Nature Communications, Published online: 03 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19924-1 Droughts pose an increasingly important threat to forests. Here the authors analyse a high-resolution Landsat-based dataset of forest canopy mortality in Europe over 1987–2016 to show that drought is already a major driver of tree mortality.
Nature Communications, Published online: 03 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20014-5 In plants, light-dependent activation fatty acid synthesis (FAS) is mediated in part by acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase). Here the authors identify a family of genes encoding carboxyltransferase interactors that attenuate FAS in the light by docking acetyl-CoA carboxylase to the plastid envelope.
Nature Communications, Published online: 03 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19877-5 The TGFβ signaling pathway has been shown to regulate transcription by regulating enhancer activity. Here, the authors perform a comprehensive analysis of enhancers in normal mammary epithelial gland cells to elucidate how TGFβ-dependent enhancers control gene transcription in these cells.
Nature Communications, Published online: 03 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19995-0 Alka(e)nes with chain lengths in C5-C23 range are ideal fuel components. Here, the authors report that high-titer production of alak(e)nes in pathway engineered Yarrowia lipolytica, which is enabled by the finding that acyl-CoA is another substrate of fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP).
Collecting and promptly analyzing heart health and treatment data can help experts understand what healthcare delivery changes are needed to improve heart health. Collaboration between researchers and healthcare professionals can improve population health efforts to prevent heart disease.When healthcare systems monitor data in real-time and implement changes based on those data, best practices in
Education secretary lauds vaccine rollout saying scientists in UK better than in France, Belgium or US Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has claimed the UK was the first country in the world to clinically approve a coronavirus vaccine because the country has "much better" scientists than France, Belgium or the US. Williamson s
China said Thursday its latest lunar probe has finished taking samples of the moon's surface and sealed them within the spacecraft for return to Earth, the first time such a mission has been attempted by any country in more than 40 years.
A noontime boom that was heard and felt from southern Ontario to Virginia was likely caused by a disintegrating meteor, according to an organization in western New York that keeps track of such phenomena.
Skatt på koldioxid förs fram som lösningen på klimatkrisen, ändå beskattas i dag bara drygt en femtedel av världens koldioxidutsläpp. Varför är det så? – Det är elefanten i rummet. Alla vet att det behövs ett pris på kol. Men det verkar ha fastnat i att alla är livrädda för kostnadsökningar. Om ett land lägger en extra kostnad på företagen, då kan andra länder få ett övertag och produktionen flytt
Research by Kai Jiao, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in Germany has yielded fundamental insights into the causes of severe birth defects known as CHARGE syndrome cases. These congenital birth defects include severe and life-threatening heart malformations.
Research by Kai Jiao, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in Germany has yielded fundamental insights into the causes of severe birth defects known as CHARGE syndrome cases. These congenital birth defects include severe and life-threatening heart malformations.
Superstorm Sandy brought flood-levels to the New York region that had not been seen in generations. Causing an estimated $74.1 billion in damages, it was the fourth-costliest U.S. storm behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017 according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Now, due to the impact of climate change, researchers at Stevens Institute
As President-elect Joe Biden and his administrative team officially begin the transition process, only about 20 percent of Republican voters consider him the true winner of the election. Nearly half of all respondents—48 percent—still expect President Donald Trump to be inaugurated for a second term on January 20, despite plenty of indicators to the contrary. Those are among the findings of the la
A new study reveals how bacteria control the chemicals produced from consuming 'food.' The insight could lead to organisms that are more efficient at converting plants into biofuels.
A small group of volcanic islands in Alaska's Aleutian chain might be part of a single, undiscovered giant volcano, say scientists presenting the findings Monday, 7 December at AGU's Fall Meeting 2020. If the researchers' suspicions are correct, the newfound volcanic caldera would belong to the same category of volcanoes as the Yellowstone Caldera and other volcanoes that have had super-eruptions
Ancient deep sea creatures called radiodonts had incredible vision that likely drove an evolutionary arms race according to new research published today.
A new study reveals how bacteria control the chemicals produced from consuming 'food.' The insight could lead to organisms that are more efficient at converting plants into biofuels.
Pattern recognition is what AIs are good at, and looking at the symptoms of diseases and making diagnosis is basically that. It shouldn't be much more difficult than playing go. And in the same way that current AIs are capable of defeating the greatest masters of this game, the same will happen in medicine. And as Yuval Harari observed, even if creating this doctor costs a lot, we only have to do
I'm at a point where I'm looking to change career. However I'm very concerned about having to retrain for a role which may face difficulties in respect to employment. I'm a lurker in the sub and frequently see discussions surrounding automation and UBI, so I'm sure you will have some interesting insights submitted by /u/kingo15 [link] [comments]
"This is going to be a fantastic year for Britain," read the tweet, posted by Boris Johnson. Underneath, the prime minister was pictured staring resolutely into the camera, both thumbs up in the air. The date was January 2, 2020—11 months ago, but seemingly from a different world. Surveying the scene in the last month of 2020, far from being a fantastic year, one in which Britain would unshackle
Each innovation challenges the norms, codes, and values of the society in which it is embedded. The industrial revolution unleashed new forces of productivity but at the cost of inhumane working conditions, leading to the creation of unions, labor laws, and the foundations of the political party structures of modern democracies. Fossil fuels powered a special century of growth before pushing gove
Paid speeches at lavish events touting drugs and medical devices risk charges of anti-kickback law violations, warns a recent government Special Fraud Alert. Will companies and doctors take heed this time? The post first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have found that graphene-based heat pipes can help solve the problems of cooling electronics and power systems used in avionics, data centres, and other power electronics.
Scientists used human white blood cell membranes to carry two drugs, an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory, directly to infected lungs in mice. The nano-sized drug delivery method successfully treated both the bacterial growth and inflammation in the mice's lungs. The study shows a potential new strategy for treating infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
A new study reveals how bacteria control the chemicals produced from consuming 'food.' The insight could lead to organisms that are more efficient at converting plants into biofuels.
small group of volcanic islands in Alaska's Aleutian chain might be part of a single, undiscovered giant volcano, say scientists presenting the findings Monday, 7 December at AGU's Fall Meeting 2020. If the researchers' suspicions are correct, the newfound volcanic caldera would belong to the same category of volcanoes as the Yellowstone Caldera and other volcanoes that have had super-eruptions wi
Octapharma USA will present multiple clinical research posters focused on the efficacy and safety of fibryga®, Fibrinogen (Human) Lyophilized Powder for Reconstitution, for Intravenous Use in the treatment of congenital and acquired bleeding disorders during the 62nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, a virtual medical congress to be held December 5 – 8, 2020.
The Voyager spacecraft continue to make discoveries even as they travel through interstellar space. In a new study, University of Iowa physicists report on the Voyagers' detection of cosmic ray electrons associated with eruptions from the sun–more than 14 billion miles away.
Culture cmeyers Wed, 11/25/2020 – 13:16 Image Media credits Abigail Malate, Staff Illustrator Celebrating the Indigenous people of the Americas who revolutionized what the world eats. Tuesday, November 24, 2020 Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer https://www.insidescience.org/news/geographical-origins-thanksgiving-foods
Contributor is a journalist and student in the science communication graduate program at UC Santa Cruz. She grew up in Chicago, studied biology at Oberlin College, and now lives in California. You can find her on Twitter @tessjoosse , where she tweets about writing, baking, and her dog Leo. Author social media Twitter Author Articles Earth Supermoons Carve Away at Sandy Beaches by Commandeering
Human cgorski Mon, 10/12/2020 – 12:36 Image A vaccine could confer long-term protection even if a natural infection does not. Wednesday, November 11, 2020 Nala Rogers, Staff Writer https://insidescience.org/news/why-you-should-probably-get-covid-19-vaccine-eve…
Culture tconnell Tue, 10/06/2020 – 08:44 Image The announcements of this year's winners begin on October 5. Click on the image to see all of our related coverage. Tuesday, October 6, 2020 Inside Science Staff /nobel-coverage/2020
Wildlife recordist Chris Watson and sound artist Prof Tony Myatt conclude their three-part odyssey to the west coast of Mexico to record the songs of blue whales in the Sea of Cortez. In the port of Loreto, Chris and Tony visit a local organisation set up to protect local wildlife, and Chris talks to whale communication expert Dr Valeria Vergara. They also turn to spectral analysis to see if they
Wildlife recordist Chris Watson and sound artist Prof Tony Myatt conclude their three-part odyssey to the west coast of Mexico to record the songs of blue whales in the Sea of Cortez. In the port of Loreto, Chris and Tony visit a local organisation set up to protect local wildlife, and Chris talks to whale communication expert Dr Valeria Vergara. They also turn to spectral analysis to see if they
Evidence of the ancient humans was limited to a cave in Siberia—but now, scientists have found genetic remains of the Denisovans in China. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Evidence of the ancient humans was limited to a cave in Siberia—but now, scientists have found genetic remains of the Denisovans in China. Christopher Intagliata reports. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Today the United States blew by two grim pandemic milestones. The country recorded a record 195,695 coronavirus cases and reported 100,226 hospitalizations, passing the 100,000 mark for the first time, according to the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic . While the 2,733 deaths today did not break the all-time record, this was the first day since May with more than 2,500 deaths, as well as th
Researchers have discovered that ozone — a component of outdoor and indoor air — can react with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis, on glass or cotton surfaces to produce new compounds, which they characterized for the first time.
Der bliver indsamlet data om fodboldspillere og fodboldhold som aldrig før. De bruges til at bygge avancerede modeller, der skal hjælpe trænere med at sætte det optimale hold og finde talenter.
Geothermal energy on Mars may have melted ice below the planet's surface billions of years ago, creating an environment that could have been suitable for life
The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic
The Arecibo Observatory telescope in Puerto Rico has collapsed, just weeks after the US National Science Foundation revealed plans to decommission the 57-year-old structure
An artificially intelligent pilot created by Google and Loon can keep huge stratospheric balloons in the air for hundreds of days at a time to act as floating cell towers in remote areas
China, the country at the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, now sees few cases and deaths. How has it done it and are the official numbers trustworthy?
The UK has become the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, with the first shots set to be administered to vulnerable people in the coming days
Noisy MRI machines are an unpleasant place to have a migraine, but scanning people in the middle of an attack has revealed which brain regions may be responsible for the condition
The UK has embarked on a step to building the world's first nuclear fusion power station, by launching a search for a 100-plus hectare site where it can be plugged into the electricity grid
Some birds can detect the movement of hidden prey by plunging their beaks into soil or water – and the "sixth sense" may have begun to evolve in predatory dinosaurs
Limiting warming to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels will require $393 billion each year to incentivise forest managers to store more carbon in their forests
Fruit flies that are lulled by gentle vibrations while they fall sleep snooze for longer, a finding that could explain why babies like to be rocked or why people fall asleep in the car
AI firm DeepMind's latest creation, AlphaFold, can predict the shape of proteins from their sequence alone. This fiendish problem normally requires time-consuming experiments, but is key to understanding the machinery of life
Chang'e 5 is set to bring moon rocks back to Earth for the first time in more than four decades – and China has even more ambitious plans for lunar missions in the coming years
Regulation of quiescence is critical for the maintenance of adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Disruption of transcription factor gene Prdm16 during mouse embryonic development has been shown to cause a severe loss of fetal liver HSCs; however, the underlying mechanisms and the function of Prdm16 in adult HSCs remain unclear….
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X chromosome-linked disease, and it is the most common form of muscular dystrophy caused by genetic mutations in the Dmd gene (1). The Dmd gene contains 79 exons, spans 2.4 Mb, and is the single largest gene in the human genome (2). This gene…
Yellow fever (YF) is a mosquito-transmitted viral disease that causes tens of thousands of deaths each year despite the long-standing deployment of an effective vaccine. In its most severe form, YF manifests as a hemorrhagic fever that causes severe damage to visceral organs. Although coagulopathy is a defining feature of…
Current approaches for the production of high-value compounds in microorganisms mostly use the cytosol as a general reaction vessel. However, competing pathways and metabolic cross-talk frequently prevent efficient synthesis of target compounds in the cytosol. Eukaryotic cells control the complexity of their metabolism by harnessing organelles to insulate biochemical pathways….
White Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata) is an important staple tuber crop in West Africa. However, its origin remains unclear. In this study, we resequenced 336 accessions of white Guinea yam and compared them with the sequences of wild Dioscorea species using an improved reference genome sequence of D. rotundata. In…
In prokaryotes, thermodynamic models of gene regulation provide a highly quantitative mapping from promoter sequences to gene-expression levels that is compatible with in vivo and in vitro biophysical measurements. Such concordance has not been achieved for models of enhancer function in eukaryotes. In equilibrium models, it is difficult to reconcile…
When Mariner 4 buzzed Mars in 1965, it revealed a dry, desiccated world that stood in stark contrast to the habitable planet dreamed of by decades of science fiction writers. Subsequent observations revealed the apparent scars of rivers and deltas, and even potential sea shorelines. The revelations brought hope that…
Polyphosphate is a linear chain of phosphate residues and is present in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans. Pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis accumulate polyphosphate, and reduced expression of the polyphosphate kinase that synthesizes polyphosphate decreases their survival. How polyphosphate potentiates pathogenicity is poorly understood. Escherichia coli K-12 do not…
A new microscopy technique allows researchers to directly observe the process of nucleation, which leads to the formation of droplets and bubbles on surfaces. The advance may facilitate the design of improved, more efficient surfaces for a variety of industrial processes.
Researchers have developed — for the first time — a novel type of plant nanobionic optical sensor that can, in real-time, detect and monitor arsenic levels in the belowground environment, with significant advantages over conventional methods used to measure arsenic in the environment. The new sensor will improve arsenic detection and will help safeguard food safety, and will be useful for agricu
For the first time ever, expansion microscopy allows the imaging of even the finest details of cell membranes. This offers new insights into bacterial and viral infection processes.
Researchers used a newly developed imaging technique called serial block face scanning electron microscopy, to produce a digital reconstruction of eye tissues from the outer retina, at very high resolution. This is the first time this technology has been used to fully reconstruct cells from the retina and could provide new insights into the causes of irreversible blinding diseases.
A new microscopy technique allows researchers to directly observe the process of nucleation, which leads to the formation of droplets and bubbles on surfaces. The advance may facilitate the design of improved, more efficient surfaces for a variety of industrial processes.
Researchers have developed — for the first time — a novel type of plant nanobionic optical sensor that can, in real-time, detect and monitor arsenic levels in the belowground environment, with significant advantages over conventional methods used to measure arsenic in the environment. The new sensor will improve arsenic detection and will help safeguard food safety, and will be useful for agricu
Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY The Trumpian vortex isn't what it used to be. Weeks after Donald Trump's defeat, the current is slowing: The president is commanding far less attention in his last weeks of
The one law of physics that virtually all scientists believe will never be found to be wrong is the second law of thermodynamics. Despite this exalted status, it has long been associated with a great mystery and a bleak implication. The mystery is that all the known laws of nature except one do not distinguish a temporal direction. The second law, however, asserts the existence of an all-powerful
Imagine that someone asked you to come up with a sequence of five words. In any other year, some idiosyncratic combination would likely come to mind. This year, though, one five-word sequence that has been etched into the memories of many Americans, and many worldwide, stands out—"person, woman, man, camera, TV." Donald Trump, touting his ability to memorize these words as part of a cognitive hea
The Man Who Loved Physics By Alan Lightman Several years ago, I attended a Buddhist retreat in which I was introduced to the idea of the "retinue," a constellation of influential and supportive people whom one imagines in an enveloping cloud as one meditates. Mentors. I took the concept one step further and decided to create an actual photo montage that I could hang on the wall above my desk: my
Arguably the best prescription to improve the situation facing women in science is for there to be more women in science. Oleg Golovnev / Shutterstock The increasing visibility of women in leadership roles is one of the few success stories in the struggle for equality in science. But a new study, which connects how often scientists' later publications get cited with the gender of their early coau
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have successfully reversed age-related vision loss in animals as well as eye damage stemming from with a condition mimicking human glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness around the world.
Scientists have shed light on the mechanisms that underlie how Aspergillus fumigatus activates the inflammasome, with implications for therapeutic development.
A new bioinspired prototype offers a total package of features unmatched by any hydrogen sensor currently on the market. While commercial hydrogen sensors only work at 150C or higher, the new tech is powered by light instead of heat. And the sensor can detect hydrogen at concentrations from as little as 10 ppm (for medical diagnoses) to 40,000 ppm (the level where the gas becomes potentially explo
A new 3D printing system enables realistic variations in glossiness across a 3D printed surface. The advance could aid fine art reproduction and the design of prosthetics.
Automated deep learning analysis of abdominal CT images produces a more precise measurement of body composition and predicts major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, better than overall weight or body mass index (BMI).
Fourteen drinks a week is linked with a higher risk of health problems including stroke and embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation, according to research.
Dropping a cell phone can sometimes cause superficial cracks to appear. But other times, the device can stop working altogether because fractures develop in the material that stores data. Now, researchers have made an environmentally friendly, gelatin-based film that can repair itself multiple times and still maintain the electronic signals needed to access a device's data. The material could be u
Plants get bacterial infections, just as humans do. When food crops and trees are infected, their yield and quality can suffer. Although some compounds have been developed to protect plants, few of them work on a wide variety of crops, and bacteria are developing resistance. Now, researchers have modified natural plant alkaloids into new compounds that kill bacteria responsible for diseases in ric
Elite athletes can be persuaded not to take banned substances – either by appealing to their sense of morality or educating them about the risks of using performance-enhancing drugs, according to a new study.
Replacing red meat with high quality plant foods such as beans, nuts, or soy may be associated with a modestly reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), suggests a study published by The BMJ today.
People born with major birth defects face a higher risk of cancer throughout life, although the relative risk is greatest in childhood and then declines, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was 94 and served as France's leader from 1974 to 1981 ; Lilly to supply 650,000 more doses of bamlanivimab to US government ; Spain caps parties at 10 people Former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing dies aged 94 Beware fake coronavirus vaccines, says Interpol Rural US hospitals ravaged by surge in cases US braces for Covid surge after Thanksgiving holidays Dozens
Heat waves, air pollution and extreme weather are making people sick and, increasingly, killing people. A key report by global physicians says fossil fuels are to blame. (Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03421-y Instrument platform crashed into the telescope's dish, irrevocably ending the facility's role in astronomy.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you're an astronaut, with a ticket to the International Space Station, where you'll be hanging out for months, if not nearly an entire year. While you're now part of an incredibly elite group of people ever to travel into space, you're also not immune to enjoying (like most of the rest of human civilization since time immemorial) a good drink. Would you t
Air pollution kills hundreds of thousands of people every year in Pakistan, yet no one was monitoring air quality. Now a group of citizen scientists is prompting change.
The U.K. issued emergency authorization Wednesday for the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first nation in the West to approve a rigorously tested vaccine. The U.S. will meet on December 10 to decide whether to approve Pfizer's vaccine, which achieved an efficacy rate of 90 percent in clinical trials. Moderna has also produced a vaccine that could be approved in the U.S. later in De
Research from Saint Louis University finds that among patients at risk for opioid misuse, the odds of receiving a Schedule II opioid (those with high abuse potential) for non-cancer pain were similar to those not at risk, despite new prescribing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 chip will live inside high-end Android phones. (Qualcomm/) It's easy to buy a smartphone—even a powerful flagship device—without ever thinking about the hardware inside. Even if you do dig into the spec sheets, you'll typically find whatever Qualcomm's latest chip is inside most high-end Android phones. Today, Qualcomm announced the latest version of its chip, the Snapdr
Superstorm Sandy brought flood-levels to the New York region that had not been seen in generations. Now, due to the impact of climate change, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have found that 100-year and 500-year flood levels could become regular occurrences for the thousands of homes surrounding Jamaica Bay, New York by the end of the century.
Many substances with different chemical and physical properties, from diamonds to graphite, are made up of carbon atoms. Amorphous forms of solid carbon do not have a fixed crystal structure and consist of structural units–nanosized graphene particles. A team of physicists from RUDN University studied the structure of amorphous carbon and suggested classifying it as a separate type of amorphous s
Bad Dreams Determined to help his war veteran father, whose PTSD gave him trouble sleeping, Tyler Skluzacek invented a smartwatch that can disrupt nightmares by measuring heart rate and body movements during sleep, Wired reports . Skluzacek first showed off an early version at a hackathon in 2015: a Pebble smartwatch that could send vibrations when heart rate or body movements increased at night
Ancient deep sea creatures called radiodonts had incredible vision that likely drove an evolutionary arms race according to new research published today.
As President-elect Joe Biden and his administrative team officially begin the transition process, only about 20 percent of Republican voters consider him the true winner of the election. Nearly half of all respondents–48 percent–still expect President Donald Trump to be inaugurated for a second term on January 20, despite plenty of indicators to the contrary. Those are among the findings of the
Lacking vaccines, countries have relied on multiple non-pharmaceutical interventions to control COVID-19 transmission. Despite the urging of the World Health Organization (WHO) in March to "test, test, and test," policy makers disagree on what is adequate testing.
Metabolites are small molecules found in our body's cells. They come from the food we eat, chemical processes happening within our bodies and microbes. A new analysis of recent studies has found that the levels of 10 metabolites detected in the blood are associated with a person's risk of stroke. The research is published in the December 2, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of
Updated at 9:46 p.m. ET on December 2, 2020. This article contains spoilers through the series finale of The Undoing . The Sunday finale of The Undoing was the most-watched episode of any HBO show since the last episode of Big Little Lies . The Undoing is a whodunit about the murder of a woman found, by her fourth-grade son, with her décolletage displayed and her face in pieces. Sex sells, accord
A new paper analyzes the metrics used to evaluate organ procurement organizations and proposes three complimentary metrics to reflect more accurate and equitable performance rankings.
Research has yielded fundamental insights into the causes of severe birth defects known as CHARGE syndrome cases. These congenital birth defects include severe and life-threatening heart malformations. Researchers successfully inactivated the gene for CHD7 in the neural crest cells of mouse embryos, and then rigorously probed how this change in developing cardiac neural crest cells caused severe d
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detected in blood donor samples indicate infections could have occurred in the US more than a month before the first confirmed case, but some experts remain skeptical.
Michigan State University (MSU) researchers have discovered that one of the most important reactions in the universe can get a huge and unexpected boost inside exploding stars known as supernovae.
Michigan State University (MSU) researchers have discovered that one of the most important reactions in the universe can get a huge and unexpected boost inside exploding stars known as supernovae.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03388-w Some researchers worry that shifting priorities towards pandemic-focused science comes at the expense of other disciplines.
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom approved Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine , and more nations are likely to soon follow. As the world pivots from vaccine development to vaccine distribution, the international law enforcement agency INTERPOL warns that organized crime will likely try to hoard doses of the vaccine. "As governments are preparing to roll out vaccines, criminal organizations are planning
The year's most important developments in the world of aerospace. (NASA/) The COVID-19 pandemic has been terrible for the commercial aviation industry, but that hasn't stopped aerospace innovation from cruising along over the past year. The list below highlights a giant airliner with folding wingtips, a fighter-jet drone that uses artificial intelligence, and even a nuclear-powered rover that's z
As COVID-19 surges nationwide, 78% of New York City residents believe it is likely or very likely the city will again experience a resurgence of cases similar to that seen last April. However, the November Presidential election appears to have triggered an optimism among New Yorkers: more than half feel "more hopeful" about the country's economic recovery (55%) and the government's ability to cont
People can continue using mineral-based aerosol sunscreens without fear of exposure to dangerous levels of nanoparticles or other respirable particulates, according to Penn State research published in the journal Aerosol Science and Engineering.
Water and air are highly mutable resources that exist in a myriad of physical states and dimensions, and due to their affectivity, these entities participate in a multitude of interactions capable of sustaining life, transforming environments, and shaping human behavior. As air and water circulate between the atmosphere and the landscape through the process of evapotranspiration, humans interact w
The Suzuki cross-coupling reaction is a widely used technique for combining organic compounds and synthesizing complex chemicals for industrial or pharmaceutical applications. The process requires the use of palladium (Pd) catalysts and, as of today, two main types of Pd-based materials are used in practice as heterogeneous catalysts.
