Results for “two-shot penalty”

Ancient Maya communities made extensive use of liquid mercury and a red, mercury-containing pigment called cinnabar to decorate buildings, pottery and burial sites. Unsurprisingly, as previous research has shown, this led to mercury contamination of soils and reservoirs at some Maya sites. And that pollution may have spread even farther into their territory and caused the collapse of two lake ecosystems, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances.

Researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Boston Children's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School (HMS) have developed FIND, a drug discovery platform that searches large libraries for molecules that modulate binding interactions between two proteins. FIND uses DNA nanoswitches to select drug candidates based on their effects on these protein-protein interactions, rather than simply whether they bind to a single target protein, giving it a key advantage over conventional binding-based screening.

Nanographenes with up to eight helicene units can now be selectively synthesized using a two-step process. Researchers from Science Tokyo have developed a strategy to synthesize multi-helical nanographenes containing up to eight helicene units with controlled handedness.

Around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet-sized object collided with the newly formed Earth, throwing out the debris that would later form the moon. The collision left Earth spinning extremely fast, with days lasting just two to five hours. Yet existing models of how Earth's first crust formed and evolved have largely overlooked how the planet's later slowdown might have affected it.

It is one of the great questions of mathematics: What does "infinity" actually mean? Which infinities are larger than others? Can infinities be arranged in a sequence, like the rungs of an endless ladder, so that for any two of them we can always say which one lies above the other?

A new research paper describes a statistical framework that resolves significant calculation biases caused by artificial intelligence in econometric models. The method, two-step extraction, removes estimation bias when researchers measure the business or economic effects of variables extracted using machine learning algorithms from unstructured data such as photos and consumer text.

A giant rodent weighing around 30 kilograms (66 pounds) roamed what is now southern Thailand 33 to 35 million years ago, scientists said, after identifying a previously unknown species from two fossilized teeth.

One of NASA's premier space telescopes plunged to Earth on Wednesday, ending its 22-year investigation of the universe's biggest explosions.

A new study published in the journal Ecography finds that there are more than 60,000 different species of insects in California—and scientists have only described about two-thirds of them.

Researchers and advocates say they hope the “blue wave” could signal more accountability after two years of attacks on science

In today's interconnected world, millions of people move between two or more languages every day. They may negotiate at work in one language, speak with family in another and follow news, entertainment and social media across several others.

Researchers have described a new species of fish from the northern Red Sea, found at the entrance to a cave on a steep reef slope. Charon's pygmygoby (Trimma charon) is a small, translucent fish with a broad orange-red stripe, golden spots on its tail and an unusual four-part eye. The two known specimens measure just 12 and 17 millimeters (0.47 and 0.67 inches).

Even the world's most powerful telescopes have their blind spots. Although NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can peer billions of years into the past, it still struggles to photograph planets orbiting nearby stars. Stars shine with such extraordinary brightness that their glare overwhelms nearby planets' faint glow.

MIT scientists have challenged two decades of conventional thinking by discovering that flexible molecular connections, rather than rigid ones, can unlock entirely new ways to arrange nanoparticles. The breakthrough could lead to a new generation of designer materials with unusual properties and applications in electronics, medicine, and energy.

For nearly 90 years, scientists believed magnetism fell into just two categories, but researchers have now confirmed a remarkable third type called altermagnetism. Using specialized X-rays, they uncovered a unique magnetic signature that proves these materials behave differently from conventional magnets. Altermagnets combine stability with the ability to efficiently carry information, potentially overcoming major limitations in today's electronics. The discovery could lead to faster computers, more efficient data centers, and breakthroughs in quantum technology.

A space capsule 300 miles above us is growing the tiny crystals of a potential cancer drug in microgravity Roughly 300 miles above our heads, three washing machine-sized capsules are orbiting the Earth. Inside one of them, tiny crystals of a potential cancer drug are being grown in the weightlessness of space. The others are testing heat protection materials and navigation systems for when the capsules plunge back through Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. Together, they represent a small but significant step towards what some hope will become a lucrative new industry: manufacturing drugs and other materials in space. The spacecraft belong to California-based Varda Space Industries. On 1 October, it launched two onboard the same rocket, followed by the third on 20 October. With a record three spacecraft now simultaneously in orbit for the first time, the company is edging closer to its ambition of operating a fleet of orbiting pharmaceutical factories. Continue reading...

