Wednesday, May 14, 2025

BIG Wrap

Matter at ultra-high temperature and pressure remarkably simple and universal

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London have made two discoveries about the behaviour of "supercritical matter" — matter at the critical point at which the differences between liquids and gases seemingly disappear. While the behaviour of matter at reasonably low temperature and pressure was well understood, the picture of matter at high temperature and pressure was blurred. Above the critical point, differences between liquids and gases seemingly disappear, and the supercritical matter was thought...

Author Rushdie on ventilator following attack, agent says

Salman Rushdie's agent has said "the news is not good," after the author was stabbed at an event in New York state. He was attacked on stage, and is now on a ventilator and unable to speak, Andrew Wylie said in a statement, adding that the author may lose one eye. Rushdie has suffered years of Islamist death threats after writing The Satanic Verses, published in 1988. Police detained a suspect named as Hadi Matar, 24, from...

New research ‘uncovers’ hidden objects in high resolution

(California Institute of Technology) – Imagine driving home after a long day at work. Suddenly, a car careens out of an obscured side street and turns right in front of you. Luckily, your autonomous car saw this vehicle long before it came within your line of sight and slowed to avoid a crash. This might seem like magic, but a technique developed at Caltech brings the concept closer to a reality. With the advent of autonomous...

Doctors’ reluctance to discuss anal sex is letting down young women, warn researchers

(British Medical Journal) – Clinicians' reluctance to discuss possible harms of anal sex is letting down a generation of young women who are unaware of the risks, warn researchers in The BMJ today. Surgeons Tabitha Gana and Lesley Hunt argue that as anal intercourse becomes more common amongst heterosexual couples, failure to discuss it "exposes women to missed diagnoses, futile treatments, and further harm arising from a lack of medical advice." They say healthcare professionals, particularly those in general practice,...

Research reveals circadian clock influencing cell growth, metabolism, and tumour progression

In a new University of California, Irvine-led study, researchers define how the circadian clock influences cell growth, metabolism, and tumour progression. Their research also reveals how disruption of the circadian clock affects genome stability and mutations that can further drive critical tumour-promoting pathways in the intestine. The study, titled, "Disruption of the Circadian Clock drives Apc Loss of Heterozygosity to Accelerate Colorectal Cancer", was published today in Science Advances. Researchers found that both genetic disruption and environmental...

Caffeine – is it a friend or foe?

Caffeine jump-starts your day and puts a bounce in your step. It can help you focus, improve your mood and maybe even help you live longer. But how much is too much? Caffeine, a natural stimulant, can be found in a variety of foods, such as coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao beans, guarana berries, and yerba maté leaves. It also can be synthetically created and added to beverages such as soda and energy drinks. Research shows that...

U.S. issues sanctions on another virtual currency mixing firm

The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, which has allegedly helped to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control says Tornado Cash's systems were used, among other things, to launder more than $96 million drawn from the June Harmony blockchain bridge theft and August Nomad crypto firm heist, Tech Xplore reports. Mixing services combine various digital assets, including...

Why research surrounding world’s first ‘synthetic embryo’ is so important

In what's reported as a world-first achievement, biologists have grown mouse embryo models in the lab without the need for fertilized eggs, embryos, or even a mouse – using only stem cells and a special incubator. This achievement, published in the journal Cell by a team led by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, is a very sophisticated model of what happens during early mouse embryo development – in the stage just after implantation. This is a crucial stage: in...

Modeling shows value of building flexibility in the energy grid

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) ran hundreds of millions of simulations to gauge the contribution buildings make to gross grid value and created a publicly available dataset for others to use. It is the first study to estimate the gross value (including capacity, energy, and ancillary service values) of generic building flexibility in future power systems projected for the contiguous United States using computer modeling. Building flexibility refers to a building's capability...

U.S. urges Russia to accept deal to free jailed basketball star Brittney Griner

The U.S. has urged Moscow to accept a deal to free basketball player Brittney Griner, who has been sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison, the BBC reports. The double Olympic winner was convicted of possessing and smuggling drugs after admitting to possessing cannabis oil. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. offer was "a serious proposal," but gave no details. U.S. media reports suggest Washington is offering a prisoner swap involving a Russian arms...