Graphene, an atomically thin carbon layer through which electrons can travel virtually unimpeded, has been extensively studied since its first successful isolation more than 15 years ago. Among its many unique properties is the ability to support highly confined electromagnetic waves coupled to oscillations of electronic charge—plasmon polaritons—that have potentially broad applications in nanotec
One Friday evening in 1992, a meteorite ended a more than 150 million-mile journey by smashing into the trunk of a red Chevrolet Malibu in Peekskill, New York. The car's owner reported that the 30-pound remnant of the earliest days of our solar system was still warm and smelled of sulfur.
Fish are thriving and poachers are staying out of marine protected areas around California's Channel Islands, a new population analysis by an Oregon State University researcher shows.
Fish are thriving and poachers are staying out of marine protected areas around California's Channel Islands, a new population analysis by an Oregon State University researcher shows.
Despite the increase in use of e-cigarettes among adolescents, cigarette and smokeless tobacco prevalence declined more rapidly between 2012 and 2019 than in previous periods, according to a new study.
Passion Project During the coronavirus lockdown, professional hacker Ian Beer, a member of Google's hacking team Project Zero, developed a way to remotely hijack iPhones — simply by pointing a homebrewed antenna at them. Beer's technique requires only about $100 worth of equipment, Motherboard reports , and granted him total control of whatever phones he targeted. This is Beer's specialty, but th
We Look At The 6 Best Online Therapy Sites For Online Mental Health Counseling. From BetterHelp to TalkSpace and Amwell, We Count Down Good Therapy Services For Teen Counseling, Family Therapists, CBT & More [2020]
Shipping pallets — often used as display platforms in retail settings or seen as raw material for household projects — were responsible for sending more than 30,000 people to the emergency rooms of U.S. hospitals over a recent five-year period, according to a new study.
Bluestar Genomics, an innovative company leading the development of next-generation epigenomic approaches to cancer detection, and University of Chicago today announce the publication of a genome-wide 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) map across multiple human tissue types. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications , demonstrated the robust performance of 5hmC as a globa
As COVID-19 surges nationwide, 78% of New York City residents believe it is likely or very likely the city will again experience a resurgence of cases similar to that seen last April. However, the November Presidential election appears to have triggered an optimism among New Yorkers: more than half feel "more hopeful" about the country's economic recovery (55%) and the government's ability to cont
Medication originally developed to kill bacteria displayed the capacity to increase cell energy expenditure in tests with mice. Researchers are testing compounds with a similar structure that could give rise to novel approaches to the treatment of obesity
Let's get rolling. (PopSci/) Roller skating never stopped being cool, but this year the sport has picked up legions of new fans. And why not? It's an outdoor activity in a time when socializing indoors is dangerous, it's perfectly suited for making viral videos on Instagram or TikTok, and it makes you look really cool (when you're not falling). If you have any friends or family members who've got
Studies will continue online for many over five-week period to minimise risk of Covid transmission Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Students in England will be asked to stay at home after Christmas and continue their studies online at the start of the new year as part of a staggered return to university to minimise the risk of Covid transmission. The government wants
Moon Landing China released video footage today of its Chang'e-5 spacecraft approaching and then safely landing on the surface of the near side of the Moon. The footage shows the small craft zooming over countless craters of various sizes before slowing down and descending vertically for touchdown. China now has three landers currently operating on the Moon. No other country has safely landed on
As the number of cases of COVID-19 worldwide nears 65 million, and the number of deaths attributed to the disease approaches 1.5 million, many countries are enduring a crushing surge in numbers. The toll on health-care workers, families, and the victims of the disease has been enormous. Gathered below are photographs from around the world of the current battle against COVID-19, taken over the pas
The vote follows World Health Organization guidance saying that due to cannabis' therapeutic use and other factors, it "is not consistent with the criteria" for a Schedule IV drug. (Image credit: Luke Dray/Getty Images)
Using public data from the entire 1,500-square-mile Los Angeles metropolitan area, PNNL researchers reduced the time needed to create a traffic congestion model by an order of magnitude, from hours to minutes.
People can continue using mineral-based aerosol sunscreens without fear of exposure to dangerous levels of nanoparticles or other respirable particulates, according to Penn State research published in the journal Aerosol Science and Engineering .
CLEVELAND, Ohio (December 2, 2020)–Women being treated for cancer often experience menopause quite suddenly with common symptoms, such as hot flashes, amplified more than had menopause occurred naturally. A new study suggests that the intensity and volume of physical activity could mitigate some of those symptoms. Study results are published online in Menopause , the journal of The North American
A new study shows that breast cancer survivors may benefit from a combination of exercise and mindfulness training. When used together, the two approaches seem to help reduce fatigue. The preliminary results may help improve intervention techniques used for cancer patients.
Pathology reports on more than 50 killer whales stranded over nearly a decade in the northeast Pacific and Hawaii show that orcas face a variety of mortal threats — many stemming from human interactions.
A 2-month-old infant diagnosed with COVID-19 experienced reversible myocardial injury and heart failure, similar to COVID-19 related heart issues seen in adults, according to a case published in JACC: Case Reports . The infant recovered with normal heart function and was discharged with no heart failure medications.
A new research study from the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center led by investigators at the University of Chicago has identified new genetic markers associated with gestational length, providing new insights into potential risk factors for preterm birth.
The chemical composition of glass beads and their morphological characteristics can reveal where they come from. Archaeologists from the University of Geneva analyzed glass beads found at rural sites in Mali and Senegal from between the 7th and 13th centuries AD. The scientists demonstrate that the glass they are made of probably came from Egypt, the Levantine coast and the Middle East. The result
Stress hormones and immune cells called neutrophils may contribute to the recurrence of tumors years after treatment by awakening dormant cancer cells, suggests a study of mice and data from 80 patients with lung cancer.
Scientists have identified 3 bacteriophages, 47 bacterial species, and 50 fecal metabolites that were significantly more or less abundant in people with major depressive disorder (MDD) compared with healthy controls, according to a study in 311 individuals. The findings provide evidence that MDD may be characterized by gut microbiome disturbances. Jian Yang and
There would be at least four times as many flightless bird species on Earth today if it were not for human influences, finds a study led by UCL researchers, published in Science Advances .
A researcher at Osaka University uncovered a simple mechanism underlying the intricate skin patterns of animals through comprehensive analyses of the diversity of fish colorations.
The most habitable region for life on Mars would have been up to several miles below its surface, likely due to subsurface melting of thick ice sheets fueled by geothermal heat, a Rutgers-led study concludes. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, may help resolve what's known as the faint young sun paradox – a lingering key question in Mars science.
Pathology reports on more than 50 killer whales stranded over nearly a decade in the northeast Pacific and Hawaii show that orcas face a variety of mortal threats–many stemming from human interactions. The study also presents a baseline understanding of orca health.
One of the first studies to analyze trends across orca necropsy reports reveals human activity as a cause of death for studied orcas across every age group, according to a study published December 2, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Stephen Raverty from the Ministry of Agriculture, Canada, and colleagues.
A new study demonstrates the potential for plastic bottles tagged with tracking devices to deepen our understanding of how plastic pollution moves through rivers. Emily Duncan of the University of Exeter, U.K., and colleagues present this research in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on Dec 2, 2020.
Videoscope analysis of a well-preserved Neanderthal skeleton from Altamura, Italy reveals detailed dental information, including tooth wear and tooth loss.
Glass beads from remote medieval sites in Mali and Senegal suggest long distance trade networks may have been more extensive than previously thought — while a modern bead fragment also implicates a modern grave looter!
Optimal horse racing speed over the course of a flat race pinpointed by mathematical analysis to help achieve the fastest time, including adjustments for racecourse topography
Chemical compounds in foods or beverages like green tea, muscadine grapes, and dark chocolate can bind to and block the function of a particular enzyme, or protease, in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a new study. Proteases are important to the health and viability of cells and viruses, says study corresponding author De-Yu Xie, professor of plant and microbial biology at North Carolina State
Collective motion occurs when individuals use social interaction rules to respond to the movements and positions of their neighbors. How readily these social decisions are shaped by selection remains unknown. Through artificial selection on fish (guppies, Poecilia reticulata ) for increased group polarization, we demonstrate rapid evolution in how individuals use social interaction rules. Within
Gut microbiome disturbances have been implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, little is known about how the gut virome, microbiome, and fecal metabolome change, and how they interact in MDD. Here, using whole-genome shotgun metagenomic and untargeted metabolomic methods, we identified 3 bacteriophages, 47 bacterial species, and 50 fecal metabolites showing notable differences in a
The degree to which populations of cardiac progenitors (CPCs) persist in the postnatal heart remains a controversial issue in cardiobiology. To address this question, we conducted a spatiotemporally resolved analysis of CPC deployment dynamics, tracking cells expressing the pan-CPC gene Isl1 . Most CPCs undergo programmed silencing during early cardiogenesis through proteasome-mediated and PRC2 (
Physiological methods have identified a number of signatures of temporal prediction, a core component of attention. While the underlying neural dynamics have been linked to activity within cortico-striatal networks, recent work has shown that the behavioral benefits of temporal prediction rely on the cerebellum. Here, we examine the involvement of the human cerebellum in the generation and/or tem
In explaining extensive evidence for past liquid water, the debate on whether Mars was primarily warm and wet or cold and arid 4 billion years (Ga) ago has continued for decades. The Sun's luminosity was ~30% lower 4 Ga ago; thus, most martian climate models struggle to elevate the mean surface temperature past the melting point of water. Basal melting of ice sheets may help resolve that paradox.
