Fishermen working on Lake Tanganyika in eastern Congo experience a lack of safety and want better enforcement of existing regulations. They also report a decline in the lake's fish stocks. These are some of the findings of a large international study led by KU Leuven (Belgium) based on 1018 interviews with stakeholders in the area. The study was published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Lying almost 500 kilometers off the west coast of Africa, the remote archipelago nation of Cape Verde is arguably among the least well-known of the world's marine biodiversity hotspots. All that could be about to change.

Ants have been farmers for tens of millions of years and successfully solved a riddle that we humans have yet to. A new study by researchers at the University of Copenhagen reports that ants are pros at cultivating climate-resilient crops.

The synthesis of complex molecules such as drugs, requires a process that sometimes involves several phases that increase its cost and harden the access to the product. Now, a team of the University of Barcelona has designed a new methodological approach that combines multicomponent reactions with domino type processes -continuous transformations on an only compound- to ease the synthesis of high

A research by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and Pere Virgili Institut (IISPV) led by Lluís Masana has found that people who are being treated with statins have a 22% to 25% lower risk of dying from COVID-19.

Fetching drinking water in low and middle income countries can cause serious injury, particularly for women.A new international study published in BMJ Global Health reveals dangers including falls, traffic accidents, animal attacks, and fights, which can result in broken bones, spinal injuries, lacerations, and other physical injuries.The work draws on a survey of 6,291 randomly selected household

Carbon nanotube (CNT) forests are a solution to scaling up the production of CNTs, which are becoming a staple in many industries. However, even the best catalyst used to grow these forests deteriorates quickly, capping possible forest length at ~2 cm. Now, scientists from Japan have proposed a way to ensure longer catalyst lifetime and higher growth rate, creating a CNT forest that is a record se

Turbulence is an omnipresent phenomenon – and one of the great mysteries of physics. A research team from the University of Oldenburg in Germany has now succeeded in generating realistic storm turbulence in the wind tunnel of the Center for Wind Energy Research (ForWind).

Delirium accompanied by fever could be an early symptom of COVID-19. This is the main conclusion drawn by a scientific research review carried out by researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and published in the open access Journal of Clinical Immunology and Immunotherapy, which highlights the fact that, together with the loss of the senses of taste and smell and headaches that o

A new study published in Scientific Reports shows that coral larvae swimming in seawater behave in such a manner so as to temporarily stop swimming due to reduced light, especially blue light. Researchers think that this behavior may play a role in determining where corals settle.

Early identification and removal of cancerous colorectal polyps is critical to preventing the progression of colorectal cancer and improving survival rates. The U.S. Multisociety Task Force on Colorectal Cancer has released new guidance for endoscopists on how to assess colorectal lesions for features associated with cancer, discuss how these factors guide management, and outline when to advise su

Artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance the performance of radiologists in reading breast cancer screening mammograms, according to a new study.

Kan en fyraåring verkligen ta till sig fysikaliska fenomen och kemiska processer? Svaret är ja. Forskare från Högskolan Kristianstad har följt 150 pedagoger som undervisat i naturvetenskap på förskolan – och fått ta del av magiska stunder då alla bitar plötsligt faller på plats. Fyraåringarna från förskolan hade tagit en gemensam promenad ner till Helge å. Där fick de titta, lukta och känna på va

By screening hundreds of synthetic mini-antibodies, scientists have identified one that might stop SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells.

Certain molecules bind tightly to the surface of ice, creating a curved interface that can halt further ice growth. Some insects, plants, and sea-dwelling creatures contain protein molecules of this type that act as natural antifreeze agents, allowing the organisms to withstand freezing temperatures. Scientists report a computational method to model ice binding using a biasing technique to drive t

Many people have had the experience of being poked in the back by a plastic tag while trying on clothes in a store. That is just one example of radio frequency identification technology, which has become a mainstay not just in retail but also in manufacturing, logistics, transportation, health care and more. Other tagging systems include the scannable barcode and the QR code.

Researchers have unlocked new possibilities for the future development of sustainable, clean bioenergy. The study shows how bacterial protein 'cages' can be reprogrammed as nanoscale bioreactors for hydrogen production.

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19642-8

The tsetse fly is an exception to the almost universal law of nature that babies are born smaller than their mothers.

The tsetse fly is an exception to the almost universal law of nature that babies are born smaller than their mothers.

Trees and other plants release isoprene into the atmosphere. Oxidation processes result in compounds that are harmful to plants. Researchers at the University of Innsbruck have now uncovered a mechanism by which plants protect themselves from these compounds, and have thus discovered an important biogenic source of oxidized volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere.

Researchers at Kanazawa University monitored the emission of blue-green light from water-soluble tetraphenylethene molecules adsorbed at a phospholipid-adsorbed liquid-liquid interface made to resemble a biomembrane. They found that the process could be reversibly controlled by an externally applied potential (voltage), which opens the possibility for a new class of molecular probes and targeted d

A team of physicists from Germany, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom has found a new way to observe magnon-polarons by using a nanopatterned magnetic structure lit with short laser pulses. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review B, the group describes extending prior research involving magnon-polarons to develop a better method for observing magnon polarons.

Plastics are ubiquitous in modern society, owing to their usefulness, durability and how cheap and easy they are to produce. This makes plastics both a blessing and a curse.

An asteroid hidden behind Mars has been found to closely resemble our moon. Is it a fragment that broke off billions of years ago? Name: (101429) 1998 VF31 (AKA: the Moon's Sister). Age: 4.5bn years, give or take. Continue reading…

Raising Arizona Former NASA astronaut and US Navy veteran Mark Kelly, a Democrat, beat incumbent Martha McSally (R-AR) for a seat in the US Senate during this yesterday's election. If you're keeping score, that makes him the fourth astronaut to be elected to Congress. "I'm confident that when all the votes are counted, we're going to be successful in this mission," Kelly told supporters after dec

A new study confirms what earth scientists have long suspected: Plants first appeared on land about 460 million years ago, in the middle of a 45-million-year-long geologic period known as the Ordovician. The study describes a series of plant impressions in an Ordovician rock deposit from Douglas Dam in Tennessee. While previous studies have revealed fossil evidence of invertebrate animals in the

Researchers have unlocked new possibilities for the future development of sustainable, clean bioenergy. The study shows how bacterial protein 'cages' can be reprogrammed as nanoscale bioreactors for hydrogen production.

They can't tell fortunes and they're useless with the stock market but bats are quite skilled at predicting one thing: where to find dinner. Bats calculate where their prey is headed by building on-the-fly predictive models of target motion from echoes, researchers find. The models are so robust, bats can continue to track prey even when it temporarily vanishes behind echo-blocking obstacles like

Researchers at Kanazawa University monitored the emission of blue-green light from water-soluble tetraphenylethene molecules adsorbed at a phospholipid-adsorbed liquid-liquid interface made to resemble a biomembrane. They found that the process could be reversibly controlled by an externally applied potential (voltage), which opens the possibility for a new class of molecular probes and targeted d

Scientists at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI have come up with a simple, inexpensive and environmentally friendly method to determine if food contains toxic aflatoxin-B1. The findings will help ensure food safety. The study results were published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis.

Trees and other plants release isoprene into the atmosphere. Oxidation processes result in compounds that are harmful to plants. Researchers at the University of Innsbruck have now uncovered a mechanism by which plants protect themselves from these compounds, and have thus discovered an important biogenic source of oxidized volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere.

As you drive down the road leading to Jodrell Bank Observatory, a sign asks visitors to turn off their mobile phones, stating that the Lovell telescope is so powerful it could detect a phone signal on Mars.

Microbes and other microscopic organisms could serve as sustainable "factories" to create many types of industrial materials because they naturally convert nutrients such as sugars into byproducts. However, creating industrial amounts of organic acids from renewable resources poses a challenge, because not many organisms can grow in highly acidic environments. With the help of gene editing and com

Researchers at the University of Rochester and Cornell University have taken an important step toward developing a communications network that exchanges information across long distances by using photons, mass-less measures of light that are key elements of quantum computing and quantum communications systems.

Twitter over the weekend "tagged" as manipulated a video showing US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden supposedly forgetting which state he's in while addressing a crowd. Biden's "hello Minnesota" greeting contrasted with prominent signage reading "Tampa, Florida" and "Text FL to 30330." The Associated Press' s fact check confirmed the signs were added digitally and the original footage

The job market for new college graduates is expected to decline for the first time in more than a decade as firms adjust hiring patterns during the COVID-19 economic slowdown, a new study shows. Compared to 63,555 expected hires in the previous Collegiate Employment Research Institute annual Recruiting Trends survey from Michigan State University, more than 1,000 companies responding to this year

A team of scientists at Kanazawa University have shown how water-soluble tetraphenylethene molecules can become fluorescent when aggregating at a biomembrane-mimetic liquid-liquid interface. This work may lead to new optical molecular probes and smart vesicles for delivering pharmaceuticals directly to cells.

Galactic cosmic and solar UV radiation, extreme vacuum, temperature fluctuations: how can microbes exposed to these challenges in space survive? A team around Space Biochemistry group at the University of Vienna investigated how the space-surviving microbes could physically survive the transfer from one celestial body to another. The results are published in the high-impact journal Microbiome .

Fishermen working on Lake Tanganyika in eastern Congo experience a lack of safety and want better enforcement of existing regulations. They also report a decline in the lake's fish stocks. These are some of the findings of a large international study led by KU Leuven (Belgium) based on 1018 interviews with stakeholders in the area. The study was published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research .

Dog and owner body weight can influence veterinarians' perceptions — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Dog and owner body weight can influence veterinarians' perceptions — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Microbes and other microscopic organisms could serve as sustainable "factories" to create many types of industrial materials because they naturally convert nutrients such as sugars into byproducts. However, creating industrial amounts of organic acids from renewable resources poses a challenge, because not many organisms can grow in highly acidic environments. With the help of gene editing and com

Dr. Nobuo Noda and Dr. Kazuaki Matoba at the Institute of Microbial Chemistry discovered that Atg9, one of the proteins that function to mediate autophagy, has phospholipid-translocation activity (the lipid scramblase activity) between the two layers of the lipid bilayer and elucidated that the protein's activity brings about autophagosome membrane expansion.

The BASE collaboration at CERN has bagged more than one first in antimatter research. For example, it made the first ever more precise measurement for antimatter than for matter, it kept antimatter stored for a record time of more than a year, and it conducted the first laboratory-based search for an interaction between antimatter and a candidate particle for dark matter called the axion. Now, the

Dr. Nobuo Noda and Dr. Kazuaki Matoba at the Institute of Microbial Chemistry discovered that Atg9, one of the proteins that function to mediate autophagy, has phospholipid-translocation activity (the lipid scramblase activity) between the two layers of the lipid bilayer and elucidated that the protein's activity brings about autophagosome membrane expansion.

A team of researchers from China, Spain, Russia and Portugal has developed a way to use Moiré lattices to optically induce and highlight the formation of optical solitons under different geometrical conditions. In their paper published in the journal Nature Photonics, the group describes their work, which involved using photorefractive nonlinear media as a means of localizing laser light into tigh

Need a break from politics and the pandemic? You're probably not in the Amazon rain forest right now, but we can take you there in audio. Today, in part one of our three-part audio sound escape, we listen to dolphins hunting among the trees.

PLUS. Efter knap 20 år i Ballerup er Dansk Datahistorisk Forenings lejemål opsagt. Foreningen drømmer nu om mere fokus på dansk it-historie i et nyt hjem til samlingen af dataudstyr.

Study of Mount Pleasant site suggests it was constructed over decades, not centuries An intense burst of building work took place in Britain at the end of the neolithic period, possibly as a "final hurrah" by stone-age man and woman as they sensed the approach of fundamental change, research on a prehistoric monument in Dorset has suggested. A study of the Mount Pleasant "mega henge", a sprawling

Researchers from University of Barcelona study how multilayers that form the human brain interact at different resolutions

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) has revealed some mystery of the fast radio bursts, according to a study published in Nature on Oct. 28.

A China-UK research team explains the possible reasons for excessive precipitation over the TP in the mesoscale convection-parameterized models.

