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Cave networks are formed through the dissolution of carbonate rocks, such as limestone, a process known as karstification. The majority of caves are created when water trickles through the Earth’s surface, absorbing carbon dioxide and becoming slightly acidic. This type of acid, known as mild carbonic acid, is similar to the acid found in carbonated sodas. A rarer type of cave forms from the transport of fluids up through the crust and through fault zones, forming vertical caves that can connect with horizontal caverns, forming large networks....

Cincinnati Children’s researchers report their findings on January 30 in Nature Communications. The discovery centers on the mutation of the gene Gimap5, which is important to the healthy formation and function of CD4+ T cells, one of the immune system’s super soldiers against infection and disease. The protein associated with the Gimap5 gene (also Gimap5), is important because it regulates a protein that inactivates an enzyme called GSK3, researchers said....

This connection between climate change and viral transmission is described by an international research team led by scientists at Georgetown University in a paper entitled “Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk” which was published on April 28, 2022, in the journal Nature. In their study, the researchers conducted the first comprehensive assessment of how climate change will restructure the global mammalian virome. The work focuses on geographic range shifts—the journeys that species will undertake as they follow their habitats into new areas....

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has a likely connection to bats, and the next viral outbreak probably will too, unless scientists can quickly learn more about the thousands of viruses carried by one of the most diverse mammals on the planet. Evidence already links different bat species to human outbreaks of SARS, MERS, some Ebola viruses as well as the Marbug, Hendra, Sosuga and Nipah viruses. Beyond these connections, there is very little known, and a recent article in Nature Reviews Microbiology calls for more research into bats’ molecular biology and their ecology, to help predict, and hopefully prevent, the next pandemic....

Erectile dysfunction can have significant psychological consequences for men who are affected by it, and it can make fulfilling sexual relationships more difficult to achieve. Sildenafil, more commonly known by its tradename Viagra, became available in 1998 as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. It soon became the fastest-selling drug in history, demonstrating the phenomenal demand for treatments that enhance sexual performance. Originally developed as a treatment for high blood pressure, the drug dilates blood vessels and relaxes the smooth muscle in the penis, making it easier to achieve and maintain an erection....

While awaiting full access to their labs due to COVID-19 restrictions, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have taken this rare opportunity to report the technical details of pioneering research they conducted on the disinfection of drinking water using ultraviolet (UV) light. Back in 2012, the NIST scientists and their collaborators published several papers on some fundamental findings with potential benefits to water utility companies. But these articles never fully explained the irradiation setup that made the work possible....

A team of researchers from the University of Hyderabad in India has improved molecular detection at low concentration levels by arranging nanoparticles on nanowires to enhance Raman spectroscopy. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) uses electromagnetic fields to improve Raman scattering and boost sensitivity in standard dyes such as R6G by more than one billionfold. The team decorated vertically aligned silicon nanowires with varying densities of silver nanoparticles, utilizing and enhancing the structure’s 3-D shape....

Focusing the entire visible spectrum and white light — all the colors of the spectrum — is so challenging because each wavelength moves through materials at different speeds. Red wavelengths, for example, move through glass faster than the blue, so the two colors will reach the same location at different times, resulting in different foci. This creates image distortions known as chromatic aberrations. Cameras and optical instruments use multiple curved lenses of different thicknesses and materials to correct these aberrations, which, of course, adds to a device’s bulk....

What makes one rose bush blossom with flowers, while another remains barren? Astronomers ask a similar question of galaxies, wondering how some flourish with star formation and others barely bloom. A new study published in the October 16 issue of the journal Nature addresses this question by making some of the most accurate measurements yet of the meager rates at which small, sluggish galaxies create stars. The report uses data from the European Space Agency’s Herschel mission, in which NASA is a partner, and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)....

Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is a planet two-thirds the size of Earth. The exoplanet candidate, called UCF-1.01, is located a mere 33 light-years away, making it possibly the nearest world to our solar system that is smaller than our home planet. Exoplanets circle stars beyond our sun. Only a handful smaller than Earth have been found so far. Spitzer has performed transit studies on known exoplanets, but UCF-1....

“Much of the light in the universe is emitted as infrared light that does not reach Earth’s surface,” said Bill Reach, chief science advisor at the University Space Research Association’s SOFIA Science Center. “Infrared observations from SOFIA, which flies above most of the atmosphere, let us study what’s happening deep inside cosmic clouds, analyze celestial magnetic fields and investigate the chemical universe in ways that are not possible with visible light....

Two astronauts and two cosmonauts are preparing for five spacewalks to be conducted outside the space station in less than two months. One set of spacewalks is comprised of tasks needed to augment the station’s power generation system. In the other set of spacewalks, crew members will be deploying a radiator and installing an airlock on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. During a spacewalk on November 15, NASA Flight Engineers Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio prepared the station for new roll-out solar arrays by assembling a mounting bracket on the station’s starboard truss structure....

It is the second of six total new iROSAs that will be installed in the coming years to upgrade the station’s power supply and completes installation of the pair delivered aboard SpaceX’s cargo Dragon on the company’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission to the station. Kimbrough and Pesquet successfully removed the array from its position in the flight support equipment, maneuvered it into position, connected the electrical cables, and released it to extend the solar array to its fully deployed position at the 4B power channel....

The color-enhanced image was taken on April 1 at 2:32 a.m. PST (5:32 a.m. EST), as Juno performed its twelfth close flyby of Jupiter. At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was about 7,659 miles (12,326 kilometers) from the tops of the clouds of the planet at a northern latitude of 50.2 degrees. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed this image using data from the JunoCam imager. JunoCam’s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at: www....

Generations of stars can be seen in this infrared portrait from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. In this wispy star-forming region, called W5, the oldest stars can be seen as blue dots in the centers of the two hollow cavities (other blue dots are background and foreground stars not associated with the region). Younger stars line the rims of the cavities, and some can be seen as pink dots at the tips of the elephant-trunk-like pillars....

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts aboard the Dragon spacecraft safely splashed down Friday off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, completing the agency’s fourth commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. The international crew of four spent 170 days in orbit. NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti returned to Earth in a parachute-assisted splashdown at 4:55 p.m. EDT (1:55 p....

Reinhold Dauskardt, professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford, has been studying skin for years. But when he sent his students to look for data on the mechanical properties of skin, they came back empty-handed. A lot was known about skin structure and disease, but few papers actually talked about its mechanical function – its ability to stretch and resist tension without tearing. “That motivated us to get more interested in the skin itself,” said Dauskardt....

Captured in astounding detail by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), the eerie Skull Nebula is showcased in a new image in beautiful pink and red tones. This planetary nebula is the first known to be associated with a pair of closely bound stars orbited by a third outer star. This video offers stunning views of this object and tells the story of the three stars at its center. Credit: ESO Also known as NGC 246, the Skull Nebula lies about 1600 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Cetus (The Whale)....

Women and most female mammals have two X chromosomes, but only one of these is active in any given cell. This active X chromosome is selected through a flip-of-the-coin process in the very early stages of embryonic development: each chromosome has a 50/50 chance of remaining active and getting to express its genes, or to be inactivated through a process called X chromosome inactivation. X chromosome inactivation is a perfectly normal process, but the consequences can be devastating when one of the X chromosomes carries a defective gene....

The effectiveness of face masks has been a hotly debated topic since the emergence of COVID-19. However, a new study by researchers at the University of Central Florida offers more evidence that they work. In a study appearing today (January 12, 2022) in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the researchers found that face masks reduce the distance airborne pathogens could travel, when speaking or coughing, by more than half compared to not wearing a mask....