between Remote Ensembles of Atoms
Physicists have managed to "entangle" the physical state of a group of atoms with that of another group across the room--an important advance in the possible future development of a quantum Internet. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12776.html.
Experimental Economists Find Brain Regions That Govern Fear of the Economic Unknown
Researchers have found clear differences in the brains of subjects responding to different degrees of economic uncertainty--a discovery that advances our understanding of economic decision-making. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12778.html.
Caltech Researchers Invent New Technique for Studying the Thermal History of Rocks
A new method that determines how fast rocks cool off after being churned up by a glacier can now be used to determine the speed with which glaciers cut mountain valleys. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12777.html.
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