The deadly volcanic eruption of Anak Krakatoa in 2018 unleashed a wave at least 100m high that could have caused widespread devastation had it been travelling in another direction, new research shows.
Ved at lagre energi i svinghjul, er der mere el klar, når en elbil skal hurtiglades. De israelske opfindere bag konceptet sammenligner det med cisternen på et toilet.
… Europe, China, India and Russia all send payloads into space in a week It's been a busy week for rocket launches. Europe, China, India and Russia have all sent payloads into space in the last seven days. Starting on 23 November, China launched two navigation satellites as part of their growing BeiDou navigation satellite constellation. Continue reading…
They're one of the biggest stadium-rock bands in the world, but Coldplay will not be touring for the foreseeable future, as they seek to make their concerts less environmentally damaging. "We're taking time over the next year or two to work out how can not only our tour be sustainable but how can it be actively beneficial," lead singer Chris Martin told the BBC at the release of the band's new re
Loading the atmosphere with five million tonnes of CO2 every hour has pushed Earth dangerously close to a no-return threshold, beyond which lies an unlivable hothouse world, top climate scientists have warned.
MIT researchers have devised a novel circuit design that enables precise control of computing with magnetic waves — with no electricity needed. The advance takes a step toward practical magnetic-based devices, which have the potential to compute far more efficiently than electronics.
In temperatures millions of times colder than interstellar space, Harvard researchers have performed the coldest reaction in the known universe. But that's not all. In such intense cold, their molecules slowed to such glacial speeds, they could see something no one has been able to see before: the moment when two molecules meet to form two new molecules. In essence, they captured a chemical reacti
High-performance solid-state elastocaloric cooling materials with exceptional fatigue resistance are made possible by 3D printing a nickel-titanium based alloy, researchers report.
Scientists at the University of Maryland have developed a novel elastocaloric cooling material, comprised of a nickel (Ni)-titanium (Ti) alloy and sculpted using additive technology, that is highly efficient, eco-friendly and easily scaled-up for commercial use.
Growing nanoscale polymer brushes on materials' surfaces overcomes a key challenge in surface chemistry, researchers report, creating a new way to fabricate a diverse array of materials that could hold advanced uses in catalysis or chemical separation applications, for example.
The science of cyber risk is inherently interdisciplinary, argue Gregory Falco and colleagues in this Policy Forum, and no single academic field on its own can adequately address related problems.
A new fault system on the seafloor was discovered off California's coast by temporarily transforming a pre-existing underwater fiber optic cable into an array of nearly 10,000 seismic sensors, according to a new study.
Taking a more systematic approach to the capsid protein-engineering problem, Harvard researchers mutated one by one each of the 735 amino acids within the AAV2 capsid, the best-known member of the AAV family, including all possible codon substitutions, insertions and deletions at each position. They generated a virus library containing about 200,000 variants and identified capsid changes that both
Dyno Therapeutics announces a publication in Science demonstrating the power of a comprehensive machine-guided approach to improve adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids for gene therapies. Working to surpass the few naturally occurring AAV capsids currently in use, the authors synthesized large libraries of capsids and discovered changes that improve key properties preventing current AAVs from opti
Photonic systems can transform underwater fiber-optic cables into a dense network of seismic stations to illuminate ocean-floor earthquake zones impossible to study today, according to a new study by researchers from UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab and Rice University. The scientists turned 20 kilometers of cable around the underwater San Gregorio Fault system in Monterey Bay into an array of some 10,00
Bastin et al . (Reports, 5 July 2019, p. 76) claim that 205 gigatonnes of carbon can be globally sequestered by restoring 0.9 billion hectares of forest and woodland canopy cover. Reinterpreting the data from Bastin et al ., we show that the global land area actually required to sequester human-emitted CO 2 is at least a factor of 3 higher, representing an unrealistically large area.