Japanese scientists discovered that Atg9, one of the proteins that function to mediate autophagy, has phospholipid-translocation activity (the lipid scramblase activity) between the two layers of the lipid bilayer?and elucidated that the protein's activity brings about autophagosome membrane expansion. The artificial control of autophagy is expected to promote the research and development of treat

International research led by geologists from Curtin University has found that a volcanic province in the Indian Ocean was the world's most continuously active — erupting for 30 million years — fuelled by a constantly moving 'conveyor belt' of magma.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have shown that the single-nucleotide variants of TERT and DSP, which promote risk for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), are significantly associated with susceptibility to microscopic polyangiitis and myeloperoxidase-ANCA associated vasculitis. Interestingly, there was no clear link to the severe complication interstitial lung disease (ILD). These fin

US tech group's Foundry software might be used to manage sensitive contact tracing data

Galileo var en rymdsond på väg mot Jupiter. För att justera banan och få lite extra fart gjorde den en förbiflygning nära jorden i december 1990. Sondens instrument gav en möjlighet att betrakta jorden utifrån, som om den vore en främmande planet. Astronomerna ville använda sondens mätningar för att se om de kunde hitta tecken på liv, utan att använda sig av några förkunskaper om hur livet på jord

Among U.S. patients with rheumatic disease and COVID-19, racial/ethnic minorities had higher risks of needing to be hospitalized and put on ventilators, according to new research.

Researchers have identified a suite of genes and regulatory elements critical to normal heart development. Their study outlines the importance of 'hub genes' in heart development.

Sleep deprivation may pave the way to cocaine addiction. Too-little sleep can increase the rewarding properties of cocaine, according to new research.

Follow the unbreakable bouncing phone! A team recently demonstrated that a fabric designed using additive manufacturing absorbs up to 96% of impact energy — all without breaking.

Follow the unbreakable bouncing phone! A team recently demonstrated that a fabric designed using additive manufacturing absorbs up to 96% of impact energy — all without breaking.

Researchers have identified an evolutionarily conserved pathway responsible for 'closing down' gene activity in the mammalian cell. The finding is closely related to the Polycomb pathway defined decades ago by a set of classic genetic experiments carried out in fruit flies. They repor the BAHCC1 protein is critically involved in silencing genes and acts as an integral component of the Polycomb gen

A "larger than life personality," Amon devoted her career to study the cell cycle and aneuploidy. Her research has shaped the field of cancer biology.

/r/happyandhealthy has had a few posts the past few days about psychological benefits of reading fiction. It got me thinking about how I used to read fiction all the time, but it's been years since I've done it. Lately everything has been academic literature for me. A few weeks ago, I reread I, Robot . It didn't impress me as much as it did before I got into cognitive science and programming. Sti

Coping with an 'infodemic', David Heymann on the response to Covid-19, lessons from the Great Plague

Scientists at Osaka University show how to achieve a very strong nonlinear optical response in silicon nanostructures based on the photothermal effect. This work may lead to entirely optical control of logic gates in computers.

Nyt forskningsprojekt med Innovationsfonden i ryggen vil skabe ny metode, der skal sikre, at tørvejorde i landbruget bliver omlagt til klimavenlige naturområder

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76584-3

Among the most extreme planets discovered beyond the edges of our solar system are lava planets: fiery hot worlds that circle so close to their host star that some regions are likely oceans of molten lava. According to scientists, the atmosphere and weather cycle of at least one such exoplanet is even stranger, featuring the evaporation and precipitation of rocks, supersonic winds that rage over 5

Over the course of only a century, humanity has made an observable impact on the genetic diversity of the lion population.

A thin coating of the 2D nanomaterial hexagonal boron nitride is the key ingredient in a cost-effective technology developed by engineers for desalinating industrial-strength brine.

This year marks a decade since the end of the Millennium Drought, when flood waters reached the mouth of the River Murray in 2010. For 1,200 days prior, Australia's most iconic river had ceased flowing to the sea, causing populations of fish and other aquatic animals to plummet.

This year marks a decade since the end of the Millennium Drought, when flood waters reached the mouth of the River Murray in 2010. For 1,200 days prior, Australia's most iconic river had ceased flowing to the sea, causing populations of fish and other aquatic animals to plummet.

A new UO study confirms what earth scientists have long suspected: Plants first appeared on land about 460 million years ago, in the middle of a 45-million-year-long geologic period known as the Ordovician.

Antikroppar handlar inte bara om att spåra immunitet mot covid-19 och andra smittor, utan används också alltmer för att bota sjukdomar. Forskare i immunteknologi bygger konstgjorda antikroppar med nya, läkande egenskaper. I ett kylskåp i ett av husen på Medicon Village finns en dyrgrip. För en utomstående är den omöjlig att upptäcka eftersom den är ett vanligt provrör med lite genomskinlig vätska

In the far north, researchers are scrambling to record baseline environmental data as communities brace for future shipping disasters

If Instagram over-polices mental health content, it risks alienating people who use the platform to build community in healthy ways.

Game streaming—not Twitch, but the ability to play games in multiple places—is a new variable in this generation of hardware. Here's what you need to know.

Prof Andrew Pollard tells MPs of need for careful scrutiny of clinical trial results Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage The head of the Oxford University group developing one of the leading Covid vaccine contenders has played down the chances of vaccinating people by Christmas. "I think there is a small chance of that being possible, but I just don't know," said Prof A

Mathematics teaching needs to be rethought because children's spatial reasoning skills are not developed enough, a new study says.

Contrary to concern about partisan "news bubbles" and "echo chambers," mobile devices expose Americans to a greater variety of news than desktop computers, new research shows. In recent years, we've heard a lot about "news bubbles" and "echo chambers," the idea that to validate their own worldviews, liberals read liberal news and conservatives read conservative news. The proliferation of partisan

Researchers from Nara Institute of Science and Technology have found that parasitic plants use the plant hormone ethylene as a signal to invade host plants. Parasitic plants make an organ called a haustorium to attach to and invade hosts, and to obtain water and nutrients. Ethylene is used by parasitic plants to tweak haustorium development and host invasion. This knowledge could be used to develo

A study of the relationships between cognition and the gut microbiome of captive zebra finches showed that their gut microbiome characteristics were related to performance on a cognitive assay where they learned a novel foraging technique. Researchers also identified potentially critical bacteria that were relatively more abundant in birds that performed better on this assay. This correlation prov

Need a break from politics and the pandemic? You're probably not in the Amazon rain forest right now, but we can take you there in audio. Today, in part one of our three-part audio sound… — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Stream Full Episodes of Gold Rush: https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/gold-rush/ Subscribe to Discovery: http://bit.ly/SubscribeDiscovery Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoldRush/ https://www.facebook.com/Discovery Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gold_Rush https://twitter.com/Discovery We're on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/GoldRushTV/ https://www.instagram.com/Disco

Some people refer to the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau as the "third pole" because the region has the largest reserve of glacial snow and ice outside of the north and south poles. The glaciers, which are extremely sensitive to climate change and human influence, have been retreating over the past decade. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology Letters have detected light-a

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76115-0

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75938-1

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75886-w

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75865-1

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76134-x

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75985-8

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75912-x

DALLAS – Nov. 4, 2020 – A mutation in the gene that causes cystic fibrosis may accelerate heart function decline in those with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a new study by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The findings, published online recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association , could help doctors develop new strategies to preserve heart function in this population, poten

A new remote sensing method for studying the mineral olivine could help scientists understand the early evolution of the moon, Mars, and other planetary bodies. "Olivine is understood to be a major component in the interiors of rocky planets," says Christopher Kremer, a PhD candidate at Brown University and lead author of a new paper on the work. "It's a primary constituent of Earth's mantle, and

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75942-5 Author Correction: Characterization of DvSSJ1 transcripts targeting the smooth septate junction (SSJ) of western corn rootworm ( Diabrotica virgifera virgifera )

An international team of researchers, led by Distinguished Professor Rodney S. Ruoff (Department of Chemistry) from the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM), within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) at UNIST, has synthesized a film composed of densely packed diamond-like carbon nanofibers. As described in a recent article published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers noted

Some people refer to the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau as the "third pole" because the region has the largest reserve of glacial snow and ice outside of the north and south poles. The glaciers, which are extremely sensitive to climate change and human influence, have been retreating over the past decade. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology Letters have detected light-a

Nature, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03083-w The latest science news, in brief.

Nature, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03062-1 Andrew Robinson reviews five of the week's best science picks.

Nature, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03030-9 A familial bond.

Nature, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03080-z A plan to green 7,000 kilometres of Africa's drylands is struggling to take off. Researchers must help.

Nature, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03121-7 Junior researchers need to engage with policymakers, institutions, funders and media outlets to argue against planned budget cut-backs, warn Brian Cahill and Marco Masia.

Nature, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03084-9 A fringe theory links microbes in the brain with the onset of dementia. Now, researchers are taking it seriously.

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is the highest and most extensive highland in the world. The thermal and mechanical forces of the TP play an essential role in influencing the global climate, and precipitation is one of its most important water cycle components.

Researchers have cracked the conundrum of how to use inks to 3D-print novel electronic devices with useful properties, such as an ability to convert light into electricity.

Growing meat without the need to grow a whole animal has been the dream of agriculturalists and foodies everywhere for decades. More and more companies are jumping on the bandwagon to recreate the experience of eating meat without the downsides so often associated with its creation. One of those companies is Aleph Farms, based in Israel, which just announced its newest program—Aleph Zero, an effor

SpaceX's Starlink satellite cluster has been receiving much headline space recently as it continues adding satellites at a breathtaking pace. Much of this news coverage has focused on how it's impacting amateur skygazers and how it could benefit people in far-flung regions. But technical details do matter, and over on Casey Handmer's blog, there was a recent discussion of one of the most important

Kabwe, Zambia, has a long history of lead and zinc mining, centered around the now-closed Broken Hill Mine. Due to the mine, the city is also one of the most polluted places on Earth; even though the mine has closed, artisanal/small-scale mining continues, leading to the expansion of the polluted area.

International research led by geologists from Curtin University has found that a volcanic province in the Indian Ocean was the world's most continuously active—erupting for 30 million years—fuelled by a constantly moving conveyor belt of magma.

Recently, scientists from the Institute of Solid State Physics, along with their collaborators from the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), reported high thermoelectric performance of p-type Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 (BST), which was achieved through the scattering engineering strategy.

Atmospheric nitrous acid (HONO) is an important source of tropospheric hydroxyl radicals (OH). During daytime, sunlight turns HONO into hydroxyl radicals. This process may make up as high as 60% of the total tropospheric hydroxyl radicals, providing the essential atmospheric oxidation capacity driving the formation of secondary aerosol and the occurrence of regional haze pollution.

On Oct. 29, mission operators sent a series of commands to NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft for the first time since mid-March. The spacecraft has been flying solo while the 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) radio antenna used to talk to it has been offline for repairs and upgrades. Voyager 2 returned a signal confirming it had received the "call" and executed the commands without issue.

A study led by Monash scientists has found the iconic Purple-crowned fairy-wren may hold the key to better understanding immune function.

Since the 1970s, chemicals called brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have been added to a host of consumer and household products, ranging from electronics and mattresses to upholstery and carpets. While they were intended to improve fire safety, one form—polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs—has proved harmful to human health, specifically our hormonal systems.

Tiny shifts in the land surface across the whole of Germany have been mapped for the first time, with the help of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar mission.

NUS chemists have discovered a way of controlling the position of carbon-carbon double bonds (C=C) in olefin isomerisation using sustainable iron-based catalysis for potential applications in organic synthesis.

This Android phone is great in many ways, but it's not the best choice for value.

We're on the cusp of being able to program biological systems like we program computers. That raises some thorny questions.

A study led by Monash scientists has found the iconic Purple-crowned fairy-wren may hold the key to better understanding immune function.

England's chief medical officer says proposal is dangerously flawed and impractical Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage A high-profile proposal to avoid lockdown by letting the coronavirus run wild in the young and healthy while shielding the most vulnerable is dangerously flawed and operationally impractical, according to England's chief medical officer. Prof Chris Whit

We probably think we know gravity pretty well. After all, we have more conscious experience with this fundamental force than with any of the others (electromagnetism and the weak and strong nuclear… — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

The team behind a new documentary full of incredible footage of the secret life of mushrooms explain how fungi could help us stave off future pandemics Watching the anemone stinkhorn sprout from the soil is a wondrous – and terrifying – thing. Emerging from a pod that looks like a truffle, the mushroom unfurls half a dozen arms, all a throbbing scarlet, like a collection of tongues. Each of these

We probably think we know gravity pretty well. After all, we have more conscious experience with this fundamental force than with any of the others (electromagnetism and the weak and strong nuclear forces). But even though physicists have been studying gravity for hundreds of years, it remains a source of mystery. In our video Why Is Gravity Different? We explore why this force is so perplexing a

Flere ansatte læger i almen praksis og en nedskrivning af befolkningstilvæksten hos Danmarks Statistik er ifølge PLO de primære årsager til, at organisationen nu halverer sin prognose for lægemangel i 2023.

