Artist's impression of an AGN according to the unified model. Credit: ESA/NASA, the AVO project and Paolo Padovani
Scrutinizing a large sample of Active Galactic Nuclei with INTEGRAL, astronomers have found that, unexpectedly, sources affected by stronger absorption at lower energies show an excess emission in the hard X-ray band when compared to their less obscured counterparts. The excess is likely due to reflection of X-rays off the same dense clouds responsible for absorption. Unaccounted for in the unified paradigm of Active Galactic Nuclei, the finding calls for a rethinking of some of this model's facets. The reflected radiation could also represent the long-sought missing part of the Cosmic X-ray Background.
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DNA, a molecule famous for storing the genetic blueprints for all living things, can do other things as well. In a new paper, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) describe how tailored single strands of DNA can be used to purify the highly desired "armchair" form of carbon nanotubes. Armchair-form single wall carbon nanotubes are needed to make "quantum wires" for low-loss, long distance electricity transmission and wiring.
Scientists have found opal-like crystals in the Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell to Earth in Canada in 2000. This is the first extraterrestrial discovery of these unusual crystals, which may have formed in the primordial cloud of dust that produced the sun and planets of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago, according to a report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
The theory that our universe is contained inside a bubble, and that multiple alternative universes exist inside their own bubbles – making up the 'multiverse' – is, for the first time, being tested by physicists.
The existence of an intermediate-spin (IS) state in cobalt oxides has long been a subject of dispute. A recent resonant X-ray scattering experiment has clearly demonstrated Co3+ eg orbital ordering in Sr3YCo4O10.5, which has the highest ferromagnetic transition temperature among perovskite-type cobalt oxides. This result provides not only a clue to understanding the magnetism but also the first clear evidence of the existence of an IS state in Co3+. This discovery is expected to open a new field of materials physics, which will combine the IS state concept with many interesting magnetic and electric properties.
Two wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires earlier this year outside of Amarillo, Texas, that destroyed 70 homes, burned more than 25,000 acres of land, and caused nearly $6 million in property damage. But thanks to a collaborative effort between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Texas Forest Service (TFS), they are now the most thoroughly investigated and scientifically evaluated events of their kind.
Why is it that plans for organising a stretch of the British coast at Thanet for Natura 2000 have been implemented successfully, while in the Weerribben-Wieden area of Overijssel, Netherlands, scepticism and mistrust about Natura 2000 are growing? Researchers from Wageningen University, part of Wageningen UR, compared the way that the plans for these two areas were compiled. Forging good working relationships with all concerned is crucial to heightening the chances of protecting the value of the nature in these areas.
If you think it's tough to make Baked Alaska or a delicate soufflé or some other temperature-sensitive dish in your kitchen at home, imagine the painstaking task of trying to cook to perfection 250 miles in the sky -- where you can't even peek inside the oven.
Rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels can reverse the drying effects of predicted higher temperatures on semi-arid rangelands, according to a study published today in the scientific journal Nature by a team of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and university scientists.
In August of 2016, when NASA's Juno Mission begins sending back information about the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter, research done by Georgia Institute of Technology engineers using a 2,400-pound pressure vessel will help scientists understand what the data means. The Juno probe is scheduled to be launched August 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
(AP) -- Flight controllers halted the release of a ham radio satellite outside the International Space Station by a pair of spacewalking astronauts Wednesday because one antenna may be missing.
(AP) -- The U.S. set a record for the most tornadoes within a month with April's deadly storms.
A piece of the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia has surfaced in eastern Texas, where a severe drought has dried up a lake and exposed debris from the 2003 accident, NASA said Tuesday.
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon accelerated in June, with more than 300 square kilometers destroyed, a 17 percent increase over the previous month, government researchers said Tuesday.
Carbon dioxide remains the undisputed king of recent climate change, but other greenhouse gases measurably contribute to the problem. A new study, conducted by NOAA scientists and published online today in Nature, shows that cutting emissions of those other gases could slow changes in climate that are expected in the future.
The mountainous region on the far side of the moon, known as the lunar farside highlands, may be the solid remains of a collision with a smaller companion moon, according to a new study by planetary scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
For the first time researchers have examined on a global scale how calcified algae in their natural habitat react to increasing acidification due to higher marine uptake of carbon dioxide. In the current issue of the magazine Nature they explain that Coccolithophores, a certain group of algae, form thinner calcite skeletons when the pH value in the ocean drops. In marine ecosystems, changes in the degree of calcification are much more pronounced than presumed to date based on laboratory tests.
At an August conference hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed plans for how they hope to get humans on Mars within the next 20 years.
Researchers have developed a new method to probe the fundamental workings of photosynthesis. The new experimental technique could help scientists better understand the nitty-gritty details of nature's amazingly efficient sunlight-to-fuel conversion system.
Gram for gram, novel carbon nanofiber-filled coatings devised by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Texas A&M University outperformed conventional flame retardants used in the polyurethane foam of upholstered furniture and mattresses by at least 160 percent and perhaps by as much as 1,130 percent.
A Northern Illinois University chemist is part of an international team of scientists whose work might someday crack open cold-case files.
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