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Scientists find that a 10-millisecond flash could help build more sensitive gas sensors
· Confirmed
In Short: Scientists believe that dark matter, which makes up over 85% of the universe, could be detected using these more sensitive materials.
Scientists have made a significant breakthrough in understanding terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs), which were first discovered in 1994 by an instrument on NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory designed to detect gamma ray flashes in deep space.
In a new study, researchers using the European Space Agency’s Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on the International Space Station detected a two-millisecond signal of electrons created by a TGF during a distant thunderstorm on September 16, 2018.
This discovery marks the first time scientists have pinpointed the exact location where TGFs originate, providing crucial insights into these poorly understood phenomena.
The findings suggest that TGFs occur within milliseconds of lightning flashes, but their exact cause has remained a mystery until now.
By focusing on the specific part of lightning formation where TGFs originate, scientists can now investigate how electrons reach the speeds necessary to emit gamma rays.
Understanding these processes could help scientists better comprehend the effects of electrical discharges on the atmosphere and their impact on climate.
In related research, quantum simulations have suggested that a material called titanium diselenide could make future detectors up to 1,000 times more sensitive to certain forms of light dark matter than current benchmark materials.
The LUX-ZEPLIN Dark Matter Experiment, involving an international team of 250 scientists and engineers from 39 institutions, has been recording flashes of light in a shielded tank filled with 10 tons of ultra-pure liquid xenon since 2021.
Gene activity was examined in the nuclei of more than 6.3 million brain cells from 1,494 deceased donors, ranging in age from infancy to 108 years old, to help explain biological variation among people with the same diagnosis.
This research could provide a foundation for investigating more individualized treatment strategies for various diseases.
Scientists have also made progress in optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control neurons with minute precision.
Three scientists won the Nobel medicine prize for their work in this field, including US neurologist Karl Deisseroth and German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel.
What's confirmed
- Scientists have made a significant breakthrough in understanding terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs), which were first discovered in 1994 by an instrument on NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory designed to detect gamma ray flashes in deep space.
- In a new study, researchers using the European Space Agency’s Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on the International Space Station detected a two-millisecond signal of electrons created by a TGF during a distant thunderstorm on September 16, 2018.
- This discovery marks the first time scientists have pinpointed the exact location where TGFs originate, providing crucial insights into these poorly understood phenomena.
- The findings suggest that TGFs occur within milliseconds of lightning flashes, but their exact cause has remained a mystery until now.
- By focusing on the specific part of lightning formation where TGFs originate, scientists can now investigate how electrons reach the speeds necessary to emit gamma rays.
- Understanding these processes could help scientists better comprehend the effects of electrical discharges on the atmosphere and their impact on climate.
- In related research, quantum simulations have suggested that a material called titanium diselenide could make future detectors up to 1,000 times more sensitive to certain forms of light dark matter than current benchmark materials.
- The LUX-ZEPLIN Dark Matter Experiment, involving an international team of 250 scientists and engineers from 39 institutions, has been recording flashes of light in a shielded tank filled with 10 tons of ultra-pure liquid xenon since 2021.
- Gene activity was examined in the nuclei of more than 6.3 million brain cells from 1,494 deceased donors, ranging in age from infancy to 108 years old, to help explain biological variation among people with the same diagnosis.
- This research could provide a foundation for investigating more individualized treatment strategies for various diseases.
- Scientists have also made progress in optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control neurons with minute precision.
- Three scientists won the Nobel medicine prize for their work in this field, including US neurologist Karl Deisseroth and German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel.
What's still developing
- Elves are expanding rings of visible and ultraviolet light that vanish in less than a millisecond above thunderstorms.
- "You would also want to produce it (and its cousins) in the laboratory. Seeing something go 'bump' is quite different from being able to determine its cosmological abundance."
- Scientists from the University of Bristol were part of a two-year study to try and measure the invisible substance thought to make up over 85% of the universe.
- The study found one particle interaction which could potentially have been caused by a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle, (WIMP), which scientists believe make up dark matter.
- "Together, these studies help explain where disease-related changes occur and which biological processes deserve closer investigation," said Dr. Panos Roussos, director of the Center for Disease Neurogenomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and a leader of the research published on Wednesday in Nature and other journals.
- "This helps explain biological variation among people with the same diagnosis, and provides a foundation for investigating more individualized treatment strategies," Roussos said. (Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Daniel Wallis) Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
- Research also aims to help address depression and anxiety disorders, several scientists said.
- The finding suggests that p21’s susceptibility to oxidation acts as a molecular switch, balancing cell division and growth arrest depending on cellular conditions.
- One key discovery was the identification of a redox-sensitive cysteine, C41, in the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21, a pivotal regulator of proliferation.
- Using advanced redox proteomics, scientists mapped protein oxidation events, specifically S-sulfenylation of cysteines, across the cell cycle.
- NIEHS scientists discuss how the long-term Sister Study is helping identify and prevent environmental contributors to breast cancer.
- In-house scientists spark discoveries along the “translational” research spectrum, turning knowledge into strategies to improve human health.