Our study quantified the global tree restoration potential and its associated carbon storage potential under existing climate conditions. Skidmore et al . dispute our findings, using as reference a yearly estimation of carbon storage that could be reached by 2050. We provide a detailed answer highlighting misunderstandings in their interpretation, notably that we did not consider any time limit f
Adverse events need to be quickly evaluated and memorized, yet how these processes are coordinated is poorly understood. We discovered a large population of excitatory neurons in mouse median raphe region (MRR) expressing vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (vGluT2) that received inputs from several negative experience–related brain centers, projected to the main aversion centers, and activated the
The creation of nanostructures with precise chemistries on material surfaces is of importance in a wide variety of areas such as lithography, superhydrophobicity, and cell adhesion. We describe a platform for surface functionalization that involves the fabrication of cylindrical micellar brushes on a silicon wafer through seeded growth of crystallizable block copolymers at the termini of immobili
In normal metals, macroscopic properties are understood using the concept of quasiparticles. In the cuprate high-temperature superconductors, the metallic state above the highest transition temperature is anomalous and is known as the "strange metal." We studied this state using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. With increasing doping across a temperature-independent critical value p c ~
Distributed fiber-optic sensing technology coupled to existing subsea cables (dark fiber) allows observation of ocean and solid earth phenomena. We used an optical fiber from the cable supporting the Monterey Accelerated Research System during a 4-day maintenance period with a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) instrument operating onshore, creating a ~10,000-component, 20-kilometer-long seismic
Robustly coherent spin centers that can be integrated into devices are a key ingredient of quantum technologies. Vacancies in semiconductors are excellent candidates, and theory predicts that defects in conjugated carbon materials should also display long coherence times. However, the quantum performance of carbon nanostructures has remained stunted by an inability to alter the sp 2 -carbon latti
Femtochemistry techniques have been instrumental in accessing the short time scales necessary to probe transient intermediates in chemical reactions. In this study, we took the contrasting approach of prolonging the lifetime of an intermediate by preparing reactant molecules in their lowest rovibronic quantum state at ultralow temperatures, thereby markedly reducing the number of exit channels ac
Elastocaloric cooling, a solid-state cooling technology, exploits the latent heat released and absorbed by stress-induced phase transformations. Hysteresis associated with transformation, however, is detrimental to efficient energy conversion and functional durability. We have created thermodynamically efficient, low-hysteresis elastocaloric cooling materials by means of additive manufacturing of
The successful implementation of spin-wave devices requires efficient modulation of spin-wave propagation. Using cobalt/nickel multilayer films, we experimentally demonstrate that nanometer-wide magnetic domain walls can be applied to manipulate the phase and magnitude of coherent spin waves in a nonvolatile manner. We further show that a spin wave can, in turn, be used to change the position of
Widespread applications of magnetic devices require an efficient means to manipulate the local magnetization. One mechanism is the electrical spin-transfer torque associated with electron-mediated spin currents; however, this suffers from substantial energy dissipation caused by Joule heating. We experimentally demonstrated an alternative approach based on magnon currents and achieved magnon-torq
ParABS systems facilitate chromosome segregation and plasmid partitioning in bacteria and archaea. ParB protein binds centromeric parS DNA sequences and spreads to flanking DNA. We show that ParB is an enzyme that hydrolyzes cytidine triphosphate (CTP) to cytidine diphosphate (CDP). parS DNA stimulates cooperative CTP binding by ParB and CTP hydrolysis. A nucleotide cocrystal structure elucidates
Noncoding genetic variation is a major driver of phenotypic diversity, but functional interpretation is challenging. To better understand common genetic variation associated with brain diseases, we defined noncoding regulatory regions for major cell types of the human brain. Whereas psychiatric disorders were primarily associated with variants in transcriptional enhancers and promoters in neurons
Adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids can deliver transformative gene therapies, but our understanding of AAV biology remains incomplete. We generated the complete first-order AAV2 capsid fitness landscape, characterizing all single-codon substitutions, insertions, and deletions across multiple functions relevant for in vivo delivery. We discovered a frameshifted gene in the VP1 region that expres
Disruption of intestinal microbial communities appears to underlie many human illnesses, but the mechanisms that promote this dysbiosis and its adverse consequences are poorly understood. In patients who received allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT), we describe a high incidence of enterococcal expansion, which was associated with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and mortality
To understand membrane protein biogenesis, we need to explore folding within a bilayer context. Here, we describe a single-molecule force microscopy technique that monitors the folding of helical membrane proteins in vesicle and bicelle environments. After completely unfolding the protein at high force, we lower the force to initiate folding while transmembrane helices are aligned in a zigzag man
The dense circuit structure of mammalian cerebral cortex is still unknown. With developments in three-dimensional electron microscopy, the imaging of sizable volumes of neuropil has become possible, but dense reconstruction of connectomes is the limiting step. We reconstructed a volume of ~500,000 cubic micrometers from layer 4 of mouse barrel cortex, ~300 times larger than previous dense reconst
The coldest chemical reaction in the known universe took place in what appears to be a chaotic mess of lasers. The appearance deceives: Deep within that painstakingly organized chaos, in temperatures millions of times colder than interstellar space, Kang-Kuen Ni achieved a feat of precision. Forcing two ultracold molecules to meet and react, she broke and formed the coldest bonds in the history of
Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) have become the go-to vehicle for delivering therapeutic gene cargo to target tissues for the recent wave of gene therapies that are in development in academic and biotechnology laboratories. However, natural AAVs do not specifically target diseased cells and tissues, and they can be recognized by the immune system in ways that limit therapeutic success. To improve
MIT researchers have devised a novel circuit design that enables precise control of computing with magnetic waves—with no electricity needed. The advance takes a step toward practical magnetic-based devices, which have the potential to compute far more efficiently than electronics.
Fiber-optic cables that constitute a global undersea telecommunications network could one day help scientists study offshore earthquakes and the geologic structures hidden deep beneath the ocean surface.
Scientists at the University of Maryland (UMD) have developed a novel elastocaloric cooling material, comprised of a nickel (Ni)-titanium (Ti) alloy and sculpted using additive technology, that is highly efficient, eco-friendly and easily scaled-up for commercial use. The study was published in the journal Science on November 29.
Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) have become the go-to vehicle for delivering therapeutic gene cargo to target tissues for the recent wave of gene therapies that are in development in academic and biotechnology laboratories. However, natural AAVs do not specifically target diseased cells and tissues, and they can be recognized by the immune system in ways that limit therapeutic success. To improve
Nature, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03686-y Chemicals used in poisoning of former Russian spy among latest additions to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
A new report urges biomedical researchers to use online web resources very carefully, taking into account their complementary benefits and weaknesses, when selecting small-molecule chemical probes to help answer their research questions.In a 'special report' published today in the journal Future Medicinal Chemistry, scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, carried out the first comp
The European Parliament voted on Thursday to declare a "climate and environment emergency" in a symbolic gesture just ahead of the latest UN global crisis summit.
European Space Agency (ESA) members agreed Thursday a record 14.4 billion euros budget, promising to maintain Europe's place at the top table as the United States and China press ahead and industry disruptors such as Elon Musk's Space X present new challenges.
Nature, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03691-1 Several climate tipping points are dangerously close. Plus: E. coli that eats carbon dioxide and why getting scooped doesn't mean losing all the credit.
Burning of the rainforest in southwestern Amazonia (the Brazilian, Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon) may increase the melting of tropical glaciers in the Andes, according to a study in Scientific Reports.
Nature, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03685-z Scientific research is not the endeavour of a single person. It requires a team of people. How can this be better reflected in graduate student training, asks Julie Gould.
It turns out legs, and least back legs, were no passing fancy for some serpents. Hind legs were found on Najash snakes, a bridge species between lizards and snakes. A new study provides several new insights into Najash rionegrina . None Over countless iterations, mutations of all sorts come and go. Some prove to be useful and enhance an organism's chances of reproduction, while others pop into ex
Fruit-flavored candy used to be very hard to get to taste like real fruit. (Glen Carrie/Unsplash/) No one expects a banana Laffy Taffy to taste like an actual banana. But the reason has nothing to do with some old timey banana—it has to do with chemistry. Legend has it that the reason artificial banana flavor tastes so strange is that the taste is actually based on the variety we used to eat, cal
Fires in the Amazon rainforest are likely to increase the rate of melting of Andean glaciers, potentially disrupting water supply for tens of millions of people, scientists said on Thursday.
Download this eBook to discover how metagenomics provides scientists with a means to better capture the extraordinary diversity present within microbial communities!
PLUS. Epilepsi-patienter har svært ved at udpege hvornår de faktisk får et anfald. Det gør det svært at medicinere korrekt. Nu viser et nyt studie, at et danskudviklet implantat er meget bedre til at overvåge hjernens elektriske bølger end patienternes egne notater.
https://youtu.be/Eu4CcNSxBg8 The idea is to install solar panels on a water dam in the Swiss Alps. The advantages of this setup are: High altitude and therefore less foggy or cloudy weather. Low temperatures increase the efficiency of the panels. Reflection of the sun on the snow increase the solar irradiance. submitted by /u/Renard2000 [link] [comments]
During Harvard University's commencement week in 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson took the podium at the annual meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa society. The group, composed of the top students in the graduating class, was gathered in the First Parish Church in Boston. Emerson, the class poet of his own Harvard class a decade before, and a writer and philosopher of growing stature, had been chosen as the h
"You need an egg, two spoonfuls of lard, and a pinch of salt, followed by flour, a dash of vinegar, and just enough warm water to create a dough with a dumpling-like consistency." This is part of the traditional Hungarian strudel recipe that Ilona and Erzsébet, elderly sisters and lifelong baking partners, learned from their late mother. In their small village of Tura, an hour outside of Budapest
Fejl på Rigshospitalets patologiafdeling – hvor prøver er forbyttet, sammenblandet eller bortkommet – har haft alvorlige konsekvenser for patienterne. Lægerne har forgæves forsøgt at få klinikledelse og centerledelse til at tage hånd om problemerne. Vi har styr på det, siger ledelsen.
The question of whether CO2 gives forests a boost or heat stresses them may depend on how quickly temperatures rise — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
The cosmos is stranger than we ever imagined and new bubbles of space-time may pop up and grow continuously with no beginning or end, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Biomassa från skogsbruk kan bli effektiv bioenergi. Särskilt med så kallad bränsledesign, där sammansättningen förändras genom blandning av olika biomassor eller med tillsats av andra ämnen. Då kan förbränningen bli renare och ge mindre drift- och miljöproblem, visar forskning vid Umeå universitet. I dag påverkar energianvändningen vår miljö och vårt klimat negativt, genom användandet av fossila
Medicin som används mot en viss typ av epilepsi kan vara ett nytt sätt att behandla elakartade hjärntumörer hos spädbarn. Forskare från Uppsala universitet, i samarbete med amerikanska och brittiska kollegor, har kunnat visa att en specifik mTOR-hämmare kan ta sig över blod-hjärnbarriären och både nå och attackera tumören där den finns. Varje år drabbas cirka 100 barn av hjärntumörer i Sverige. M
Microgravity Grub On Monday, the International Space Station's official Twitter account shared a video of the three NASA astronauts onboard talking about what Thanksgiving means to them — and sharing their plans for the best meal of the year. "When we think of Thanksgiving, we think of friends, family, and food," astronaut Andrew Morgan said in the video — before getting into the nitty gritty of
En landmand i Rusland er i gang med et forsøg, hvor malkekvæg bliver udstyret med virtual reality-briller. Målet er, at brillerne skal berolige køerne og få dem til at producere mere mælk.
