Mention the word "graffiti," and many people's thoughts immediately turn to vandalism in the form of defacement of property. But there is also graffiti that such and qualifies as bona fide street art. Think of the created after the death of NBA All-Star and his daughter Gianna; the Black Lives Matter logos painted on the streets in New York City and along 16th Street , last year amid ongoing protests; and the works of , , and the countless other less well-known artists around the world who embellish our streets with their work.Street art, in turn, is vulnerable to vandalism, posing...…Mention the word "graffiti," and many people's thoughts immediately turn to vandalism in the form of defacement of property. But there is also graffiti that such and qualifies as bona fide street art. Think of the created after the death of NBA All-Star and his daughter Gianna; the Black Lives Matter logos painted on the streets in New York City and along 16th Street , last year amid ongoing protests; and the works of , , and the countless other less well-known artists around the world who embellish our streets with their work.Street art, in turn, is vulnerable to vandalism, posing...WW…

Rats, cats, and many other mammals have , which they typically use to sense their surrounding environment, akin to the sense of touch. But scientists have yet to precisely determine the means by which whiskers communicate that sense of touch to the brain. Now an interdisciplinary team at Northwestern University has come up with a new model to help predict how a rat's whiskers activate different sensory cells to do just that, according to  published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. Such work could one day enable scientists to build artificial whiskers as tactile sensors in...…Rats, cats, and many other mammals have , which they typically use to sense their surrounding environment, akin to the sense of touch. But scientists have yet to precisely determine the means by which whiskers communicate that sense of touch to the brain. Now an interdisciplinary team at Northwestern University has come up with a new model to help predict how a rat's whiskers activate different sensory cells to do just that, according to  published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. Such work could one day enable scientists to build artificial whiskers as tactile sensors in...WW…

Two years ago, the (EHT) made headlines with its announcement of the first direct image of a black hole. Science magazine named the image its . Now the EHT collaboration is back with another groundbreaking result: a new image of the same black hole, this time showing how it looks in polarized light. The ability to measure that polarization for the first time—a signature of magnetic fields at the black hole's edge—is expected to yield fresh insight into how black holes gobble up matter and emit powerful jets from their cores. The new findings were described in three papers published in The...…Two years ago, the (EHT) made headlines with its announcement of the first direct image of a black hole. Science magazine named the image its . Now the EHT collaboration is back with another groundbreaking result: a new image of the same black hole, this time showing how it looks in polarized light. The ability to measure that polarization for the first time—a signature of magnetic fields at the black hole's edge—is expected to yield fresh insight into how black holes gobble up matter and emit powerful jets from their cores. The new findings were described in three papers published in The...WW…

Wine aficionados know that a well-paired wine enhances the flavors of whatever foods one consumes, while a poorly paired wine does the opposite. And some foods can, in turn, influence the flavors in a wine. Is there any better accompaniment to one's favorite cheeses and/or cured meats than a good bottle of Bordeaux or a California Cabernet? A team of French scientists specifically explored the role of interactions between the in wine and fatty molecules known as  in foods to better understand what is happening at the molecular level with such complementary pairings, according...…Wine aficionados know that a well-paired wine enhances the flavors of whatever foods one consumes, while a poorly paired wine does the opposite. And some foods can, in turn, influence the flavors in a wine. Is there any better accompaniment to one's favorite cheeses and/or cured meats than a good bottle of Bordeaux or a California Cabernet? A team of French scientists specifically explored the role of interactions between the in wine and fatty molecules known as  in foods to better understand what is happening at the molecular level with such complementary pairings, according...WW…

February brought the annual celebration of the lunar new year—welcome to the —and with it two new action-packed films from China and South Korea, respectively.Directed by Lu Yang, —currently playing in select theaters—centers on a man searching for his lost daughter, hired to assassinate a novelist whose fantasy work-in-progress has begun to shape events in the real world. Over on Netflix,  is being touted as the first Korean bona fide blockbuster, focusing on the adventures of the plucky crew aboard a space junk salvage vessel who must save the Earth from total destruction....…February brought the annual celebration of the lunar new year—welcome to the —and with it two new action-packed films from China and South Korea, respectively.Directed by Lu Yang, —currently playing in select theaters—centers on a man searching for his lost daughter, hired to assassinate a novelist whose fantasy work-in-progress has begun to shape events in the real world. Over on Netflix,  is being touted as the first Korean bona fide blockbuster, focusing on the adventures of the plucky crew aboard a space junk salvage vessel who must save the Earth from total destruction....WW…

