Extended periods in space have long been known to cause vision problems in astronauts. Now a new study suggests that the impact of long-duration space travel is more far-reaching, potentially causing brain volume changes and pituitary gland deformation. More than half of the crew members on the International Space Station (ISS) have reported changes to…

Scientists created planetwide maps of where water might be found on Mars. It is probably scarcer than previously thought, they concluded. Researchers combined data on brine evaporation rates, collected through experiments at the center’s Mars simulation chamber, with a global weather circulation model of the planet to create planetwide maps of where brines are most…

In 2020, astronomers reported the closest black hole to Earth, located just 1000 light-years away in the HR 6819 system. But the results of their study were contested by other researchers. In a new paper, these two teams have united to report that there is in fact no black hole in HR 6819, which is…

Researchers have succeeded in imaging so-called surface phonons in three dimensions for the first time. The research success could accelerate the development of new, efficient nanotechnologies. If surface phonons could be specifically manipulated, it would be possible to achieve better thermal conduction or heat transfer between two components with nanosurfaces. This could be used, for…

Researchers have shown that solar cells can be used to achieve underwater wireless optical communication with high data rates. The new approach — which used an array of series-connected solar cells as detectors — could offer a cost-effective, low-energy way to transmit data underwater. «There is a critical need for efficient underwater communication to meet…

The discovery could help astronomers understand how planets like Earth form and evolve. University of Hawai’i at Manoa astronomers are part of an international team that recently discovered an infant planet around a nearby young star. The discovery was reported Wednesday in the international journal Nature. The planet is about the size of Neptune, but,…

Researchers used a customized printer to fully 3D print a flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display. The discovery could result in low-cost OLED displays in the future that could be widely produced using 3D printers by anyone at home, instead of by technicians in expensive microfabrication facilities. The OLED display technology is based on the…

A new tool for predicting a person’s movement trajectory may help humans and robots work together in close proximity. The robot was programmed to stop momentarily if a person passed by. But the researchers noticed that the robot would often freeze in place, overly cautious, long before a person had crossed its path. If this…

When startled, do all fish respond the same way? A few fish, like Mexican cavefish, have evolved in unique environments without any predators. To see how this lack of predation impacts escape responses that are highly stereotyped across fish species, scientists explored this tiny fish to determine if there are evolved differences in them. Findings…

Middle-aged stars can experience their own kind of midlife crisis, experiencing dramatic breaks in their activity and rotation rates at about the same age as our Sun, according to new research. The study provides a new theoretical underpinning for the unexplained breakdown of established techniques for measuring ages of stars past their middle age, and…