Var fjärde svensk konsument ser fram emot Black Friday. Samtidigt vet vi att mycket av försäljningen runt Black Friday inte är planerad utan drivs av den annonsering som sker i samband med "högtidsdagen", säger Johan Anselmsson, professor i marknadsföring. Den svenska studien genomfördes i slutet av oktober och bygger på en webbaserad enkät, genomförd av Ekonomihögskolan vid Lunds universitet och

Along with Europe and North America, East Asia has in the past few decades become one of the three largest nitrogen deposition centers in the world. This can lead to considerable impacts on the structure and function of ecosystems; for instance, excessive nitrogen is thought to be one of the drivers of biodiversity change across the globe; and nitrogen deposition can also cause acidification of so

Scientists at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (MEPhI) have demonstrated an increase in the intensity and emission rate of quantum dots. According to the authors of the study, the development could help to solve one of the key problems in creating a quantum computer and elevate biomedical monitoring to a new level. The research results were published in Optics Express.

Along with Europe and North America, East Asia has in the past few decades become one of the three largest nitrogen deposition centers in the world. This can lead to considerable impacts on the structure and function of ecosystems; for instance, excessive nitrogen is thought to be one of the drivers of biodiversity change across the globe; and nitrogen deposition can also cause acidification of so

Human skin bruises when the tissue and muscle in the area suffer trauma or become damaged due to the application of blunt force. However, when an object suffers an impact, it is necessary to examine every inch of the surface of the material to understand the extent of the damage. An airplane, for example, it is fully inspected to ensure safety. If the areas damaged by a physical impact undergo a c

Varje år får omkring 60 svenskar ett nytt hjärta. Ett år efter transplantationen bedöms risken för komplikationer vara så pass låg att det räcker med uppföljningar en gång om året.

Superspreader events seem to play a large role in spreading COVID-19, which gives us a powerful method of reducing spread. The post first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .

In a move that everyone knew was coming, President Trump announced in a speech at 2:21 a.m. EST this morning that he had won—long before enough votes were in to make that call. "We were getting ready to win this election," he said. "Frankly, we did win the election." He called for the counting of votes to stop and the outcome to be put into the hands of the Supreme Court. Social media companies a

Massive storms like Goni, which hit the Philippine islands on Sunday, could be a glimpse of our future.

Some are stockpiling comfort food and others are defiant, but for most it's a feeling of weary resignation Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Much has been made of how Covid has deepened divisions in Britain: between the haves and the have-nots, the work-from-homers and the have-to-go-to-workers, the doves and the hawks , England's north and south. But as England approa

Et enormt isbjerg på størrelse med et mindre land er omkring 500 kilometer fra øen Syd Georgien i Atlanterhavet, hvor det truer øens rige dyreliv.

They're important for agriculture, but they're not so good for the environment — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Mere end 7,200 borgere har fået forkerte informationer om, hvor lang tid de skulle tilbringe i corona-isolation på grund af en softwarefejl hos de britiske sundhedsmyndigheder.

State-level efforts and a growing renewables market have mitigated federal emissions policy rollbacks—but Trump's climate impact could be long-lasting — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

State-level efforts and a growing renewables market have mitigated federal emissions policy rollbacks—but Trump's climate impact could be long-lasting — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

In your opinion, What would be your best preferred vision of the future? How does it look like? submitted by /u/opoopo11 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/cwadamsmith [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/ObjectiveGround5 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Sorin61 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Shradha_Singh [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/wonderofspace [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/fotogneric [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Random-Mutant [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/chopchopped [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Capt_Obviously_Slow [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/genericdude999 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/aManOfTheNorth [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/TriniTornado [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/stranger_42066669 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/solar-cabin [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/altmorty [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/RichyScrapDad99 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/tuiposa [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/auscrisos [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/speckz [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/speckz [link] [comments]

Based on earlier studies, researchers surmised that pregnant women could be at an increased risk of developing a worsened case of COVID-19. (Pexels/) A new report published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that pregnant women are at an increased risk of developing a severe form of COVID-19 compared to women of the same age group who aren't pregnant. The data pr

Here's a retraction notice after our own hearts. Brain Research Bulletin, an Elsevier journal, has retracted a 2017 article which duplicated a substantial amount of previously published papers by some of the same authors. But unlike many journals, which merely point out the overlap, BRB explains to readers why the copying matters. The article, "Erythropoietin … Continue reading

Scientists at Swansea University have developed a very sensitive method to detect the tiny signatures of so called 'charge traps' in organic semiconductors.

By screening hundreds of synthetic mini-antibodies called sybodies, a group of scientists has identified one that might stop SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells.

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19374-9 Separation of 99TcO4− from nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site is hampered by the extreme conditions. Here, the authors propose a solution by developing an alkaline-resistant metal organic framework material featuring unique recognition sites for selective incorporation of 99TcO4− anions.

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19266-y Development of algorithms to predict reactant and reagents given a target molecule is key to accelerate retrosynthesis approaches. Here the authors demonstrate that applying augmentation techniques to the SMILE representation of target data significantly improves the quality of the reaction predictions.

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19372-x As protein synthesis takes place, newly synthesized polypeptide chain passes through the ribosomal exit tunnel, which can accommodate up to 70 residues in the case of a helical peptide. Here the authors show that oxidation of cysteine residues in the nascent chain can occur within the ribosome exit tunnel, w

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19377-6 Crystallization-induced photoluminescence weakening in ultrasmall metal nanoparticles is not well understood. Here, the authors study conformational isomers of gold nanoclusters to examine the effect of interparticle distance on this phenomenon, and propose a model of distance-dependent non-radiative excitat

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19429-x Morphology control of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells has been a challenge for realising optimal photovoltaic performance. Here, the authors utilise amphiphobic nature and temperature-dependent miscibility of fluorous solvent to promote molecular reorganisation and morphological optimisation.

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19412-6 GM-CSF is involved in control over M. tuberculosis infection. Here the authors show that GM-CSF reduces type 1 interferon driven neutrophil recruitment, NETosis and bacterial growth in the lungs of infected mice, and provide evidence that this NETosis occurs in infected humans who are not responsive to antib

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19396-3 The (G4C2)-RNA hexanucleotide repeat expansion upstream of the start codon of the C9orf72 gene plays a critical role in familial ALS. The authors show that Sig1R, a ligand-regulated molecular chaperone, counteracts the aberrant nucleocytoplasmic distribution of Ran caused by the (G4C2)-RNA repeats.

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19384-7 Starvation induces cell aggregation and formation of spore-containing fruiting bodies in the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. Here, the authors show that a different myxobacterial species produces a compound that inhibits the development of fruiting bodies in M. xanthus, by affecting the function of histidine k

For generations, Appalachians have hunted the woods for wild ginseng — or "sang" — that has long been prized in folk medicine for its purported health benefits. Now, concerns about overharvesting have spurred a fragile alliance of locals, scientists, and government officials to explore forest farming.

Scientists at Swansea University have developed a very sensitive method to detect the tiny signatures of so called 'charge traps' in organic semiconductors.

Latest updates: Some Tory MPs critical of a lack of engagement with Conservative backbenchers before a Commons vote on England's lockdown UK can expect at least three Covid waves with lockdowns, Mordaunt says Six NHS staff contract Covid after car sharing without wearing masks Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage 11.17am GMT A reader asks about the Covid blood plasma tria

PLUS. To forskellige og uafhængige opgørelser af CO2-indholdet i dansk strøm skaber uklarhed blandt virksomheder og forbrugere.

T he world watched today as the president of the United States confirmed his critics'—and American allies'—fears, railing baselessly against election fraud, arguing from his perch in the White House that he had won an election whose result remained in doubt. Donald Trump's remarks signaled a dangerous new episode in the soap opera of his presidency. Waking up to the news that he has claimed victo

After a three year wait, the US becomes the first nation to leave the Paris climate pact.

Hurricane Eta continues to spin across northern Nicaragua after lashing the country's Caribbean coast for much of Tuesday, isolating already remote communities and setting off deadly landslides in two countries that killed at least three people.

Researchers from University of Georgia, University of South Carolina, and University of Arkansas published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that analyzes how asymmetries in pre-alliance network ties between a firm and its alliance partner affect the focal firm's financial performance and financial performance uncertainty.

Researchers from John Carroll University and University of Kansas published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that investigates how recipients respond to charities' pre-giving incentives to determine if they are worth the investment.

Over the course of only a century, humanity has made an observable impact on the genetic diversity of the lion population. That's the conclusion of a recently published study by Drs. Caitlin Curry and James Derr from the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

The TAU-SAT1 nanosatellite, approximately the size of a shoebox, is currently undergoing pre-flight testing at the Japanese space agency JAXA prior to a planned launch by NASA in the first quarter of 2021. TAU-SAT1 was entirely devised, developed, assembled, and tested at Tel Aviv University's Nanosatellite Center, an interdisciplinary endeavor of the University's Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty

Plastic has become ubiquitous in modern life and its accumulation as waste in the environment is sounding warning bells for the health of humans and wildlife. In a recent study, Utah State University scientist Janice Brahney cited alarming amounts of microplastics in the nation's national parks and wilderness areas.

Over the course of only a century, humanity has made an observable impact on the genetic diversity of the lion population. That's the conclusion of a recently published study by Drs. Caitlin Curry and James Derr from the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

The University of Nottingham has cracked the conundrum of how to use inks to 3-D-print novel electronic devices with useful properties, such as an ability to convert light into electricity.

Fungus farming is a fascinating symbiosis that has evolved multiple times in social insects: once in ants, once in termites, and several times in weevils (beetles) from the subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae. The behavior of these "ambrosia beetles"—over 3,000 species—is poorly known, because they live inside galleries in wood, making observation hard. Here, a study focuses for the first time

A very few species of parasitoid wasps can be considered aquatic. Less than 0.1% of the species we know today have been found to enter the water, while searching for potential hosts or living as endoparasitoids inside of aquatic hosts during their larval stage.

Plastic has become ubiquitous in modern life and its accumulation as waste in the environment is sounding warning bells for the health of humans and wildlife. In a recent study, Utah State University scientist Janice Brahney cited alarming amounts of microplastics in the nation's national parks and wilderness areas.

Fungus farming is a fascinating symbiosis that has evolved multiple times in social insects: once in ants, once in termites, and several times in weevils (beetles) from the subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae. The behavior of these "ambrosia beetles"—over 3,000 species—is poorly known, because they live inside galleries in wood, making observation hard. Here, a study focuses for the first time

A very few species of parasitoid wasps can be considered aquatic. Less than 0.1% of the species we know today have been found to enter the water, while searching for potential hosts or living as endoparasitoids inside of aquatic hosts during their larval stage.

For students studying ecology and evolution, it's important to experience the processes and concepts they are learning about nature in nature. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, field-based courses rapidly transitioned to online only delivery. An article published in Ecology and Evolution discusses the potential advantages of pairing an intensive lab experience with an otherwise online

Groping around in your bag for your keys can be a daily ordeal. I'm not going to list the catalogue of junk in my bag, but I can distinguish every article by touch. Our fingertips are exquisitely engineered, deftly detecting the differences between surfaces and shapes, but we are not the only animals that touch objects. 'A whole host of fishes contact the bottom of bodies of water, plants or other

For students studying ecology and evolution, it's important to experience the processes and concepts they are learning about nature in nature. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, field-based courses rapidly transitioned to online only delivery. An article published in Ecology and Evolution discusses the potential advantages of pairing an intensive lab experience with an otherwise online

Groping around in your bag for your keys can be a daily ordeal. I'm not going to list the catalogue of junk in my bag, but I can distinguish every article by touch. Our fingertips are exquisitely engineered, deftly detecting the differences between surfaces and shapes, but we are not the only animals that touch objects. 'A whole host of fishes contact the bottom of bodies of water, plants or other

Internationale eksperter er blevet enige om verdens første guide til, hvordan personer med type 1-diabetes kan bruge glukosemonitorering til at lave sikre træningsforløb.

Nature, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03066-x Other nations are stepping up targets to reduce emissions — but the world will struggle to meet its goals.

I år uppmärksammas gensaxen Crispr med ett nobelpris. I det här poddavsnittet får du möjlighet att på ett enkelt sätt förstå mer om dina gener, hur tekniken fungerar, vilka möjligheter den erbjuder – och vilka frågor den också väcker.

Despite the president's claims of victory, his reelection bid depends on a huge number of votes that have yet to be counted.

Come back, buddy!

We need to find out more.

Updated at 2:36 a.m. ET on November 4, 2020. The 2020 election has been the most anticipated in generations—and for now the result of the contest between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will have to go on being anticipated a little longer. With most polls closed around the nation, it is clear that Democratic dreams of a quick and decisive Biden victory were just as much

These critters were hanging out during the dinosaur era!

Firms need to assess a potential alliance partner's direct ties and indirect ties because they have significant effects on financial performance and risk.