There's a reason California is the largest zero-emission vehicle market in the country. If automakers want to sell cars in the state, then a certain percentage of their vehicles must be electric models.
Across different countries, genres, and instruments, songs trumpet the same general messages. (Rav_/Pixabay /) When you think of the songs of a faraway land or culture, what comes to mind? Is it something familiar, or something so unique from what you're used to that you can barely guess what the music is about? Turns out, your guess might be more educated than you think. Across cultures, we writ
Delar av landets skolor ger eleverna ledigt för att kunna delta i "Skolstrejk för klimatet", på andra har elever tvingats strejka från skolan, alltså uteblivit utan att få ledigt. En studie vid Jönköping University visar att svenska lärare är splittrade i synen på om elever ska ges ledigt eller ej för att demonstrera. Resultaten visar på olika uppfattningar, men också osäkerhet bland många lärare
En ortopædkirurg opdagede en mulig fejloperation, og det satte gang i en stor, intern undersøgelse af akutte ortopædkirurgiske operationer på sygehuset i Thisted. Og den afslører flere mulige fejloperationer.
I den tidiga islamiska världen var erotiska kompendier och sexhandböcker en populär litterär genre. Även om de främst skrevs av manliga författare så betonades ofta kvinnornas sexuella behov och vikten av romantik. – Kvinnors sexualitet var ett viktigt ämne i medeltida arabisk medicin, säger Pernilla Myrne, universitetslektor i arabiska vid Göteborgs universitet. Under flera år har Pernilla Myrne
New cases of highly infectious disease that should be 'consigned to the history books' reported in Nigeria, the DRC, CAR and Angola New cases of polio linked to the oral vaccine have been reported in four African countries and more children are now being paralysed by vaccine-derived viruses than those infected by viruses in the wild, according to global health numbers. The World Health Organizati
Debatten om växtskyddsmedel som innehåller så kallade neonikotinoider bör nyanseras. Det anser forskare vid Lunds universitet och SLU. Medlet kan faktiskt vara gynnsamt för humlor och pollinering. Neonikotinoider är ett ämne som länge använts som insektsmedel. Några av dem är numera förbjudna eftersom de haft negativ verkan på bin. Andra neonikotinoider, som tiakloprid, används fortfarande. I en
Jan Frystyk bliver ny ledende overlæge på Endokrinologisk Afdeling på Odense Universitetshospital. Han vil bl.a. satse på mere samarbejde med almen praksis.
Bristol band team up with academics from Manchester University to share tour data Massive Attack: We've toured for years. Now we'll have to change Last week Coldplay announced they were to stop touring until they were sure it would be carbon neutral; now Massive Attack are partnering with academics to map the carbon footprint of the music industry. The researchers from Manchester University's Tyn
Every day, as many as 500 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are born with HIV. A study out of Botswana finds that if newborns are given treatment right away, the virus becomes almost undetectable.
PLUS. En halvering af elvarmeafgiften og et snarligt udløb af en række statslige støtteordninger har sat fart i varmepumpe-projekterne i fjernvarmen. Rådgiveren PlanEnergi forventer næsten en tredobling af den nuværende kapacitet i 2020.
In February 1987, Neil Gehrels, a young researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, boarded a military plane bound for the Australian Outback. Gehrels carried some peculiar cargo: a polyethylene space balloon and a set of radiation detectors he had just finished building back in the lab. He was in a hurry to get to Alice Springs, a remote outpost in the Northern Territory, where he would la
Human-induced climate change may seem a purely modern phenomenon. Even in ancient Greece, however, people understood that human activities can change climate. Later the early United States was a lab for observing this as its settlers altered nature. By 1800 it was known that the mass clearing of forests raised temperatures in the Eastern U.S. and that climatic changes followed the pioneers as the
Water rushes into Venice's city council chamber just minutes after the local government rejects measures to combat climate change. Wildfires consume eastern Australia as fire danger soars past "severe" and "extreme" to "catastrophic" in parts of New South Wales. Ice levels in the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska, hit record lows. England sees floods all across the country. And that's just this week,
Although public awareness of autism spectrum disorder has improved, many children slip through the cracks, especially girls and children of color. The solution must go beyond better parenting. We must invest in an expansion of mental health services, especially in our public schools and preschools.