Oceanic crust and sediments are the primary K sinks for seawater, and they deliver considerable amounts of K to the mantle via subduction. Historically, these crustal components were not studied for K isotopes because of the lack of analytical precision to differentiate terrestrial variations. Here, we report a high-precision dataset that reveals substantial variability in oceanic plates and prov
Human-driven extinctions can affect our understanding of evolution, through the nonrandom loss of certain types of species. Here, we explore how knowledge of a major evolutionary transition—the evolution of flightlessness in birds—is biased by anthropogenic extinctions. Adding data on 581 known anthropogenic extinctions to the extant global avifauna increases the number of species by 5%, but quad
T lymphocyte activation requires the formation of immune synapses (IS) with antigen-presenting cells. The dynamics of membrane receptors, signaling scaffolds, microfilaments, and microtubules at the IS determine the potency of T cell activation and subsequent immune response. Here, we show that the cytosolic chaperonin CCT (chaperonin-containing TCP1) controls the changes in reciprocal orientatio
Computer vision (CV) has the potential to change medicine fundamentally. Expert knowledge provided by CV can enhance diagnosis. Unfortunately, existing algorithms often remain below expectations, as databases used for training are usually too small, incomplete, and heterogeneous in quality. Moreover, data protection is a serious obstacle to the exchange of data. To overcome this limitation, we pr
Animals exhibit a fascinating variety of skin patterns, but mechanisms underlying this diversity remain largely unknown, particularly for complex and camouflaged colorations. A mathematical model predicts that intricate color patterns can be formed by "pattern blending" between simple motifs via hybridization. Here, I analyzed the skin patterns of 18,114 fish species and found strong mechanistic
Social cognition requires neural processing, yet a unifying method linking particular brain activities and social behaviors is lacking. Here, we embedded mobile edge computing (MEC) and light emitting diodes (LEDs) on a neurotelemetry headstage, such that a particular neural event of interest is processed by the MEC and subsequently an LED is illuminated, allowing simultaneous temporospatial visu
The color of firefly bioluminescence is determined by the structure of luciferase. Firefly luciferase genes have been isolated from more than 30 species, producing light ranging in color from green to orange-yellow. Here, we reconstructed seven ancestral firefly luciferase genes, characterized the enzymatic properties of the recombinant proteins, and determined the crystal structures of the gene
Highly stable oligomeric complexes of the monotopic membrane protein caveolin serve as fundamental building blocks of caveolae. Current evidence suggests these complexes are disc shaped, but the details of their structural organization and how they assemble are poorly understood. Here, we address these questions using single particle electron microscopy of negatively stained recombinant 8S comple
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in oxidative metabolism and brown/beige adipocyte identity. Here, we tested whether widespread changes in miRNA expression promoted by treatment with the small-molecule enoxacin cause browning and prevent obesity. Enoxacin mitigated diet-induced obesity in mice, and this was associated with increased energy expenditure. Consistently, subcutaneous white and
Radiodonts are nektonic stem-group euarthropods that played various trophic roles in Paleozoic marine ecosystems, but information on their vision is limited. Optical details exist only in one species from the Cambrian Emu Bay Shale of Australia, here assigned to Anomalocaris aff. canadensis . We identify another type of radiodont compound eye from this deposit, belonging to ' Anomalocaris ' brigg
The activation of Toll-like receptor heterodimer 1/2 (TLR1/2) by microbial components plays a critical role in host immune responses against pathogens. TLR1/2 signaling is sensitive to the chemical structure of ligands, but its dependence on the spatial distribution of ligands on microbial surfaces remains unexplored. Here, we reveal the quantitative relationship between TLR1/2-triggered immune r
While a genetic component of preterm birth (PTB) has long been recognized and recently mapped by genome-wide association studies (GWASs), the molecular determinants underlying PTB remain elusive. This stems in part from an incomplete availability of functional genomic annotations in human cell types relevant to pregnancy and PTB. We generated transcriptome (RNA-seq), epigenome (ChIP-seq of H3K27a
Although somatic mutations in Histone 3.3 (H3.3) are well-studied drivers of oncogenesis, the role of germline mutations remains unreported. We analyze 46 patients bearing de novo germline mutations in histone 3 family 3A ( H3F3A ) or H3F3B with progressive neurologic dysfunction and congenital anomalies without malignancies. Molecular modeling of all 37 variants demonstrated clear disruptions in
Surface functionalization of metallic and semiconducting 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have mostly relied on physi- and chemi-sorption at defect sites, which can diminish the potential applications of the decorated 2D materials, as structural defects can have substantial drawbacks on the electronic and optoelectronic characteristics. Here, we demonstrate a spontaneous defect-free fun
Hearing loss caused by noise, aging, antibiotics, and chemotherapy affects 10% of the world population, yet there are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs to prevent it. Here, we screened 162 small-molecule kinase-specific inhibitors for reduction of cisplatin toxicity in an inner ear cell line and identified dabrafenib (TAFINLAR), a BRAF kinase inhibitor FDA-approved for cancer t
Cilia are hair-like organelles, present in arrays that collectively beat to generate flow. Given their small size and consequent low Reynolds numbers, asymmetric motions are necessary to create a net flow. Here, we developed an array of six soft robotic cilia, which are individually addressable, to both mimic nature's symmetry-breaking mechanisms and control asymmetries to study their influence o
Changes in CO 2 emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic have been estimated from indicators on activities like transportation and electricity generation. Here, we instead use satellite observations together with bottom-up information to track the daily dynamics of CO 2 emissions during the pandemic. Unlike activity data, our observation-based analysis deploys independent measurement of pollutant c
Developmental enhancers control the expression of genes prefiguring morphological patterns. The activity of an enhancer varies among cells of a tissue, but collectively, expression levels in individual cells constitute a spatial pattern of gene expression. How the spatial and quantitative regulatory information is encoded in an enhancer sequence is elusive. To link spatial pattern and activity le
A research team has shed new night on the massive star and its neutron star companion, which are thought to be at the core of the gamma-ray binary system LS 5039.
Astronomers developed a new method to calibrate detectors to the light from dust in our Galaxy, thereby describing a new physics, with 99.2 percent accuracy, that may show parity symmetry breaking.
New parents often expect their baby to start sleeping through the night around the time they reach six months of age. But according to a new study parents should view sleep consolidation as a process, instead of a milestone to be achieved at a specific age.
Autonomous systems are affecting virtually all aspects of society, so future designs must be guided by a broad range of societal stakeholders, according to a new report.
As time goes by, the tips of your chromosomes—called telomeres—become shorter. This process has long been viewed as an unwanted side-effect of aging, but a recent study shows it is in fact good for you. "Telomeres protect the genetic material," says Titia de Lange, professor at Rockefeller University. "The DNA in telomeres shortens when cells divide, eventually halting cell division when the telo
Unimpressed Earlier this week, the Google-owned AI development company DeepMind announced with great fanfare that it had built an algorithm capable of predicting how proteins would fold based on their molecular composition. If it holds up, it's a stunning achievement that's eluded scientists for decades. But Business Insider reports that many experts in the field remain unimpressed, instead calli
Åtminstone 150 miljoner ton plastskräp flyter runt i haven och varje år tillkommer ytterligare åtta miljoner ton. Kunskapen om varifrån plastskräpet kommer och vart det tar vägen är bristfällig. Oceanografiska modeller ger en del ledtrådar, men det finns behov av detaljerade data om enskilda plastföremåls rörelser i världshaven. Nu har ett forskarteam med medlemmar från USA, Bangladesh och England
Researchers loaded containers with trackers and released them in the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal, giving new insight into how plastic pollution travels.
Your baby's ability to sleep through the night is a process, not a milestone, a new study shows. New parents often expect their baby to start sleeping through the night around the time they reach six months of age. Tracking 44 infants over a period of two weeks showed that sleeping patterns vary greatly–not only for different babies, but also night-to-night for the same baby. In the study in the
These days the science is very clear when it comes to the important role probiotics play in promoting and sustaining gut health. Unfortunately, most people get their information about probiotics from TV doctors, health bloggers, and international food conglomerates, who are trying to sell "probiotic" supplements, foods, and beverages that don't actually provide any known health benefits. However,
The most habitable region for life on Mars would have been up to several miles below its surface, likely due to subsurface melting of thick ice sheets fueled by geothermal heat, a Rutgers-led study concludes.
There would be at least four times as many flightless bird species on Earth today if it were not for human influences, finds a study led by UCL researchers.The study, published in Science Advances, finds that flightlessness evolved much more frequently among birds than would be expected if you only looked at current species.
Pathology reports on more than 50 killer whales stranded over nearly a decade in the northeast Pacific and Hawaii show that orcas face a variety of mortal threats—many stemming from human interactions.
The chemical composition of glass beads and their morphological characteristics can reveal where they come from. Archaeologists from the University of Geneva analyzed glass beads found at rural sites in Mali and Senegal from between the 7th and 13th centuries AD. The scientists demonstrate that the glass they are made of probably came from Egypt, the Levantine coast and the Middle East. The result
Why do leopards have spots and zebras have stripes? Many biologists have tried to answer these questions and have provided interesting hypotheses, including camouflage, thermoregulation, and insect repellent. But how did animals get these skin patterns? It is still difficult to answer this question. Evolutionary mechanisms underlying the diversity of animal colorations, especially complex and elab
There would be at least four times as many flightless bird species on Earth today if it were not for human influences, finds a study led by UCL researchers.The study, published in Science Advances, finds that flightlessness evolved much more frequently among birds than would be expected if you only looked at current species.
Pathology reports on more than 50 killer whales stranded over nearly a decade in the northeast Pacific and Hawaii show that orcas face a variety of mortal threats—many stemming from human interactions.
Why do leopards have spots and zebras have stripes? Many biologists have tried to answer these questions and have provided interesting hypotheses, including camouflage, thermoregulation, and insect repellent. But how did animals get these skin patterns? It is still difficult to answer this question. Evolutionary mechanisms underlying the diversity of animal colorations, especially complex and elab
MIT engineers have now developed a diagnostic tool, based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), that could be used to detect both fatty liver disease and liver fibrosis.
One Friday evening in 1992, a meteorite ended a more than 150 million-mile journey by smashing into the trunk of a red Chevrolet Malibu in Peekskill, New York. Nearly 30 years later, a new analysis of that same Peekskill meteorite and 17 others by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has led to a new hypothesis about how asteroids formed duri
Large-scale behavior change is a critical component when it comes to mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, as one West Virginia University researcher points out, it can also be leveraged to address a separate, yet, equally important, persistent public health crisis: gun violence in our nation's schools.
If you want to understand a part of Earth's galactic history, you may be able to find the answer in the crystal structure of a rock, research shows. The study outlines a method using paleo-detectors, an idea inspired by work from the 1960s, which used ancient minerals to search for new physics. The idea is this: The Earth is constantly showered with cosmic rays . Cosmic rays are particles produce
Analysis: Being first country in the world to license a jab for the virus is also fraught with unknown pitfalls Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage The obvious joy and excitement over the UK's approval of a vaccine against Covid , opening a way out of the pandemic, had barely begun to abate before questions started to arise over the speed with which the UK appeared to ha
Brother of former Labour leader spoke at May event in London's Hyde Park Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour party leader, has been found guilty of breaching emergency health regulations at an anti-lockdown protest in London's Hyde Park. During the two-day trial in Westminster magistrates court, the 73-year-old weather forecaster and climate change denier argued that his rights to free
There is a job of public reassurance ahead that will be made harder if partisanship and ministerial grandstanding get in the way Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage When the history of the pandemic is written, the tragic cost will be balanced with stories of human ingenuity and resilience. The speed with which effective vaccines have been developed will feature prominent
PM says news brings 'sure and certain knowledge' that people can reclaim their lives Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Boris Johnson has declared that the nation is no longer resting on the hope of a return to normality by spring but instead has the "certain knowledge" that people can reclaim their lives, as he hailed the arrival of the newly approved Covid-19 vaccine.
The combination of hurricanes, wildfires, and the pandemic meant the organization provided four times as much assistance as in an average year — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Fish are thriving and poachers are staying out of marine protected areas around California's Channel Islands, a new population analysis by an Oregon State University researcher shows.
Nature, Published online: 01 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03424-9 The Arecibo telescope is lost. Plus, how COVID vaccines are being divvied up around the world and what the much-loved programming language Rust can do for scientists.
An international study has found a link between the brain's network connections and grey matter atrophy caused by certain types of epilepsy, a major step forward in our understanding of the disease.
Scientists predict Greenland ice sheet will pass a threshold beyond which it will never fully regrow and sea levels will be permanently higher in as little as 600 years under current climate change projections, as Greenland's climate would be permanently altered as the ice sheet shrinks.
Nature Communications, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20254-5 Author Correction: Near-real-time monitoring of global CO 2 emissions reveals the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The improved air quality and reduced ozone pollution that followed the 1970 passage of the US Clean Air Act and later amendments have saved the lives of 1.5 billion birds across the continent, according to new research. The research shows that pollution regulations that are nominally designed to protect human health can provide value for other species as well, says Eric Zou, an assistant professo
What can archaeologists tell us about the impacts of climate change on human history? Facets of human life, like breathing, cooking, bathing, agriculture, and engaging with the outdoors, become intertwined with a region's hydroclimate. Interactions with air and water, in turn, influence the ways humans construct and modify their societies.
Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a dual-mode heating and cooling device for building climate control that, if widely deployed in the U.S., could cut HVAC energy use by nearly 20 percent. The invention uses a combination of mechanics and nanomaterials to either harness or expel certain wavelengths of light. Depending on conditions, rollers move a sheet back and forth to expose either
cientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have designed a novel catalyst for the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction, which is widely used in the synthesis of industrial and pharmaceutical organic chemicals. Their strategy of loading an intermetallic Pd compound onto a support sharing the same element yields a stable and cost-effective catalyst that outperforms commercially available alte
Columbia University researchers report that they have achieved plasmonically active graphene with record-high charge density without an external gate. They accomplished this by exploiting novel interlayer charge transfer with a two-dimensional electron-acceptor known as ?-RuCl3. "This work allows us to use graphene as a plasmonic material without metal gates or voltage sources, making it possible
University of Pittsburgh researchers reveal a molecular basis for the deep and fundamental connection between the disruption in circadian rhythms and predisposition to substance abuse.
Many people believe that they have a dominant learning style, and that it's tied to academic and career success. But the science to support this theory is weak.