Working together with researchers from the University of Tübingen, the University of Tromsø, the UC Davis and the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, biologists from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have discovered how tomato plants identify Cuscuta as a parasite. The plant has a protein in its cell walls that is identified as 'foreign' by a receptor in the tomato.

Pre-giving incentives have different effects on different outcomes. The best strategy depends on what the charity wants to achieve.

A previously unknown species of Japanese parasitic wasp was observed and filmed to dive underwater to parasitize moth caterpillars. This is the first known case of such behaviour for the subfamily Microgastrinae. The unique video is featured in the original description of the species, named Microgaster godzilla, because its emergence out of the water reminded the scientists of the Japanese iconic

The University of Nottingham has cracked the conundrum of how to use inks to 3D-print novel electronic devices with useful properties, such as an ability to convert light into electricity.

[no content]

Human skin bruises when the tissue and muscle in the area suffer trauma or become damaged due to an application of blunt force. when an object suffers an impact that is expected to damage, If the areas damaged by a physical impact undergo a change in color, just like human skin, it will be easy to distinguish what needs to be repaired.

For students studying ecology and evolution, it's important to experience the processes and concepts they are learning about nature in nature. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, field-based courses rapidly transitioned to online only delivery. An article published in Ecology and Evolution discusses the potential advantages of pairing an intensive lab experience with an otherwise online

Osteoporosis can be detected through low dose computed tomography (LDCT) imaging tests performed for lung cancer screening or other purposes. A study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research found that such tests can identify large numbers of adults with low bone mineral density.

Cesarean section delivery and vaginal delivery lead to different hormonal exposures that may affect a newborn's development, according to an article published in the Journal of Neuroendocrinology.

A new analysis published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology shows that HPV vaccines are safe and well tolerated in the male population, and the side effects that may occur after immunization are similar in both sexes.

A new analysis published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society indicates that fewer older adults may be experiencing certain symptoms that can restrict their activity at the end of life.

Vitamin D supplementation eased the symptoms experienced by children with severe atopic dermatitis, or eczema, in a recent randomized controlled trial published in Pharmacology Research & Perspectives.

Among US patients with rheumatic disease and COVID-19, racial/ethnic minorities had higher risks of needing to be hospitalized and put on ventilators. The findings come from an analysis published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

A new study shows for the first time that Xyleborus affinis beetles are cooperative breeders, where females disperse to found new nests or stay to help their mother raise siblings, while also reproducing themselves. They grow an asexual Raffaella fungus alongside their nest galleries, apparently their only source of food.

Late at night on November 4, 1995, while leaving a huge rally in Tel Aviv, moments after leading the crowd in singing the "Song of Peace"—"Don't say the day will come; bring the day!"—Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot by a young Israeli bitterly opposed to the peace process with the Palestinians. Although Rabin and I worked together for less than three years, we built a close working relation

Når medicin mod kronisk lymfatisk leukæmi skifter fra at være tredjelinjebehandling til førstelinjebehandling, følger prisen ikke med. Det stiller klinikerne i et dilemma, hvor økonomi kan stå i vejen for den bedste behandling.

Dronerne tager prøver af gasser i luften for at se, om lava er på vej.

Norges højesteret skal nu beslutte, om staten har brudt grundloven ved at give tilladelse til at lede efter ny olie.

Questions remain over accuracy of new 20-minute tests and reliance on overseas suppliers

Research offers insights into marsupial's rearguard defences and 'brutal' mating rituals Australia is known for its strange and deadly wildlife, with plenty of attention given to venomous snakes and bird-eating spiders. But it seems one terrifying aspect of outback fauna has been thoroughly ignored: the wombat's deadly bum. The rump of the wombat is hard as rock, used for defence, burrowing, bond

What does it take to be president? The United States Constitution only lists three requirements for the job: be at least 35 years old, be a natural born citizen, and live in the United States for at least 14 years. A total of 45 men had held the position so far, and each has taken a very different route to the White House. Beginning in the 20th century, here is a brief summary of the past 20 lead

Human activities are increasing wind-blown dust, depleting crucial freshwater supply Himalayan snow and ice is diminishing fast. Global heating is certainly playing a significant role, but now a recent study in Nature Climate Change reveals that wind-blown dust is worsening the melting effect. Winter snowfall and spring snowmelt provide more than half of the annual freshwater needs of around 700

We find ourselves ten months into one of the most catastrophic global health events of our lifetime and, disturbingly, we still do not know how it began. What's even more troubling is that despite the critical importance of this question, efforts to investigate the origins of the severe acute respiratory…

Millions of voters across the US received robocalls and texts encouraging them to stay at home on Election Day, in what experts believe were clear attempts at suppressing voter turnout in the closely contested 2020 political races. Employing such tactics to spread disinformation and sow confusion amid elections isn't new, and it's not yet clear whether they were used more this year than in previo

PLUS. Flere bygninger, som Bach Gruppen og BG Beton har været involveret i, bliver kulegravet for betonsjusk.

Is it okay?

"This discovery sheds light on the geography and environment during the early evolution of mammals," Kligman said.

The concave-eared torrent frog's unusual ear anatomy lets it hear high-frequency calls, which gives a mating advantage to the littler males that sing soprano.

We should take this seriously.

Patience is the name of the game. (Jon Sailer/Unsplash/) >> This post has been updated. This is the best election story you'll ever read. OK, wow, bold statement from the author. It may very well be, but you, the reader, can't determine its quality until you've read it—at least most of it. Reaching a conclusion is a process, and it's why Election Day has begun to drift into the rearview as we cou

Scientists have noted instances of leaf-cutter bees using plastic waste to construct their nests and one research group suggested such behavior could be an 'ecologically adaptive trait' and beneficial recycling effort. Other scientists say no; such behavior is harmful to the bee's offspring.

If the world's biggest iceberg grounds at South Georgia island, it could devastate local wildlife.

Investigations of deceased COVID-19 patients have shed light on possible lung damage caused by the virus.

First analysis combining genetic and physical differences of populations of gentoo penguins indicates they should be treated as four separate species.

A world-first study on the Great Barrier Reef shows crown-of-thorns starfish have the ability to find their own way home — a behavior previously undocumented–but only if their neighborhood is stocked with their favorite food: corals. The starfish will consume available Acropora and ultimately eat themselves out of house and home before dispersing in search of new feeding grounds.

Among the most extreme planets discovered beyond the edges of our solar system are lava planets: fiery hot worlds that circle so close to their host star that some regions are likely oceans of molten lava. According to scientists, the atmosphere and weather cycle of at least one such exoplanet is even stranger, featuring the evaporation and precipitation of rocks, supersonic winds that rage over 5

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 . Shutterstock / Getty / The Atlantic To put the Election Day frenzy aside, this bears repeating: This is not a normal election, and you should prepare yourself accordingly. We don't know when race

Fossilized jaw bone fragments of a rat-like creature found at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona last year by a Virginia Tech College of Science Ph.D. candidate are in fact a newly discovered 220-million-year-old species of cynodont or stem-mammal, a precursor of modern-day mammals.

Among the most extreme planets discovered beyond the edges of our solar system are lava planets: fiery hot worlds that circle so close to their host star that some regions are likely oceans of molten lava. According to scientists from McGill University, York University, and the Indian Institute of Science Education, the atmosphere and weather cycle of at least one such exoplanet is even stranger,

Gentoo penguins should be reclassified as four separate species, say scientists at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, after analysing the genetic and physical differences between populations around the southern hemisphere.

A world-first study on the Great Barrier Reef shows crown-of-thorns starfish have the ability to find their own way home—a behavior previously undocumented—but only if their neighborhood is stocked with their favorite food: corals.

Gentoo penguins should be reclassified as four separate species, say scientists at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, after analysing the genetic and physical differences between populations around the southern hemisphere.

A world-first study on the Great Barrier Reef shows crown-of-thorns starfish have the ability to find their own way home—a behavior previously undocumented—but only if their neighborhood is stocked with their favorite food: corals.

The concave-eared torrent frog's unusual ear anatomy lets it hear high-frequency calls, which gives a mating advantage to the littler males that sing soprano. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Scientific Reports, Published online: 04 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75632-2

"I don't believe we can get to zero transmission in the US."

With most polls closed, the worst-case scenarios about ransomware and misinformation meltdowns have seemingly not come to pass.

Engzell and Tropf (1) find a positive association between intergenerational mobility and heritability for educational attainment. This implies a "general law" that heritability rises whenever social mobility increases and falls whenever it decreases. There are three reasons this conclusion may be premature. First, the heritability estimates and parent–offspring correlations used…

Damien Morris has read our paper (1) and concluded that it suggests a "general law" such that "heritability rises whenever social mobility increases and falls whenever it decreases" (2). Although we are flattered, our own ambition was more modest: to assess the available evidence (3)—mostly from rich, Western democracies—for a…

Cisplatin is a standard of care for lung cancer, yet platinum therapy rarely results in substantial tumor regression or a dramatic extension in patient survival. Here, we examined whether targeting Rev7 (also referred to as Mad2B, Mad2L2, and FANCV), a component of the translesion synthesis (TLS) machinery, could potentiate the…

Cellular transformation is associated with dramatic changes in gene expression, but it is difficult to determine which regulated genes are oncogenically relevant. Here we describe Pheno-RNA, a general approach to identifying candidate genes associated with a specific phenotype. Specifically, we generate a "phenotypic series" by treating a nontransformed breast cell…

Functional electrolyte is the key to stabilize the highly reductive lithium (Li) metal anode and the high-voltage cathode for long-life, high-energy-density rechargeable Li metal batteries (LMBs). However, fundamental mechanisms on the interactions between reactive electrodes and electrolytes are still not well understood. Recently localized high-concentration electrolytes (LHCEs) are emerging as.

Predicting the trajectory of a novel emerging pathogen is like waking in the middle of the night and finding yourself in motion—but not knowing where you are headed, how fast you are traveling, how far you have come, or even what manner of vehicle conveys you into the darkness. A…

Cone photoreceptors in the retina are exposed to intense daylight and have higher energy demands in darkness. Cones produce energy using a large cluster of mitochondria. Mitochondria are susceptible to oxidative damage, and healthy mitochondrial populations are maintained by regular turnover. Daily cycles of light exposure and energy consumption suggest…

The gold standard treatment for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is the use of tendon autografts and allografts. Limiting factors for this treatment include donor site morbidity, potential disease transmission, and variable graft quality. To address these limitations, we previously developed an off-the-shelf alternative, a poly(l-lactic) acid (PLLA) bioengineered ACL…

Alphaviruses are positive-sense, enveloped RNA viruses that are important causes of viral encephalomyelitis. Sindbis virus (SINV) is the prototype alphavirus and preferentially infects neurons in rodents to induce an encephalomyelitis similar to the human disease. Using a mouse model of SINV infection of the nervous system, many of the immune…

As a physiological regulator of bile acid homeostasis, FGF19 is also a potent insulin sensitizer capable of normalizing plasma glucose concentration, improving lipid profile, ameliorating fatty liver disease, and causing weight loss in both diabetic and diet-induced obesity mice. There is therefore a major interest in developing FGF19 as a…

Poor metabolic control and host genetic predisposition are critical for diabetic kidney disease (DKD) development. The epigenome integrates information from sequence variations and metabolic alterations. Here, we performed a genome-wide methylome association analysis in 500 subjects with DKD from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort for DKD phenotypes, including glycemic control,…

A methionine-rich low complexity (LC) domain is found within a C-terminal region of the TDP43 RNA-binding protein. Self-association of this domain leads to the formation of labile cross-β polymers and liquid-like droplets. Treatment with H2O2 caused phenomena of methionine oxidation and droplet melting that were reversed upon exposure of the…

Strong institutions as well as economic development are generally understood to play critical roles in protecting societies from the adverse impacts of natural hazards, such as tropical cyclones. The independent effect of institutions on reducing these risks, however, has not been confirmed empirically in previous global studies. As a storm's…

Lignin has enabled plants to colonize land, grow tall, transport water within their bodies, and protect themselves against various stresses. Consequently, this polyphenolic polymer, impregnating cellulosic plant cell walls, is the second most abundant polymer on Earth. Yet, despite its great physiological, ecological, and economical importance, our knowledge of lignin…

Akt activation up-regulates the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by inhibiting ROS scavenging. Of the Akt isoforms, Akt3 has also been shown to up-regulate ROS by promoting mitochondrial biogenesis. Here, we employ a set of isogenic cell lines that express different Akt isoforms, to show that the most…

As part of the lysosomal degradation pathway, the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT-0 to -III/VPS4) sequester receptors at the endosome and simultaneously deform the membrane to generate intraluminal vesicles (ILVs). Whereas ESCRT-III/VPS4 have an established function in ILV formation, the role of upstream ESCRTs (0 to II) in…

