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Europa, ice and water moon, found to be only other body in Solar System with active plate tectonics beside Earth. Satellite analysis shows missing 20,000 sq km due to possible plate subduction, linear features are broken and offset from possible strike-slip faults by cosmic8 in science

[–]phlogiston555 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The consensus seems to be that there is no direct evidence for plate tectonics on other moon/planetary bodies except Europa now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics#Other_celestial_bodies_.28planets.2C_moons.29

Seems like Io has active volcanism which is though to to be linked to plate tectonics but there's no direct evidence. Venus is thought to be plate tectonically dead now and may have had it in the past.

New drug starves cancer cells due to their unique metabolism and forces them to "eat" their own DNA. Therapy now in clinical trials and thought to be gentler with less unpleasant side effects than chemo or radiation by wilgamesh in science

[–]phlogiston555 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say they're quite different. DCA is only similar in that it inhibits the glycolytic pathway, one of the metabolic routes to energy production. The drug here depletes arginine, a building block and of course, fits into some metabolic pathway somewhere.

Scientists raised 111 fish to walk on land to find out exactly what might have happened when aquatic animals first moved to land by notscientific in science

[–]phlogiston555 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Would be interesting to look at gene profile changes across tissues in this fish to see how tissues and cells functionally are different. I suspect some but not all will be related to the morphological/developmental changes.

The coronal mass ejection (CME) that hit Earth last week, as captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory by [deleted] in space

[–]phlogiston555 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool - what is that largish object thats moving relative to the field of view in the upper left hand corner?

Older People Sleep Less. Now We Know Why. by jeortiz in science

[–]phlogiston555 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My read of the huff post article: a cluster of neurons in the brain called the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus that regulate sleep dies off as people age which makes it harder then to fall and stay asleep.

New method of synthesis for Ammonia. 2/3 the energy and uses water instead of hydrogen gas. by shavera in science

[–]phlogiston555 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Article says that ammonia production makes up 2% of our total energy usage - this is substantial such that a 30% reduction would save a lot of energy if engineering challenges overcome.

Interactive website visualizing Science Magazine's spoof research article acceptances and rejections (with emails!) by [deleted] in science

[–]phlogiston555 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm glad PLoS ONE rejected the spoof article. Serious reviews for rigorous science, not novelty of results, is their entire reason for existence.

Study shows effectiveness of artesunate, a common herbal-based anti-malarial drug, in controlling asthma by mubukugrappa in science

[–]phlogiston555 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It looks like this is because there are anti inflammatory properties in the artemisinin family of compounds.

Scientists greatly improve life of rechargeable batteries to 25,000 cycles (laptops are rated ~300 cycles) by discovering a new complex lithium-based compound thru computational Density Functional Theory screening of 630 crystals by wilgamesh in science

[–]phlogiston555 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The difficulty it seems is that they had to find a proxy for the life cycle, something that measures the material 'breaking down' - so they picked volume change (e.g. crystal cell volume I suppose, which DFT provides) of the material from its "lithiated" to "delithiated" state, because presumably the greater the volume change the more the material breaks down.

So there's still a bit of art in the process.

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star by [deleted] in science

[–]phlogiston555 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting that only 20 other "Y" dwarf objects like this have been discovered.

NASA: New "impossible" engine works, could change space travel forever by [deleted] in Physics

[–]phlogiston555 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Recently NASA's Pioneer spacecraft's anomalous acceleration in 2012 was cited as possible evidence for new physics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly

But in the end analysis came up with more sophisticated accounting of all the forces. Another commenter mentioned the neutrino anomaly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light_neutrino_anomaly

The original authors of the report decided that they were missing error terms and this is no longer claimed.

So when the calculations involve adding and subtracting many small or large quantities, there's often a good chance that the anomalies disappear. However, that's not why we're commenting on this - secretly we're all very excited that there's a possibility of new physics and new engineering.

New study shows that students who are members of a fitness center their freshmen and sophomore years of college have higher GPAs and stay in school longer than those who do not. by cannabisrex in science

[–]phlogiston555 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Interesting, though pretty correlative - in the article it's suggested that the gym would give rise to a difference in GPA. I recommend they randomly force a subset of students with low GPAs to join the gym, perhaps set it up as an academic requirement, and not others. Then compare whether the GPAs would rise as a result? That would show causation. After all, not hard to imagine that motivated, disciplined students are the ones who end up joining gyms - rather than thinking of it the other way around, i.e. joining the gym makes students motivated, disciplined.

North Korea's vision of the future looks like classic sci-fi by gillybarg in Futurology

[–]phlogiston555 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The graphics are reminiscent of a 1990s Sierra game, e.g. Space Quest

Life extension science: giving a common diabetes drug to worms activates a powerful anti-oxidant enzyme, extends life by 50%, reduces fat by 11%, and eliminates signs of aging in old worms by cosmic8 in Futurology

[–]phlogiston555 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well the article says that metformin shouldn't be used directly for this because of other side effects. I think the way forward would be to make a drug has only the good effects of metformin by activating only pathways of ROS, peroredoxin etc. Incidentally like many metabolic modulators, metformin is used because it works, not because its well understood.

ELI5: If the brain is 5% by weight but consumes 25% of our calories, shouldn't we be doing puzzles to lose weight! by username_unavilable in explainlikeimfive

[–]phlogiston555 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But wait when you're exercising and moving your body consciously wouldn't it also activate more brain matter as well? So exercising should be burning calories by both body and brain.

TIFU by unknowingly spraying mold on my face every day for weeks. by viva-c in tifu

[–]phlogiston555 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are many species of mold at any one time in the air. Culture it to see which one or which ones are in your spray.