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Futurism
Elon Musk, Who Moved to TX For Less Regulation, Is Furious That the Power Went Down
 
When Tesla CEO Elon Musk moved to Texas earlier this year to escape stiff regulations and high taxes, he couldn't have predicted a cold snap that brought the state's infrastructure to its knees. In a tweet this week, Musk lashed out at the state's energy agency, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), quipping that the body is "not earning that R." The historic deep freeze caused sever
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Big Think
Texas snowstorms are due to rapid heating of the Arctic, say scientists
 
Winter Storm Uri brought snow and freezing temperatures to Texas this week, causing multiple deaths and damage to infrastructure. Climate scientists have spent years exploring the relationship between extreme winter weather and warming temperatures in the Arctic Circle. Some studies suggest that the warming Arctic disrupts a natural phenomenon known as the polar vortex, which normally contains co
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Science | The Guardian
Covid: vaccinated Israelis to enjoy bars and hotels with 'green pass'
 
Mobile app inoculation certificate aims to help reopen economy, but privileges are untested and raise ethical questions Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Israel is preparing itself to be split in half from next week, with the government creating a new privileged tier in society: the vaccinated. Nearly 50% of the population who have chosen to be inoculated against Covid
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The Atlantic
A Quite Possibly Wonderful Summer
 
Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here . The summer of 2021 is shaping up to be historic. After months of soaring deaths and infections, COVID-19 cases across the United States are declining even more sharply than experts anticipated . This is expected to continue, and rates of serious illness and death will plumm
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Science | The Guardian
Dolphins have similar personality traits to humans, study finds
 
Curiosity and sociability among traits found, despite dolphins having evolved separately for millions of years Dolphins have developed a number of similar personality traits to humans, despite having evolved in vastly different environments, researchers have found. A study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, looked at 134 male and female bottlenose dolphins from eight facilities
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Futurism
Texans Are Sleeping In Their Teslas to Survive Freezing Cold
 
Heat Seeker Texas was gripped by a deep freeze this week, bringing the second largest state in the United States to its knees. Millions are still without power, while many more continue to lack access to clean water or even water at all. Amid rolling blackouts, Texans are having to get creative to stay warm, as homes predominantly use electricity as a heat source in the state. But Tesla owners ha
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MIT Technology Review
A leaked report shows Pfizer's vaccine is conquering covid-19 in its largest real-world test
 
A leaked scientific report jointly prepared by Israel's health ministry and Pfizer claims that the company's covid-19 vaccine is stopping nine out of 10 infections and the country could approach herd immunity by next month. The study, based on the health records of hundreds of thousands of Israelis, finds that the vaccine may sharply curtail transmission of the coronavirus. "High vaccine uptake c
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Phys.org
Researchers observe stationary Hawking radiation in an analog black hole
 
Black holes are regions in space where gravity is very strong—so strong that nothing that enters them can escape, including light. Theoretical predictions suggest that there is a radius surrounding black holes known as the event horizon. Once something passes the event horizon, it can no longer escape a black hole, as gravity becomes stronger as it approaches its center.
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Futurism
US Formally Rejoins Paris Climate Agreement
 
After US president Joe Biden signed an executive order almost a month ago to move the United States toward rejoining the Paris climate agreement, the country formally reentered the international pact today, as Scientific American reports . The reentry signals the start of a lengthy process of drafting new emissions pledges. Biden called for an international climate summit on April 22, which falls
23h
Futurism
Incredible Photo Shows NASA Mars Rover Hanging Below "Sky Crane"
NASA Perseverance Mars
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Jetpack Snapshot NASA has released a new photo sent to us all the way from Mars courtesy of its Perseverance rover, which successfully landed on the Red Planet on Thursday. The incredible image shows the rover hanging below the probe's "sky crane," a rocket-powered device that lowered Perseverance from an altitude of about 70 feet down to the surface below. A similarly designed crane also was use
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Futurism
Scientists Communicate With Lucid Dreamers During Sleep
 
Hello There For the first time, scientists managed to open a line of two-way, real-time communication with sleeping volunteers who were in the midst of a lucid dream. Scientists from Northwestern University and various European institutions were able to chat with lucid dreamers and ask them questions, receiving answers in real-time in the form of specific eye movements, Motherboard reports . It's
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The Atlantic
The Border Mess That Trump Left Behind
 
As President Joe Biden tries to undo the damage that his predecessor did to America's immigration system, three problems are getting in the way: The nation's existing laws are outmoded and overly restrictive, the United States hasn't devoted the resources necessary to review individual cases, and the Biden administration has little control over when migrants will arrive at the border and seek ent
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Science | The Guardian
Nasa scientists release new image of Perseverance rover on Mars at news briefing – live
NASA Perseverance Mars
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Team of experts answer questions about mission following safe landing on the red planet on Thursday – follow the briefing live In pictures: Perseverance mission to Mars 6.40pm GMT The landing site, Jezero crater, was picked from more than 60 candidates because of its promise for preserving signs of life. Billions of years ago the site was once home to an ancient lake and river delta that may have
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The Atlantic
Hiking Is an Ideal Structure for Friendship
 
Each installment of The Friendship Files features a conversation between The Atlantic 's Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship. This week she talks with a group of friends who have been going on monthly hikes for 25 years. They discuss why the hike organizer has absolute authority, how they've shown up for one another through tragedies, a
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The Atlantic
Nomadland Is a Gorgeous Journey Through the Wreckage of American Promise
 
Fern (played by Frances McDormand), the hardscrabble hero of Chloé Zhao's Nomadland , is the kind of resolute, independent protagonist that has dominated American movies since the dawn of the Western genre. She drives around the country in her van, living as self-sufficiently as possible, and carries a flinty affect with people, revealing little about herself and the turmoil that has led to her l
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Phys.org
A speed limit also applies in the quantum world
 
Even in the world of the smallest particles with their own special rules, things cannot proceed infinitely fast. Physicists at the University of Bonn have now shown what the speed limit is for complex quantum operations. The study also involved scientists from MIT, the universities of Hamburg, Cologne and Padua, and the Jülich Research Center. The results are important for the realization of quant
23h
Phys.org
Time-lapse reveals the hidden dance of roots
 
Duke researchers have been studying something that happens too slowly for our eyes to see. A team in biologist Philip Benfey's lab wanted to see how plant roots burrow into the soil. So they set up a camera on rice seeds sprouting in clear gel, taking a new picture every 15 minutes for several days after germination.
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TED Talks Daily (SD video)
The US is back in the Paris Agreement. What's next? | John Kerry and Al Gore
 
On his first day as president, Joe Biden signed a letter of acceptance that set in motion the 30-day process for the United States to re-join the Paris Agreement on climate. On the day the US returns to the accord, John Kerry, the US Special Envoy for Climate, sits down with Nobel Laureate Al Gore to discuss the make-or-break decade ahead of us. Listen as Kerry lays out how the US fits into the gl
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NeuroLogica Blog
CRISPR-Edited Bananas
 
In the British Drama, Years and Years , they imagine the very near future. I do wonder what someone from 2010 would have thought about a tv show accurately depicting 2020. In any case, one of the throw-away lines of the show was that there are no more bananas. The writers did their research – that the Cavendish banana will disappear sometime in the 2020's is extremely likely. It is being threaten
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Science | The Guardian
Nasa scientists hail Perseverance rover's arrival on Mars with stunning images
NASA Perseverance Mars
•
 
Car-sized vehicle designed to seek signs of life is pronounced 'healthy' after dramatic descent to surface of the red planet Nasa scientists have said the Perseverance Mars rover is "healthy" and is beaming back many stunning new images from the surface of the planet, promising significant scientific discoveries ahead. Related: Perseverance's mission to Mars – in pictures Continue reading…
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Futurism
Another Earthquake Nails the Crumbling Fukushima Power Plant
 
Not Again A powerful earthquake struck the site of Japan's already-crumbling Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last weekend, further damaging the facility that experts and authorities have spent years trying to safely maintain. The power plant's operators found that cooling water levels had dropped in two of the plant's reactors, indicating that the earthquake caused them to spring new leaks,
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The Atlantic
The Window for D.C. Statehood Won't Be Open Forever
 
With one move, Democrats could reshape government and potentially lock in their majority in the Senate for years to come. Four of their own stand in the way. The party may have just a few months to make it happen—but leaders in the House and Senate are taking their time and arguing about the details. Advocates see statehood for Washington, D.C., as a moral issue, because it would give equal right
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Futurism
Florida Women Caught Wearing Elderly Disguises to Get Vaccine Early
 
Two Florida women in their 30s reportedly dressed up as "grannies" to get the COVID-19 vaccine early, according to local Orlando news station WFTV . "OMG," WFTV reporter Lauren Seabrook wrote in a Thursday tweet . Director of the Florida Department of Health Raul Pino "just said two young girls in their 20s dressed up as grandmas with 'bonnets and gloves' and went through the line to try and get
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Science | The Guardian
Scepticism over Oxford vaccine threatens Europe's immunisation push
 
German politicians voice support for jab after only 17% of doses delivered to country are administered so far Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Politicians in Germany are stepping out in support of the AstraZeneca vaccine as public scepticism around the University of Oxford-developed product threatens to hamper Europe's Covid-19 immunisation programme. The vaccine, sub
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Futurism
Neanderthals May Have Been Killed Off By Magnetic Pole Flip
 
Polar Opposites Scientists have discovered evidence that Earth's magnetic poles flipped 42,000 years ago — possibly leading to the Neanderthals' extinction. Researchers from Sydney's University of South Wales (UNSW) and the South Australian Museum released a paper describing the findings in the journal Science detailing how the reversal of the poles caused abrupt solar storms and climate shifts t
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Science | The Guardian
Long Covid: 'It's a year since I've felt like myself'
 
