News Articles

New images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory show that the symmetry of supernova remnants, or lack thereof, reveal how the original stars exploded. Astronomers say the discovery is important because it will help them better classify supernovas that exploded hundreds or thousands of years ago. The discovery is reported in a new Astrophysical Journal Letters study.Astronomers sort supernovas into several categories, or "types", based on properties observed days after the explosion and which reflect very different physical mechanisms that cause stars to explode.  But, since observed remnants of supernovas are leftover from explosions thatoccurred long ago, other methods are needed to accurately classify the original supernovas.

In the Dec. 18 issue of Science, Researchers from Tufts University say popular television programs are spreading racial messages to their viewers through biased facial expressions and body language, and it's happening without the audience even knowing it. The Tufts team studied the prevalence, subtlety and impact of nonverbal race bias in 11 popular weekly scripted television shows. They found that characters on the shows exhibited more negative nonverbal behavior toward black characters than to white characters of the same status. Exposure to "pro-white" (vs. "pro-black") nonverbal bias also increased viewers' race bias, as assessed with reaction-time and self-report measures.

Scientists have recorded the deepest erupting volcano yet discovered--West Mata Volcano--located 4,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, in an area bounded by Fiji,Tonga and Samoa. The imagery includes large molten lava bubbles three feet across bursting into cold seawater, glowing red vents exploding lava into the sea, and the first-observed advance of lava flows across the deep-ocean floor. Sounds of the eruption were recorded by a hydrophone and later matched with the video footage.

While trying to develop a vaccine for AIDS, researchers have uncovered a biological catch-22 that's been hindering their chances of success. They say that while the immune system can produce cells with the potential to manufacture HIV-blocking antibodies, it also works equally hard to eliminate those cells before they have a chance to mature.Over the years, scientists have assumed that B cells – one of the first lines of defense against infection – are simply not able to "see" the HIV virus. HIV has the ability to hide its most vulnerable parts from immune system surveillance, and researchers generally assumed thathelped explain why B cells often took weeks and even months to arise following infection.

Many studies have shown, and common sense dictates, that good looks greatly benefit those who have them. Prettier people tend to have more social relationships, and reap the psychological benefits as a result. What may not be so widely known, however, is that the relevance of physical appearance varies based on geography. According to a study published in Personal Relationships, The importance of attractiveness depends on the social environment where we live. Attractiveness does matter in more socially mobile, urban areas (and from a woman's point of view actually indicates psychological well-being), but it is far less relevant in rural areas.

Analysis of microfossils found in ocean sediment cores is illuminating the environmental conditions that prevailed at high latitudes during a critical period of Earth history.Around 55 million years ago at the beginning of the Eocene epoch, the Earth's poles are believed to have been free of ice. But by the early Oligocene around 25 million years later, ice sheets covered Antarctica and continental ice had developed on Greenland.

In a pilot project that could help better manage the planet's strained natural resources, NASA satellites and sensors are providing a local Washington community the information needed to make more accurate river flow predictions on a daily basis, helping them manage their water availability ."World leaders are struggling to protect natural resources for future generations," said Jeff Ward, a senior research scientist at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "These tools help us sustainably use natural resources while balancing environmental, cultural and economic concerns."

NASA researchers studying urban landscapes say the intensity of the "heat island" created by a city depends on the ecosystem it replaced and on the regional climate where the city is located. Urban areas developed in arid and semi-arid regions show far less heating compared with the surrounding countryside than cities built amid forested and temperate climates.

Before the tobacco industry gave up the fight over the health effects of smoking, it was common for major cigarette manufacturers like Phillip Morris to fight advertising restrictions on their product in every possible way--even if that meant designing softball regulations that didn't regulate anything. Now researchers are reporting that alcohol manufacturers in Sub-Saharan Africa are following big tobacco's lead.

The stereotype of the nerdy computer scientist who stays up all night coding and has no social life may be driving women away from the field, and  this stereotype can be brought to mind based only on the the environment in a classroom or office, according to a study published this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.  "When people think of computer science the image that immediately pops into many of their minds is of the computer geek surrounded by such things as computer games, science fiction memorabilia and junk food," said Sapna Cheryan, a University of Washington assistant professor of psychology and the study's lead author.

Even though the FDA doesn't actually know how many underage smokers choose flavored cigarettes, a new study claims that thrill-seeking teenagers are especially susceptible to fruit-flavored cigarettes and the federal government was right to outlaw the flavorful smokes last September. "We found that those teens who gravitate toward novel experiences were especially drawn to cigarettes described as having an appealing, sweet flavor, such as cherry," says lead author Kenneth Manning with Colorado State University.

Your ability to resist that tempting cookie depends on how a big a threat you perceive it to be, according to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research.University of Texas researchers studied techniques that enable us to resist food and other temptations. "Four experiments show that when consumers encounter temptations that conflict with their long-term goals, one self-control mechanism is to exaggerate the negativity of the temptation as a way to resist, a process we call counteractive construal," the researchers write.