There are, arguably, only two interesting facts about bogs. The first is that some people have a jolly good time swimming through them, notably at the World Bog Snorkelling Championships held each year in central Wales, UK. The second is that they could help save the world.
A rodent-like creature that lived 120 million years ago in Asia had an unusual ear shape that may have evolved to accommodate its unique way of chewing
As American families gather around the table for Thanksgiving, there's no guarantee that everyone will have the same views when it comes to politics. This means that there's a lot of potential for conflicts to blow up as we pass one another the pumpkin pie. The best approach is to not shy away from important conversations — yes, talk about politics. However, try to do so in a way that preferences
There was a brief moment during early episodes when I was actually enjoying Servant , M. Night Shyamalan and Tony Basgallop's new series for Apple TV+. The show has been marketed as a work of psychological horror about a young couple who have experienced unspeakable loss, and yet it functions best early on as a surreal comedy about the grotesque excesses of the modern bourgeoisie. Dorothy (played
Take five minutes to meditate. Try to quiet the judgmental voice in your head. Call your mother. Pay for someone else's coffee. Compliment a colleague's work. In an age of polarization, xenophobia, inequality, downward mobility, environmental devastation, and climate apocalypse, these kinds of Chicken Soup for the Soul recommendations can feel not just minor, but obtuse. Since when has self-care
Elbilarna blir allt fler och släpper inte ut några avgaser när de körs. Men hur mycket kostar det klimatet att tillverka batterierna där energin lagras? Svenska Miljöinstitutet, IVL, kom för två år sedan fram till att tillverkningen av elbilsbatterier orsakar utsläpp på 150–200 kilo koldioxid för varje kilowattimme som batteriet kan lagra.
Almindelige aalborggensere har med stor sandsynlighed indåndet asbeststøv fra produktionen af eternitplader og transport af asbest. Ny undersøgelse skal estimere omfanget
Rigspolitiet forklarer, at man holdte offentliggørelse af teleskandalen tilbage på grund af folketingsvalget. Men beslutningen om at holde offentliggørelsen tilbage blev truffet før valget blev udskrevet.
Changes occur in the placenta in older pregnant mothers leading to a greater likelihood of poor health in their male offspring, a study in rats has shown. Both male and female fetuses do not grow as large in older mothers, but there are sex-specific differences in changes to placental development and function. These are likely to play a central role in the increased likelihood of later-life heart
Scientists at the University of Surrey have developed a novel vaccine and complementary skin test to protect cattle against bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB).
CuriosityStream offers a streaming library of over 2,000 documentary features and series. The service was created by Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet founder John S. Hendricks. CuriosityStream is available anywhere with no international geo-locking restrictions. None With new Apple and Disney streaming services dropping earlier this month, there have never been more high quality streaming
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13204-3 Radiofrequency ablation is used to treat metastatic colorectal cancer. In this study, the authors show that incomplete ablation of tumours results in metastases and show in mouse models that the chemokine CCL2 recruits myeloid cells to the partially ablated tumours, which can block T cell function.
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13055-y Visualisation tools that use dimensionality reduction, such as t-SNE, provide poor visualisation on large data sets of millions of observations. Here the authors present opt-SNE, that automatically finds data set-tailored parameters for t-SNE to optimise visualisation and improve analysis.
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13489-4 The scaffold protein Scribble (Scrib) has roles in PCP and tight junction formation. Here the authors show that during embryo implantation in mouse, Scrib is needed to form the avascular primary decidual zone by transforming stromal cells into an epithelial cell-like barrier around the crypt, protecting the
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13472-z Because our immediate observations are often ambiguous, we must use the context (prior beliefs) to guide inference, but the context may also be uncertain. Here, the authors show that humans can accurately estimate the reliability of the context and combine it with sensory uncertainty to form their decisions
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13218-x Studies on reactions between cold molecular ions and neutral atoms provide insights into intermolecular interactions. Here the authors explore the kinetics and dynamics of charge-transfer collisions between the cold N$${}_{2}^{+}$$ 2+ and O$${}_{2}^{+}$$ 2+ ions and neutral Rb atoms and discuss the role of l
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13470-1 The European Space Agency (ESA) recently selected Comet Interceptor as its first 'fast' (F-class) mission. It will be developed rapidly to share a launch with another mission and is unique, as it will wait in space for a yet-to-be-discovered comet.
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13225-y Haplotype information inferred by phasing is useful in genetic and genomic analysis. Here, the authors develop SHAPEIT4, a phasing method that exhibits sub-linear running time, provides accurate haplotypes and enables integration of external phasing information.
Nature Communications, Published online: 28 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12713-5 Identification of clinically relevant gene expression signatures for cancer stratification remains challenging. Here, the authors introduce a flexible nonlinear signal superposition model that enables dissection of large gene expression data sets into signatures and extraction of gene interactions.
Scientists at the University of Surrey have developed a novel vaccine and complementary skin test to protect cattle against bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB).
New research by NOAA and a visiting scientist from India shows that warming of the Indo-Pacific Ocean is altering rainfall patterns from the tropics to the United States, contributing to declines in rainfall on the United States west and east coasts.
