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For a planet, this would be like a day at the spa. After years of growing old, a massive planet could, in theory, brighten up with a radiant, youthful glow. Rejuvenated planets, as they are nicknamed, are only hypothetical. But new research from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has identified one such candidate, seemingly looking billions of years younger than its actual age. “When planets are young, they still glow with infrared light from their formation,” said Michael Jura of UCLA, coauthor of a new paper on the results in the June 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters....

A study led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) researchers has revealed how the physical presence of spouses who are co-parenting can alter each other’s brain activity. The researchers analyzed how the brain activity of 24 pairs of husband and wife from Singapore changed in response to recordings of infant stimuli such as crying, when they were physically together and when they were separated. They found that when spouses were physically together, they showed higher similarities in brain responses to the stimuli than when they were separated....

The venom of a caterpillar, native to South East Queensland, shows promise for use in medicines and pest control, Institute for Molecular Bioscience researchers say. The Doratifera vulnerans is common to large parts of Queensland’s south-east and is routinely found in Toohey Forest Park on Brisbane’s southside. Dr. Andrew Walker has been researching the striking looking caterpillar since 2017. The Doratifera vulnerans is common to large parts of Queensland’s south-east and shows promise for use in medicines and pest control, Institute for Molecular Bioscience researchers say....

For life as we know it to develop on other planets, those planets would need liquid water, or oceans. Geologic evidence suggests that Earth’s oceans have existed for nearly the entire history of our world. But would that be true of other planets, particularly super-Earths? New research suggests the answer is yes and that oceans on super-Earths, once established, can last for billions of years. “When people consider whether a planet is in the habitable zone, they think about its distance from the star and its temperature....

A comprehensive analysis of the anthropological and genetic history of humans’ expansion out of Africa could lead to medical advances. A new, comprehensive review of humans’ anthropological and genetic records gives the most up-to-date story of the “Out of Africa” expansion that occurred about 45,000 to 60,000 years ago. This expansion, detailed by three Stanford geneticists, had a dramatic effect on human genetic diversity, which persists in present-day populations. As a small group of modern humans migrated out of Africa into Eurasia and the Americas, their genetic diversity was substantially reduced....

Females and those with lower body weight have better results. New research presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (held online, May 10-13) shows that treatment with the drug semaglutide reduces body weight in adults with overweight or obesity, regardless of their baseline characteristics. However, the study showed that female participants had slightly better results than males and also that participants with the lowest starting body weight responded slightly better than those with higher body weights....

Beta Pictoris b then passed so close to the halo of the star that no instrument could resolve them from one another. Almost two years later, after seeming to merge into the image of the star, Beta Pictoris b has now emerged from the halo. This reappearance was captured again by SPHERE. ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured an unprecedented series of images showing the passage of the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b around its parent star....

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recently set a record for the steepest terrain it’s ever climbed, cresting the “Greenheugh Pediment,” a broad sheet of rock that sits atop a hill. And before doing that, the rover took a selfie, capturing the scene just below Greenheugh. In front of the rover is a hole it drilled while sampling a bedrock target called “Hutton.” The entire selfie is a 360-degree panorama stitched together from 86 images relayed to Earth....

Several drugs approved for treating hepatitis C viral infection were identified as potential candidates against COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This is the result of research based on extensive calculations using the MOGON II supercomputer at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). One of the most powerful computers in the world, MOGON II is operated by JGU and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz. As the JGU researchers explained in their paper recently published at the World Health Organization (WHO) website, they had simulated the way that about 42,000 different substances listed in open databases bind to certain proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and thereby inhibit the penetration of the virus into the human body or its multiplication....

Almost all neuropsychiatric disorders have different prevalences, ages of onset, and clinical symptoms in men and women. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are two conditions with significant sex bias, with about four males diagnosed for every one female. It is unclear whether this skewed ratio results from the roles played in brain development by sex-specific DNA sequences or hormones, or if it represents how biological mechanisms and environmental factors elicit behavioral patterns differently in males and females....