There is fresh hope for those still suffering the effects of the virus after 12 months with £18.5m of new funding and 70 new NHS clinics Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Today is an anniversary that George Hencken never imagined. It is exactly one year since she caught Covid-19. But unlike most people who have suffered from the disease, she remains ill. "It's a year s
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Futurism
NASA's New Mars Rover Is Less Powerful Than Many Smartphones
 
iMars If you thought a NASA rover that cost $2.4 billion to build and launch would be more powerful your old smartphone, you have another thing coming. NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed successfully on Mars Thursday , is powered by an old chipset that gives it about the same processing power as an iMac from 1998, according to PCMag 's breakdown . More specifically, it's packing 256MB of RAM
5h
The Atlantic
A New Era of Black Holes Is Here
 
When the first black-hole collision was detected in 2015, it was a watershed moment in the history of astronomy. Using gravitational waves, astronomers were observing the universe in an entirely new way. But this first event didn't revolutionize our understanding of black holes—nor could it. This collision would be the first of many, astronomers knew, and only with that bounty would answers come.
9h
Phys.org
New technology enables predictive design of engineered human cells
 
Northwestern University synthetic biologist Joshua Leonard used to build devices when he was a child using electronic kits. Now he and his team have developed a design-driven process that uses parts from a very different kind of toolkit to build complex genetic circuits for cellular engineering.
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Big Think
New study identifies 126 species that could host coronavirus
 
The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is a product of different coronaviruses recombining in animal species. A new study suggests that hundreds of animal species may harbor multiple types of coronaviruses, meaning recombination events could be more likely than previously thought. The authors noted that their results could help improve surveillance programs to mitigate the risks associated wi
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Popular Science | RSS
Are billionaires bad for the environment?
 
A 100-meter yacht like this one can TK. (Arno Senoner//) Richard Wilk is a distinguished professor and provost's professor of anthropology at the Director of the Open Anthropology Institute at Indiana University. Beatriz Barros is a Ph.D. Candidate in anthropology at Indiana University. This story originally featured on The Conversation . Tesla's Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have been vying
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Popular Science | RSS
Is this winter weather 'normal'? And other questions about the historic storms in the US.
 
Snow-covered streets were the norm across the US this week. (Sam Farallon/Un/) It's been a wild and dangerous week for weather in the US. With record cold and snowfalls across nearly the entire country, many Americans are wondering what exactly is going on. Here are some answers to your most burning questions. Why did wind turbines fail in the winter storm? Sweden, which is no stranger to chilly
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Phys.org
Global study of 48 cities finds nature sanitizes 41.7 million tons of human waste a year
 
The first global-scale assessment of the role ecosystems play in providing sanitation finds that nature provides at least 18% of sanitation services in 48 cities worldwide, according to researchers in the United Kingdom and India. The study, published February 19 in the journal One Earth, estimates that more than 2 million cubic meters of the cities' human waste is processed each year without engi
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Popular Science | RSS
Nvidia's latest effort to fix the graphics card shortage takes aim at crypto miners
 
Nvidia's RTX 3060 is in high-demand due to its relatively low price and high performance. (Nvidia/) The past year has left PC gamers feeling conflicted. Hardware makers like Nvidia have released some of the most powerful and compelling new graphics cards—essential components for running games at high frame rates and resolutions—in years. Cards like the Nvidia RTX 30-series promise big performance
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Science | The Guardian
UK scientists highlight 12 criteria for Covid vaccine passports
 
Royal Society says issues such as certifying immunity and data protection need to be considered Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Vaccine passports are feasible, according to scientists at the Royal Society, but many pressing questions need to be answered around their use, from knowing whether vaccines protect people against transmitting coronavirus, to ensuring they d
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Phys.org
Quartz crystals in the stomach of fossil bird complicates the mystery of its diet
 
It's hard to know what prehistoric animals' lives were like—even answering seemingly simple questions, like what they ate, can be a challenge. Sometimes, paleontologists get lucky, and pristine fossils will preserve an animal's stomach contents or provide other clues. In a new study in Frontiers in Earth Science, researchers investigating the fossil of a bird that lived alongside the dinosaurs got
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
Quartz crystals in the stomach of fossil bird complicates the mystery of its diet
 
It's hard to know what prehistoric animals' lives were like—even answering seemingly simple questions, like what they ate, can be a challenge. Sometimes, paleontologists get lucky, and pristine fossils will preserve an animal's stomach contents or provide other clues. In a new study in Frontiers in Earth Science, researchers investigating the fossil of a bird that lived alongside the dinosaurs got
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Science | The Guardian
Nicaragua leaders face backlash after forming space agency amid human rights crisis
 
Critics say President Daniel Ortega is attempting to distract from his dismal human rights record and poor response to the pandemic Nicaragua has created a new National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, prompting scorn from critics in a nation experiencing a steady erosion of human rights since a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests three ye
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Phys.org
Astronomers publish map showing 25,000 supermassive black holes
 
An international team of astronomers has published a map of the sky showing over 25,000 supermassive black holes. The map, to be published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, is the most detailed celestial map in the field of so-called low radio frequencies. The astronomers, including Leiden astronomers, used 52 stations with LOFAR antennas spread across nine European countries.
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MIT Technology Review
A first-of-its-kind geoengineering experiment is about to take its first step
 
Trapped inside a long glass tube in a ground-floor lab at Harvard University is a miniature copy of the stratosphere. When I visited Frank Keutsch in the fall of 2019, he walked me down to the lab, where the tube, wrapped in gray insulation, ran the length of a bench in the back corner. By filling it with the right combination of gases, at particular temperatures and pressures, Keutsch and his co
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Big Think
Unusual creatures uncovered beneath an Antarctic ice shelf
 
A new study details the discovery of sessile organisms living under the Antarctic's Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. In recent years, scientists have discovered more creatures living in environments once thought inhospitable to life. It's currently unknown how these new organisms find food in such an environment, nor how plentiful they are beneath the continent's ice-blanketed coastlines. Life finds a w
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Futurism
Johns Hopkins Professor: US Will Hit COVID Herd Immunity by April
 
COVID-19 will be "mostly gone" by April, according to a Johns Hopkins professor. Dr. Marty Makary, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, points to several reasons to be hopeful in a new op-ed for The Wall Street Journal . He believes a combination of natural immunity from previous infection, rising vaccination rates, and a dramatic drop in cases mean America will reach herd immuni
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Futurism
For the First Time, Scientists Clone Endangered Species
 
It's Alive! For the first time, scientists cloned an organism on the United States' list of endangered species: a black-footed ferret that they've named Elizabeth Ann. Elizabeth Ann was born on December 10 and, as far as the Fish and Wildlife Service scientists raising her can tell, is a perfectly healthy and lively young critter, The Associated Press reports . The tentative success story, a firs
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Phys.org
Researchers decode a deep-sea-vent-endemic snail hologenome
 
A research team led by Prof. Qian Peiyuan, Head and Chair Professor from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)'s Department of Ocean Science and David von Hansemann Professor of Science, has published their cutting-edge findings of symbiotic mechanisms of a deep-sea vent snail (Gigantopelta aegis) in the scientific journal Nature Communications. They discovered that the Gigant
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The Atlantic
The Double Meaning of the American Dream
 
Having moved from the teeming cityscape of Taipei to the rural American South in the 1970s as a preteen, I know something of the shock, at once awe-inspiring and estranging, of that first sight of the great American landscape—just sheer land—that seems to stretch on forever. Watching Minari , the new semi-autobiographical film from Lee Isaac Chung about a Korean-American family newly arrived in t
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Phys.org
In step toward autonomous materials, researchers design patterns in self-propelling liquid crystals
 
aterials capable of performing complex functions in response to changes in the environment could form the basis for exciting new technologies. Think of a capsule implanted in your body that automatically releases antibodies in response to a virus, a surface that releases an antibacterial agent when exposed to dangerous bacteria, a material that adapts its shape when it needs to sustain a particula
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The Atlantic
Photos of the Week: Mars Rover, Green Fur, Icicle Tunnel
 
Lava flows on Mount Etna, ski championships in Italy, scenes from the Australian Open, ice-skating in the Netherlands, an image from New York Fashion Week, freezing conditions in Texas, a monument to cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, snowy scenes in Greece, and much more
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Science | The Guardian
'An exciting time': European Space Agency takes diversity to space
 
Helen Sharman, the UK's first astronaut, praises the agency as it begins a search for 26 recruits Helen Sharman, the UK's first astronaut, has welcomed the European Space Agency's decision to improve diversity among crew as an "exciting time for human space flight expansion". Esa announced earlier this week that as part of its bid to recruit up to 26 new astronauts it was casting its net wider th
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Science | The Guardian
Coronavirus: UK should donate vaccines to poorer nations now, says new WTO chief; two die amid lockdown protests in Gabon
 
Thousands of China's Sinovac vaccine on way to Mexico France reports increase in daily Covid death toll Ireland reports three cases of Brazilian variant See all our coronavirus coverage 9.50am GMT A year ago, Laura Ricevuti and Annalisa Malara – both doctors at Codogno hospital in Italy – had a hunch something was different about a patient in the intensive care ward. As Reuters reports, their dec
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NYT > Science
Who Will Be the Next F.D.A. Chief?
 
Two leading contenders generate wider debate about the leadership needed to restore morale and scientific integrity to an agency battered by the politicized Trump administration.
14h
Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
Researchers decode a deep-sea-vent-endemic snail hologenome
 
A research team led by Prof. Qian Peiyuan, Head and Chair Professor from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)'s Department of Ocean Science and David von Hansemann Professor of Science, has published their cutting-edge findings of symbiotic mechanisms of a deep-sea vent snail (Gigantopelta aegis) in the scientific journal Nature Communications. They discovered that the Gigant
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MIT Technology Review
The government failed Texans—so people on the internet stepped in
 
On Valentine's Day, Texas plunged into a polar vortex the likes of which hadn't been seen since 1899. Freezing temperatures led to widespread power outages. Homes more used to the swampy heat were useless against the wind and cold, with pipes bursting and ceilings caving in. Where water, clothing, and food were being distributed, lines snaked around the block. Hundreds of people in Texas have bee
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Sciencemag
How Antidepressants Work, At Last?
 
