Science X Newsletter Mon, Dec 25

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for December 25, 2023:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

Team develops transistors with sliding ferroelectricity based on polarity-switchable molybdenum disulfide

Study suggests that the neural correlates of mind-wandering can vary across different tasks

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 with phone app data offers insights into proximity and duration risk factors

New AI model can predict human lifespan, researchers say. They want to make sure it's used for good

'Maintain Asian forest diversity to avoid climate change impact,' suggests new study

Researchers develop 'electronic soil' that enhances crop growth

A whiff of tears reduces male aggression, says study

Japan moon lander enters lunar orbit

Nanotechnology news

Team develops transistors with sliding ferroelectricity based on polarity-switchable molybdenum disulfide Over the past few years, engineers have been trying to devise alternative hardware designs that would allow a single device to both perform computations and store data. These emerging electronics, known as computing-in-memory devices, could have numerous advantages, including faster speeds and enhanced data analysis capabilities.

Earth news

'Maintain Asian forest diversity to avoid climate change impact,' suggests new study A team of international scientists, led by Dr. Rebecca Hamilton at the University of Sydney, has found that rather than dry savannah in South East Asia dominating during the Last Glacial Maximum more than 19,000 years ago, there was a mosaic of diverse closed and open forest types, upending previous scientific consensus.

Live Christmas trees affect indoor air chemistry, researchers find Every holiday season, Americans buy nearly 30 million live Christmas trees. Many families enjoy not only having a live tree inside their homes but also smelling the fresh fragrance it creates. That smell comes from chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, little is known about how much is emitted and whether they have any health impacts.

Astronomy and Space news

	Japan moon lander enters lunar orbit Japan's SLIM space probe entered the moon's orbit on Monday in a major step towards the country's first successful lunar landing, expected next month.
	Ancient stars could make elements with atomic masses greater than 260 The first stars of the universe were monstrous beasts. Comprised only of hydrogen and helium, they could be 300 times more massive than the sun. Within them, the first of the heavier elements were formed, then cast off into the cosmos at the end of their short lives. They were the seeds of all the stars and planets we see today. A new study published in Science suggests these ancient progenitors created more than just the natural elements.
	Why the universe might be a hologram A quarter century ago, physicist Juan Maldacena proposed the AdS/CFT correspondence, an intriguing holographic connection between gravity in a three-dimensional universe and quantum physics on the universe's two-dimensional boundary. This correspondence is at this stage, even a quarter century after Maldacena's discovery, just a conjecture.
	NASA asteroid sampling mission renamed OSIRIS-APEX for new journey The former OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sets off on a journey to study asteroid Apophis and take advantage of the asteroid's 2029 flyby of Earth, the likes of which hasn't happened since the dawn of recorded history.

Technology news

	NASA flies drones autonomously for air taxi research Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia recently flew multiple drones beyond visual line of sight with no visual observer. The drones successfully flew around obstacles and each other during takeoff, along a planned route, and upon landing, all autonomously without a pilot controlling the flight. This test marks an important step towards advancing self-flying capabilities for air taxis.
	Insect compasses, fire-fighting vines: 2023's nature-inspired tech Even as human-caused climate change threatens the environment, nature continues to inspire our technological advancement.
	'Urban mining' offers green solution to old solar panels As the world pivots from planet-warming fossil fuels to renewable energy, a new pollution problem is rearing its head: What to do with old or worn-out solar panels?
	Artists use tech weapons against AI copycats Artists under siege by artificial intelligence (AI) that studies their work, then replicates their styles, have teamed with university researchers to stymy such copycat activity.
	AI pioneer says public discourse on intelligent machines must give 'proper respect to human agency' She's an important figure behind today's artificial intelligence boom, but not all computer scientists thought Fei-Fei Li was on the right track when she came up with the idea for a giant visual database called ImageNet that took years to build.
	China approves 105 online games after draft curbs trigger massive losses China's press and publications authority has approved 105 new online games, saying it fully supports the industry after proposed curbs caused massive losses last week for investors in major games makers.
	The year of social media soul-searching: Twitter dies, X and Threads are born and AI gets personal We lost Twitter and got X. We tried out Bluesky and Mastodon (well, some of us did). We fretted about AI bots and teen mental health. We cocooned in private chats and scrolled endlessly as we did in years past. For social media users, 2023 was a year of beginnings and endings, with some soul-searching in between.
	US-Canada military center 'tracks' Santa for 68th year The joint US-Canadian military monitoring agency has continued its decades-long Christmas tradition of tracking Santa's whereabouts, helping children around the globe find out when his reindeer-powered, present-filled sleigh is coming to town.