Proteins are good for building muscle, but their building blocks also might be helpful for building sustainable organic batteries that could someday be a viable substitute for conventional lithium-ion batteries, without their safety and environmental concerns. By using synthetic polypeptides — which make up proteins —- and other polymers, researchers have taken the first steps toward constructing electrodes for such power sources. The work could also provide a new understanding of electron-transfer mechanisms....

Now, the first comprehensive study of tooth evolution in frogs is bringing the group’s dental history into focus. Florida Museum of Natural History researchers analyzed CT scans of nearly every living amphibian genus to reveal that frogs have lost teeth over 20 times during their evolution, more than any other vertebrate group. Some frog species may have even re-evolved teeth after losing them millions of years before. Researchers also found a correlation between the absence of teeth in frogs and a specialized diet on small insects, such as ants and termites....

From a sustainability perspective, designers have traditionally viewed attachment as positive, as it leads people to retain products they care about for longer periods, reducing consumption and waste sent to landfills. New Cornell University research provides a more nuanced understanding, showing that product attachment can also unintentionally encourage less sustainable behavior. To prevent damage or loss, people may limit the use of their most prized possessions – preserving shoes in a box, dishes as decorations, or a car in storage – and buy additional, less meaningful goods for practical daily purposes....

The Green Revolution is frequently credited for tripling the production of staple crops while only requiring 30% additional cultivated land in the second half of the 20th century. This accomplishment was largely made possible by the use of technology, such as the breeding of higher-yielding plant varieties and the use of pesticides and fertilizers. Policy thinkers paved the way for the Green Revolution, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Ted Schultz described the tale of Maya Kaqchikel farmers cultivating onions and other crops in the delta of a tiny river and the surrounding hills in Panajachel, Guatemala, in his 1964 book, Transforming Traditional Agriculture....

What’s the science behind the search? Hunting for variants requires a concerted effort. South Africa and the UK were the first big countries to implement nationwide genomic surveillance efforts for SARS-CoV-2 as early as April 2020. Variant hunting, as exciting as that sounds, is performed through whole genome sequencing of samples that have tested positive for the virus. This process involves checking every sequence obtained for differences compared to what we know is circulating in South Africa and the world....

The faint aroma of hot metal filled the surrounding cleanroom as the hatch to ESA’s newest test facility was slid aside, concluding a 23-day ‘bake-out’ of the largest segment of ESA’s mission to Mercury. Ending on the early hours of February 14, this test ensured ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter – MPO, part of the multi-module BepiColombo mission – was cleaned of potential contaminants in advance of its 2015 mission to the inner Solar System....

Researchers at Osaka University unveiled the most complete picture of an essential component of the bacterial flagellum to date, the “universal joint” used for transmitting rotary power. This research may help scientists design new antimicrobial agents that target this critical structure, or biomimetic self-propelled nanomachines inspired by the natural system. Many bacteria have the ability to propel themselves toward food and away from predators using a whip-like “tail” called the flagellum....

Not everyone benefits equally from time-restricted eating, as health benefits depend on age and sex. Time-restricted eating (TRE), a dietary regimen that restricts eating to specific hours, has garnered increased attention in weight-loss circles. A new study by Salk scientists further shows that TRE confers multiple health benefits besides weight loss. The study also shows that these benefits may depend on sex and age. Most TRE studies focus on weight loss in young male mice, but Salk scientists wanted to determine whether TRE confers additional benefits on other populations....

Planets around the faint red star TRAPPIST-1, just 40 light-years from Earth, were first detected by the TRAPPIST-South telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in 2016. In the following year further observations from ground-based telescopes, including ESO’s Very Large Telescope and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, revealed that there were no fewer than seven planets in the system, each roughly the same size as the Earth. They are named TRAPPIST-1b,c,d,e,f,g, and h, with increasing distance from the central star....

This compilation gives examples of images from different missions and telescopes being combined to better understand the science of the universe. Each of these images contains data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as other telescopes. Various types of objects are shown (galaxies, supernova remnants, stars, planetary nebulas), but together they demonstrate the possibilities when data from across the electromagnetic spectrum are assembled. Top row, from left to right: M82Messier 82, or M82, is a galaxy that is oriented edge-on to Earth....