Over the years I've very much enjoyed being startled by the scientific literature, and there haven't been many times when I've been more surprised than I was this morning. I've been making references on this blog for years about how we don't even know how antidepressants work, but if this new paper is correct, then perhaps now we do. I'm amazed. It's from a multinational team led out of the Unive
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Science | The Guardian
Perseverance's mission to Mars – in pictures
NASA Perseverance Mars
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Nasa's rover, the most advanced astrobiology laboratory ever sent to another world, landed safely on the floor of a vast crater on Thursday, the first stop on its search for life on the red planet Mars rover landing: Nasa's Perseverance touches down safely in search of life Continue reading…
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ScienceDaily
Gut microbiome implicated in healthy aging and longevity
 
The gut microbiome is an integral component of the body, but its importance in the human aging process is unclear. Researchers have identified distinct signatures in the gut microbiome that are associated with either healthy or unhealthy aging trajectories, which in turn predict survival in a population of older individuals.
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Futurism
NASA Releases Amazing Photo of Rover Parachuting to Mars Surface
 
Free Falling NASA continues to give Annie Leibovitz a run for her money with its stunning new photos of the Perseverance rover as it landed on Mars on Thursday. One of its latest is a spectacular wide shot of Perseverance as it descends on parachute through the Martian atmosphere — another historic document of what may be the most technologically advanced off-planet exploration in the history of
16min
Popular Science | RSS
See the wonderful world of fermented foods on one delicious chart
 
From snacks to sauces, fermentation is an important culinary tool across eras and cultures. (Mona Chalabi/) No matter who you are or where you live, you've almost certainly eaten something fermented . Humans have been processing food this way for at least 10,000 years in cuisines on every populated continent. Microbes like bacteria and fungi flourish when feeding off carbohydrates, turning sugars
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Science | The Guardian
Drug companies look to AI to end 'hit and miss' research
 
Technology that speeded the development of Covid vaccines has potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry The hunt for new medicines has often been more like a game of roulette than high-end science. But now the pharmaceutical sector is on the cusp of a transformation, as it delves into cutting-edge technology to come up with new treatments for diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis
6h
The Atlantic
Inside the Strange World of the Police
 
Photographs by Joseph Rodríguez "Police work is doing what people in the city want done," Willie Williams, the Los Angeles Police Department chief, told me in 1994. Williams, the agency's first Black chief, had been brought in from Philadelphia to make changes after LAPD officers beat Rodney King in 1991, the incident that ultimately led to the Los Angeles riots. A commission that year concluded
10h
Popular Science | RSS
Storing the Pfizer vaccine could get a lot simpler in coming weeks
 
The Pfizer vaccine can actually be stored in normal freezers. (Pixabay/) Click here to see all of PopSci's COVID-19 coverage. In an announcement this morning, Pfizer and BioNTech described new findings showing that their COVID vaccine could be stored for at standard freezing temperatures, setting the stage for a dramatically simplified vaccine distribution effort. That's a big step for Pfizer's v
23h
ScienceDaily
The melting of large icebergs is a key stage in the evolution of ice ages
 
A new study, in which the Andalusian Earth Sciences Institute (IACT) (CSIC-UGR) participated, has described for the first time a key stage in the beginning of the great glaciations and indicates that it can happen to our planet in the future. The study claims to have found a new connection that could explain the beginning of the ice ages on Earth.
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Science | The Guardian
Nasa reveals new colour images of Mars from Perseverance rover – video
NASA Perseverance Mars
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Adam Steltzner, the chief engineer on the Perseverance project, said his team was 'overwhelmed with excitement and joy' as he revealed new colour photographs beamed back from Nasa's Perseverance rover Nasa scientists release new images of Perseverance rover on Mars at news briefing Nasa scientists hail Perseverance rover's arrival on Mars with stunning images Continue reading…
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ScienceDaily
How the brain processes sign language
 
Over 70 million deaf people use sign languages as their preferred communication form. Although they access similar brain structures as spoken languages, it hasn't been identified the brain regions that process both forms of language equally. Scientists have now discovered that Broca's area in the left hemisphere, central for spoken languages, is also crucial for sign languages. This is where the g
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The Atlantic
Listen: 'A Disaster for Feminism'
 
Nearly a year ago, Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis predicted that the pandemic would be " a disaster for feminism ," and far too many of her predictions have proved true. With women leaving the workforce at unprecedented rates, why has the pandemic's burden fallen so much harder on them? And what can we, as a society, do about it? Lewis joins staff writer James Hamblin and comedian Maeve Higgin
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Futurism
Artificial Intelligence-Worshipping Church Officially Shuts Down
 
Closed Doors Remember that artificial intelligence-worshipping church, the Way of the Future? Well, first of all: Yes, that existed . But secondly, founder Anthony Levandowski told TechCrunch this week that he has now decided to dissolve the church and donate all of its funds — just over $175,000 — to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Levandowski still supports the church's mission to r
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Phys.org
Insight-HXMT gives insight into origin of fast radio bursts
 
The latest observations from Insight-HXMT were published online in Nature Astronomy on Feb. 18. Insight-HXMT has discovered the very first X-ray burst associated with a fast radio burst (FRB) and has identified that it originated from soft-gamma repeater (SGR) J1935+2154, which is a magnetar in our Milky Way.
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Phys.org
Cold dust cores in the central zone of the Milky Way
 
The Milky Way's central molecular zone (CMZ) spans the innermost 1600 light-years of the galaxy (for comparison, the Sun is 26,600 light-years away from the galactic center) and includes a vast complex of molecular clouds containing about sixty million solar-masses of molecular gas. The gas in these clouds exists under more extreme physical conditions than elsewhere in the galaxy on average, with
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Undark Magazine
Frigid Temperatures Bring Disaster to Texas
 
A pulse of frigid Arctic air sent temperatures dropping to record lows in Texas this week, leading to widespread power outages and dozens of deaths. The disruptions have raised questions about how well the country's second-largest state is prepared for natural disasters in the face of climate change.
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
New-found molecular signature keeps key genes ready for action
 
During development, scores of molecular signals prod cells to take on specialized identities and functions. In response to some of these signals, the cellular machinery awakens specific genes called 'immediate early genes' within minutes. The Rijli group has now identified a unique molecular signature that keeps immediate early genes quiet yet poised for rapid activation. Working out how immediate
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Phys.org
A powerful, pocket-sized optical imager, no longer science fiction
 
Before Wilhelm Röntgen, a mechanical engineer, discovered a new type of electromagnetic radiation in 1895, physicians could only dream of being able to see inside the body. Within a year of Röntgen's discovery, X-rays were being used to identify tumors. Within 10 years, hospitals were using X-rays to help diagnose and treat patients.
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Phys.org
New-found molecular signature keeps key genes ready for action
 
During development, scores of molecular signals prod cells to take on specialized identities and functions. In response to some of these signals, the cellular machinery awakens specific genes called 'immediate early genes' within minutes. The Rijli group has now identified a unique molecular signature that keeps immediate early genes quiet yet poised for rapid activation. Working out how immediate
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ScienceDaily
Preschoolers with higher cardiorespiratory fitness do better on cognitive tests
 
Researchers report that 4-6-year-old children who walk further than their peers during a timed test – a method used to estimate cardiorespiratory health – also do better on cognitive tests and other measures of brain function. The study suggests that the link between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive health is evident even earlier in life than previously appreciated.
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Phys.org
Bacterial magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications
 
Magnetic nanoparticles biosynthesized by bacteria might soon play an important role in biomedicine and biotechnology. Researchers of the University of Bayreuth have now developed and optimized a process for the isolation and purification of these particles from bacterial cells. In initial tests, magnetosomes showed good biocompatibility when incubated with human cell lines. The results, presented
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Phys.org
The future of electronics is stretchy
 
Stretchable electronic circuits are critical for soft robotics, wearable technologies, and biomedical applications. The current ways of making them, though, have limited their potential.
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Retraction Watch
Widely shared vitamin D-COVID-19 preprint removed from Lancet server
 
A preprint promoted by a member of the UK Parliament for claiming to show that vitamin D led to an "80% reduction in need for ICU and a 60% reduction in deaths" has been removed from a server used by The Lancet family of journals. The preprint, "Calcifediol Treatment and COVID-19-Related Outcomes," was posted to … Continue reading
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Science | The Guardian
UK Covid live: Johnson to make vaccine pledge to poorer nations as he chairs G7 meeting
 
Latest updates: PM expected to say that the UK will share any surplus vaccines; primary school students to return to class in Wales on 15 March Boris Johnson to pledge surplus Covid vaccine to poorer countries at G7 New universal credit claimants forced to skip meals in Covid crisis Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage 10.19am GMT Sadiq Khan has insisted there should be n
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Science | The Guardian
Spacewatch: Hope spacecraft sends back pictures of Mars volcanoes
 
Hope mission is to study Martian atmosphere to help understand how water has been lost The first photograph of Mars taken by the Emirates Mars Mission's Hope spacecraft has been released by the UAE Space Agency and Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre . Captured at 20:36 GMT on 10 February 2021, one day after the Hope probe successfully entered orbit around the red planet, the image shows sunlight cr
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MIT Technology Review
What we can learn from the Facebook-Australia news debacle
 