Scientists at the University of Surrey have developed a novel vaccine and complementary skin test to protect cattle against bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB).
En egen dator eller surfplatta som tilldelas av skolan medför inte högre – eller lägre – resultat på de nationella proven i engelska, matematik eller svenska på högstadiet. Satsningen spelar heller ingen roll för sannolikheten att på sikt gå vidare till ett nationellt program på gymnasiet. Det framgår av en studie som genomförts av forskare vid Uppsala universitet. Den bygger på ett stort antal hö
Natten till den 10 april 2018 ringer en man till SOS Alarm. Rösten är upprörd och stressad när han berättar att det har inträffat ett mord i hans hem. – Har det inträffat ett mord i ditt hem? – Ja, det har det. Jag blev attackerad själv också och min flickvän dog. – Så din flickvän ligger död i lägenheten nu? – Nej, i vår stu- i vår stuga i Äspet. – I stugan, och vem är det som har dödat den här f
Vill du veta hur en hemsida såg ut för 10 år sedan? 20 år sedan? Lösningen för den som känner sig nostalgisk heter "Wayback Machine" – som arkiverat över 380 miljarder webbsidor ända sedan 1996 – öppet för alla.
Vad är det för poäng med att lära sig de där formlerna och räknetricken på mattelektionerna i gymnasiet? De flesta av oss gör aldrig några beräkningar med integraler eller sannolikheter i vardagslivet.
Vi människor är släkt med bläckfiskarna – fast på långt håll. Riktigt långt håll. Vår senaste gemensamma släkting levde för ungefär 600 miljoner år sedan. Och sedan dess har vi utvecklat avancerade nervsystem av helt olika slag. Hos bläckfiskar finns nästan dubbelt så många nervceller i armarna som i det centrala nervsystemet. Och matstrupen passerar rakt genom hjärnan. Det innebär att en bläckfis
Juridiska fakulteten vid Lunds universitet släpper en podcast som granskar några av Sveriges mest uppmärksammade rättsfall för alla som som vill veta mer om juridiken bakom rubrikerna. Redaktionen består av forskare och lärare inom bland annat straffrätt, rättshistoria, bevisvärdering och civilrätt.
Denna bok av forskaren Patrik Lindenfors, som ursprungligen är zoolog, tar upp massor av aspekter av det mänskliga. Det handlar om allt från ärftlighet och intelligens till språk, inlärning och beteendemönster. Mycket är spännande och tänkvärt – och för den forskningsintresserade finns här utan tvekan mycket att lära.
Svar: Påståendet att en partikel kan "existera på två platser samtidigt" är något man ofta stöter på i populära framställningar av kvantmekaniken. Det är inte helt fel, men kräver ett förtydligande. I kvantmekaniken beskrivs en partikel av vad man kallar en vågfunktion. Denna talar om vad sannolikheten är för att finna partikeln i ett visst läge när man gör en mätning.
Svar: Mardrömmar med så kallade false awakenings är ett välkänt fenomen, men det finns inte mycket forskning på området. De är relaterade till så kallad lucid dreaming, det vill säga ett tillstånd när man är medveten om att man drömmer och har förmåga att påverka dröminnehållet. False awakenings kan också förekomma ihop med sömngångaraktigt beteende, men också med den känsla som frågeställaren bes
Svar: Det finns forskning, politiska initiativ och ursprungsfolk själva som arbetat med klimatförändringarnas inflytande på de arktiska ursprungsfolken. Sammanfattningsvis kan man säga att ursprungsfolken själva under lång tid försökt få världen att uppmärksamma de hot som de står inför. Detta inleddes långt innan klimatförändringarna blev en stor global politisk fråga.
Svar: När man som psykolog läser om Mathias levnadsmätta katt associerar man till personlighetsdraget Öppenhet, som beskriver människors grad av "intresse för fantiserande, konstupplevelser, känslonyanser, aktiviteter av olika slag, nya idéer och nya värderingar" (citat från Psykologilexikon på Psykologiguiden.se, uppslagsordet "femfaktormodellen").
För andra sommaren i rad har arkeologer grävt vid kusten i Eke socken på sydvästra Gotland. I fjol hittades ett stort antal gravar i det så kallade Gudings slott, en vallanläggning, byggd före vikingatid. I fornlämningsregistret finns bara åtta gravar noterade men det är minst 50 enligt fjolårets undersökning Och kanske finns lika många till, tror utgrävningsledaren Dan Carlsson från firman Arendu
Länsstyrelsen i Skåne sätter upp skyltar där de ber båtägare att köra långsamt på grunda bottnar för ålgräsets skull. Ålgräset är nämligen känsligt för sediment som grumlas upp när båtar susar förbi snabbt. De gräsgröna undervattensängarna har minskat kraftigt, vilket leder till barnkammarbrist för bland annat havsöring, ål och torsk. Ålgräs är dessutom viktigt för att stabilisera havsbotten samti
I mitten av september gick F&F:s traditionsenliga kunskapskryssning av stapeln. Enligt försiktiga beräkningar var det den nittonde kryssningen. Som vanligt var det så gott som fullbokat, och de fem föreläsande forskarna fick publiken att ömsom häpna – och ömsom skratta.