Eighty-eight years after pioneering British archaeologist Starkey was shot dead while traveling from the ancient city of Lachish to Jerusalem, researchers say they have uncovered compelling new evidence explaining who was behind his murder—and why he was targeted.

Brendan Larsen spent hours taking hundreds of photographs of the sky over a mountain in New Zealand A photograph showing thousands of satellites cross-hatching the night sky over New Zealand appeared so extraordinary the astrophotographer who captured it is fighting accusations it was created by AI. To create his spectacular image – now viewed millions of times online – Brendan Larsen spent two hours in September snapping hundreds of photographs of the night sky over Mount Taranaki in the North Island. Continue reading...

There have been decades of regulations to make vehicles greener and improve air quality in London and Beijing, as well as a popular shift toward less polluting road transport. Now, total emissions of harmful air pollutants from vehicle exhausts are lower than those from cooking in the centers of these two megacities, a study has found.

Two recent review articles in the journals Trends in Ecology & Evolution and Fish and Fisheries, to which researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) contributed, focus on the influence of humans on the diversity of fish behavior and on how management can help preserve this diversity.

Faculty and university staff members report being bullied in two ways: by their colleagues and supervisors, and by their students over grades, according to an international study I conducted with colleagues Zahra Moradi and Deborah Circo.

A research team led by professors Xu Guowang and Liu Xinyu from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with researchers from Dalian University of Technology, has developed a high-coverage lipidomics workflow and integrated it with transcriptomics to investigate lipid accumulation and compositional changes in Rhodosporidium toruloides under nitrogen limitation. The study was recently published in Food Chemistry.

Europe's Hera planetary defense spacecraft is closing in on the binary asteroid system targeted by NASA's DART deflection test, and can now tell the two rocky bodies apart.

Modern calculators have many buttons, including ones for sine, square root, pi and exponents. But it’s possible just two could suffice

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have investigated a cosmic cat's tail formed when two Pluto-sized bodies smashed together.

NASA's Artemis IV moon mission will be a complicated affair — especially if SpaceX's Starship ends up being the lunar lander. The massive spacecraft will need an unknown number of refuel flights in two separate orbits.

A massive new study reveals that intelligence plays a surprisingly limited role in children's reading success, while visual processing showed no meaningful connection at all. Instead, the strongest predictors are sound recognition, vocabulary, and background knowledge, offering new clues about how to help struggling readers.

Europe’s Hera spacecraft has captured its first clear view of two asteroids involved in NASA’s historic 2022 experiment to redirect a potentially dangerous space rock. Now approaching the pair, Hera will investigate the mysterious aftermath of the collision and uncover why the asteroid shifted far more than scientists predicted.

Scientists have discovered a possible loophole in the laws that normally prevent black holes from splitting apart, suggesting that extremely fast-spinning black holes might divide into two. The surprising finding raises the possibility of an entirely new black hole phenomenon that future telescopes could potentially detect.

To what extent does bottom trawling impact the seafloor of the Baltic Sea—and how quickly does it recover? Two new studies from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) show that the marks on the seafloor provide a much clearer picture of the actual impact than vessel position data alone. Using high-resolution echo sounder measurements and AI, the researchers reveal previously insufficiently recorded impacts and also document surprisingly rapid changes of the seafloor condition. Furthermore, they found strong indications of fishing violations in a marine protected area. The study results were published in the journals Ecological Informatics and Anthropocene.

Liverworts reproduce through a life cycle involving two distinct stages. First, sperm fertilize eggs in the presence of water, producing embryos that develop into spore-producing structures called sporophytes. These structures then produce spores that can disperse and grow into new liverwort plants.

What does a healthy river look like? For most of us, an obvious answer would involve two aspects: water flowing through a channel and green vegetation along its banks. However, in reality, a river's health depends on several factors, such as how much water flows through it, how water moves through the landscape, how that flow changes with the seasons, how sediment moves downstream, how often it spills into its floodplain and how these processes change with the seasons.

Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will have "irreversible" consequences for glaciers, sea ice and the Earth's frozen regions, two U.N. reports warned on Monday, calling for urgent action.