Democracies around the world are all mired in one crisis or another, which is why measures of their health are trending in the wrong direction. Many look at the decline of the news industry as one contributing factor. No wonder, then, that figuring out how to pay for journalism is an urgent issue, and some governments are pushing ahead with ambitious plans. Big ideas for ways to funnel billions o
9h
The Atlantic
The Atlantic Daily: The Real Scandal of Ted Cruz's Vacation
 
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 . When the snow came, the state of Texas failed. Its self-maintained power grid stopped working—and its politicians seemed to do the same: Senator Ted Cruz flew to Cancún, Mexico, with his family,
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Popular Science | RSS
The Blackmagic 6K Pro is the budget camera filmmakers have been waiting for
 
The angled viewfinder is an available add-on to make the camera feel more like a DSLR-style mirrorless camera. (Blackmagic Design /) By now, you've seen cameras—even those attached to smartphones—with specs boasting the ability to shoot 8K footage. It's an impressive number and it looks great on marketing material, and it does comes in handy for some specific purposes. But for many pro and high-e
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
Direct cloning method CAPTUREs novel microbial natural products
 
Microorganisms possess natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that may harbor unique bioactivities for use in drug development and agricultural applications. However, many uncharacterized microbial BGCs remain inaccessible. Researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign previously demonstrated a technique using transcription factor decoys to activate large, silent BGCs in bacter
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Phys.org
Direct cloning method CAPTUREs novel microbial natural products
 
Microorganisms possess natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that may harbor unique bioactivities for use in drug development and agricultural applications. However, many uncharacterized microbial BGCs remain inaccessible. Researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign previously demonstrated a technique using transcription factor decoys to activate large, silent BGCs in bacter
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Phys.org
Physicists discover new route to active matter self-organisation
 
An international team led by Professor Yilin Wu, Associate Professor of the Department of Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has made a novel conceptual advance in the field of active matter science. The team discovered a new route in which the self-organization of active fluids in space and time can be controlled by a single material property called viscoelasticity. This new fi
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ScienceDaily
Mitochondrial function can play significant part in serious disease
 
Disorders of the cells' energy supply can cause a number of serious diseases, but also seem to be connected to ageing. More research is needed on mitochondrial function to find future treatments. A new study shows how an important molecule inside the mitochondria affects their function in mice and fruit flies. The study adds valuable knowledge on formerly relatively unexplored protein modification
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Phys.org
Sweet marine particles resist hungry bacteria
 
A major pathway for carbon sequestration in the ocean is the growth, aggregation and sinking of phytoplankton—unicellular microalgae like diatoms. Just like plants on land, phytoplankton sequester carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide. When algae cells aggregate, they sink and take the sequestered carbon with them to the ocean floor. This so called biological carbon pump accounts for about 70 per
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
Sweet marine particles resist hungry bacteria
 
A major pathway for carbon sequestration in the ocean is the growth, aggregation and sinking of phytoplankton—unicellular microalgae like diatoms. Just like plants on land, phytoplankton sequester carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide. When algae cells aggregate, they sink and take the sequestered carbon with them to the ocean floor. This so called biological carbon pump accounts for about 70 per
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ScienceDaily
The original antigenic sin: How childhood infections could shape pandemics
 
A child's first influenza infection shapes their immunity to future airborne flu viruses – including emerging pandemic strains. But not all flu strains spur the same initial immune defense, according to new findings published today. The results are relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the senior author, who says they may explain age-based distributions of SARS-CoV-2 disease severity and
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Popular Science | RSS
Ramping up COVID-19 vaccine production is harder than it seems
 
mRNA vaccines are technically easier to mass produce, but its never been done on this massive scale before. (Pixabay/) Click here to see all of PopSci's COVID-19 coverage. After a rocky start, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been improving over the past several weeks. More than 14 million Americans are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with the number rising each day. How quickly vaccine ma
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Phys.org
Sounding rocket CLASP2 elucidates solar magnetic field
 
Cooperative operations between a solar observation satellite and a sounding-rocket telescope have measured the magnetic field strength in the photosphere and chromosphere above an active solar plage region. This is the first time that the magnetic field in the chromosphere has been charted all the way up its top. This finding brings us closer to understanding how energy is transferred between laye
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Phys.org
Seeing stable topology using instabilities
 
We are most familiar with the four conventional phases of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Changes between two phases, known as phase transitions, are marked by abrupt changes in material properties such as density. In recent decades a wide body of physics research has been devoted to discovering new unconventional phases of matter, which typically emerge at ultra-low temperatures or in spe
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
The Lancet: USA failing to reach populations most in need of HIV prevention and treatment services as epidemic grows in the South and rural areas
 
The USA continues to lag behind other G-7 nations when it comes to controlling its HIV epidemic and is the only high-income country among the top 10 most HIV-affected countries worldwide. The majority of HIV infections are now concentrated in the South and rural areas, where women and minorities are disproportionately affected; a disparity that has also been seen in the COVID-19 pandemic which has
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Science | The Guardian
'I could physically feel the germs on me': how Covid is a double-edged sword for those with OCD
 
For some the pandemic has worsened their symptoms, but others say social distancing and hygiene measures have made life easier Luka Buchanan has always been consumed by the fear of contamination and germs, washing their hands until they were raw, and terrified the food they ate would poison them. Diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder at age 19, Buchanan, who uses they/them pronouns, spent
3h
Singularity Hub
The First Endangered American Animal Has Been Cloned
 
Last summer a horse named Kurt was born in Texas. Kurt wasn't just any horse—he was a clone made from DNA that had been frozen for 40 years and came from an endangered wild horse species from Central Asia. Kurt was—and still is—pretty special. But now he's got some competition for the title of "most amazing endangered animal cloned from frozen DNA." The new contender is a black-footed ferret name
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
42,000-year-old trees allow more accurate analysis of last Earth's magnetic field reversal
 
The last complete reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, the so-called Laschamps event, took place 42,000 years ago. Radiocarbon analyses of the remains of kauri trees from New Zealand now make it possible for the first time to precisely time and analyse this event and its associated effects, as well as to calibrate geological archives such as sediment and ice cores from this period. Simulations
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Popular Science | RSS
Best portable WiFi: Five things to consider when you want internet connection anywhere
 
Work from anywhere. (Standsome Worklifestyle via Unsplash/) We are living in the age of the "Internet of Things." Nearly every device from your phones to your lamps to your toothbrush has WiFi capabilities, and the interconnected IoT network almost requires you to be always on, all the time. Rather than overloading your cellular data plan or hoping that if you wander around long enough you'll stu
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Science | The Guardian
How to reconcile after a family rift
 
Estrangement is surprisingly common – so how can the injured parties put their differences aside? Harry and Meghan have apparently severed links with the royal family and moved halfway across the globe. Nicole Kidman has been allegedly snubbed by her two eldest Scientologist children. Angelina Jolie has a difficult relationship with her father Jon Voight – it probably doesn't help that he's Donal
5h
The Atlantic
The Books Briefing: The Works That Changed Our Understanding of America
 
A government of the people, by the people, and for the people: That was the idea behind the American experiment. But there has always been tension between the idea and the reality. Inspired by great works of American inquiry, The Atlantic and WNYC Studios earlier this month launched a new podcast, The Experiment : stories from an unfinished country. Literary works such as a speech from Eleanor Ho
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The Atlantic
The Moment Britain's Army Knew It Was Lost
 
This is a story about the nadir, the end of days. Monday, March 24, 2008, marked five years to the month after the British army arrived in Iraq, preaching to the Americans their apparent expertise in counterinsurgency operations and understanding of the manifold ways of, in the historical British upper-class vernacular, "the Arab." This is the story of how that complacency—the claimed legacy of i
11h
ScienceDaily
A speed limit also applies in the quantum world
 
Even in the world of the smallest particles with their own special rules, things cannot proceed infinitely fast. Physicists have now shown what the speed limit is for complex quantum operations. The results are important for the realization of quantum computers, among other things.
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ScienceDaily
Life of a pure Martian design
 
Experimental microbially assisted chemolithotrophy provides an opportunity to trace the putative bioalteration processes of the Martian crust. A study on the Noachian Martian breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 composed of ancient crustal materials from Mars has now delivered a unique prototype of microbial life experimentally designed on a real Martian material.
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Popular Science | RSS
Everything you need to know to start leatherworking
 
Make your own wallet and your own ASMR at the same time. (Anna Tarazevich / Pexels/) If you've fallen into the leatherworking ASMR TikTok vortex , you might be thinking about getting into the craft yourself. After all, leather is just very expensive paper, right? Just cut it up, glue it together, and voilá! You have a nice wallet you can brag to your friends about. What more is there to it? A lot
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Popular Science | RSS
Best heated slippers: Say goodbye to cold feet
 
Don't fear the chilly floor. (Dima Pechurin via Unsplash/) When it's cold out, warmth is always welcome inside, especially from your head to your toes. To keep your feet as toasty as possible, slip into a pair of heated slippers and get instant relief from cold floors and draughty indoor air. But it's not just about the heat this footwear provides. Winter weather can leave feet dry, chapped, and
5h
Undark Magazine
The Undark Interview: A Conversation With Charles Vidich
 
Public health and bioterrorism expert Charles Vidich spent a decade working on quarantine policy. Now, in his aptly-timed book "Germs at Bay," Vidich discusses the nation's long struggle to fight infectious diseases, with an emphasis on early Boston, whose quarantine strategies were copied by other cities.
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ScienceDaily
The hidden dance of roots revealed
 
New time-lapse videos capture something that's too slow for our eyes to see: the growing tips of plant roots make corkscrew-like motions, waggling and winding in a helical path as they burrow into the soil. By using time-lapse footage, along with a root-like robot to test ideas, researchers have gained new insights into how and why rice root tips twirl as they grow.
21h
ScienceDaily
Evidence of protein folding at site of intracellular droplets
 