Mammalian brain glycome remains a relatively poorly understood area compared to other large-scale "omics" studies, such as genomics and transcriptomics due to the inherent complexity and heterogeneity of glycan structure and properties. Here, we first performed spatial and temporal analysis of glycome expression patterns in the mammalian brain using a…

The molecular mechanisms by which receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and heterotrimeric G proteins, two major signaling hubs in eukaryotes, independently relay signals across the plasma membrane have been extensively characterized. How these hubs cross-talk has been a long-standing question, but answers remain elusive. Using linear ion-trap mass spectrometry in combination…

The corticospinal tract is unique to mammals and the corpus callosum is unique to placental mammals (eutherians). The emergence of these structures is thought to underpin the evolutionary acquisition of complex motor and cognitive skills. Corticospinal motor neurons (CSMN) and callosal projection neurons (CPN) are the archetypal projection neurons of…

The cell morphology of rod-shaped bacteria is determined by the rigid net of peptidoglycan forming the cell wall. Alterations to the rod shape, such as the curved rod, occur through manipulating the process of cell wall synthesis. The human pathogen Vibrio cholerae typically exists as a curved rod, but straight…

T cells express clonotypic T cell receptors (TCRs) that recognize peptide antigens in the context of class I or II MHC molecules (pMHCI/II). These receptor modules associate with three signaling modules (CD3γε, δε, and ζζ) and work in concert with a coreceptor module (either CD8 or CD4) to drive T…

The attentional control of behavior is a higher-order cognitive function that operates through attention and response inhibition. The locus coeruleus (LC), the main source of norepinephrine in the brain, is considered to be involved in attentional control by modulating the neuronal activity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, evidence for…

Effective therapies are urgently needed for the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic. We identified panels of fully human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from large phage-displayed Fab, scFv, and VH libraries by panning against the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein. A high-affinity Fab was selected from one of the libraries…

The enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) are among the most common causes of diarrheal illness and death due to diarrhea among young children in low-/middle-income countries (LMICs). ETEC have also been associated with important sequelae including malnutrition and stunting, placing children at further risk of death from diarrhea and other infections….

Stem cells undergo differentiation in complex and dynamic environments wherein instructive signals fluctuate on various timescales. Thus, cells must be equipped to properly respond to the timing of signals, for example, to distinguish sustained signaling from transient noise. However, how stem cells respond to dynamic variations in differentiation cues is…

Superspreaders, infected individuals who result in an outsized number of secondary cases, are believed to underlie a significant fraction of total SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Here, we combine empirical observations of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 transmission and extreme value statistics to show that the distribution of secondary cases is consistent with being fat-tailed,…

Political polarization has intensified in the lead-up to the 2020 US presidential election, with liberal and conservative politicians hurling insults at one another, journalists highlighting ways in which Americans are deeply divided, and parts of the general American public condoning violence if their side does not win the upcoming election….

Endeavoring toward a transferable, predictive coarse-grained explicit-chain model for biomolecular condensates underlain by liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) of proteins, we conducted multiple-chain simulations of the N-terminal intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of DEAD-box helicase Ddx4, as a test case, to assess roles of electrostatic, hydrophobic, cation–π, and aromatic interactions in

While the mechanisms generating the topographic organization of primary sensory areas in the neocortex are well studied, what generates secondary cortical areas is virtually unknown. Using physical parameters representing primary and secondary visual areas as they vary from monkey to mouse, we derived a network growth model to explore if…

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to environmental recovery in some ecosystems from a global "anthropause," yet such evidence for natural resources with extraction or production value (e.g., fisheries) is limited. This brief report provides a data-driven global snapshot of expert-perceived impacts of COVID-19 on inland fisheries. We distributed an online…

Genealogical tree modeling is essential for estimating evolutionary parameters in population genetics and phylogenetics. Recent mathematical results concerning ranked genealogies without leaf labels unlock opportunities in the analysis of evolutionary trees. In particular, comparisons between ranked genealogies facilitate the study of evolutionary processes of different organisms sampled at multip

Common genetic variants interact with environmental factors to impact risk of heritable diseases. A notable example of this is a single-nucleotide variant in the Solute Carrier Family 39 Member 8 (SLC39A8) gene encoding the missense variant A391T, which is associated with a variety of traits ranging from Parkinson's disease and…

The treatment of diabetic ulcer (DU) remains a major clinical challenge due to the complex wound-healing milieu that features chronic wounds, impaired angiogenesis, persistent pain, bacterial infection, and exacerbated inflammation. A strategy that effectively targets all these issues has proven elusive. Herein, we use a smart black phosphorus (BP)-based gel…

Antibiotic use is a key driver of antibiotic resistance. Understanding the quantitative association between antibiotic use and resulting resistance is important for predicting future rates of antibiotic resistance and for designing antibiotic stewardship policy. However, the use–resistance association is complicated by "spillover," in which one population's level of antibiotic use…

Activation of the Hedgehog pathway may have therapeutic value for improved bone healing, taste receptor cell regeneration, and alleviation of colitis or other conditions. Systemic pathway activation, however, may be detrimental, and agents amenable to tissue targeting for therapeutic application have been lacking. We have developed an agonist, a conformation-specific…

Tauopathies are a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with pathological tau. Despite many advances in our understanding of these diseases, the direct mechanism through which tau contributes to neurodegeneration remains poorly understood. Previously, our laboratory implicated the histone demethylase LSD1 in tau-induced neurodegeneration by showing that LSD1 localizes to pathological…

Embryo implantation is achieved upon successful interaction between a fertilized egg and receptive endometrium and is mediated by spatiotemporal expression of implantation-associated molecules including leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Here we demonstrate, in mice, that LIF knockdown via a photoactivatable CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system and illumination with a light-emitting diode can…

Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging bat-borne zoonotic virus that causes near-annual outbreaks of fatal encephalitis in South Asia—one of the most populous regions on Earth. In Bangladesh, infection occurs when people drink date-palm sap contaminated with bat excreta. Outbreaks are sporadic, and the influence of viral dynamics in bats…

During normal viewing, we direct our eyes between objects in three-dimensional (3D) space many times a minute. To accurately fixate these objects, which are usually located in different directions and at different distances, we must generate eye movements with appropriate versional and vergence components. These combined saccade-vergence eye movements result…

Evidence linking amyloid beta (Aβ) cellular uptake and toxicity has burgeoned, and mechanisms underlying this association are subjects of active research. Two major, interconnected questions are whether Aβ uptake is aggregation-dependent and whether it is sequence-specific. We recently reported that the neuronal uptake of Aβ depends significantly on peptide chirality,…

Goldfish have been subjected to over 1,000 y of intensive domestication and selective breeding. In this report, we describe a high-quality goldfish genome (2n = 100), anchoring 95.75% of contigs into 50 pseudochromosomes. Comparative genomics enabled us to disentangle the two subgenomes that resulted from an ancient hybridization event. Resequencing…

SOCIAL SCIENCES Correction for "Demographic perspectives on the mortality of COVID-19 and other epidemics," by Joshua R. Goldstein and Ronald D. Lee, which was first published August 20, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.2006392117 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 22035–22041). The authors note that on page 22037, left column, fourth paragraph, second sentence,…

Northern Hemispheric high-latitude climate variations during the last glacial are expected to propagate globally in a complex way. Investigating the evolution of these variations requires a precise synchronization of the considered environmental archives. Aligning the globally common production rate variations of the cosmogenic radionuclide 10Be in different archives provides a…

Safe, reliable, and equitable water access is critical to human health and livelihoods. In the United States, an estimated 471,000 households or 1.1 million individuals lack a piped water connection and 73% of households are located in cities, close to networked supply. In this study, we undertake a nationwide analysis…

Migratory animals exhibit traits that allow them to exploit seasonally variable habitats. In environments where migration is no longer beneficial, such as oceanic islands, migration-association traits may be selected against or be under relaxed selection. Monarch butterflies are best known for their continent-scale migration in North America but have repeatedly…

Network science and data analytics are used to quantify static and dynamic structures in George R. R. Martin's epic novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, works noted for their scale and complexity. By tracking the network of character interactions as the story unfolds, it is found that structural properties…

Unlike other predators that use vision as their primary sensory system, bats compute the three-dimensional (3D) position of flying insects from discrete echo snapshots, which raises questions about the strategies they employ to track and intercept erratically moving prey from interrupted sensory information. Here, we devised an ethologically inspired behavioral…

ECOLOGY Correction for "Animal body size distribution influences the ratios of nutrients supplied to plants," by Elizabeth le Roux, Laura S. van Veenhuisen, Graham I. H. Kerley, and Joris P. G. M. Cromsigt, which was first published August 24, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.2003269117 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 22256–22263). The authors…

The early onset of weaning in modern humans has been linked to the high nutritional demand of brain development that is intimately connected with infant physiology and growth rate. In Neanderthals, ontogenetic patterns in early life are still debated, with some studies suggesting an accelerated development and others indicating only…

Urban outdoor air pollution in the developing world, mostly due to particulate matter with diameters smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5), has been highlighted in recent years. It leads to millions of premature deaths. Outdoor air pollution has also been viewed mostly as an urban problem. We use satellite-derived demarcations to…

Competition among species and entire clades can impact species diversification and extinction, which can shape macroevolutionary patterns. The fossil record shows successive biotic turnovers such that a dominant group is replaced by another. One striking example involves the decline of gymnosperms and the rapid diversification and ecological dominance of angiosperms…

More than 70% of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-negative Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) cases display inactivation of TNFAIP3 (A20), a ubiquitin-editing protein that regulates nonproteolytic protein ubiquitination, indicating the significance of protein ubiquitination in HL pathogenesis. However, the precise mechanistic roles of A20 and the ubiquitination system remain largely unknown in this disease….

Horseback riding was a transformative force in the ancient world, prompting radical shifts in human mobility, warfare, trade, and interaction. In China, domestic horses laid the foundation for trade, communication, and state infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road, while also stimulating key military, social, and political changes in Chinese society….

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is associated with repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and is characterized by cognitive decline and the presence of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) of the protein tau in patients' brains. Here we provide direct evidence that cell-scale mechanical deformation can elicit tau abnormalities and synaptic deficits in neurons….

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) controls metabolic organ homeostasis and eating/drinking behavior via FGF receptor 1/Klothoβ (FGFR1/KLB) complexes expressed in adipocytes, pancreatic acinar cells, and the nervous system in mice. Chronic administration of recombinant FGF21 or engineered variants improves metabolic health in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans; however, the rapid…

Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus-1 (PBCV-1) is a large double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) virus that infects the unicellular green alga Chlorella variabilis NC64A. Unlike many other viruses, PBCV-1 encodes most, if not all, of the enzymes involved in the synthesis of the glycans attached to its major capsid protein. Importantly, these glycans…

LRRC8 family proteins on the plasma membrane play a critical role in cellular osmoregulation by forming volume-regulated anion channels (VRACs) necessary to prevent necrotic cell death. We demonstrate that intracellular LRRC8 proteins acting within lysosomes also play an essential role in cellular osmoregulation. LRRC8 proteins on lysosome membranes generate large…

The genetic evolution of altruism (i.e., a behavior resulting in a net reduction of the survival and/or reproduction of an actor to benefit a recipient) once perplexed biologists because it seemed paradoxical in a Darwinian world. More than half a century ago, W. D. Hamilton explained that when interacting individuals…

Forest vulnerability to drought is expected to increase under anthropogenic climate change, and drought-induced mortality and community dynamics following drought have major ecological and societal impacts. Here, we show that tree mortality concomitant with drought has led to short-term (mean 5 y, range 1 to 23 y after mortality) vegetation-type…

Iron sulfide minerals are widespread on Earth and likely in planetary bodies in and beyond our solar system. Using measured enthalpies of formation for three magnetic iron sulfide phases: bulk and nanophase Fe3S4 spinel (greigite), and its high-pressure monoclinic phase, we show that greigite is a stable phase in the…

Ethylene is an important plant hormone that regulates plant growth, in which the master transcriptionactivator EIN3 (Ethylene Insensitive 3)-mediated transcriptional activation plays vital roles. However, the EIN3-mediated transcriptional repression in ethylene response is unknown. We report here that a Transcriptional Repressor of EIN3-dependent Ethylene-response 1 (TREE1) interacts with EIN3 to.

ANTHROPOLOGY Correction for "Neutral evolution of human enamel–dentine junction morphology," by Tesla A. Monson, Diego Fecker, and Marc Scherrer, which was first published October 5, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.2008037117 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 26183–26189). The authors note that the last sentence of the Acknowledgments should specify the grant was awarded…

Primates are renowned for their delicate sense of touch, but now a series of experiments by scientists from The University of Chicago, USA, published in Journal of Experimental Biology reveal that the fins of round gobies are as touch sensitive as primate fingertips.