Patroclo and Achille’s interspecies affair sheds new light on social and sexual relations between animals, scientists say In ancient myth, Achilles and Patroclus were two Greek heroes of the Trojan war whose intense bond was believed by some to have turned into a sexual relationship. In modern science, they are a bull, Achille, and a donkey, Patroclo, whose tender interspecies affair has helped to shed new light on social and sexual interactions between animals. Continue reading...

A 10-year scientific investigation of museum specimens has uncovered two previously unrecognized bandicoot species, expanded the known range of the iconic quenda (or southeastern brown bandicoot) and reshaped understanding of one of Australia's native mammal groups.

Scientific papers are a researcher's most valuable currency, and a paper published in a respected journal can represent several years of work. After noting a surge in citations of her work, statistician Andrea Riebler discovered a vendor in China selling a tool that enables rapid paper mining of public health data. The new software allows anyone to produce ready-to-publish research papers in under two hours.

I thought the explanation I’d given about black holes was family-friendly; but after what she had said, I had to rethink my examples Read more in the a job that changed me series In the first year of my science degree, I was fortunate to land a job as an astronomy guide at the Sydney Observatory. In my role, I would lead tour groups of about 20 people. We’d look at stars and planets through telescopes. If the skies were filled from horizon to horizon with clouds, we’d explore more of the universe through a 3D theatre. And to peer beyond what our telescopes could see, we’d pile inside the cosy planetarium, seeing what the light pollution of Sydney and clouds would often obstruct from our view. My favourite object to show in the planetarium was the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. Before revealing the image, I’d explain how the Hubble space telescope had stared at a piece of sky the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length for 11 days, collecting enough light to look into the farthest corners of the universe. Then I’d zoom in on that tiny piece of sky, revealing the gorgeous image. At least one person would audibly gasp at the reveal. Continue reading...

Many treatments are now extending lives, but the measure of progress should not end with a scan or a survival curve Two decades ago, a dear friend called me in a trembling voice. Was there hope for his young nephew , whose cancer had spread to the brain? Sadly, “no”, I said. But today, for such patients, there are options that were unimaginable back then. Recently, researchers at the European Society For Medical Oncology presented the latest chapter results from a randomised controlled trial of a bespoke cancer vaccine for patients with high-risk melanoma. The trial involved 1,137 patients whose melanoma had been surgically removed but remained at high recurrence risk. They received either pembrolizumab, an established immunotherapy, or pembrolizumab combined with an experimental mRNA vaccine, designed to help the immune system recognise and attack targets unique to the patient’s tumour. Continue reading...

SpaceX is building and operating two satellite networks at the moment, Starlink and Starshield. What’s the difference between the two, and who uses them?

A surprising new study suggests that eating peanuts every day could help support brain health and memory in older adults. Researchers found that consuming about two servings of unsalted, skin-roasted peanuts daily for 16 weeks improved insulin responsiveness in brain regions important for memory, a function that often weakens with age and has been linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Two men from the Armagh Planetarium and Observatory have had asteroids named in their honour in recognition of their work.

As quantum computers grow more ambitious, many researchers believe the best way forward is to build them in multiple interconnected parts. In these modular designs, separate quantum processors are linked so they can work together as one larger machine. For this to happen, however, connections must carry fragile quantum information without destroying it.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have uncovered a crucial missing link between a common gut bacterium and colorectal cancer, solving a mystery that has puzzled researchers for nearly two decades. The bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, produces a toxin that damages the colon’s protective lining, triggers chronic inflammation, and promotes tumor formation.

Scientists have discovered a surprising mechanism that allows certain metals to resist cracking at temperatures as low as -253°C (-424°F), when similar materials typically become dangerously brittle. Instead of breaking, two experimental alloys reorganize their internal structures, creating new ways to absorb stress and remain flexible.

A research team has designed and synthesized a molecular cage with an internal cavity by connecting two curved π-conjugated molecules face-to-face at three points.

With high pressure developing across the UK, the start of November is looking very settled with no significant rain in the forecast.

In the Texas Panhandle, two livestock guardian dogs patrol a herd of cattle grazing the Rita Blanca National Grasslands. Although their singular focus is protecting the herd from would-be predators, their presence may make them wildlife conservation allies.

A tiny glass chip developed by researchers at Heriot-Watt University has linked two telescopes together to enable them to act as a single powerful instrument, marking an important step toward a new generation of astronomical technology.