Researchers have found that elevated concentrations of proteins within the droplets triggered a folding event, increasing the potential for protein aggregation — or misfolding — which has been linked to neurological diseases including Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ScienceDaily
Migratory birds track climate across the year
 
As climate change takes hold across the Americas, some areas will get wetter, and others will get hotter and drier. A new study of the yellow warbler, a widespread migratory songbird, shows that individuals have the same climatic preferences across their migratory range.
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ScienceDaily
Quantum computing: When ignorance is wanted
 
Quantum technologies for computers open up new concepts of preserving the privacy of input and output data of a computation. Scientists have shown that optical quantum systems are not only particularly suitable for some quantum computations, but can also effectively encrypt the associated input and output data.
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
New snake species and genus discovered in Myanmar
 
Mud snakes (family Homalopsidae) live in wetlands across Southeast Asia. Their habitats include natural swamps and open lands flooded during the rainy season, typically rice paddies. Scientists of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt and the East Yangon University have now discovered a new species in a wetland near the university campus. "We collected four individuals with short tails d
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Phys.org
Ozone pollution levels dropped early in pandemic
 
During spring and summer of 2020, ozone at 1-8 kilometers (0.6-5 miles) above Earth's surface fell by 7% on average across the Northern Hemisphere, a new study finds. The decrease is likely explained by curtailed transportation due to COVID-19 quarantines, according to the report, published in Geophysical Research Letters.
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ScienceDaily
Impact of COVID-19 in Africa 'vastly underestimated', warn researchers
 
The impact of COVID-19 in Africa has been vastly underestimated, warn researchers in a new study that showed that COVID-19 deaths accounted for 15 to 20 percent of all sampled deaths — many more than official reports suggest and contradicting the widely held view that COVID-19 has largely skipped Africa and had little impact.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue
The inflated significance of neutral genetic diversity in conservation genetics [Evolution]
 
The current rate of species extinction is rapidly approaching unprecedented highs, and life on Earth presently faces a sixth mass extinction event driven by anthropogenic activity, climate change, and ecological collapse. The field of conservation genetics aims at preserving species by using their levels of genetic diversity, usually measured as…
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ScienceDaily
Swimming upstream on sound waves
 
Scientists have succeeded in propelling microvehicles against a fluid flow using ultrasound. In future, these tiny vehicles are set to be introduced into the human bloodstream, thereby revolutionizing the field of medicine.
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ScienceDaily
Blueprint for fault-tolerant qubits
 
Building a quantum computer is a challenging task because of the fragility of quantum bits. To deal with this problem, various types of active error correction techniques have been developed. In contrast, researchers have now proposed a design for an inherently fault protected circuit with passive error correction that could significantly accelerate the construction of a quantum computer with a la
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Phys.org
New snake species and genus discovered in Myanmar
 
Mud snakes (family Homalopsidae) live in wetlands across Southeast Asia. Their habitats include natural swamps and open lands flooded during the rainy season, typically rice paddies. Scientists of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt and the East Yangon University have now discovered a new species in a wetland near the university campus. "We collected four individuals with short tails d
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ScienceDaily
Cone snail venom shows potential for treating severe malaria
 
Using venom from a cone snail, a new study suggests these conotoxins may potentially treat malaria. The study provides important leads toward the development of new and cost-effective anti-adhesion or blockade-therapy drugs aimed at counteracting the pathology of severe malaria. Similarly, mitigation of emerging diseases like COVID-19 also could benefit from conotoxins as potential inhibitors of p
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Phys.org
New study contradicts pseudoscientific beliefs about the influence of the moon on agriculture
 
A research team from the Botanical Garden and Department of Experimental and Social Sciences Education of the Faculty of Teacher Training of the University of Valencia warns of the risk of pseudoscience in relation with myths or beliefs about the influence of the moon on agriculture. The findings of this scientific review of over 100 papers (including scientific articles, papers and higher educati
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ScienceDaily
Global study of 48 cities finds nature sanitizes 41.7 million tons of human waste a year
 
Researchers found that nature provides at least 18% of sanitation services in 48 cities worldwide, according to researchers in the United Kingdom and India. The study estimates that more than 2 million cubic meters of the cities' human waste is processed each year without engineered infrastructure. This includes pit latrine waste that gradually filters through the soil — a natural process that cl
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Phys.org
Mars rovers safe from lightning strikes, research finds
 
If experiments done in small bottles in a University of Oregon lab are accurate, the friction of colliding Martian dust particles are unlikely to generate big electrical storms or threaten the newly arrived exploration vehicles or, eventually, human visitors.
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Phys.org
Depression, anxiety, loneliness are peaking in college students
 
A survey by a Boston University researcher of nearly 33,000 college students across the country reveals the prevalence of depression and anxiety in young people continues to increase, now reaching its highest levels, a sign of the mounting stress factors due to the coronavirus pandemic, political unrest, and systemic racism and inequality.
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ScienceDaily
Tuberculosis: New biomarker indicates individual treatment duration
 
The treatment of tuberculosis (TB) is long and demanding. In particular, in cases of resistant tuberculosis, the WHO generally recommends a standard treatment duration of at least 18 months, as there are no reliable biomarkers for an early termination. Scientists have now succeeded in identifying a biomarker that points to an individual end of therapy based on the activity of 22 genes. In many cas
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ScienceDaily
Metabolic mutations help bacteria resist drug treatment
 
Researchers have identified a new class of mutations that help bacteria develop antibiotic resistance. In a study of E. coli, they discovered that mutations to genes involved in metabolism can help bacteria to evade the toxic effects of several different antibiotics.
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Phys.org
An evolutionary method for reprogramming proteases
 
A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. has developed an evolutionary method for reprogramming proteases. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how their technique works and how well it performed when tested. Pål Stenmark, with Stockholm University has published a Perspectives piece in the same journal issue outlining efforts to re-eng
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
An evolutionary method for reprogramming proteases
 
A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. has developed an evolutionary method for reprogramming proteases. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how their technique works and how well it performed when tested. Pål Stenmark, with Stockholm University has published a Perspectives piece in the same journal issue outlining efforts to re-eng
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Phys.org
Fuel for earliest life forms: Organic molecules found in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks
 
A research team including the geobiologist Dr. Helge Missbach from the University of Cologne has detected organic molecules and gases trapped in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks. A widely accepted hypothesis says that the earliest life forms used small organic molecules as building materials and energy sources. However, the existence of such components in early habitats on Earth was as yet unproven. The
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Popular Science | RSS
Best gaming keyboard: Light up your setup
 
Play better—and win more—with one of these sweet keyboards. (Christian Wiediger via Unsplash /) Gaming keyboards are the literal way that a gamer connects with a PC; they're the physical interface between player and action. That makes them extremely important for gaming quality. The best gaming keyboard can improve your game by ensuring that each key you press is correctly identified and passed t
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ScienceDaily
Direct cloning method CAPTUREs novel microbial natural products
 
Microorganisms possess natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that may harbor unique bioactivities for use in drug development and agricultural applications. However, many uncharacterized microbial BGCs remain inaccessible. Researchers previously demonstrated a technique using transcription factor decoys to activate large, silent BGCs in bacteria to aid in natural product discovery.
2h
NPR
Wisconsin Biologist Charged In Caviar Scam
 
The top sturgeon biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and several others have been charged with crimes related to an illegal sturgeon caviar bartering ring.
9h
Popular Science | RSS
Best Windshield Snow Cover: Protect Your Car With a Frost Guard
 
Make sure your windshield doesn't get too icy. (Le Duc via Unsplash/) With wintry weather comes all manner of seasonal outdoor fun, from skiing to snowball fights and everything in between. The season is somewhat less fun for your car. Choosing the best windshield snow cover will ensure that you get the most enjoyment out of snowy weather without the hassle and worry that come from needing to scr
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Popular Science | RSS
Bar stools that bring a room together
 
Have a seat at the counter. (Unsplash/) Bar stools keep it low key—whether in the kitchen or on the patio, the bar stool is where you want to sit to enjoy a quick lunch, sunset cocktail, or passing conversation. Save the dinner table for, well, having dinner! And if you've got a bar lining your kitchen then stools are simply indispensable. They're awesome for entertaining and arguably even better
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ScienceDaily
The distribution of vertebrate animals redefines temperate and cold climate regions
 
The distribution of vegetation is routinely used to classify climate regions worldwide, yet whether these regions are relevant to other organisms is unknown. Researchers have established climate regions based on vertebrate species' distributions in a new study. They found that while high-energy climate regions are similar across vertebrate and plant groups, there are large differences in temperate
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Phys.org
We could find extraterrestrial civilizations by their air pollution
 
Upcoming telescopes will give us more power to search for biosignatures on all the exoplanets we've found. Much of the biosignature conversation is centered on biogenic chemistry, such as atmospheric gases produced by simple, single-celled creatures. But what if we want to search for technological civilizations that might be out there? Could we find them by searching for their air pollution?
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Phys.org
Floods cripple Indonesia's capital
 
Whole neighbourhoods of Indonesia's capital Jakarta and dozens of major roads were flooded on Saturday after torrential rains pounded the Southeast Asian city overnight.
5h
Phys.org
Southern cities hit hard by storms face new crisis: No water
 
Southern cities slammed by winter storms that left millions without power for days have traded one crisis for another: Busted water pipes ruptured by record-low temperatures created shortages of clean drinking water, shut down the Memphis airport on Friday and left hospitals struggling to maintain sanitary conditions.
5h
ScienceDaily
Sweet marine particles resist hungry bacteria
 