The International Space Station was launched in 1998. It was designed, built and tested by 16 partner nations, including the U.S. (NASA/) Twenty years ago, the Earth stopped being the only place in the universe that humans can call "home." On November 2nd of the year 2000, three men became the first humans to live outside our planet. For 141 days, American William Shepherd and Russians Sergei Kri

Scientists have noted instances of leaf-cutter bees using plastic waste to construct their nests and one research group suggested such behavior could be an 'ecologically adaptive trait' and beneficial recycling effort. Utah State University scientist Joseph Wilson says no; such behavior is harmful to the bee's offspring.

Nature, Published online: 03 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03035-4 How US President Donald Trump and his administration have silenced scientists, meddled in their reports and ignored their advice.

The winner of the US presidential election may take days to determine. Here's how to take in the results—and not jump the gun.

The United States is the only country to back out of its promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. America has contributed more cumulative carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than any other nation. (Image credit: George Frey/AFP via Getty Images)

Justin Cotney, assistant professor of genetics and genome sciences in the UConn School of Medicine, has identified a suite of genes and regulatory elements critical to normal heart development.

I dyed my hair mid-lockdown because it looked fun and I was bored. But to the online far-right, I became a social media stereotype.

Nature Communications, Published online: 03 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19655-3

Nature Communications, Published online: 03 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19620-0

Nature Communications, Published online: 03 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19618-8

Nature Communications, Published online: 03 November 2020; doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19626-8

Some of these are wild.

Nearly 10,000 common gene variants influence how tall a person becomes

A thin coating of the 2D nanomaterial hexagonal boron nitride is the key ingredient in a cost-effective technology developed by Rice University engineers for desalinating industrial-strength brine.

Over the course of only a century, humanity has made an observable impact on the genetic diversity of the lion population. That's the conclusion of a recently published study by Drs. Caitlin Curry and James Derr from the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

A thin coating of the 2-D nanomaterial hexagonal boron nitride is the key ingredient in a cost-effective technology developed by Rice University engineers for desalinating industrial-strength brine.

A lot of hype surrounds vitamins and minerals for treating or preventing COVID-19, though little evidence exists. Vitamins C and D and zinc may help boost the body's response to the coronavirus, but likely only if you're deficient. Dozens of studies are currently investigating the potential use of these supplements on COVID-19 patients. Misinformation is rampant in regards to the novel coronaviru

Researchers examined blood samples and cells from patients who had recovered from mild to moderate COVID-19 and found that while antibodies against the virus declined in most individuals after disease resolution, a subset of patients sustained anti-virus antibody production several months following infection.

Every November, hundreds if not thousands of the birds of prey gather in Haines, Alaska, to feast on salmon

Bankers and environmentalists alike are increasingly calling for capital markets to play a bigger role in the war on carbon. In the absence of a meaningful global price on carbon, however, capital continues to flow freely toward fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive industries. The movement for fossil fuel divestment has been trying since 2012 to reverse this trend. A strong media presence and d

COVID-19 is depressing enough, but mental health experts expect to see a rise in seasonal affective disorder, too. Here's how to cope.

Using a new technique, researchers have found tiny and previously undetectable "hot spots" of extremely high stiffness inside aggressive and invasive breast cancer tumors. Their findings suggest, for the first time, that only very tiny regions of a tumor need to stiffen for metastasis to take place. Though still in its infancy, the researchers believe that their technique may prove useful in dete

Certain oral antiseptics and mouthwashes may offer a way to inactivate human coronavirus, according to a new study. The findings indicate that some of these products might help reduce the viral load, or amount of virus, in the mouth after infection and may help reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Researchers tested several oral and nasopharyngeal rinses in a lab

Findings indicate the virus was present weeks before first confirmed case in early March

Palm oil is an economical source of vitamin E, and several studies have shown the beneficial effects on the immune system, which include anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activity as well has cytoprotective actions. Researchers hope that these findings pave the way for easily available remedies for a variety of diseases. The current study is published in Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology.

Bankers and environmentalists alike are increasingly calling for capital markets to play a bigger role in the war on carbon. In the absence of a meaningful global price on carbon, however, capital continues to flow freely toward fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive industries. The movement for fossil fuel divestment has been trying since 2012 to reverse this trend.

Genome researchers have discovered that it is Europe, not China, which has been the main source of spreading the coronavirus disease around the world.

A new technique using ferrate, an iron compound, could improve the safety of drinking water, researchers say. Treating water with chlorine—a process called chlorination—kills germs and bacteria in water, making it safe to drink. Although chlorination effectively cleans water and helps prevent waterborne diseases, it also generates many disinfection byproducts, or DBPs, that can be harmful to huma

Wealthy countries already have agreements for 3.73bn doses, with another 5bn under negotiation, study finds Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Governments in predominantly wealthy countries are negotiating to buy nearly 8.8bn doses of prospective Covid-19 vaccines in a "frenzy of deals" that could mean many poor countries would not get access to immunisation until at le

On a day when much of the world's attention is focused on the United States, I thought it might be nice to share some images from the other side of the planet—specifically the island country of New Zealand. Gathered below are a collection of photographs from the North Island, the South Island, and a few of the other 600 islands that make up the nation of New Zealand.

A new microneedle patch could offer rapid diagnostic testing for malaria that doesn't require extracting blood. The device draws upon protein biomarkers contained in dermal interstitial fluid, what people generally recognize as the fluid inside blisters but surrounds all of the cells in skin. "It's less painful than getting a splinter. I would say it feels like putting tape on your skin and then

Twitter says it will remove or add a warning to tweets that declare election wins before official results are declared, as determined by national media outlets. When Twitter users try to retweet, the company will show them a prompt encouraging them to "quote tweet" (and thereby add their own commentary) instead, a move designed to slow the spread of misinformation. Facebook plans to display elect

Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommends vaccinating key populations, such as people at risk of severe illness or death, those at risk of transmitting the virus and essential workers, during the initial rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine in Canada. The preliminary guidance, developed for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Asso

Employing a strategy known as 'population modification,' which involves using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system to introduce genes preventing parasite transmission into mosquito chromosomes, researchers have made a major advance in the use of genetic technologies to control the transmission of malaria parasites.

Human activity at sea makes a terrible racket. To what extent does this disturb marine animals? Ph.D. candidate Annebelle Kok studied the effect on harbor porpoises, long-finned pilot whales and their prey, and discovered the sheer complexity of the problem.

Human activity at sea makes a terrible racket. To what extent does this disturb marine animals? Ph.D. candidate Annebelle Kok studied the effect on harbor porpoises, long-finned pilot whales and their prey, and discovered the sheer complexity of the problem.

Researchers say cortisol sampling technique could transform diagnostics for people with depression A test that uses earwax to measure levels of the stress hormone cortisol could "transform diagnostics and care for millions of people with depression or stress-related conditions", scientists have said. The researchers believe the test, which can be done at home without clinical supervision, may als

Covid-19 crisis offers 'unique opportunity to make transformational changes' Australia's biosecurity needs a major overhaul within a decade to protect people, environments and industries from a wave of invasive pests, pathogens and future pandemics, a CSIRO report has found. Interceptions of materials that were a biosecurity risk – such as insects, soils and plants – rose by 50% between 2012 and

Novavax vaccine shows "markedly stronger" responses in early human trials

Beka Garris holds a gar shot from the bank. (Courtesy Beka Garris/) This story originally featured on Outdoor Life . To the uninitiated, bowfishing may seem like the latest gear-intensive fad. Its popularity has surged in recent years thanks to TV shows, social media, and the rise of its most popular target: carp. But at its core, bowfishing is a minimalist pursuit that's been around for millenni

Researchers reported developing a cardiac patch made from fully rubbery electronics that can be placed directly on the heart to collect electrophysiological activity, temperature, heartbeat and other indicators, all at the same time.

Inspired by a parasitic worm that digs its sharp teeth into its host's intestines, researchers have designed tiny, star-shaped microdevices that can latch onto intestinal mucosa and release drugs into the body.

Much has been written about the U.S. coronavirus response. Media accounts frequently turn to experts for their insights—commonly, epidemiologists or physicians. Countless surveys have also queried Americans and individuals from around the world about how the pandemic has affected them and their attitudes and opinions.

Researchers reported developing a cardiac patch made from fully rubbery electronics that can be placed directly on the heart to collect electrophysiological activity, temperature, heartbeat and other indicators, all at the same time.

A collaboration between genome researchers at the University of Huddersfield and Portugal's University of Minho has discovered it is Europe, not China, which has been the main source of spreading the coronavirus disease around the world.

Employing a strategy known as 'population modification,' which involves using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system to introduce genes preventing parasite transmission into mosquito chromosomes, University of California researchers have made a major advance in the use of genetic technologies to control the transmission of malaria parasites.

A comprehensive study by EPFL and Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) has enabled researchers to map the geographical distribution of ticks in Switzerland for the first time, as well as to determine whether they are carriers of chlamydia. Little is known about these bacteria, but ticks can potentially pass them to humans. The team found that zones conducive to tick proliferation have expanded by 1

Scientists at the University of Turku, Finland, have discovered the origin of the glow in the natural mineral that generates white luminescence in the dark. By studying natural minerals, significant new knowledge can be gained for the development of better synthetic materials.

A study of the dental wear of 106 individuals buried in the Castellón Alto archaeological site (Granada, Spain) found that only women used their anterior teeth as tools to make threads and cords

How can new life forms that we cannot see be discovered? Using a novel method based on looking for DNA in soil samples, researchers at Uppsala University have revealed the existence of two hitherto unknown, but very common fungus species. They are thought to perform a key function in the ecosystem, but their exact role remains to be clarified. The study is published in the journal IMA Fungus.

A comprehensive study by EPFL and Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) has enabled researchers to map the geographical distribution of ticks in Switzerland for the first time, as well as to determine whether they are carriers of chlamydia. Little is known about these bacteria, but ticks can potentially pass them to humans. The team found that zones conducive to tick proliferation have expanded by 1

How can new life forms that we cannot see be discovered? Using a novel method based on looking for DNA in soil samples, researchers at Uppsala University have revealed the existence of two hitherto unknown, but very common fungus species. They are thought to perform a key function in the ecosystem, but their exact role remains to be clarified. The study is published in the journal IMA Fungus.

Coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity. As they can withstand heavy storms, they offer many species a safe home, and at the same time, they protect densely populated coastal regions as they level out storm-driven waves. However, how can these reefs that are made up of often very fragile coral be so stable? A team of researchers from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the

Coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity. As they can withstand heavy storms, they offer many species a safe home, and at the same time, they protect densely populated coastal regions as they level out storm-driven waves. However, how can these reefs that are made up of often very fragile coral be so stable? A team of researchers from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the

By using two different transparent soil substitutes, scientists have shown that soil bacteria rely on fungi to help them survive dry periods, says a study published today ineLife.

The earliest dog, not wolf, found so far comes from over 15,000 years ago. A new study tracks the travel and development of dogs since the end of the Ice Age. Insights are derived by comparing ancient canine DNA with ancient human DNA. We know that at some point long ago there were wild wolves who became companions for humans, and eventually evolved into dogs. The oldest verified dog remains, fou

By using two different transparent soil substitutes, scientists have shown that soil bacteria rely on fungi to help them survive dry periods, says a study published today ineLife.

Translation is the process by which genetic information is converted into proteins, the workhorses of the cell. Small molecules called transfer RNAs (tRNAs) play a crucial role in translation; they are the adapter molecules that match codons (the building blocks of genetic information) with amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). Organisms carry many types of tRNAs, each encoded by one or m

Translation is the process by which genetic information is converted into proteins, the workhorses of the cell. Small molecules called transfer RNAs (tRNAs) play a crucial role in translation; they are the adapter molecules that match codons (the building blocks of genetic information) with amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). Organisms carry many types of tRNAs, each encoded by one or m

Nature, Published online: 03 November 2020; doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03085-8 A graphical guide to the research carried out on the International Space Station — and who did it.

Inspired by a parasitic worm that digs its sharp teeth into its host's intestines, Johns Hopkins researchers have designed tiny, star-shaped microdevices that can latch onto intestinal mucosa and release drugs into the body.

A new study shows that norepinephrine-producing neurons in the locus coeruleus produce attention focus and impulse control via two distinct connections to prefrontal cortex.

Diets high in red and processed meat, refined grains and sugary beverages, which have been associated with increased inflammation in the body, can increase subsequent risk of heart disease and stroke compared to diets filled with anti-inflammatory foods. A separate study assessed the positive effects eating walnuts, an anti-inflammatory food, had on decreasing inflammation and heart disease risk.

By studying animals choosing between two drink options, researchers have discovered that the activity of certain neurons in the brain leads directly to the choice of one option over another. The findings could lead to better understanding of how decision-making goes wrong in conditions such as addiction and depression.