Nobelpriset i fysik går i år till tre forskare som gett mänskligheten en ny förståelse för jordens och människans plats i universum. Bland annat belönas den första upptäckten av en exoplanet. Om just exoplaneter har vi en sedan länge inplanerad artikel i det här numret, och låter därför vår fysikredaktör Anna Davour inleda tidningen. Allt om de övriga priserna kan du läsa i nästa nummer, lagom til
För första gången kan vi få en bild av hur den utdöda denisovamänniskan kan ha sett ut. Genom att analysera dna har forskare i Israel och Spanien kommit fram till att de på många sätt liknade neandertalarna. Men de hade också unika drag som en bred skalle och en lång tandbåge. Bilden ovan av en ung denisovaflicka är skapad av en illustratör utifrån de nya rönen. Källa: Cell
Many women in the WHO European Region, particularly those in their 40s, are diagnosed at a late stage of HIV infection when their immune system is already starting to fail. They are three to four times more likely to be diagnosed late than younger women. According to data for 2018 released today by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe
South Korea will suspend up to a quarter of its coal-fired power plants in the next three months, even as demand for electricity peaks during the bitter winter, as it seeks to tackle air pollution, Seoul said Thursday.
Sharks, penguins, turtles and other seagoing species could help humans monitor the oceans by transmitting oceanographic information from electronic tags.
Sharks, penguins, turtles and other seagoing species could help humans monitor the oceans by transmitting oceanographic information from electronic tags.
När en person drabbas av psykisk ohälsa, cancer eller demens påverkas också nära anhöriga. Hur förklarar man för barnen? Finns det stöd att få? Hur är det att ha ett sjukt syskon eller att vara förälder till ett vuxet barn med missbruksproblem?
Tänk dig att kunna odla fram en hamburgare av riktigt kött utan att behöva slakta ett djur. Grunden till tekniken började utvecklas på 2010-talet, och hyllades som en lösning på miljöproblemen med djuruppfödning. I Sverige är Julie Gold, biträdande professor i biomaterial på Chalmers, en av få som forskat på ämnet. Redan 2009 skrev Forskning & Framsteg om hennes projekt med muskelceller i en biore
PLUS. Undersøgelserne af den katastrofale brand i højhuset Grenfell har fokuseret for meget på manglende kompetence i byggebranchen, mener britisk brandekspert.
With their expertise in the safe and effective use of medications, pharmacists can help in the management of chronic diseases. A review and analysis published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology indicates that initiatives — such as patient education, medication review, and physical assessments — led by pharmacists can make important contributions to the prevention of cardiovascular d
Pharmacists based in GP practices can play an integral role in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, finds new research led by the University of Birmingham.
Most patients do not understand or recall information given to them before heart procedures. For example, many patients mistakenly believe that opening blocked arteries will cure them of heart disease. That's one of the findings of a study about informed consent published today in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Chemokine receptors are of great interest as they play a critical role in many immunological and pathological processes. The ability to study chemokine receptors in aqueous solution without detergent would be significant because natural receptors require detergents to become soluble. We previously reported using the QTY code to design detergent-free…
The function of outer hair cells (OHCs), the mechanical actuators of the cochlea, involves the anchoring of their tallest stereocilia in the tectorial membrane (TM), an acellular structure overlying the sensory epithelium. Otogelin and otogelin-like are TM proteins related to secreted epithelial mucins. Defects in either cause the DFNB18B and…
Methylotrophy, the ability of microorganisms to grow on reduced one-carbon substrates such as methane or methanol, is a feature of various bacterial species. The prevailing oxidation pathway depends on tetrahydromethanopterin (H4MPT) and methylofuran (MYFR), an analog of methanofuran from methanogenic archaea. Formyltransferase/hydrolase complex (Fhc) generates formate from formyl-H4MPT in two…
The timing and duration of sleep results from the interaction between a homeostatic sleep–wake-driven process and a periodic circadian process, and involves changes in gene regulation and expression. Unraveling the contributions of both processes and their interaction to transcriptional and epigenomic regulatory dynamics requires sampling over time under conditions of…
Human population growth, soil degradation, and agrochemical misuse are significant challenges that agriculture must face in the upcoming decades as it pertains to global food production. Seed enhancement technologies will play a pivotal role in supporting food security by enabling germination of seeds in degraded environments, reducing seed germination time,…
Learning kinetic systems from data is one of the core challenges in many fields. Identifying stable models is essential for the generalization capabilities of data-driven inference. We introduce a computationally efficient framework, called CausalKinetiX, that identifies structure from discrete time, noisy observations, generated from heterogeneous experiments. The algorithm assumes the…