Rather sweet than salty: In the ocean microalgae produce a lot of sugar during algae blooms. These enormous quantities of algal biomass are normally recycled rapidly by marine bacteria, degradation process that is an important part of the global carbon cycle. Especially sugars have been considered as easily digestible and therefore poor candidates for natural carbon sequestration. Now scientists r
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Phys.org
Dynamics of nanoparticles using a new isolated lymphatic vessel lumen perfusion system
 
Nanoparticles used in drug delivery systems, bioimaging, and regenerative medicine migrate from tissues to lymphatic vessels after entering the body, so it is necessary to clarify the interaction between nanoparticles and lymphatic vessels. Although technology to observe the flow of nanoparticles through lymphatic vessels in vivo has been developed, there has been no method to evaluate the flow of
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ScienceDaily
Deep learning may help doctors choose better lung cancer treatments
 
Researchers have developed a deep learning model that, in certain conditions, is more than 71 percent accurate in predicting survival expectancy of lung cancer patients, significantly better than traditional machine learning models that the team tested. The other machine learning models the team tested had about a 61 percent accuracy rate.
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ScienceDaily
Wolves prefer to feed on the wild side
 
When there is a choice, wolves in Mongolia prefer to feed on wild animals rather than grazing livestock. Previous studies had shown that the diet of wolves in inland Central Asia consists mainly of grazing livestock, which could lead to increasing conflict between nomadic livestock herders and wild predatory animals like wolves.
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Phys.org
Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce without males
 
Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species need sperm in order to induce completion of egg nucleus development, but then never use the sperm's DNA. I describe how this self-sexual reproduction occurs in many animals, including some insects, molluscs, fish, amphibians and reptiles, but not mammals.
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce without males
 
Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species need sperm in order to induce completion of egg nucleus development, but then never use the sperm's DNA. I describe how this self-sexual reproduction occurs in many animals, including some insects, molluscs, fish, amphibians and reptiles, but not mammals.
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Phys.org
Citing levels of uncertainty decreases public faith in science
 
We seem to face apocalyptic forecasts on a more and more frequent basis and yet often the predictions do not manifest themselves in the anticipated doom and gloom. Of course, some predictions have long-term consequences such as those surrounding climate change. However, as with all areas of science, the error bars that scientists know only too well can simply look like uncertainty and dithering to
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Futurism
Behold This Sky Map of 25,000 Supermassive Black Holes
 
Nightlight Scientists just published a massive map of the night sky speckled with twinkling white lights. But instead of distant stars and constellations, the map actually shows the locations of more than 25,000 supermassive black holes, according to research accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics . Each one is surrounded by its own galaxy, illuminated by the radio emiss
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Phys.org
Animal evolution—glimpses of ancient environments
 
Although amber looks like a somewhat unusual inorganic mineral, it is actually derived from an organic source—tree resins. Millions of years ago, when this aromatic and sticky substance was slowly oozing from coniferous trees, insects and other biological material could become trapped in it. That is why some samples of amber contain fossilized specimens, preserved in a virtually pristine state, wh
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Biology News – Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
Animal evolution—glimpses of ancient environments
 
Although amber looks like a somewhat unusual inorganic mineral, it is actually derived from an organic source—tree resins. Millions of years ago, when this aromatic and sticky substance was slowly oozing from coniferous trees, insects and other biological material could become trapped in it. That is why some samples of amber contain fossilized specimens, preserved in a virtually pristine state, wh
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ScienceDaily
Ultrafast electron dynamics in space and time
 
Often depicted as colorful balloons or clouds, electron orbitals provide information on the whereabouts of electrons in molecules, a bit like fuzzy snapshots. In order to understand the exchange of electrons in chemical reactions, it is not only important to know their spatial distribution but also their motion in time. Scientists have now made huge progress in this direction: They successfully re
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ScienceDaily
Quartz crystals in the stomach of fossil bird complicates the mystery of its diet
 
The fossil of a bird that lived alongside the dinosaurs was found with some sort of rocks in its stomach. Previously, researchers thought that these rocks were swallowed on purpose to help clean its stomach, like modern birds of prey do, giving a hint at its diet. But in a new study, scientists discovered that these rocks are quartz crystals that likely formed after the bird died — its diet is st
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Retraction Watch
Exclusive: Ohio State researcher kept six-figure job for more than a year after a misconduct finding
 
In 2016, Mingjun Zhang, a biomedical engineering researcher at The Ohio State University, along with collaborators, published a paper that explored the mechanism behind ivy's impressive adhesive strength. In it, the authors claimed to report the genetic sequences of the proteins making up the adhesive. The paper, entitled "Nanospherical arabinogalactan proteins are a key component … Continue readi
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
How the brain processes sign language
 
Over 70 million deaf people use sign languages as their preferred communication form. Although they access similar brain structures as spoken languages, it hasn't been identified the brain regions that process both forms of language equally. MPI CBS has now discovered that Broca's area in the left hemisphere, central for spoken languages, is also crucial for sign languages. This is where the gramm
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Phys.org
Extending maser techniques to Floquet systems
 
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China and one in Germany has investigated the possibility of extending maser techniques to Floquet systems. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their approach to creating a new type of maser by amplifying radio frequencies in Floquet systems. Ren-Bao Liu, with the Chinese University of Hong Kong
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ScienceDaily
Selective concentration of cationic species
 
Sample pretreatment processes such as concentration or classification are essential to finding trace substances present in a fluid. In scientific communities recently, prolific research is being conducted on sample pretreatment techniques utilizing electrokinetics.
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Phys.org
Farmers and scientists unite for pint-sized pygmies
 
Fifty-two pygmy bluetongue lizards have been released on a farm in a southern area of the mid-north, 90km north of Adelaide, as part of a $400,000 Flinders University Australian Research Council Linkage project to save them from looming extinction as our climate warms.
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ScienceDaily
Cell-free DNA in urine as potential method for cancer detection
 
What if a simple urine sample could detect cancer in its very earliest stages when the disease responds more favorably to treatment and improved outcomes are more likely? That was the question posed by scientists who have found a way of zeroing in on early-stage cancer by analyzing short strands of cell-free DNA in urine.
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Futurism
Easily Keep Your Email Private With the Highly-Rated StartMail
 
When you use Siri, or predictive text on your email, or have something snagged in your spam filter, you can thank Enron. No, really: In 2003, California regulators released the Enron Corpus , half a million email messages from senior management at the disgraced energy company. Everything from flirty messages to spam was just dumped onto the internet. That's set the tone for email privacy, unfortu
44min
Futurism
Save 75% On a Lifetime Subscription to Knowable's Audio Learning Platform
 
2020 was a year of involuntary social experiments, from drastic emissions reductions to using Google to track public health trends . Yet the one we'll probably remember the most is the toll the year took on education. Around the world, people had to switch to new forms of teaching and learning, many of them involving videoconferencing, instructional videos, and other uses of screens. Knowable is
2h
Futurism
Elon Musk Collaborated With MIT to Track COVID Infections at SpaceX
 
More than 4,000 SpaceX employees took part in a study, helmed by Elon Musk, to track the spread of COVID-19 throughout the company. Musk partnered with researchers from Harvard and MIT to develop the antibody testing program, which required volunteer SpaceX employees to submit to monthly blood tests. This week, the group published a peer-reviewed study — Musk, known as an unusually hands-on execu
3h
Scientific American Content
Australia vs. Facebook
 
The tech giant's ban on Australians searching for news on its platform suggests that equitable control of international reporting is very much a work in progress — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
3h
Popular Science | RSS
4 fun techniques to keep kids learning while they're stuck at home
 
Playthings that come with no set rules, like these colorful blocks, encourage kids to be creative. (La-Rel Easter/Unsplash/) Editor's Note: This story was produced in collaboration with the team behind PopSci's new line of STEM toys . A year into living in a COVID-19 world, we've learned to live with things like face masks and one-third-capacity gyms, but challenges remain. Even as some schools i
3h
Singularity Hub
This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through February 20)
 
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A New Artificial Intelligence Makes Mistakes—on Purpos e Will Knight | Wired "It took about 50 years for computers to eviscerate humans in the venerable game of chess. A standard smartphone can now play the kind of moves that make a grandmaster's head spin. But one artificial intelligence program is taking a few steps backward, to appreciate how average humans play—blunder
5h
Popular Science | RSS
Best desk organizer: Desk accessories that banish clutter
 
Make sure you know where everything is in your office. (Slava Keyzman via Unsplash/) Countless books, television shows, and organizing gurus will tell you that a tidy workspace can improve your mood, productivity, and ultimately your happiness. The best desk organizers are stylish and minimalist, and offer ingenious tricks to help reduce clutter and maximize usable desk space. If you've ever trie
7h
Retraction Watch
Weekend reads: An editorial board resigns over interference; what a manuscript rejection means; the scientific 1%
 
Before we present this week's Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Exclusive: Ohio State researcher kept six-figure job for more than … Continue reading
7h
Futurism
This High Tech Sauna Blanket Uses Infrared Light to Fight Seasonal Affective Disorder
 
It's the dead of winter, it's freezing, and you haven't felt the warm kiss of the sun on your skin for longer than you can remember. Even though it won't last forever, the effect it has on your mental and physical well-being can add up. According to Psychology Today , it's estimated that Seasonal Affective Disorder affects 10 million Americans. With another 10-to-20 percentof people suffering fro
8h
cognitive science
Shared Imagination Social Network
 
Given that the brain/mind is – in a sense – a biological computer, wouldn't a shared imagination social network be feasible at some point? I.e Have users imagine the color "red", and that's it. Report back their experience (quite the hallucinations.) Obviously assessing an individuals response is going to be…complicated. Language is very limited, very simplified. But its not impossible to imagi
12h
cognitive science
Is OpenAI's GPT3 good enough to fool the general population? / The world's largest scale Turing Test
 
I finally managed to get access to GPT3 🙌 and am curious about this question so have created a web application to test it. At a pre-scheduled time, thousands of people from around the world will go on to the app and enter a chat interface. There is a 50-50 chance that they are matched to another visitor or GPT3. Through messaging back and forth, they have to figure out who is on the other side,
12h
cognitive science
Isn't it better not to have any feelings?
 