Multidecadal Atlantic sea surface temperature variability Ice covers South Sawtooth Lake on Ellesmere Island. Surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean have undergone large-scale oscillations, known as the Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV), during the approximately 160-year instrumental record. This variability has climatic links to regions far beyond the North Atlantic,…

Zhang et al. (1) conclude that wearing a face mask in public is the most effective means to prevent transmission. This conclusion is scientifically highly questionable. First, the number of epidemic-curve examples is small; an explanation of how they were chosen is lacking. Second, the evaluation is flawed by not…

We read with great interest the study by Zhang et al., which analyzed the trend in the daily number of new confirmed cases and mitigation measures in three COVID-19 epicenters, namely Wuhan, China, Italy, and New York City (NYC) (1). The researchers concluded that social distancing is insufficient per se…

Jabbour et al. (1) provide evidence that some men are aroused by both men and women. The authors conclude that their findings support the validity of the Kinsey scale (2), opposing concerns raised by Ganna et al. (3). We suggest that the findings from Jabbour et al. do not meaningfully…

We are grateful to Zietsch and Sidari (1) for their Letter, which has encouraged us to conduct analyses that address the important issue they raise. Zietsch and Sidari use our data (2) to argue that the Kinsey scale does not measure a unidimensional trait. Lower Kinsey scores represent greater attraction…

Liu et al. (1) elegantly present that β-arrestin2 (β-Arr2) is critical for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activation of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC). The authors demonstrate a relationship between decreased β-Arr2 expression in LSEC and decreased intrahepatic eNOS activity and NO formation contributing to the development of portal hypertension,…

We read with interest the Letter by Schierwagen et al. (1), which reports that fibrotic liver injury in rodents and in patients is associated with increased whole liver expression of β-arrestin 2 (β-Arr2), appearing to contrast with our recent report (2) demonstrating that injury induced by bile duct ligation (BDL)…

The field of deep learning has positioned itself in the past decade as a prominent and extremely fruitful engineering discipline. This comeback of neural networks in the early 2000s swept the machine learning community, and soon after found itself immersed in practically every scientific, social, and technological front. A growing…

In the words of the twentieth-century British mathematician G. H. Hardy, "the human function is to 'discover or observe' mathematics" (1). For centuries, starting from the ancient Greeks, mankind has hunted for beauty and order in arts and in nature. This quest for mathematical beauty has led to the discovery…

Conventional "bulk" PCR often yields inefficient and nonuniform amplification of complex templates in DNA libraries, introducing unwanted biases. Amplification of single DNA molecules encapsulated in a myriad of emulsion droplets (emulsion PCR, ePCR) allows the mitigation of this problem. Different ePCR regimes were experimentally analyzed to identify the most robust…

We report a systematic combinatorial exploration of affinity enhancement of antibodies by insertions and deletions (InDels). Transposon-based introduction of InDels via the method TRIAD (transposition-based random insertion and deletion mutagenesis) was used to generate large libraries with random in-frame InDels across the entire single-chain variable fragment gene that were further…

The recently identified ferroptotic cell death is characterized by excessive accumulation of hydroperoxy-arachidonoyl (C20:4)- or adrenoyl (C22:4)- phosphatidylethanolamine (Hp-PE). The selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) inhibits ferroptosis, converting unstable ferroptotic lipid hydroperoxides to nontoxic lipid alcohols in a tissue-specific manner. While placental oxidative stress

We develop an early warning system and subsequent optimal intervention policy to avoid the formation of disproportional dominance ("winner takes all," WTA) in growing complex networks. This is modeled as a system of interacting agents, whereby the rate at which an agent establishes connections to others is proportional to its…

Suspensions of soft and highly deformable microgels can be concentrated far more than suspensions of hard colloids, leading to their unusual mechanical properties. Microgels can accommodate compression in suspensions in a variety of ways such as interpenetration, deformation, and shrinking. Previous experiments have offered insightful, but somewhat conflicting, accounts of…

We report the optical conductivity in high-quality crystals of the chiral topological semimetal CoSi, which hosts exotic quasiparticles known as multifold fermions. We find that the optical response is separated into several distinct regions as a function of frequency, each dominated by different types of quasiparticles. The low-frequency intraband response…

Recently developed linker-mediated vitrimers based on metathesis of dioxaborolanes with various commercially available polymers have shown both good processability and outstanding performance, such as mechanical, thermal, and chemical resistance, suggesting new ways of processing cross-linked polymers in industry, of which the design principle remains unknown [M. Röttger et al., Science…

A high percentage of pediatric gliomas and bone tumors reportedly harbor missense mutations at glycine 34 in genes encoding histone variant H3.3. We find that these H3.3 G34 mutations directly alter the enhancer chromatin landscape of mesenchymal stem cells by impeding methylation at lysine 36 on histone H3 (H3K36) by…

Actively transcribed genes in mammals are decorated by H3K79 methylation, which is correlated with transcription levels and is catalyzed by the histone methyltransferase DOT1L. DOT1L is required for mammalian development, and the inhibition of its catalytic activity has been extensively studied for cancer therapy; however, the mechanisms underlying DOT1L's functions…

Recent single-molecule experiments have observed transition paths, i.e., brief events where molecules (particularly biomolecules) are caught in the act of surmounting activation barriers. Such measurements offer unprecedented mechanistic insights into the dynamics of biomolecular folding and binding, molecular machines, and biological membrane channels. A key challenge to these studies is…

Liquid–liquid phase separation, driven by multivalent macromolecular interactions, causes formation of membraneless compartments, which are biomolecular condensates containing concentrated macromolecules. These condensates are essential in diverse cellular processes. Formation and dynamics of micrometer-scale phase-separated condensates are examined routinely. However, limited by commonly used met

Desmosomes are cell–cell junctions that link tissue cells experiencing intense mechanical stress. Although the structure of the desmosomal cadherins is known, the desmosome architecture—which is essential for mediating numerous functions—remains elusive. Here, we recorded cryo-electron tomograms (cryo-ET) in which individual cadherins can be discerned; they appear variable in shape, spacing,…

Most proteins have evolved to spontaneously fold into native structure and specifically bind with their partners for the purpose of fulfilling biological functions. According to Darwin, protein sequences evolve through random mutations, and only the fittest survives. The understanding of how the evolutionary selection sculpts the interaction patterns for both…

The complex environment of biological cells and tissues has motivated development of three-dimensional (3D) imaging in both light and electron microscopies. To this end, one of the primary tools in fluorescence microscopy is that of computational deconvolution. Wide-field fluorescence images are often corrupted by haze due to out-of-focus light, i.e.,…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global crisis. There is no therapeutic treatment specific for COVID-19. It is highly desirable to identify potential antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2 from existing drugs available for other diseases and thus repurpose them for treatment of…

The fine balance of growth and division is a fundamental property of the physiology of cells, and one of the least understood. Its study has been thwarted by difficulties in the accurate measurement of cell size and the even greater challenges of measuring growth of a single cell over time….

Individual cell migration requires front-to-back polarity manifested by lamellipodial extension. At present, it remains debated whether and how membrane motility mediates this cell morphological change. To gain insights into these processes, we perform live imaging and molecular perturbation of migrating chick neural crest cells in vivo. Our results reveal an…

Nuclear receptor Nur77 participates in multiple metabolic regulations and plays paradoxical roles in tumorigeneses. Herein, we demonstrated that the knockout of Nur77 stimulated mammary tumor development in two mouse models, which would be reversed by a specific reexpression of Nur77 in mammary tissues. Mechanistically, Nur77 interacted and recruited corepressors, the…

Localization of RNAs at protrusive regions of cells is important for single-cell migration on two-dimensional surfaces. Protrusion-enriched RNAs encode factors linked to cancer progression, such as the RAB13 GTPase and the NET1 guanine nucleotide exchange factor, and are regulated by the tumor-suppressor protein APC. However, tumor cells in vivo often…

Probing the binding between a microbe and surface is critical for understanding biofilm formation processes, developing biosensors, and designing biomaterials, but it remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate a method to measure the interfacial forces of bacteria attached to the surface. We tracked the intrinsic fluctuations of individual bacterial cells…

Titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene has great potential for use in aerospace and flexible electronics due to its excellent electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. However, the assembly of MXene nanosheets into macroscopic high-performance nanocomposites is challenging, limiting MXene's practical applications. Here we describe our work fabricating strong and highly conductive MXene…

Galectin-3 is a glycan-binding protein (GBP) that binds β-galactoside glycan structures to orchestrate a variety of important biological events, including the activation of hepatic stellate cells and regulation of immune responses. While the requisite glycan epitopes needed to bind galectin-3 have long been elucidated, the cellular glycoproteins that bear these…

Folding and other protein self-assembly processes are driven by favorable interactions between O, N, and C unified atoms of the polypeptide backbone and side chains. These processes are perturbed by solutes that interact with these atoms differently than water does. Amide NH···O=C hydrogen bonding and various π-system interactions have been…

A key functional event in eukaryotic gene activation is the formation of dynamic protein–protein interaction networks between transcriptional activators and transcriptional coactivators. Seemingly incongruent with the tight regulation of transcription, many biochemical and biophysical studies suggest that activators use nonspecific hydrophobic and/or electrostatic interactions to bind to coactivat

Identifying computational mechanisms for memorization and retrieval of data is a long-standing problem at the intersection of machine learning and neuroscience. Our main finding is that standard overparameterized deep neural networks trained using standard optimization methods implement such a mechanism for real-valued data. We provide empirical evidence that 1) overparameterized…

Conversion of human pluripotent stem cells from primed to naïve state is accompanied by altered transcriptome and methylome, but glycosphingolipid (GSL) profiles in naïve human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have not been systematically characterized. Here we showed a switch from globo-(SSEA-3, SSEA-4, and Globo H) and lacto-series (fucosyl-Lc4Cer) to neolacto-series…

Global warming due to anthropogenic factors can be amplified or dampened by natural climate oscillations, especially those involving sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the North Atlantic which vary on a multidecadal scale (Atlantic multidecadal variability, AMV). Because the instrumental record of AMV is short, long-term behavior of AMV is unknown,…

The flux partitioning in delta networks controls how deltas build land and generate stratigraphy. Here, we study flux-partitioning dynamics in a delta network using a simple numerical model consisting of two orders of bifurcations. Previous work on single bifurcations has shown periodic behavior arising due to the interplay between channel…

Unicellular eukaryotic phytoplankton, such as diatoms, rely on microbial communities for survival despite lacking specialized compartments to house microbiomes (e.g., animal gut). Microbial communities have been widely shown to benefit from diatom excretions that accumulate within the microenvironment surrounding phytoplankton cells, known as the phycosphere. However, mechanisms that enable diatom

The virus causing COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide and threatens millions of lives. It remains unknown, as of April 2020, whether summer weather will reduce its spread, thereby alleviating strains on hospitals and providing time for vaccine development. Early insights from laboratory studies and research on related viruses predicted that…

Little is known about how the age pattern in individual performance in cognitively demanding tasks changed over the past century. The main difficulty for measuring such life cycle performance patterns and their dynamics over time is related to the construction of a reliable measure that is comparable across individuals and…

Superhydrophobic surfaces for repelling impacting water droplets are typically created by designing structures with capillary (antiwetting) pressures greater than those of the incoming droplet (dynamic, water hammer). Recent work has focused on the evolution of the intervening air layer between droplet and substrate during impact, a balance of air compression…

The path toward Li-ion batteries with higher energy densities will likely involve use of thin lithium (Li)-metal anode (<50 µm thickness), whose cyclability today remains limited by dendrite formation and low coulombic efficiency (CE). Previous studies have shown that the solid–electrolyte interface (SEI) of the Li metal plays a crucial…

Molecular ferroelectrics combine electromechanical coupling and electric polarizabilities, offering immense promise in stimuli-dependent metamaterials. Despite such promise, current physical realizations of mechanical metamaterials remain hindered by the lack of rapid-prototyping ferroelectric metamaterial structures. Here, we present a continuous rapid printing strategy for the volumetric deposit

Until recently, the field of plant breeding looked a lot like it did in centuries past. A breeder might examine, for example, which tomato plants were most resistant to drought and then cross the most promising plants to produce the most drought-resistant offspring. This process would be repeated, plant generation…

Lake Baikal, lying in a rift zone in southeastern Siberia, is the world's oldest, deepest, and most voluminous lake that began to form over 30 million years ago. Cited as the "most outstanding example of a freshwater ecosystem" and designated a World Heritage Site in 1996 due to its high…

