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Matters of the heart can be puzzling and mysterious -- so too with unusual astronomical objects called heartbeat stars.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified new markings on the surface of the Red Planet that are believed to be related to ESA’s ExoMars Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing technology demonstrator module.

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus 30 years ago, but researchers are still making discoveries from the data it gathered then. A new study led by University of Idaho researchers suggests there could be two tiny, previously undiscovered moonlets orbiting near two of the planet's rings.

Boeing has installed a new P-8A Poseidon training center at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., as the base begins preparations for the arrival of P-8 aircraft beginning in 2017.

Every electronic device -- from a supercomputer to a dishwasher -- works by controlling the flow of charged electrons. But electrons can carry so much more information than just charge; electrons also spin, like a gyroscope on axis.

Santosh Thapa, PhD Fellow at the US based University of North Texas Health Science Center and one of the members of the Organizing Committee informed us that “More than 140 research papers on recent advancement in material sciences and engineering will be presented during the four days long KaSAM-2016. The technical program comprises of Keynote Lectures, Oral Presentations and Poster Session in the related field along with a special symposium on ‘Science, Technology & Innovations for Nepal’. A short course on ‘Recent developments and research trends in nanomaterials’ has also been arranged for young scientist and students, in the first day of the conference.”

In the next coming years nanocellulose (NC) would attract lot of attention from industrial researchers (market value is estimated to be 530 M$ worldwide by 2020)(1). The process of development and functionalization of NC materials is being promising because of their well-known unique optomechanical features and green nature. However, there is still a niche for applications based on NC electric-response. In this scenario, the results published in Scientific Reports with the participation of ICN2 researchers, would set up foundations for new strategies intended to drive novel applications based on 2D-NC with a predicted piezoelectric-response ~ pm V-1. This result could rank NC at the level of currently used bulk piezoelectrics like α-quartz and most recent 2D materials like MoSe2 or doped graphene. The first author of the article is Dr Yamila García, and the last one ICREA Research prof. Dr Clivia M. Sotomayor-Torres, Group leader of the ICN2 Phononic and Photonic Nanostructures Group.

Mission managers for NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter have decided to postpone the upcoming burn of its main rocket motor originally scheduled for Oct. 19. This burn, called the period reduction maneuver (PRM), was to reduce Juno's orbital period around Jupiter from 53.4 to 14 days. The decision was made in order to further study the performance of a set of valves that are part of the spacecraft's fuel pressurization system. The period reduction maneuver was the final scheduled burn of Juno's main engine.

"We are learning more and more about the properties of matter at the nanoscale so that we can design machines with specific functions," said senior author Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences and professor of chemistry and biochemistry.