Considering the evolution of cortex in humans, isn't it better not to have any feelings and make decisions only rationally using critical thinking rather than emotionaly? Is amygdala going to get smaller through evolution? Would you like to go under a surgery to make your thinking less emotionaly biased and more rational and critical? ( without any surgical risks ) Please share your scientific op
12h
cognitive science
A passing moment of gratitude
 
Hey all, long-time lurker, first-time blah blahs. I just wanted to share that, thanks to my dive into the rabbit hole that is cognitive science and helping out with virtual lab work, I finally feel "alive" again. I look forward to what might be in store the next day. When thinking about this as I was prepping a quick shake, I realized this field makes me feel what World of Warcraft did as a tween
12h
cognitive science
Research Study: The REACT Study (Boston, MA)
 
Hi everyone! My name is Meghan and I am a researcher at Mass General. I'm writing to share some information about a study in my unit that's currently recruiting. If you or someone you know are interested, please feel free to share this info and/or PM me. Thank you. REACT is a 12-week study for females ages 14- 35 who have missed their period in the past 6 months because of exercise activity or re
12h
cognitive science
Capturing all text entry including keystroke timing for studying cognition
 
Apologies if this shouldn't be posted here. If you could direct me to the right subreddit, I would appreciate it. I'm not sure why I'm having so much trouble with this, but I'm just trying to capture the text and keystroke information in a free text entry field. For example, if a user typed "I am", the following would be captured: Text: "I am" Keystroke, Keypress, KeyUp SHIFT, 1, 3 i, 2, 3 SPACE,
12h
Forskning & Framsteg – För dig som är nyfiken på allvar
Smakprov ur "Tio ekvationer som styr världen"
 
Vi tänker ofta på matematiken som en hård, objektiv vetenskap. Och det är den: Många av de frågor jag tittar på i Tio ekvationer som styr världen handlar om spel, finansvärlden och algoritmerna i sociala medier. Men matematik kan också hantera mjukare och vardagligare problem, som att bedöma om det är dags att bli rädd när flygplanet skakar extra mycket, eller att avgöra hur generös det är rimligt
15h
Forskning & Framsteg – För dig som är nyfiken på allvar
Två som slår hål på myter om träning och hälsa
 
Känns det segt att börja träna? Helt normalt. Att vi skulle vara födda för att träna är en av många myter om träning som Daniel Lieberman, professor i evolutionsbiologi vid Harvard i USA, slår hål på i sin nya bok Träningsparadoxen. Mest känd är han för en artikel i tidskriften Nature 2004 om att människan är fysiologiskt utvecklad för att springa, som sedan blev temat i journalisten Christopher M
15h
Forskning & Framsteg – För dig som är nyfiken på allvar
Samlad kunskap om hästar och människor
 
Kunskap, sådan som nog inte hade funnits om den inte hade rört vid både hjärta och hjärna, kunskap om en praktik som berör många vetenskapliga områden och som samtidigt är ett vetenskapligt område i sin egen rätt. Det är sådan kunskap som förmedlas i antologin Hästen och den mänskliga hälsan, redigerad av Gunilla Silfverberg, professor i vårdetik, och Henrik Lerner, lektor i vårdetik, båda vid Ers
15h
Forskning & Framsteg – För dig som är nyfiken på allvar
Om sorg och fjärran planeter
 
Livets stora frågor berör många olika plan av tillvaron. Sara Seager är astronom och arbetar med att söka efter tecken på liv långt ute i universum. Samtidigt ställdes hennes eget liv på ända när hennes man dog i cancer och hon blev ensam med två barn. Hur fungerar livet alls, när en närståendes liv tar slut? Ett slumpartat möte i en pulkabacke blev en viktig nyckel för Sara Seager när hon skulle
15h
Forskning & Framsteg – För dig som är nyfiken på allvar
Kvinnors våld var ofta grovt
 
Att 1800-talets kvinnor endast var offer för mäns våld stämmer inte. I själva verket utövade många kvinnor både grovt och genomtänkt våld mot såväl vuxna som barn, och sig själva. Det konstaterar historikerna Marie Eriksson och Roddy Nilsson i en ny bok. 1 | Ni har djupdykt i domstolshandlingar och obduktionsprotokoll. Varför ville ni skriva boken?
15h
Popular Science | RSS
Eco-friendly golf balls for a greener game
 
Fore! (Unsplash/) The average golf course has nearly 75 acres of land. That's a lot of space for errant balls to disappear, and even if you put a RFID tracker on your autographed favorite, it can still get stuck in the mud under six feet of water. Fortunately, unlike lost socks, lost golf balls don't always appear to vaporize into a parallel universe. Enterprising companies have done the work to
23h
Futurism
Say Goodbye To 'Coronasomnia' With the Yana Sleep Body Pillow
 
It's harder than ever to get a good night's sleep . Thanks to the pandemic, almost everyone's life has been impacted. It's taken a toll on our work, home, family life–and subsequently the quality of our sleep. A report out of the National Institutes of Health reveals that Coronasomnia, the loss of sleep due to pandemic-related stress, has resulted in a nearly 40-percent increase in clinical insom
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Time-lapse reveals the hidden dance of roots
 
New time-lapse videos capture something that's too slow for our eyes to see: the growing tips of plant roots make corkscrew-like motions, waggling and winding in a helical path as they burrow into the soil. By using time-lapse footage, along with a root-like robot to test ideas, researchers have gained new insights into how and why rice root tips twirl as they grow.
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Direct cloning method CAPTUREs novel microbial natural products
 
Microorganisms possess natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that may harbor unique bioactivities for use in drug development and agricultural applications. However, many uncharacterized microbial BGCs remain inaccessible. Researchers at Illinois previously demonstrated a technique using transcription factor decoys to activate large, silent BGCs in bacteria to aid in natural product di
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Biochemistry Research News — ScienceDaily
Pore-like proteins designed from scratch
 
Scientists have created new proteins that adopt one of the most complex folds known to molecular biology. These pore-like barrel-shaped proteins spontaneously fold into their intended structures and embed into lipid membranes. Although the scientists drew inspiration from proteins found throughout the living world, they arrived at sequences that differ from any known before. The resulting compact
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Popular Science | RSS
Dinner plates that make your food look more delicious
 
Yum! (Unsplash/) A good-looking meal makes the eyes grow wide and whets the appetite, so be sure your food is dressed for success. The ideal dinner plate will both suit the food you prepare and fit the look of your home. Maybe you make elaborate meals in your maximalist palace and need plates that put on a show. Or perhaps you're more of a meat-and-potatoes type cooking in a cozy log cabin. There
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Popular Science | RSS
Emergency flashlights for both survival and adventure
 
An emergency flashlight should be small enough to stash away, but powerful enough to light up an area when needed. (Pexels/) You don't have to be a survivalist to keep jumper cables in your car or your pantry stocked with canned food. And you don't have to believe in Murphy's Law to know that things don't always go according to plan. Emergency flashlights are great tools for those hard-to-foresee
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ScienceDaily
Pore-like proteins designed from scratch
 
Scientists have created new proteins that adopt one of the most complex folds known to molecular biology. These pore-like barrel-shaped proteins spontaneously fold into their intended structures and embed into lipid membranes. Although the scientists drew inspiration from proteins found throughout the living world, they arrived at sequences that differ from any known before. The resulting compact
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ScienceDaily
New Data sheds light on genesis of our body's powerhouses
 
Scientists uncover for the first time how the body's energy makers are made. An international team of researchers report an insight into the molecular mechanism of membrane-tethered protein synthesis in mitochondria. This is a fundamental new understanding of how the human mitoribosome functions and could explain how it is affected by mutations and deregulation leading to disorders like deafness a
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Popular Science | RSS
Dog food bowls that will please any pooch
 
Somebody is ready for dinner! (Unsplash/) Dogs require love and attention in large quantities. Raising a puppy in particular—fun as it may be—can feel like a full time job. Luckily, feeding time is a moment when your dog is excited, engaged, and well, out of your hair. So use this rare respite to your advantage and make their experience nourishing and satisfying. Dog bowls can regulate the rate a
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Call to action for research ethics in the time of COVID-19 and BLM
 
In their paper 'Ethics of Research at the Intersection of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter: A Call to Action,' UIC faculty authors highlight the historical issues that impact research involving Black populations. They also provide recommendations for researchers to ethically engage Black populations in research. The article is published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics.
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Popular Science | RSS
Paper shredders to eat up sensitive documents and information
 
Keep your private information secure with a paper shredder. (Boxis/) You don't need to be doing anything salacious to benefit from a paper shredder. While they do evoke images of government evasion and organized crime, these helpful appliances are great for getting rid of sensitive, personal information. Don't let old documents pile up because you're afraid of dumping them in the recycling bin fo
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
The melting of large icebergs is a key stage in the evolution of ice ages
 
A new study, in which the Andalusian Earth Sciences Institute (IACT) (CSIC-UGR) participated, has described for the first time a key stage in the beginning of the great glaciations and indicates that it can happen to our planet in the future. The findings were recently published in the scientific journal NatureThe study claims to have found a new connection that could explain the beginning of the
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
The Lancet: 3-month interval between first and second dose of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine results in higher vaccine efficacy than 6-week interval
 
* Exploratory analyses including 17,178 participants find that higher vaccine efficacy is obtained with a longer interval between the first and second standard dose (81% for 3-month interval vs 55% for up to 6-week interval). In addition, a single dose of vaccine is highly efficacious in the first 3 months (76% efficacy from 22 days after vaccination onwards).
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
A speed limit also applies in the quantum world
 