As businesses of all sizes welcome a fearful and anxious workforce back to the office, they are simultaneously challenged with ensuring a safe work environment. The stark reality facing business owners still navigating the covid-19 pandemic is the diligence required to limit infectious spread. Corporations are taking note: plexiglass barriers, clearly marked walkways, and hand-sanitizing stations
Chicken Taste US-based company Eat Just's lab-grown meat is going for sale in Singapore following regulatory approval, The Guardian reports , marking the first time such a product has been authorized for sale in a yet-unidentified restaurant. The company is also going through regulatory processes to eventually get their product approved in the United States. Unlike plant-based meats — your classi
Social distancing fell dramatically between spring and fall and the gap between Democrats and Republicans widened. But both ends of the political spectrum agree on some measures to fight COVID-19. (Image credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Fido doesn't need a mask, but he also doesn't need to be going on puppy play dates while rates are rising. (Photo by Helena Lopes from Pexels/) You probably already know the ins-and-outs of how to protect yourself from COVID-19 when it comes to dealing with other human beings. If you do have to be around people, don't get too close, wear a mask, and try to stay outside. But, having a friendly dog
Scientists have long been puzzled by how specific chains of amino acids go on to form three-dimensional proteins. DeepMind developed a system that's able to predict "protein folding" in a fraction of the time of human experiments, and with unprecedented accuracy. The achievement could greatly improve drug research and development, as well as bioengineering pursuits. In 1994, a group of scientists
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2991-4 A peptidergic brainstem circuit is identified that supports the initiation and establishment of breathing by providing a supplementary respiratory drive immediately after birth.
Facial recognition technology is being deployed in housing projects, homeless shelters, schools, even across entire cities—usually without much fanfare or discussion. To some, this represents a critical technology for helping vulnerable communities gain access to social services. For others, it's a flagrant invasion of privacy and violation of human dignity. In this episode, we speak to the advoc
Roly poly bugs may be a source of fun for kids and adults but these little bugs that form into balls at the slightest touch are causing problems for some threatened fish.
Roly poly bugs may be a source of fun for kids and adults but these little bugs that form into balls at the slightest touch are causing problems for some threatened fish.
A new study by a University of Houston psychologist may hold the key to job success. It finds young people who develop higher levels of conscientiousness and emotional stability during the transition to employment tend to be more successful in some aspects of their early careers.
The global collapse of frogs and other amphibians due to the amphibian chytrid fungus exacerbated malaria outbreaks in Costa Rica and Panama during the 1990s and 2000s, according to new research. The findings provide the first evidence that amphibian population declines have directly affected human health and show how preserving biodiversity can benefit humans as well as local ecosystems.
The global collapse of frogs and other amphibians due to the amphibian chytrid fungus exacerbated malaria outbreaks in Costa Rica and Panama during the 1990s and 2000s, according to new research.
The global collapse of frogs and other amphibians due to the amphibian chytrid fungus exacerbated malaria outbreaks in Costa Rica and Panama during the 1990s and 2000s, according to new research.
Second- and thirdhand tobacco smoke have received lots of attention, but much less is known about the compounds deposited on surfaces from cannabis smoke. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have discovered that ozone—a component of outdoor and indoor air—can react with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis, on glass or cotton surfaces
In a study published this week in The Cryosphere, researchers from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and University of Reading demonstrate how climate change could lead to irreversible sea level rise as temperatures continue to rise and the Greenland ice sheet continues to decline.
Plants get bacterial infections, just as humans do. When food crops and trees are infected, their yield and quality can suffer. Although some compounds have been developed to protect plants, few of them work on a wide variety of crops, and bacteria are developing resistance. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have modified natural plant alkaloids into new
Plants get bacterial infections, just as humans do. When food crops and trees are infected, their yield and quality can suffer. Although some compounds have been developed to protect plants, few of them work on a wide variety of crops, and bacteria are developing resistance. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have modified natural plant alkaloids into new
In a multi-group collaborative involving the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (NEIDL), the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM), and the Center for Network Systems Biology (CNSB), scientists have reported the first map of the molecular responses of human lung cells to infection by SARS-CoV-2. By combining bioengineered human alveolar cells with sophisticated, highly precise mas
In a multi-group collaborative involving the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (NEIDL), the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM), and the Center for Network Systems Biology (CNSB), scientists have reported the first map of the molecular responses of human lung cells to infection by SARS-CoV-2. By combining bioengineered human alveolar cells with sophisticated, highly precise mas
The historical archaeologist Konrad A. Antczak, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie researcher with the UPF Department of Humanities and member of the Research Group on Colonialism, Gender and Materialities (CGyM), has recently returned from archaeological fieldwork in the Dutch islands of Curaçao and Bonaire, in the southern Caribbean. He has conducted excavations in this region locating a camp with a wareh
Scientists from Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP), an Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, have engineered a novel type of plant nanobionic optical sensor that can detect and monitor, in real-time, levels of the highly toxic heavy metal arsenic in the
With the purpose of contributing to a monitoring or early-warning system for pandemic spread through a given region, a Swedish research team has reportedly optimized a method for concentrating SARS-CoV-2 particles in municipal sewage systems.
In recent times, electrochemical conversion (e-chemical) technology—which converts carbon dioxide to high-value-added compounds using renewable electricity—has gained research attention as a carbon capture utilization (CCU) technology. This green carbon resource technology employs electrochemical reactions using carbon dioxide and water as the only feedstock chemical to synthesize various compound
Understanding how matter interacts with light—its optical properties—is critical in a myriad of energy and biomedical technologies, such as targeted drug delivery, quantum dots, fuel combustion, and cracking of biomass. But calculating these properties is computationally intensive, and the inverse problem—designing a structure with desired optical properties—is even harder.
A new study, led by a researcher at the Yale School of the Environment's Center for Industrial Ecology and published recently in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, has found that the total mass of electronic waste generated by Americans has been declining since 2015. In an age when most of us can't imagine life without our digital devices, this surprising finding has ramifications for both how we
Researchers led by Josef Lazar of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) have demonstrated that molecules of fluorescent proteins act as antennas with optical properties (i.e. the ability to absorb and emit light) dependent on their spatial orientation. First discovered in jellyfish, fluorescent proteins are nowadays widely used in studie
New research finds steelhead trout in a stream on the California coast accumulate mercury in their bodies when the fish eat roly polies and similar terrestrial bugs that fall into local waterways. The new study corroborates earlier findings that mercury can make its way to the top of the food chain in coastal California.
A specialist in spacecraft movement control analyzed the process of placing vehicle stages, boosters, and other space debris into the so-called disposal orbit and suggested cleaning lower orbits up with a spacecraft that has modules with engine units on board. These modules will attach to space debris objects and move them away. As for the geostationary orbit, a preferable way to clean it up would
Researchers led by Josef Lazar of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) have demonstrated that molecules of fluorescent proteins act as antennas with optical properties (i.e. the ability to absorb and emit light) dependent on their spatial orientation. First discovered in jellyfish, fluorescent proteins are nowadays widely used in studie
Nonlinear photonic crystals (NPCs) are transparent materials that have a spatially uniform linear susceptibility, yet a periodically modulated quadratic nonlinear susceptibility. These engineered materials are used extensively for studying nonlinear wave dynamics and in many scientific and industrial applications. Over the past two decades, there has been a continuous effort to find a technique th
Researchers have identified host proteins and pathways in lung cells whose levels change upon infection by the SARS-CoV-2, providing insights into disease pathology and new therapeutic targets to block COVID-19.
DOAC (direct oral anticoagulant) pills are used in the treatment of atrial fibrillation by preventing blood clots. Even though blood clots are thought to contribute to complications from the new coronavirus infection, users of this class of drug do not seem to be protected against severe COVID-19, a new study finds.
My friend and colleague Liz Hall, who has died aged 71 of cancer, was a psychotherapist whose work with survivors of sexual abuse helped to develop therapeutic practice significantly in that area. Over the years Liz was involved in devising and delivering multidisciplinary training on sexual abuse, starting in 1987 when she co-authored, with me, Surviving Child Sexual Abuse: A Handbook for Helpin
The year's most important developments in the world of health. (Allergan plc/) Despite the upheaval the coronavirus pandemic has brought, uneasy times also set a course for innovation. Pharmaceutical companies have pivoted to vaccine development, while biotechnology laboratories at major corporations and universities have become laser-focused on developing accurate testing devices, including an e
The Arecibo Observatory's main telescope collapsed on Tuesday morning. Although officials had been planning to demolish the telescope, the accident marked an unceremonious end to a beloved astronomical tool. The Arecibo radio telescope has facilitated many discoveries in astronomy, including the mapping of near-Earth asteroids and the detection of exoplanets. The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Ric
Empty Nest Billions of years from now, the Sun will lose the ability to keep the planets of our solar system — and one by one, they'll leave the nest. It's common knowledge that the Sun will eventually exhaust its fuel supply and expand into a red giant. The aging beast will engulf Mercury, Venus, and likely Earth and Mars as well. But now Universe Today reports that scientists have predicted the
An analysis of Geisinger's electronic health records has revealed chronic kidney disease to be the leading risk factor for hospitalization from COVID-19.
We seem to be heading for a world with multiple coronavirus vaccines in it, and right off, I have to say that that this is a very good situation. But it has its complications, and one that I know many people have been wondering about is, what if you get two different ones? That could happen in several ways, of course, with the different vaccines themselves, the order in which a person is exposed
Second- and thirdhand tobacco smoke have received lots of attention, but much less is known about the compounds deposited on surfaces from cannabis smoke. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have discovered that ozone –a component of outdoor and indoor air — can react with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis, on glass or cotton sur
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, is the first to link the rise in suicide and drug-poisoning deaths among men without a college degree to declines in working-class jobs.
Lancaster University researchers studying a crystalline material have discovered it has properties that allow it to capture energy from the sun. The energy can be stored for several months at room temperature, and it can be released on demand in the form of heat.With further development, these kinds of materials could offer exciting potential as a way of capturing solar energy during the summer mo
Scientists predict Greenland ice sheet will pass a threshold beyond which it will never fully regrow and sea levels will be permanently higher in as little as 600 years under current climate change projections, as Greenland's climate would be permanently altered as the ice sheet shrinks.
An international study has found a link between the brain's network connections and grey matter atrophy caused by certain types of epilepsy, a major step forward in our understanding of the disease.
Plants get bacterial infections, just as humans do. When food crops and trees are infected, their yield and quality can suffer. Although some compounds have been developed to protect plants, few of them work on a wide variety of crops, and bacteria are developing resistance. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have modified natural plant alkaloids into new
Transitions from a skilled nursing facility to home are burdensome to already vulnerable individuals and are points in time where errors and gaps in care are more likely. COVID-19 has exacerbated transitional challenges, which can affect quality of life and cause the patient to lose progress made during their stay at a care facility.
On December 5, Earth is getting a delivery of something literally out of this world: some small grains and dust snatched up from an asteroid 180 million miles away. Once safely back on Earth, the fragments of Ryugu will help scientists learn more about how the solar system formed. JAXA, Japan's space agency, launched Hayabusa2 six years ago, on December 3, 2014. The spacecraft made it to Ryugu fo
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03418-7 A trio of genes may be key to making cells young again, and ultra precise measurement of a fundamental physics constant.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2948-7 The triple-α reaction rate in proton-rich core-collapse supernovae is found to be enhanced at high nucleon densities, suppressing the formation of proton-rich nuclei from gallium to cadmium.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2973-6 Recent work on optical computing for artificial intelligence applications is reviewed and the potential and challenges of all-optical and hybrid optical networks are discussed.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2976-3 A model is proposed for the origin of cratonic lithospheric mantle in which rifting and melting in the hot, early Earth mantle leave behind large volumes of stiffer, depleted mantle.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2964-7 The fine-structure constant is determined with an accuracy of 81 parts per trillion using matter-wave interferometry to measure the rubidium atom recoil velocity.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2939-8 Data augmentation and a self-correcting design are used to develop a reinforcement-learning algorithm for the autonomous navigation of Loon superpressure balloons in challenging stratospheric weather conditions.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2975-4 Expression of three Yamanaka transcription factors in mouse retinal ganglion cells restores youthful DNA methylation patterns, promotes axon regeneration after injury, and reverses vision loss in a mouse model of glaucoma and in aged mice, suggesting that mammalian tissues retain a record of youthful epigenetic information
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03314-0 A highly precise measurement of a physical constant known as the fine-structure constant provides a stringent test of the standard model of particle physics, and sets strong limits on the existence of speculative particles.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03119-1 Neurons progressively deteriorate with age and lose resilience to injury. It emerges that treatment with three transcription factors can re-endow neurons in the mature eye with youthful characteristics and the capacity to regenerate.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03315-z Microscopy methods that reveal the spatial patterns of individual types of microbe are limited by the number of different species that can be monitored together. A new technique now provides progress on this front.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03313-1 An artificially intelligent controller can station a stratospheric balloon for weeks at a time without full knowledge of surrounding winds, opening up the prospect of unsupervised environmental monitoring.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2994-1 A cryo-electron microscopy structure of the yeast pheromone receptor Ste2, a class D G-protein-coupled receptor, in its active state reveals that Ste2 is a homodimer that couples to two G proteins.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-3000-7 Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography is used to reveal the structural changes that stabilize the charge-separation steps of electron-transfer reactions in the photosynthetic reaction centre of Blastochloris viridis on a timescale of picoseconds.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2997-y Hunger status in a fly is shown to drive either sleep-dependent or sleep-independent memory formation through different mushroom body circuits.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2995-0 Ultrasonic vocalizations of male mice distinguish aggressive, male-directed mounting from reproductive, female-directed mounting behaviours, which are represented by distinct ESR1-expressing populations of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus and medial preoptic area, respectively.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2983-4 High-phylogenetic-resolution microbiome mapping by fluorescence in situ hybridization (HiPR-FISH) enables the spatial mapping of hundreds of species of microorganisms and shows how microbial networks in the mouse gut are affected by antibiotic treatment.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2988-z In zebrafish, the expression levels of the neuropeptide Pth2 change as exposure to conspecifics is limited or increased, and these changes track the presence of individuals and group density through mechanical stimulations induced by the movements of other fish.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2990-5 The structure of myosin-2 in the shutdown state reveals how the shutdown state is stabilized and how phosphorylation of light chains allows myosin to be activated.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2993-2 An autoantibody found in a mouse model of atherosclerosis recognizses ALDH4A1, and infusion of the antibody delays plaque formation in mice.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-3007-0 High-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of smooth muscle myosin II in the inhibited state enables increased understanding of the functions of the head and tail regions in regulation of myosin activity and the pathological mechanisms of disease mutations.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2996-z Galactosaminogalactan of Aspergillus fumigatus acts as a pathogen-associated molecular pattern that activates the NLRP3 inflammasome, which is crucial for anti-fungal host defence.