Evidence shows that the neurotransmitter dopamine mediates the rewarding effects of nicotine and other drugs of abuse, while nondopaminergic neural substrates mediate the negative motivational effects. β2* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) are necessary and sufficient for the experience of both nicotine reward and aversion in an intra-VTA (ventral tegmental area)…
Naive CD4+ T lymphocytes differentiate into different effector types, including helper and regulatory cells (Th and Treg, respectively). Heritable gene expression programs that define these effector types are established during differentiation, but little is known about the epigenetic mechanisms that install and maintain these programs. Here, we use mice defective…
Large proteins with multiple domains are thought to fold cotranslationally to minimize interdomain misfolding. Once folded, domains interact with each other through the formation of extensive interfaces that are important for protein stability and function. However, multidomain protein folding and the energetics of domain interactions remain poorly understood. In elongation…
We investigate the dynamics of Lumbriculus variegatus in water-saturated sediment beds to understand limbless locomotion in the benthic zone found at the bottom of lakes and oceans. These slender aquatic worms are observed to perform elongation–contraction and transverse undulatory strokes in both water-saturated sediments and water. Greater drag anisotropy in…
Understanding HIV-1 persistence despite antiretroviral therapy (ART) is of paramount importance. Both single-genome sequencing (SGS) and integration site analysis (ISA) provide useful information regarding the structure of persistent HIV DNA populations; however, until recently, there was no way to link integration sites to their cognate proviral sequences. Here, we used…
Bees acquire carbohydrates from nectar and lipids; and amino acids from pollen, which also contains polysaccharides including cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. These potential energy sources could be degraded and fermented through microbial enzymatic activity, resulting in short chain fatty acids available to hosts. However, the contributions of individual microbiota members…
Iron is an essential nutrient for plants, but excess iron is toxic due to its catalytic role in the formation of hydroxyl radicals. Thus, iron uptake is highly regulated and induced only under iron deficiency. The mechanisms of iron uptake in roots are well characterized, but less is known about…
A method is proposed for analyzing fast (10 μs) single-molecule rotation trajectories in F1 adenosinetriphosphatase (F1-ATPase). This method is based on the distribution of jumps in the rotation angle that occur in the transitions during the steps between subsequent catalytic dwells. The method is complementary to the "stalling" technique devised…
Goblet cell metaplasia and mucus hypersecretion are observed in many pulmonary diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cystic fibrosis. However, the regulation of goblet cell differentiation remains unclear. Here, we identify a regulator of this process in an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) screen for modulators of postnatal lung development;…
The voltage-sensing phosphatase (VSP) is a unique protein that shows voltage-dependent phosphoinositide phosphatase activity. Here we report that VSP is activated in mice sperm flagellum and generates a unique subcellular distribution pattern of PtdIns(4,5)P2. Sperm from VSP−/− mice show more Ca2+ influx upon capacitation than VSP+/− mice and abnormal circular…
Phytochrome B (phyB) absorbs red light signals and subsequently initiates a set of molecular events in plant cells to promote photomorphogenesis. Here we show that phyB directly interacts with B-BOX CONTAINING PROTEIN 4 (BBX4), a positive regulator of red light signaling, and positively controls its abundance in red light. BBX4…
Protein multivalency can provide increased affinity and specificity relative to monovalent counterparts, but these emergent biochemical properties and their mechanistic underpinnings are difficult to predict as a function of the biophysical properties of the multivalent binding partners. Here, we present a mathematical model that accurately simulates binding kinetics and equilibria…
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BioNyt Videnskabens Verden (www.bionyt.dk) er Danmarks ældste populærvidenskabelige tidsskrift for naturvidenskab. Det er det eneste blad af sin art i Danmark, som er helliget international forskning inden for livsvidenskaberne.
Bladet bringer aktuelle, spændende forskningsnyheder inden for biologi, medicin og andre naturvidenskabelige områder som f.eks. klimaændringer, nanoteknologi, partikelfysik, astronomi, seksualitet, biologiske våben, ecstasy, evolutionsbiologi, kloning, fedme, søvnforskning, muligheden for liv på mars, influenzaepidemier, livets opståen osv.
Artiklerne roses for at gøre vanskeligt stof forståeligt, uden at den videnskabelige holdbarhed tabes.
Tegn abonnement på
BioNyt Videnskabens Verden (www.bionyt.dk) er Danmarks ældste populærvidenskabelige tidsskrift for naturvidenskab. Det er det eneste blad af sin art i Danmark, som er helliget international forskning inden for livsvidenskaberne.
Bladet bringer aktuelle, spændende forskningsnyheder inden for biologi, medicin og andre naturvidenskabelige områder som f.eks. klimaændringer, nanoteknologi, partikelfysik, astronomi, seksualitet, biologiske våben, ecstasy, evolutionsbiologi, kloning, fedme, søvnforskning, muligheden for liv på mars, influenzaepidemier, livets opståen osv.
Artiklerne roses for at gøre vanskeligt stof forståeligt, uden at den videnskabelige holdbarhed tabes.
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