friction

A dazzling rearrangement of egg cell innards follows fertilization, but until now we didn't know how. New research reveals friction helps shape the cell to create a centralized point of organization, at least in ascidians… animals better known as sea squirts.Like a potter's hand moulding spinning clay, the gentle rubbing between a cell's components is enough to guide and shape the formation of an important piece of its anatomy.Referred to as the contraction pole, this organization point is critical for telling the sea…

Researchers have made groundbreaking discoveries in superlubricity, demonstrating how this state of minimal friction could revolutionize energy efficiency in mechanical systems. Their work reveals that friction in superlubricity defies traditional laws, offering promising applications for reducing global energy consumption. Credit: SciTechDaily.comScientists led by the University of Leicester have made an insight into superlubricity, where surfaces experience extremely low levels of friction.While many of us are treading…

A new study reveals that sea squirt oocytes use internal friction to undergo developmental changes post-conception, drawing an interesting parallel to a potter shaping clay. Ascidians, or sea squirts, serve as key models for understanding vertebrate development, sharing similarities with humans. Credit: SciTechDaily.comScientists examine how friction forces propel development in a marine organism.As the potter works the spinning wheel, the friction between their hands and the soft clay helps them shape it into all kinds…

Humans have been making fire using friction for thousands of years, with evidence of its use found in archaeological records across different cultures worldwide. Fire by friction is a testament to human ingenuity, contributing to the development of early technology and a later understanding of physics, chemistry and heat transfer. Making fire, one of the key discoveries in human history, has played a pivotal role in human evolution, providing warmth, light, protection from predators, a means to cook and the…

An internally funded SwRI project modified a commercial tribology testing machine to more effectively analyze the friction and wear associated with lubricants formulated for electric vehicles. The new tool adds to SwRI's testing capabilities and allows the lubricant industry to efficiently test and optimize lubricant formulation. Credit: Southwest Research Institute A Southwest Research Institute team has developed a…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Landfalling tropical cyclones (TCs) can pose substantial threats to densely populated and highly developed cities on the North Pacific and North Atlantic coasts. For example, Hurricane Harvey, which occurred in 2017, impacted Houston in the U.S. with record-breaking rainfall and flooding and caused over 80 fatalities and $125 billion in losses. …

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Welcome back to your daily digest of TechCrunch goodness. It is my last day with you (you’re welcome!), so Christine will be back in the Daily Crunch seat on Tuesday. Haje will not be back just yet because he is heading to Vegas as part of the team covering CES. Speaking of CES, Brian raised the curtain on what we can expect from its first full-fledged production since before COVID. Bye…

There’s been a ton of conversation over the past few years about the power of onscreen representation, and it seems like Hollywood is becoming a more diverse place. But there was a time when telling a queer story was a risk, like with Ang Lee’s acclaimed drama Brokeback Mountain. And the Academy Award winning filmmaker recently spoke about the “friction” between stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. What’s more, he reminisced about how the late actor was a “natural cowboy” while filming one of his most iconic…

James Webb has a mechanical glitch. The super powerful space telescope has only been working through its scientific missions since July when NASA shared Webb’s first images of the early universe. Now, though, the space agency says a mechanism on the telescope is experiencing increased friction, and a team has been assigned to asset it. In the meantime, some scientific observations are on hold. The glitch is affecting a mechanism on James Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). This is one of the space…

NASA paused observations with one of the JWST modes. | Photo Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge There’s a kink in one of the instruments in NASA’s powerful James Web Space Telescope, the agency said Tuesday. After around two months of sending back beautiful, precise photos from deep in space, the team behind the telescope detected an issue with one of the four observing modes on JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Observations using that mode are on pause while the team learns more. MIRI,…