Mars 2026 During an interview in Berlin, Germany this week, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said he is "highly confident" that his space company will land humans on the Martian surface as soon as 2026, as CNBC reports . "If we get lucky, maybe four years," he added. "We want to send an uncrewed vehicle there in two years." These ambitious timelines all depend on the company's development of the Starship , a
The first U.S. Executive Order of the 2017 travel ban targeting individuals from Muslim majority countries may be associated with preterm births for women from those countries residing in the U.S., according to a new study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The research also showed that structurally xenophobic and racist policies in the U.S. may have a harmful effect
Why do some students cheat by looking over someone's shoulder, furtively searching for test answers on the internet, using cheat sheets during exams or paying others to complete their coursework? How do they rationalise their behaviour to continue to think of themselves as decent people? A study conducted by the HSE Centre for Sociology of Higher Education offers some answers.
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have shed light on the mechanisms that underlie how Aspergillus fumigatus activates the inflammasome, with implications for therapeutic development.
Autonomous systems are affecting virtually all aspects of society, so future designs must be guided by a broad range of societal stakeholders, according to a new report led by the Oden Institute at UT Austin.
For the first time ever, expansion microscopy allows the imaging of even the finest details of cell membranes. This offers new insights into bacterial and viral infection processes.
Automated deep learning analysis of abdominal CT images produces a more precise measurement of body composition and predicts major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, better than overall weight or body mass index (BMI), according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Fourteen drinks a week is linked with a higher risk of health problems including stroke and embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation, according to research published in EP Europace, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). "Our study suggests that atrial fibrillation patients should avoid heavy alcohol consumption to prevent stroke and other complications," said author Dr. Boyou
In a multi-group collaborative involving the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (NEIDL), the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM), and the Center for Network Systems Biology (CNSB), scientists have reported the first map of the molecular responses of human lung cells to infection by SARS-CoV-2.
A microscopy technique developed at MIT and elsewhere allows researchers to directly observe the process of nucleation, which leads to the formation of droplets and bubbles on surfaces. The advance may facilitate the design of improved, more efficient surfaces for a variety of industrial processes.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have successfully reversed age-related vision loss in animals as well as eye damage stemming from with a condition mimicking human glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness around the world.
Scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have identified a mitochondrial protein as a potential marker for the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and as a possible target for future treatments. The study is published today in the journal Nature.
A team of French researchers has just conducted the most accurate measurement to date of the fine-structure constant, which characterizes the strength of interaction between light and charged elementary particles, such as electrons. This value has just been determined with an accuracy of 11 significant digits; improving the precision of the previous measurement by a factor of 3.
A visualisation made from nearly 100,000 electron microscope images has revealed the ingenious way a protein involved in muscle activity shuts itself down to conserve energy. The protein is called myosin and it is known as a molecular motor because of the way it interacts with other proteins and energy molecules to generate force and movement. It is found inside muscle fibres where it forms long m
Monash University geologists have shed new light on the early history of the Earth through their discovery that continents were weak and prone to destruction in their infancy.
Coronavirus clusters in Alpine resorts played key role in early spread of virus in Europe Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage France will carry out random border checks over the holiday season targeting French skiers on their way to and from foreign resorts – particularly Switzerland and Spain – where slopes stay open, the prime minister, Jean Castex, has said. "The goal
Hvordan designer vi teknologi til mennesker og ikke bare til processer? Det spørgsmål søger interaktionsdesigner Vanessa Carpenter at skabe et svar på.
En udbygning af E55 mellem Nykøbing Falster og Sydmotorvejen er har god samfundsøkonomi og vil ikke give mere støj. Et lille antal ejendomme vil dog blive berørt.
He told a friend that he would have relished the chance to help end the coronavirus pandemic had he still been active in the field. The virus claimed him instead.
Package Secured China's entirely robotic Chang'e-5 mission has successfully scooped up samples from the surface of the Moon. The uncrewed lunar lander, which landed on the Moon on Tuesday, is expected to bring the first samples of lunar rocks and soil back down to Earth since the mid 1970s. It's already gathered some during its first day on the job, Business Insider reports , putting the mission
The year's most important developments in the world of gadgets. (Apple/) Every year we demand more and more from our gadgets. We expect new models to come with a boost in power, improved efficiency, and a list of fancy new features that look good on a spec sheet. Those upgrades typically come with a price hike, but several of this year's honorees manage to offer exciting tech upgrades for conside
Researchers led by Josef Lazar from IOCB Prague have demonstrated that molecules of fluorescent proteins act as antennas with optical properties (i.e. the ability to absorb and emit light) dependent on their spatial orientation. First discovered in jellyfish, fluorescent proteins are nowadays widely used in studies of molecular processes in living cells and organisms. The newly described propertie
An MSK team has found that a particular subset of lung adenocarcinomas is aggressive due to a combination of two mutations that allow them to block ferroptosis, a type of cell death.
The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is hosting a project to create a low-cost surgery simulator; a much more accessible tool than those currently available and which could be used to train both surgeons who are in the early stages of their career and those who are more experienced.
No-deal Brexit likely to raise cigarette and tobacco pricesIt offers the UK opportunities to strengthen its world-leading tobacco control measures, by creating greater flexibility to respond to industry action and market developments, according to new research from the University of Bath.
A research team, which included scientists from St Petersburg University, has shownfor the first time that special amyloid fibrils are found in plants. These fibrils areresponsible for the 'conservation' of nutrients in plant seeds.
A visualization made from nearly 100,000 electron microscope images has revealed the ingenious way a protein involved in muscle activity shuts itself down to conserve energy.
Nucleation is a ubiquitous phenomenon that governs the formation of both droplets and bubbles in systems used for condensation, desalination, water splitting, crystal growth, and many other important industrial processes. Now, for the first time, a new microscopy technique developed at MIT and elsewhere allows the process to be observed directly in detail, which could facilitate the design of impr
Monash University geologists have shed new light on the early history of the Earth through their discovery that continents were weak and prone to destruction in their infancy.
A visualization made from nearly 100,000 electron microscope images has revealed the ingenious way a protein involved in muscle activity shuts itself down to conserve energy.
Dropping a cell phone can sometimes cause superficial cracks to appear. But other times, the device can stop working altogether because fractures develop in the material that stores data. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Polymer Materials have made an environmentally friendly, gelatin-based film that can repair itself multiple times and still maintain the electronic signals needed to acce
Cephalopods' exceptional ability to hide against any background has inspired researchers to replicate their fascinating ability to camouflage in the infrared (IR) and visible spectrum. Recent advances offered a number of physical mechanisms to reproduce the cloaking functionalities of cephalopods. However, most of the work has focused on either camouflaging in the visible or IR camouflage range on
As fundamental constants go, the speed of light, c , enjoys all the fame, yet c 's numerical value says nothing about nature; it differs depending on whether it's measured in meters per second or miles per hour. The fine-structure constant, by contrast, has no dimensions or units. It's a pure number that shapes the universe to an astonishing degree — "a magic number that comes to us with no under
Non-invasive microscopic techniques such as optical coherence microscopy and two-photon microscopy are commonly used for in vivo imaging of living tissues. When light passes through turbid materials such as biological tissues, two types of light are generated: ballistic photons and multiply scattered photons. The ballistic photons travel straight through the object without experiencing any deflect
Inspired by the surface of butterfly wings, researchers have developed a light-activated hydrogen sensor that produces ultra-precise results at room temperature.
In the circus, flying confidently through the air requires consistent communication with your fellow performers. Check out how aerialist and educator Adie Delaney teaches her students about trust and safety on the trapeze — and provides helpful lessons for navigating everyday life on the ground.
Ungdomar med svensk bakgrund dricker mer än ungdomar med utomeuropeisk bakgrund, visar en ny studie från Malmö universitet. Svenska ungdomars alkoholintag har kontinuerligt minskat sedan millennieskiftet. Då hade 80 procent av ungdomarna i årskurs 9 druckit alkohol. Nu är andelen nere på omkring 40 procent enligt nationella undersökningar. (Nedgången beror inte på att alkoholen bytts ut mot något
When early results from the final trials began to roll in, scientists were well prepared. Now, they face the logistical challenge of putting the vaccine to work.
Researchers from Skoltech and the University of Texas at Austin have presented a proof-of-concept for a wearable sensor that can track healing in sores, ulcers, and other kinds of chronic skin wounds, even without the need to remove the bandages. "The next step is to utilize this sensor technology for in vivo studies and real-time monitoring of wound treatment effectiveness on human subjects in cl
Researchers used a newly developed imaging technique called serial block face scanning electron microscopy, to produce a digital reconstruction of eye tissues from the outer retina, at very high resolution. This is the first time this technology has been used to fully reconstruct cells from the retina and could provide new insights into the causes of irreversible blinding diseases.
In settings where people are working together on a task, making time for small talk allows for a newly-described behavior called 'reciprocity in conversation,' which is associated with higher levels of task enjoyment.
Young kids who've experienced compassionate parenting may be more generous than their peers, a new study suggests. In lab studies, children tested at ages 4 and 6 showed more willingness to give up the tokens they had earned to fictional children in need when two conditions were present—if they showed bodily changes when given the opportunity to share and had experienced positive parenting that m
X-Files 2.0 Reuters reports that the second mysterious monolith , spotted near an archeological site in northern Romania, has disappeared. If you're keeping count, that's the second mysterious metal monolith that has disappeared without a trace recently. Last week, a monolith spotted in the Utah wilderness also disappeared — in what some open-minded folks would call an alien abduction. As it late
When early results from the final trials began to roll in, scientists were well prepared. Now, they face the logistical challenge of putting the vaccine to work.