A growing number of professional football players with a neurodegenerative disease called  (CTE), likely the result of suffering repeated concussions or similar repetitive brain trauma over the course of their careers. It's also common in other high-contact sports like boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and ice hockey. We might find clues about the underlying physics by studying the deformation of egg yolks, according to published in The Physics of Fluids. This in turn could one day lead to of such trauma.Egg yolk submerged in liquid egg white encased in a hard shell is an example of what...…A growing number of professional football players with a neurodegenerative disease called  (CTE), likely the result of suffering repeated concussions or similar repetitive brain trauma over the course of their careers. It's also common in other high-contact sports like boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and ice hockey. We might find clues about the underlying physics by studying the deformation of egg yolks, according to published in The Physics of Fluids. This in turn could one day lead to of such trauma.Egg yolk submerged in liquid egg white encased in a hard shell is an example of what...WW…

Some 66 million years ago, a catastrophic event occurred that wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth, most notably taking down the dinosaurs. An errant asteroid from the  has been deemed the most likely culprit. However, in published in Scientific Reports, Harvard astronomers offer an alternative: a special kind of comet—originating from a field of debris at the edge of our solar system known as the —that was thrown off course by Jupiter's gravity toward the Sun. The Sun's powerful tidal forces then ripped pieces off the comet, and one of the larger fragments...…Some 66 million years ago, a catastrophic event occurred that wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth, most notably taking down the dinosaurs. An errant asteroid from the  has been deemed the most likely culprit. However, in published in Scientific Reports, Harvard astronomers offer an alternative: a special kind of comet—originating from a field of debris at the edge of our solar system known as the —that was thrown off course by Jupiter's gravity toward the Sun. The Sun's powerful tidal forces then ripped pieces off the comet, and one of the larger fragments...WW…

England's is at the center of one of the most famous assassination legends in history, immortalized in one of William Shakespeare's . It's quite the tale: a power-hungry duke seizes the throne when his brother unexpectedly dies, and he orders his young nephews (one the rightful heir) murdered in the Tower of London to cement his claim to the throne. But was he really a murderer? The debate over Richard III's presumed guilt has continued for centuries. Now, a British historian has compiled additional evidence of that guilt, described in  published in the journal History.The so-called ""...…England's is at the center of one of the most famous assassination legends in history, immortalized in one of William Shakespeare's . It's quite the tale: a power-hungry duke seizes the throne when his brother unexpectedly dies, and he orders his young nephews (one the rightful heir) murdered in the Tower of London to cement his claim to the throne. But was he really a murderer? The debate over Richard III's presumed guilt has continued for centuries. Now, a British historian has compiled additional evidence of that guilt, described in  published in the journal History.The so-called ""...WW…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has thrown a wrench into Congressional approval of an increase in government stimulus relief checks from $600 to $2,000. The House voted overwhelmingly on Monday to increase the payments, as President Trump had advocated for. Instead of voting on the House bill, however, McConnell it and instead introduced tying higher stimulus payments to Section 230's full repeal, , which obtained a copy of the bill's text.It's a tangled web, but the move is tied to Trump's veto of the , which authorizes $740 billion in defense spending for the upcoming...…Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has thrown a wrench into Congressional approval of an increase in government stimulus relief checks from $600 to $2,000. The House voted overwhelmingly on Monday to increase the payments, as President Trump had advocated for. Instead of voting on the House bill, however, McConnell it and instead introduced tying higher stimulus payments to Section 230's full repeal, , which obtained a copy of the bill's text.It's a tangled web, but the move is tied to Trump's veto of the , which authorizes $740 billion in defense spending for the upcoming...WW…

Skip to main contentIntensifying seismic activity these past few weeks along Iceland's southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula—marked by tens of thousands of earthquakes, as many as 1,400 within one 24-hour period—has experts warning of a likely volcanic eruption at any time. While such activity is typically monitored by seismometers, seismologists at Northwestern University are also listening to the data collected by the region's Global Seismographic Network station using an app they developed a few years ago called Earthtunes.With the app, those earthquakes can sound like slamming doors or hail...…Skip to main contentIntensifying seismic activity these past few weeks along Iceland's southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula—marked by tens of thousands of earthquakes, as many as 1,400 within one 24-hour period—has experts warning of a likely volcanic eruption at any time. While such activity is typically monitored by seismometers, seismologists at Northwestern University are also listening to the data collected by the region's Global Seismographic Network station using an app they developed a few years ago called Earthtunes.With the app, those earthquakes can sound like slamming doors or hail...WW…