Biology news

	Researchers develop 'electronic soil' that enhances crop growth Barley seedlings grow on average 50% more when their root system is stimulated electrically through a new cultivation substrate. In a study published in the journal PNAS, researchers from Linköping University have developed an electrically conductive "soil" for soilless cultivation, known as hydroponics.
	A whiff of tears reduces male aggression, says study Watching someone cry often evokes an emotional response—but according to a new study published Thursday, human tears themselves contain a chemical signal that reduces brain activity linked to aggression.
	Many models are better than one for COVID-19 scenario projections, study finds During the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub generated look-ahead projections for COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths under specific, policy-relevant scenarios. Those projections were provided to federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local health authorities and the public to help inform decisions like the release of COVID-19 vaccines for children and when booster shots were recommended.
	New research rewrites our understanding of whale evolution New research from the Museums Victoria Research Institute has turned upside down our previous understanding of the evolution of the largest animals ever––baleen whales.
	Bioengineers building the intersection of organoids and AI with 'Brainoware' Feng Guo, an associate professor of intelligent systems engineering at the Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, is addressing the technical limitations of artificial intelligence computing hardware by developing a new hybrid computing system—which has been dubbed "Brainoware"—that combines electronic hardware with human brain organoids.
	3D preservation of trilobite soft tissues sheds light on convergent evolution of defensive enrollment They'd been in the collections of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) since the 1870s when they were first discovered. Nestled in among the largest collection of trilobites, the unique fossils rested in drawers until 145 years later when Sarah Losso, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) at Harvard, began combing through the collection of trilobites as part of her dissertation.
	Can seabirds hear their way across the ocean? Our research suggests so Animals cover astonishing distances when they are looking for food. While caribou, reindeer and wolves clock up impressive mileage on land, seabirds are unrivaled in their traveling distances. Arctic terns travel from the Arctic to Antarctica and back as part of their annual migration. Wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) fly the equivalent of ten times to the moon and back over their lifetimes.
	What octopus DNA tells us about Antarctic ice sheet collapse If we want to understand the future, it's often useful to look at the past. And even more useful if you use octopus DNA to peer into worlds long gone.
	Avian influenza has killed millions of seabirds around the world: Antarctica could be next Antarctica is often imagined as the last untouched wilderness. Unfortunately, avian influenza ("bird flu") is encroaching on the icy continent. The virus has already reached the sub-Antarctic islands between the Antarctic Peninsula and South America. It's only a matter of time before it reaches the Antarctic continent.

Medicine and Health news

	Study suggests that the neural correlates of mind-wandering can vary across different tasks When humans are completing a specific task, their minds can shift from what they are doing to their own internal thoughts. This shift of attention from a task to internal events, known as off-task thinking or mind-wandering, is well-documented and has been studied extensively in the past.
	Tracking SARS-CoV-2 with phone app data offers insights into proximity and duration risk factors Researchers at the University of Oxford, U.K., have discovered how the rate of exposure time to someone with COVID-19 contact relates to infection risk. They found that the duration of exposure to individuals with COVID-19 contact increases the risk of infection more so than proximity.
	Hormone secreted by fetus causes morning sickness: study A hormone produced by the human fetus is to blame for morning sickness in pregnant women, a study has found, paving the way to possible prevention and treatment.
	Guidelines updated for use of antiplatelet therapy for atherosclerotic CVD In a guideline update issued by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology and published online Oct. 28 in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, new recommendations are presented regarding the use of antiplatelet therapy (APT) for the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
	Teen concussion tied to higher risk for suicidal behaviors Adolescents who report concussion have increased odds of reporting suicidal behaviors, according to a study published online Nov. 16 in the Journal of Athletic Training.
	Patient error makes 1 in 10 home colon cancer tests unusable At-home tests for colon cancer make this important screening readily available to folks who can't afford or would rather not go through a colonoscopy.
	Alpha, beta, theta: What are brain states and brain waves? And can we control them? There's no shortage of apps and technology that claim to shift the brain into a "theta" state—said to help with relaxation, inward focus and sleep.
	Morning sickness doesn't only occur in the morning. So why do we still call it that? As many as 90% or more of pregnant people experience some degree of nausea or vomiting, often colloquially referred to as "morning sickness."
	Wegovy: Why half of those taking it stop within a year, and what happens when they do Despite the effectiveness of the newer generation of anti-obesity drugs—called GLP-1 receptor agonists—few can tolerate them in the long run. A new study, published in the journal Obesity, reveals that of people prescribed weight-loss drugs, just 44% were still taking them after three months and only 19% after one year.
	Emerging COVID variant is spreading ahead of the holidays. Are you still protected? For a third season, COVID-19 cases are rising ahead of the holidays, this time with a more recent variant driving infections.
	US woman with rare double uterus gives birth to twin girls A 32-year-old woman from Alabama who was born with two uteruses and became pregnant in both gave birth to twin girls on different days, she announced on Friday.
	Holiday togetherness can also mean family fights. But there are ways to try to sidestep the drama The holidays, a time where families and friends can get together to talk, to laugh—or get into screaming arguments.

Other Sciences news

	New AI model can predict human lifespan, researchers say. They want to make sure it's used for good Researchers have created an artificial intelligence tool that uses sequences of life events—such as health history, education, job and income—to predict everything from a person's personality to their mortality.
	Anthropologist finds South American cultures quickly adopted horses A new study from a University of Colorado Boulder researcher, conducted with colleagues in Argentina, sheds new light on how the introduction of horses in South America led to rapid economic and social transformation in the region.
	People once lived in a vast region in north-western Australia—and it had an inland sea For much of the 65,000 years of Australia's human history, the now-submerged northwest continental shelf connected the Kimberley and western Arnhem Land. This vast, habitable realm covered nearly 390,000 square kilometers, an area one-and-a-half times larger than New Zealand is today.
	Christmas consumption: What would the great economic philosophers think? Even during a cost of living crisis, with interest rates and inflation high, the average spending per person for Christmas 2023 in the U.K. is expected to reach as much as £974. Retailers, advertisers and a sense of tradition continue to encourage us towards ever greater levels of consumption.
	It's not just housing: The 'bank of mum and dad' is increasingly helping fund the lives of young Australians Much has been made of the increasing presence of the "bank of mum and dad" in the lives of Australians.

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