Ungdomar med svensk bakgrund dricker mer än ungdomar med utomeuropeisk bakgrund, visar en ny studie från Malmö universitet. Svenska ungdomars alkoholintag har kontinuerligt minskat sedan millennieskiftet. Då hade 80 procent av ungdomarna i årskurs 9 druckit alkohol. Nu är andelen nere på omkring 40 procent enligt nationella undersökningar. I Skåne är siffran något högre och ligger på cirka 55 pro
Machine learning tool can also calculate the optical properties of a known structure; CUORE experiment in Italy is designed to find theorized process called neutrinoless double-beta decay
Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have developed — for the first time — a novel type of plant nanobionic optical sensor that can, in real-time, detect and monitor arsenic levels in the belowground environment, with significant advantages over conventional methods used to measure arsenic in the environment. The new sensor will improve arsenic detection an
Dropping a cell phone can sometimes cause superficial cracks to appear. But other times, the device can stop working altogether because fractures develop in the material that stores data. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Polymer Materials have made an environmentally friendly, gelatin-based film that can repair itself multiple times and still maintain the electronic signals needed to acce
Anxiety disorders are the most frequent comorbid conditions with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yet the shared neural substrates and the common effective therapeutic target remain unknown. Scientists at School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University dissect a common glutamatergic neuronal circuit, from the prelimbic prefrontal cortex (PrL) to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core, involved in both anxiety
In recent times, 'e-chemical' technology — which converts carbon dioxide to high-value-added compounds using renewable electricity — has gained research attention as a carbon capture utilization technology. Ethylene, referred to as the 'rice of the industry,' is widely used to produce various chemical products and polymers, but it is more challenging to produce from electrochemical CO2 reduction
A new 3D printing system designed by MIT researchers enables realistic variations in glossiness across a 3D printed surface. The advance could aid fine art reproduction and the design of prosthetics.
Cephalopods' exceptional ability to hide into any background has inspired researchers to replicate their fascinating ability to camouflage in the infrared (IR) and visible spectrum. Recent advances offered a number of physical mechanisms to reproduce the cloaking functionalities of cephalopods. However, most of works focused on either camouflaging in the visible or IR camouflage range only: not du
A research team including Kavli IPMU Principal Investigator Naoki Yoshida has, in a world first, succeeded in performing a 6-dimensional simulation of neutrinos moving through the universe.
Skoltech researchers and their colleagues from Russia and Israel have come up with a new, simple and inexpensive method of testing liquid biological samples that can be further developed to work in clinical settings, including real-time testing during surgery. The paper was published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.
Researchers are beginning to understand the behavior of so-called "active" particles, which, if it can be controlled, has potential implications for engineered drug delivery systems and smart 3-D printing, according to an interdisciplinary Penn State research team.
Scientists show effectiveness of carrot-based Japanese herbal medicine called 'Ninjin'yoeito' in improving muscle atrophy in the hind legs of mice exposed to cigarette smoke, positioning the medicine as a potential treatment for sarcopenia frailty-related complications with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Cells are effectively 'blindfolded' as they lose sensitivity to their surroundings early in cancer progression, but scientists used a new method to find some cancer cells are able to switch this sense back on in order to move and spread. In future, these cells could potentially be targeted by treatments before cancer spreads to give patients a better chance of recovery.
Genetic mutations that give cancers a metabolic boost may also leave them vulnerable to drugs that promote a particular form of cell death, researchers have found.
A new study is underscoring the importance of drivers keeping their eyes on the road — even when they are in an automated vehicle (AV). The findings revealed that drivers can become over-reliant on AV technology. This was especially true with a type of in-vehicle display the team coined as takeover request and automation capability (TORAC).
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02780-w The two technologies might ultimately bring an end to 'may contain' food labels, which consumers find confusing.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02776-6 'Itch-proof' cosmetics, keeping inflammation-causing T cells in check, and other highlights from allergy and immunology studies.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02783-7 An unusual reaction to mammalian meat is challenging the immunological understanding of allergies.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02779-3 Researchers are looking beyond allergen immunotherapy to help people whose pets make them sneeze.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03361-7 Researchers and officials reveal how the pandemic has shifted the country's scientific landscape and global reputation.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02781-9 Early disruptions in the composition of the gut microbiome can directly influence digestive and immune function in ways that put children at greater risk.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02782-8 Early oral exposure to some allergenic foods is now seen as a key prevention strategy, but tackling inhalant allergies remains a challenge.
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02778-4 Bullying, anxiety and depression can have a huge impact on the lives of people with allergies and their families.
Pandemics will emerge more often, kill more people than COVID-19 and do even more damage to the world economy unless urgent steps are taken to address risk drivers such as deforestation, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics.
Pandemics will emerge more often, kill more people than COVID-19 and do even more damage to the world economy unless urgent steps are taken to address risk drivers such as deforestation, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics.
In September 2019, my colleague Anna Kapinska gave a presentation showing interesting objects she'd found while browsing our new radio astronomical data. She had started noticing very weird shapes she couldn't fit easily to any known type of object.
Using a massive database of genetic information, researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston identified a genetic variant that the scientists think influences how the immune system responds to COVID-19. (Unsplash/) Among the most baffling pieces of the COVID-19 pandemic is how the disease presents: While some people who contract the illness are totally asymptomatic or become
A research team led by Kavli IPMU graduate student Hiroki Yoneda has shed new night on the massive star and its neutron star companion, which are thought to be at the core of the gamma-ray binary system LS 5039.
A new bioinspired prototype offers a total package of features unmatched by any hydrogen sensor currently on the market. While commercial hydrogen sensors only work at 150C or higher, the new tech is powered by light instead of heat. And the sensor can detect hydrogen at concentrations from as little as 10 ppm (for medical diagnoses) to 40,000 ppm (the level where the gas becomes potentially explo
New parents often expect their baby to start sleeping through the night around the time they reach six months of age. But according to a new study led by McGill Professor Marie-Helene Pennestri, parents should view sleep consolidation as a process, instead of a milestone to be achieved at a specific age.
Nonlinear photonic crystals are playing a prominent role in laser and nonlinear optics. Here, Scientists in China presented a natural potassium-tantalate-niobate (KTN) nonlinear photonic crystal with 3D Rubik's domain structures. The composite rotated domains could be useful for different phase-matching conditions with rich reciprocal vectors along arbitrary direction. KTN crystal breaks strict re
Yuto Minami at KEK and Eiichiro Komatsu at Kavli IPMU developed a new method to calibrate detectors to the light from dust in our Galaxy, thereby describing a new physics, with 99.2 percent accuracy, that may show parity symmetry breaking.
A Singapore study of family caregivers of the terminally ill suggests that self-determination is the key factor that can protect them from caregiver burden — a negative state impacting a carer's wellbeing.
Thanks to SpaceX , traveling beyond Earth now seems pretty tangible for us commoners. True, a ticket to the International Space Station currently ru n s $55 million (ouch). Technologically, however, the triumphant splashdown of SpaceX's astronaut-carrying Dragon capsule earlier this year shows they have the chops to make commercial space travel work. A casual jaunt over to Mars no longer seems li
The search is on for lingering ash, those rare trees that have managed to survive the deadly onslaught of the emerald ash borer. Finding them in the forest is like looking for a needle in the haystack, but the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources is partnering with the Kentucky Division of Forestry to find as many as possible in an effort to save the species.
Human gender biases that limit recruitment opportunities for women are mimicked and exacerbated by artificial intelligence (AI) used for sorting resumés, according to new research.
A new study by a Stanford sociologist has determined that the negative effects of gentrification are felt disproportionately by minority communities, whose residents have fewer options of neighborhoods they can move to compared to their white counterparts.
Global internet is growing at a compound rate of 24% per year, reaching 3.3 zettabytes per year by 2021. High-speed optical communication is urgently needed in this ever-connected world, and to keep up with this growth, developments in the fabrication of optical transceivers are sorely needed. Ph.D. candidate Xiao Liu, of the TU/e Department of Electrical Engineering, researched new ways to integr
Images from the Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH) reveal a striking family portrait of our galactic neighbors—the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The images represent a portion of the second data release from the deepest, most extensive survey of the Magellanic Clouds. The observations consist of roughly 4 billion measurements of 360 million objects.
The search is on for lingering ash, those rare trees that have managed to survive the deadly onslaught of the emerald ash borer. Finding them in the forest is like looking for a needle in the haystack, but the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources is partnering with the Kentucky Division of Forestry to find as many as possible in an effort to save the species.
Humans are exposed to various environmental or dietary molecules that can attenuate or even increase the effect of therapeutic drugs. Studies on the industrial chemical bisphenol A and the phytoestrogen genistein, for example, have shown drug-exposome interactions. However, interactions between exposures and therapeutic agents have not been systematically investigated to date, conclude chemists.
Three years into its quest to reveal the nature of dark energy, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is on track to complete the largest map of the cosmos ever. The team will create a three-dimensional map of 2.5 million galaxies that will help astronomers understand how and why the expansion of the universe is speeding up over time.
Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables the imaging of cells and their components with a spatial resolution far below 200 nanometres. For this purpose, the proteins of the sample under investigation are cross-linked into a swellable polymer. Once the interactions between the molecules have been destroyed, the samples can be expanded many times over with water. This allows detailed insights into their s
Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables the imaging of cells and their components with a spatial resolution far below 200 nanometres. For this purpose, the proteins of the sample under investigation are cross-linked into a swellable polymer. Once the interactions between the molecules have been destroyed, the samples can be expanded many times over with water. This allows detailed insights into their s
China has successfully landed a probe on the moon's surface, according to state media. The Chang'e-5 spacecraft drilled into the surface of the moon to collect soil early on Wednesday, the first probe to collect lunar samples in four decades. If the return journey is successful, China will be only the third country to have retrieved samples from the moon, following the US and the Soviet Union in
In mid-November 2020, we received an email from one Karl Zuk. It regarded a hike he had just taken at Mountain Lakes Park, a hilly, forested area about 60 miles north of New York City, owned by Westchester County. Zuk had been descending a steep, muddy trail in the dusk of late afternoon when he glimpsed what looked like a TV antenna amid a tangle of bare tree trunks well off the trail.
The UK has officially licensed the COVID-19 vaccine developed by multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. The country will begin vaccinating high risk groups as soon as next week with 800,000 initial doses, according to officials. Most if not all will be administered to healthcare workers. Medical authorities in the US and Europe have yet to approve the Pfizer vacc
Scientists show effectiveness of carrot-based Japanese herbal medicine called "Ninjin'yoeito" in improving muscle atrophy in the hind legs of mice exposed to cigarette smoke through an increased expression of PGC-1α, positioning the medicine as a potential treatment for sarcopenia frailty-related complications with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Their findings were published online
The academic productivity of higher education faculty In the United States in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) fields with very young children suffered as a result of the stay-at-home orders during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the University of Flori
The devastation wrought by last summer's unprecedented bushfires created blackened landscapes across Australia. New life is sprouting, but with fires burning again in New South Wales and Queensland we have once more seen burnt land and smoke plumes.
Humans are exposed to various environmental or dietary molecules that can attenuate or even increase the effect of therapeutic drugs. Studies on the industrial chemical bisphenol A and the phytoestrogen genistein, for example, have shown drug-exposome interactions. However, interactions between exposures and therapeutic agents have not been systematically investigated to date, conclude chemists.
A cancer-killing virus that scientists developed could one day improve the immune system's ability to eradicate tumors in colon cancer patients, reports a new study. The preclinical research is a first step to showing that oncolytic virus CF33 can target hard-to-treat tumors that 'handcuff' the immune system and keep T cells from activating the immune system to kill cancer cells.
In the lizard world, flashy colors attract the interest of females looking for mates. But they can make colorful males desirable to other eyes, too — as lunch, according to new research.
In our age of emerging pathogens, funding for global research into zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19, Ebola and Sars is vital Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage This year, we've seen how a previously unknown animal virus can spill over into the human population in one country, pass rapidly between people, and spread across the world in days. With nearly 1.5m reported d
Mere end et halvt år inde i coronakrisen er antallet af lungefunktionsundersøgelser i almen praksis fortsat i bund. Det viser nye tal fra Danske Regioner. »Uden undersøgelsen kan det være meget svært at vurdere, om patienten er alvorligt syg eller ej,« lyder det fra bekymret overlæge på Vejle Sygehus.
Climate change is increasingly damaging the U.N.'s most cherished heritage sites, a leading conservation agency warned Wednesday, reporting that Australia's Great Barrier Reef and dozens of other natural wonders are facing severe threats.
Researchers report on a new model for spider silk assembly. The key to spider silk 'spinning' is a combination of acidification and a process known as liquid-liquid phase separation, or LLPS.
Coronapandemin innebär en gyllene möjlighet för länder att ställa om och investera i klimatvänlig energi när återhämtningspaket nu ska delas ut. Det konstaterar forskare i en ny rapport som också visar att utsläppsnivåer av koldioxid fortsätter att öka mer än vad klimatmålen tillåter.