Accurately estimating human mobility and gauging its relationship with virus transmission is critical for the control of COVID-19 spreading. Using mobile device location data of over 100 million monthly active samples, we compute origin–destination travel demand and aggregate mobility inflow at each US county from March 1 to June 9,…

Global food security is a major driver of population health, and food system collapse may have complex and long-lasting effects on health outcomes. We examined the effect of prenatal exposure to the Great Chinese Famine (1958–1962)—the largest famine in human history—on pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) across consecutive generations in a major…

Mating plugs are produced by many sexually reproducing animals and are hypothesized to promote male fertilization success under promiscuous mating. However, tests of this hypothesis have been constrained by an inability to discriminate ejaculates of different males in direct competition. Here, we use stable isotope labeling in vivo and proteomics…

Development can bias the independent evolution of traits sharing ontogenetic pathways, making certain evolutionary changes less likely. The eyespots commonly found on butterfly wings each have concentric rings of differing colors, and these serially repeated pattern elements have been a focus for evo–devo research. In the butterfly family Nymphalidae, eyespots…

The sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (Anthozoa, Cnidaria) is a powerful model for characterizing the evolution of genes functioning in venom and nervous systems. Although venom has evolved independently numerous times in animals, the evolutionary origin of many toxins remains unknown. In this work, we pinpoint an ancestral gene giving rise…

Heterochromatic domains are complex structures composed of nucleosome arrays that are bound by silencing factors. This composition raises the possibility that certain configurations of nucleosome arrays facilitate heterochromatic silencing. We tested this possibility in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by systematically altering the distance between heterochromatic nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs), whic

Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) are secondary messengers used by prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In mammalian cells, cytosolic CDNs bind STING (stimulator of IFN gene), resulting in the production of type I IFN. Extracellular CDNs can enter the cytosol through several pathways but how CDNs work from outside eukaryotic cells remains poorly…

Immune checkpoint-blocking antibodies that attenuate immune tolerance have been used to effectively treat cancer, but they can also trigger severe immune-related adverse events. Previously, we found that Bifidobacterium could mitigate intestinal immunopathology in the context of CTLA-4 blockade in mice. Here we examined the mechanism underlying this process. We found…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. The etiology of MS is multifactorial, with disease risk determined by genetics and environmental factors. An emerging risk factor for immune-mediated diseases is an imbalance in the gut microbiome. However, the identity of gut microbes associated with disease…

Priming of CD8+ T cells by dendritic cells (DCs) is crucial for the generation of effective antitumor immune responses. Here, we describe a liposomal vaccine carrier that delivers tumor antigens to human CD169/Siglec-1+ antigen-presenting cells using gangliosides as targeting ligands. Ganglioside-liposomes specifically bound to CD169 and were internalized by in…

Enteropathogenic bacterial infections are a global health issue associated with high mortality, particularly in developing countries. Efficient host protection against enteropathogenic bacterial infection is characterized by coordinated responses between immune and nonimmune cells. In response to infection in mice, innate immune cells are activated to produce interleukin (IL)-23 and IL-22,…

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has highlighted the urgent need to rapidly develop therapeutic strategies for such emerging viruses without effective vaccines or drugs. Here, we report a decoy nanoparticle against COVID-19 through a powerful two-step neutralization approach: virus neutralization in the first…

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) continuously fine tune their immune modulatory properties, but how gene expression programs coordinate this immune cell plasticity is largely unknown. Selective mRNA translation, controlled by MNK1/MNK2 and mTOR pathways impinging on eIF4E, facilitates reshaping of proteomes without changes in abundance of corresponding mRNAs. Using polysome profiling developed.

Recent studies have implicated DNA polymerases θ (Pol θ) and β (Pol β) as mediators of alternative nonhomologous end-joining (Alt-NHEJ) events, including chromosomal translocations. Here we identify subunits of the replicative DNA polymerase δ (Pol δ) as promoters of Alt-NHEJ that results in more extensive intrachromosomal mutations at a single…

The recent recognition that many symbioses exhibit daily rhythms has encouraged research into the partner dialogue that drives these biological oscillations. Here we characterized the pivotal role of the versatile cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in regulating a metabolic rhythm in the model light-organ symbiosis between Euprymna scolopes and…

Microbial life in marine sediment contributes substantially to global biomass and is a crucial component of the Earth system. Subseafloor sediment includes both aerobic and anaerobic microbial ecosystems, which persist on very low fluxes of bioavailable energy over geologic time. However, the taxonomic diversity of the marine sedimentary microbial biome…

Human rhinoviruses (RVs) are positive-strand RNA viruses that cause respiratory tract disease in children and adults. Here we show that the innate immune signaling protein STING is required for efficient replication of members of two distinct RV species, RV-A and RV-C. The host factor activity of STING was identified in…

Streptococcus pneumoniae can cause disease in various human tissues and organs, including the ear, the brain, the blood, and the lung, and thus in highly diverse and dynamic environments. It is challenging to study how pneumococci control virulence factor expression, because cues of natural environments and the presence of an…

The extracellular polysaccharide capsule of Klebsiella pneumoniae resists penetration by antimicrobials and protects the bacteria from the innate immune system. Host antimicrobial peptides are inactivated by the capsule as it impedes their penetration to the bacterial membrane. While the capsule sequesters most peptides, a few antimicrobial peptides have been identified…

Dengue virus (DENV) subdues cell membranes for its cellular cycle by reconfiguring phospholipids in humans and mosquitoes. Here, we determined how and why DENV reconfigures phospholipids in the mosquito vector. By inhibiting and activating the de novo phospholipid biosynthesis, we demonstrated the antiviral impact of de novo–produced phospholipids. In line…

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging viral pathogen that causes both acute and chronic debilitating arthritis. Here, we describe the functional and structural basis as to how two anti-CHIKV monoclonal antibodies, CHK-124 and CHK-263, potently inhibit CHIKV infection in vitro and in vivo. Our in vitro studies show that CHK-124…

Humans create metacognitive beliefs about their performance across many levels of abstraction—from local confidence in individual decisions to global estimates of our skills and abilities. Despite a rich literature on the neural basis of local confidence judgements, how global self-performance estimates (SPEs) are constructed remains unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance…

Neurons are dependent on proper trafficking of lipids to neighboring glia for lipid exchange and disposal of potentially lipotoxic metabolites, producing distinct lipid distribution profiles among various cell types of the central nervous system. Little is known of the cellular distribution of neutral lipids in the substantia nigra (SN) of…

Modular organization of the spinal motor system is thought to reduce the cognitive complexity of simultaneously controlling the large number of muscles and joints in the human body. Although modular organization has been confirmed in the hindlimb control system of several animal species, it has yet to be established in…

Chronic neurodegeneration in survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity, with no effective therapies to mitigate this progressive and debilitating form of nerve cell death. Here, we report that pharmacologic restoration of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), 12 mo after murine TBI, is associated with arrested…

We discuss the magnetic and topological properties of bulk crystals and quasi–two-dimensional (quasi-2D) thin films formed by stacking intrinsic magnetized topological insulator (for example, Mn (SbxBi1−x)2X4 with X = Se,Te) septuple layers and topological insulator quintuple layers in arbitrary order. Our analysis makes use of a simplified model that retains…

We present a comprehensive theoretical study of the phase diagram of a system of many Bose particles interacting with a two-body central potential of the so-called Lennard-Jones form. First-principles path-integral computations are carried out, providing essentially exact numerical results on the thermodynamic properties. The theoretical model used here provides a…

Recent measurements of the elastic constants in lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) have revealed an anomalously small twist elastic constant compared to the splay and bend constants. Interestingly, measurements of the elastic constants in the micellar lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) that are formed by surfactants, by far the most ubiquitous…

We use neutron scattering to show that ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism coexist in the low T state of the pyrochlore quantum magnet Yb2Ti2O7. While magnetic Bragg peaks evidence long-range static ferromagnetic order, inelastic scattering shows that short-range correlated antiferromagnetism is also present. Small-angle neutron scattering provides direct evidence for mesoscale magnetic…

Proteinaceous liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) occurs when a polypeptide coalesces into a dense phase to form a liquid droplet (i.e., condensate) in aqueous solution. In vivo, functional protein-based condensates are often referred to as membraneless organelles (MLOs), which have roles in cellular processes ranging from stress responses to regulation of…

Hosts and pathogens are engaged in a continuous evolutionary struggle for physiological dominance. A major site of this struggle is the apoplast. In Phytophthora sojae–soybean interactions, PsXEG1, a pathogen-secreted apoplastic endoglucanase, is a key focal point of this struggle, and the subject of two layers of host defense and pathogen…

Abscisic acid (ABA) is the key phytohormone in plant drought tolerance and stress adaptation. The clade A protein phosphatase 2Cs (PP2Cs) like ABI1 (ABA-INSENSITIVE 1) work as coreceptors of ABA and regulate multiple ABA responses. Ubiquitination of ABI1 has been proven to play important regulatory roles in ABA signaling. However,…

The US government maintains that local sanctuary policies prevent deportations of violent criminals and increase crime. This report tests those claims by combining Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation data and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime data with data on the implementation dates of sanctuary policies between 2010 and…

Historical records reveal the temporal patterns of a sequence of plague epidemics in London, United Kingdom, from the 14th to 17th centuries. Analysis of these records shows that later epidemics spread significantly faster ("accelerated"). Between the Black Death of 1348 and the later epidemics that culminated with the Great Plague…

The COVID-19 economic crash is idiosyncratic because of its virtual standstill of economic activity. We therefore ask how individual labor market experiences are related to the development of mental health complaints in the spring of 2020. As clinical data collection was compromised during the lockdowns, standardized surveys of the European…

Any defects of sociality in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are standardly explained in terms of those individuals' putative impairments in a variety of cognitive functions. Recently, however, the need for a bidirectional approach to social interaction has been emphasized. Such an approach highlights differences in basic ways…

Moral behavior requires learning how our actions help or harm others. Theoretical accounts of learning propose a key division between "model-free" algorithms that cache outcome values in actions and "model-based" algorithms that map actions to outcomes. Here, we tested the engagement of these mechanisms and their neural basis as participants…

People tend to interpret political information in a manner that confirms their prior beliefs, a cognitive bias that contributes to rising political polarization. In this study, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging with semantic content analyses to investigate the neural mechanisms that underlie the biased processing of real-world political content….

The initial public health response to the breakout of COVID-19 required fundamental changes in individual behavior, such as isolation at home or wearing masks. The effectiveness of these policies hinges on generalized public obedience. Yet, people's level of compliance may depend on their beliefs regarding the pandemic. We use original…

Strong local institutions are important for the successful governance of common-pool resources (CPRs), but why do such institutions emerge in the first place and why do they sometimes not emerge at all? We argue that voluntary local leaders play an important role in the initiation of self-governance institutions because such…

PHYSICS Correction for "Novel electronic nematicity in heavily hole-doped iron pnictide superconductors," by Kousuke Ishida, Masaya Tsujii, Suguru Hosoi, Yuta Mizukami, Shigeyuki Ishida, Akira Iyo, Hiroshi Eisaki, Thomas Wolf, Kai Grube, Hilbert v. Löhneysen, Rafael M. Fernandes, and Takasada Shibauchi, which was first published March 12, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.1909172117 (Proc. Natl….

APPLIED BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Correction for "BCG vaccine protection from severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)," by Luis E. Escobar, Alvaro Molina-Cruz, and Carolina Barillas-Mury, which was first published July 9, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.2008410117 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 17720–17726). The authors note, "Due to a query raised regarding historical BCG vaccination…

BIOPHYSICS AND COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY Correction for "High-affinity oligoclonal TCRs define effective adoptive T cell therapy targeting mutant KRAS-G12D," by Malcolm J. W. Sim, Jinghua Lu, Matthew Spencer, Francis Hopkins, Eric Tran, Steven A. Rosenberg, Eric O. Long, and Peter D. Sun, which was first published May 27, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.1921964117 (Proc….

MEDICAL SCIENCES Correction for "PIWIL1 promotes gastric cancer via a piRNA-independent mechanism," by Shuo Shi, Zhen-Zhen Yang, Sanhong Liu, Fan Yang, and Haifan Lin, which was first published August 26, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.2008724117 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 22390–22401). The authors note that Fig. 5 appeared incorrectly. In "panel A,…

A newly identified small mammal from the Late Cretaceous epoch (about 75.5 million years ago) that resembles today's rodent might be the earliest example of mammals exhibiting social behavior beyond coming together to mate or raise young. (Misaki Ouchida/) Gatherings have been upended this year, as many of us meet over Zoom or in distanced and masked settings outdoors to avoid the risk of contrib

Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UH, led a group of researchers that has reported developing a cardiac patch made from fully rubbery electronics that can be placed directly on the heart to collect electrophysiological activity, temperature, heartbeat and other indicators, all at the same time.