Battery-saving tech can make sure you're not left with a dead phone. (Mia Baker/Unsplash/) Smartphone battery life is a precious resource: If you don't manage it carefully, you might find yourself unable to make calls, take photos , or check social media by the end of the night. A dead phone is pretty much useless until you can find a charging point. To extend your phone's battery capacity, Andro
The year's most important developments in the world of security. (Textron Systems/) Who gets access? That's the question that drives every security measure and innovation that's landed on PopSci's annual compendium since we launched the category in 2008. Every year, that question gets bigger and bigger. In 2020, the world quaked under a global pandemic that took 1.4 million lives, the US saw a re
Exposure to ethnic discrimination on social media is associated with higher symptoms of depression and anxiety among young Hispanic males, according to a study by researchers at Florida International University's Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work.
Chest pain, shortness of breath, heart flutter and palpitations: these symptoms are not only characteristic of a heart attack, but can also be caused by another, as yet little researched condition. So-called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a rare but life-threatening disease of the heart that can occur during extreme stress events. Heart and hormone research teams in Bochum and Mannheim have now shown
A new study, led by a researcher at the Yale School of the Environment's Center for Industrial Ecology and published recently in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, has found that the total mass of electronic waste generated by Americans has been declining since 2015. This surprising finding has ramifications for both how we think about electronic waste's future and for the laws and regulations reg
In settings where people are working together on a task, making time for small talk allows for a newly-described behavior called "reciprocity in conversation," which is associated with higher levels of task enjoyment.
All hands have to be on deck if the world is going to tackle degradation, and one of the biggest emitters is also one of the least well known—international shipping. A 2018 study estimated that pollution emitted from cargo ships resulted in 400,000 annual premature deaths from lung cancer and heart disease. Many of those deaths resulted from the sulfur dioxide the ships were belching into the air.
PLUS. Om kort tid passerer det japanske fartøj Hayabusa-2 Jorden og dumper en samling sten fra asteroiden Ryugu i den australske ødemark. Next stop: Asteroiden KY26. Retning: Mars.
En kontakt i beta-cellerne i bugspytkirtlen er afgørende for, hvordan GLP1-receptoragonister og DPP4-hæmmere kontrollerer udskilning af insulin fra bugspytkirtlen, viser et nyt studie.
Micropollutants such as endocrine disrupters, pesticides and pharmaceuticals have detrimental effects on public health and aquatic ecosystems, even at trace level. Biocatalytic membranes exhibit high micropollutant removal efficiency due to the integration of enzyme catalysis and membrane separation.
Micropollutants such as endocrine disrupters, pesticides and pharmaceuticals have detrimental effects on public health and aquatic ecosystems, even at trace level. Biocatalytic membranes exhibit high micropollutant removal efficiency due to the integration of enzyme catalysis and membrane separation.
The approval for a U.S. start-up's "cultured chicken" product is a small victory for the nascent laboratory meat industry. Less clear is whether other countries will follow.
Rækken af begivenheder, der førte til den enorme eksplosion i Beirut i august, er dokumenteret gennem et utal af videooptagelser i denne dokumentar, der er udarbejdet af en international forskergruppe med base i London. Mere end 200 mennesker omkom.
The marine functional materials group led by Prof. Wang Liping at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has successfully prepared ultrathin metal-organic framework (MOF) nanosheets via surfactant-assisted bottom-up method.
A minimally invasive technique for sampling a largely unexplored bodily fluid called dermal interstitial fluid uses an array of tiny needles. Biochemical information about the body most commonly comes from analysis of blood—which represents only 6% of bodily fluids—but valuable information may also be found in other bodily fluids that are traditionally hard to get. Researchers have now developed
Begonia comprises the sixth-largest genus of angiosperms and the number of accepted species of Begonia currently reaches more than 1,991 species. In China, about 221 species have been recorded according to the Flora of China.
A team of researchers from Duke University, the University of the Witwatersrand and Hunter College has found that elephants have the highest volume of daily water loss ever recorded in a land animal. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes experiments they conducted with captive elephants to measure how much water they lose.
Begonia comprises the sixth-largest genus of angiosperms and the number of accepted species of Begonia currently reaches more than 1,991 species. In China, about 221 species have been recorded according to the Flora of China.
A team of researchers from Duke University, the University of the Witwatersrand and Hunter College has found that elephants have the highest volume of daily water loss ever recorded in a land animal. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes experiments they conducted with captive elephants to measure how much water they lose.
I en artikel i Dagens Medicin foreslås det blandt andet, at intervallet for screening for diabetiske øjenforandringer kan forlænges i op til ti år. Men der er ingen evidens for, at diabetespatienter kan nøjes med at få screenet deres øjne med så mange års mellemrum. Et sådant udsagn bidrager kun til unødig forvirring og usikkerhed hos landets diabetespatienter, skriver tre øjenspecialister.
Specialutvecklade drönare har använts för att samla in data från aldrig tidigare utforskade vulkaner. Data som gör det lättare för lokala samhällen att förutsäga framtida utbrott. Forskningen vid vulkanen Manam i Papua Nya Guinea förbättrar också förståelsen för hur vulkaner påverkar klimatet. Forskare på Chalmers har spelat en viktig roll i den internationella forskargrupp som utvecklat de speci
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.K. has found evidence that suggests the ancient Dogger Island survived a tsunami approximately 8,150 years ago. In their paper published in the journal Antiquity, the group describes their analysis of core samples taken from the sea bed where Dogger Island was once located and what they found.
China's landing of its third probe on the moon is part of an increasingly ambitious space program that has a robot rover en route to Mars, is developing a reusable space plane and is planning to put humans back on the lunar surface.
Once upon a time, everything theoretically could be managed with neatly functioning human inventions: wars could be won, diseases cured, weather predicted, crops improved. These days, things seem to be spinning out of control: violent weather, catastrophic wildfires, political upheavals, a global pandemic—all in a world increasingly crowded and interconnected by modern technology and transport, wh
Once upon a time, everything theoretically could be managed with neatly functioning human inventions: wars could be won, diseases cured, weather predicted, crops improved. These days, things seem to be spinning out of control: violent weather, catastrophic wildfires, political upheavals, a global pandemic—all in a world increasingly crowded and interconnected by modern technology and transport, wh
Differences in the immune systems and better blood vessel health were among the factors protecting children from severe COVID-19, according to a new review.
Every spring, streets across Australia turn purple with the delicate, falling flowers of jacarandas. This year, they'll likely be flowering over Christmas.
Every spring, streets across Australia turn purple with the delicate, falling flowers of jacarandas. This year, they'll likely be flowering over Christmas.
The swirls, eddies, and wavy bands of Jupiter and Saturn may remind us of a soothing, starry, starry night—but they reveal these two gas giants to be stormy, turbulent places. The turbulence produces energy cascades, a non-linear transfer of energy between different scales of motion. These are as fundamental to understanding planetary dynamics as the cardiovascular system is to understanding the h
South Korean researchers have developed a new type of electrode structure for all-solid-state secondary batteries. If this technology is adopted, the energy density of the batteries could increase significantly when compared to existing technologies, contributing tremendously to the development of high-performance secondary batteries.
A Chinese spacecraft took samples of the moon's surface Wednesday as part of a mission to bring lunar rocks back to Earth for the first time since the 1970s, the government said, adding to a string of successes for Beijing's increasingly ambitious space program.
There is no association between the holidays and suicide – that is a myth. The effect of the pandemic is less clear. The post first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .
Sri Lanka and southern India battened down the hatches for the second time in a week on Wednesday ahead of the scheduled arrival of another cyclone from the Bay of Bengal.
In roughly 200 million years, the continents will once again unite into a supercontinent. A new study explores how the next Pangea could affect the global climate.
Ny undersøgelse blandt 30 danske onkologer og hæmatologer viser, at over halvdelen af de adspurgte er bekymrede for antibiotikaresistens, som på sigt frygtes at blive en global sundhedskrise.
Join Scientific American for a conversation about the next steps in humanity's reconnaissance of Mars. Featuring Casey Dreier, senior space policy adviser at The Planetary Society, and space… — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is still firing on all cylinders despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. China's National Space Administration has announced the Chang'e-5 lander has successfully reached the lunar surface . While there, the robot will conduct various experiments and collect a bit of the moon for return to Earth. If successful, this will be the first new sample of lunar reg
Vaccination committee head says rollout should be structured to mitigate against health inequalities Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage People from minority ethnic backgrounds and deprived communities must get timely access to the new Covid vaccine, the head of a government advisory body has said, as the UK's medicines regulator said no corners had been cut in licensing
When Gabrielle Diamond and her boyfriend, Brian Cox, showed up for eviction court on October 15, they were more than a little nervous. The two had been renting a bedroom in transitional housing for veterans in Kansas City, Missouri, since January, paying $600 per month for their month-to-month lease. Almost as soon as they moved in, Diamond says, the issues started. The building was unclean and a
Both teams want to know when—or how often—the virus passed from animals to people. But the trail may have gone cold, and the search has gotten political.
RALPH MORSE / PIX INC. / THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION / GETTY Minority rule is fast becoming the defining feature of the American republic. In 2000 and 2016, presidential candidates who received fewer votes than their opponents were nevertheless sent to the White House. Joe Biden's 2020 victory came not because he won nearly 7 million more votes nationally than President Donald Trump, but rather be
Agency warns police forces to prepare for criminal gangs to try to sell illicit vaccines Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Interpol has issued a global alert to law enforcement agencies around the world warning them that organised crime networks may try to sell fake Covid-19 vaccines or steal real supplies. The global police coordination agency, based in France, said o
När influensa-pandemin Spanska sjukan drog fram för hundra år sedan avled mellan 50 och 100 miljoner människor. Många var barn och unga, till skillnad från vid vanlig årstidsinfluensa som oftare tar äldre människors liv. Birgitta Henriques Normark, professor i klinisk bakteriologi vid Karolinska institutet, var intresserad av orsaken. – Vi ville förstå varför så många unga personer avled och vilka
Nature, Published online: 02 December 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03360-8 Delirium is very common on COVID wards. Researchers are testing whether these temporary bouts of confusion could bring on permanent cognitive decline.
P resident Donald Trump has made one thing painfully clear: After he grudgingly leaves the White House, he will keep doing what he can to stay in the news. He will tweet insults and conspiracy theories. He may start his own television channel. And according to members of his inner circle, he may even run for president in 2024. After half a decade under his spell, many pundits and political observ
Amerikanske Salesforce smækker 172 milliarder kroner på bordet og køber virksomheden Slack, der sammen med andre samarbejdsplatforme har opnået stor tilslutning under corona-nedlukningen. Men handlen er endnu ikke helt godkendt.
Det næsten 60 år gamle Arecibo-teleskop i den puertoricanske jungle kollapsede katastrofalt tirsdag. Årsagen til det uventede kollaps undersøges fortsat.
PLUS. Elbiler er meget andet end batterier, og nu er der kommet fokus på både mere effektive halvledermaterialer i effektelektronikken og nye legeringer i elmotorerne.
Bornean villagers live and work in the fields surrounding Mount Palung National Park, where deforestation has put locals at a greater risk of catching animal-borne diseases. (Bryan Watt/) In the early 1990s , Kinari Webb took a year off college to join a Harvard researcher studying orangutans in Indonesia's rainforested Gunung Palung National Park. As the aspiring primatologist dissected dung sam
Speedy approval for Pfizer/BioNTech jab was possible under existing European law Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Both Downing Street and the UK's medicines regulator have contradicted a claim by Matt Hancock that Brexit helped the UK become the first western country to license a vaccine against coronavirus. The health secretary asserted on Wednesday morning that "bec
President Trump's conspiracy-theory-fueled plan to overturn his defeat in the 2020 elections targeted six states that President-elect Joe Biden narrowly won: Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada and Georgia. All six of those states have now certified their vote counts —with recounts sometimes even increasing the victory margin for Biden. The confirmation of the results has correlate
Skovrydning i den brasilianske del af verdens største regnskov, Amazonas, har i 2020 nået det højeste niveau i 12 år. Flere miljøorganisationer mener, at ansvaret ligger hos den brasilianske regering og præsident Jair Bolsonaro.
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