Even in the world of the smallest particles with their own special rules, things cannot proceed infinitely fast. Physicists at the University of Bonn have now shown what the speed limit is for complex quantum operations. The study also involved scientists from MIT, the universities of Hamburg, Cologne and Padua, and the Jülich Research Center. The results are important for the realization of quant
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Popular Science | RSS
Blue light blocking glasses that give your eyes a needed screen reprieve
 
Blue light blocking glasses can help to reduce eye strain. (Pexels/) We as humans spend a lot of our waking lives in front of screens. Wearing blue light blocking glasses can improve sleep and help reduce the risk of developing eye-related problems and other negative effects. They can also be a cute new accessory for switching up your personal style. Here are our most effective, affordable, and s
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue
Precise initial abundance of Niobium-92 in the Solar System and implications for p-process nucleosynthesis [Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences]
 
The niobium-92–zirconium-92 (92Nb–92Zr) decay system with a half-life of 37 Ma has great potential to date the evolution of planetary materials in the early Solar System. Moreover, the initial abundance of the p-process isotope 92Nb in the Solar System is important for quantifying the contribution of p-process nucleosynthesis in astrophysical…
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue
Tissue folding at the organ-meristem boundary results in nuclear compression and chromatin compaction [Biophysics and Computational Biology]
 
Artificial mechanical perturbations affect chromatin in animal cells in culture. Whether this is also relevant to growing tissues in living organisms remains debated. In plants, aerial organ emergence occurs through localized outgrowth at the periphery of the shoot apical meristem, which also contains a stem cell niche. Interestingly, organ outgrowth…
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue
Mechanism and function of root circumnutation [Biophysics and Computational Biology]
 
Early root growth is critical for plant establishment and survival. We have identified a molecular pathway required for helical root tip movement known as circumnutation. Here, we report a multiscale investigation of the regulation and function of this phenomenon. We identify key cell signaling events comprising interaction of the ethylene,…
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue
Nonreciprocity of spin waves in the conical helix state [Physics]
 
Nonreciprocity emerges in nature and in artificial objects from various physical origins, being widely utilized in contemporary technologies as exemplified by diode elements in electronics. While most of the nonreciprocal phenomena are realized by employing interfaces where the inversion symmetry is trivially lifted, nonreciprocal transport of photons, electrons, magnons, and…
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Combined vaccination and physical distancing enough to prevent future COVID-19 surges
 
A combination of robust vaccination programmes and strict physical distancing could avoid recurring peaks of COVID-19 without the need for stay-at-home restrictions, according to a new study by epidemiologists and demographers from WorldPop at the University of Southampton and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.Using anonymised mobile phone geolocation data with epidemiological and coronavirus ca
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
New research on mitochondrial function can play significant part in serious disease
 
Disorders of the cells' energy supply can cause a number of serious diseases, but also seem to be connected to ageing. More research is needed on mitochondrial function to find future treatments. A new study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet shows how an important molecule inside the mitochondria affects their function in mice and fruit flies. The study, which is published in Science
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
New technology enables predictive design of engineered human cells
 
Northwestern University synthetic biologists have developed a design-driven process to build complex genetic circuits for cellular engineering. The new technology utilizes computational modeling to more efficiently identify useful genetic designs before building them in the lab. Faced with myriad possibilities, modeling points researchers to designs that offer real opportunity. The researchers con
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Sounding rocket CLASP2 elucidates solar magnetic field
 
Cooperative operations between a solar observation satellite and a sounding-rocket telescope have measured the magnetic field strength in the photosphere and chromosphere above an active solar plage region. This is the first time that the magnetic field in the chromosphere has been charted all the way up to its top. This finding brings us closer to understanding how energy is transferred between l
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Study reveals energy sources supporting coral reef predators
 
Since Charles Darwin's day, the abundance of life on coral reefs has been puzzling, given that most oceanic surface waters in the tropics are low in nutrients and unproductive. But now research, led by Newcastle University and published in in the journal Science Advances, has confirmed that the food web of a coral reef in the Maldives relies heavily on what comes in from the open ocean.
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Science Advances current issue
Learning hierarchical sequence representations across human cortex and hippocampus
 
Sensory input arrives in continuous sequences that humans experience as segmented units, e.g., words and events. The brain's ability to discover regularities is called statistical learning. Structure can be represented at multiple levels, including transitional probabilities, ordinal position, and identity of units. To investigate sequence encoding in cortex and hippocampus, we recorded from intr
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Science Advances current issue
A distinct population of heterogeneously color-tuned neurons in macaque visual cortex
 
Color is a key feature of natural environments that higher mammals routinely use to detect food, avoid predators, and interpret social signals. The distribution of color signals in natural scenes is widely variable, ranging from uniform patches to highly nonuniform regions in which different colors lie in close proximity. Whether individual neurons are tuned to this high degree of variability of
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Science Advances current issue
A stapled peptide mimetic of the CtIP tetramerization motif interferes with double-strand break repair and replication fork protection
 
Cancer cells display high levels of DNA damage and replication stress, vulnerabilities that could be exploited by drugs targeting DNA repair proteins. Human CtIP promotes homology-mediated repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and protects stalled replication forks from nucleolytic degradation, thus representing an attractive candidate for targeted cancer therapy. Here, we establish a peptide
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Science Advances current issue
An autophagy-related protein Becn2 regulates cocaine reward behaviors in the dopaminergic system
 
Drug abuse is a foremost public health problem. Cocaine is a widely abused drug worldwide that produces various reward-related behaviors. The mechanisms that underlie cocaine-induced disorders are unresolved, and effective treatments are lacking. Here, we found that an autophagy-related protein Becn2 is a previously unidentified regulator of cocaine reward behaviors. Becn2 deletion protects mice
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Science Advances current issue
Synaptic communication mediates the assembly of a self-organizing circuit that controls reproduction
 
Migration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons from their birthplace in the nasal placode to their hypothalamic destination is critical for vertebrate reproduction and species persistence. While their migration mode as individual GnRH neurons has been extensively studied, the role of GnRH-GnRH cell communication during migration remains largely unexplored. Here, we show in awake zebra
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Science Advances current issue
PKA C{alpha} subunit mutation triggers caspase-dependent RII{beta} subunit degradation via Ser114 phosphorylation
 
Mutations in the PRKACA gene are the most frequent cause of cortisol-producing adrenocortical adenomas leading to Cushing's syndrome. PRKACA encodes for the catalytic subunit α of protein kinase A (PKA). We already showed that PRKACA mutations lead to impairment of regulatory (R) subunit binding. Furthermore, PRKACA mutations are associated with reduced RIIβ protein levels; however, the mechanism
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Science Advances current issue
Imaging the mechanisms of anti-CD20 therapy in vivo uncovers spatiotemporal bottlenecks in antibody-dependent phagocytosis
 
Anti-CD20 antibody (mAb) represents an effective strategy for the treatment of B cell malignancies, possibly involving complement activity, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and phagocytosis (ADP). While ADP by Kupffer cells deplete circulating tumors, mechanisms targeting non-circulating tumors remain unclear. Using intravital imaging in a model of B cell lymphoma, we establish here the d
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Science Advances current issue
Noninvasive monitoring of hepatic glutathione depletion through fluorescence imaging and blood testing
 
Hepatic glutathione plays a key role in regulating redox potential of the entire body, and its depletion is known to increase susceptibility to oxidative stress involved in many diseases. However, this crucial pathophysiological event can only be detected noninvasively with high-end instrumentation or invasively with surgical biopsy, limiting both preclinical research and clinical prevention of o
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Science Advances current issue
Naked mole rat TRF1 safeguards glycolytic capacity and telomere replication under low oxygen
 
The naked mole rat (NMR), a long-lived and cancer-resistant rodent, is highly resistant to hypoxia. Here, using robust cellular models wherein the mouse telomeric protein TRF1 is substituted by NMR TRF1 or its mutant forms, we show that TRF1 supports maximal glycolytic capacity under low oxygen, shows increased nuclear localization and association with telomeres, and protects telomeres from repli
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Science Advances current issue
Kinetics of osmotic stress regulate a cell fate switch of cell survival
 
Exposure of cells to diverse types of stressful environments differentially regulates cell fate. Although many types of stresses causing this differential regulation are known, it is unknown how changes over time of the same stressor regulate cell fate. Changes in extracellular osmolarity are critically involved in physiological and pathophysiological processes in several tissues. We observe that
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Science Advances current issue
SUGAR-seq enables simultaneous detection of glycans, epitopes, and the transcriptome in single cells
 
Multimodal single-cell RNA sequencing enables the precise mapping of transcriptional and phenotypic features of cellular differentiation states but does not allow for simultaneous integration of critical posttranslational modification data. Here, we describe SUrface-protein Glycan And RNA-seq (SUGAR-seq), a method that enables detection and analysis of N-linked glycosylation, extracellular epitop
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Science Advances current issue
Patient-tailored design for selective co-inhibition of leukemic cell subpopulations
 
The extensive drug resistance requires rational approaches to design personalized combinatorial treatments that exploit patient-specific therapeutic vulnerabilities to selectively target disease-driving cell subpopulations. To solve the combinatorial explosion challenge, we implemented an effective machine learning approach that prioritizes patient-customized drug combinations with a desired syne
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Science Advances current issue
Quantification of Cas9 binding and cleavage across diverse guide sequences maps landscapes of target engagement
 
The RNA-guided nuclease Cas9 has unlocked powerful methods for perturbing both the genome through targeted DNA cleavage and the regulome through targeted DNA binding, but limited biochemical data have hampered efforts to quantitatively model sequence perturbation of target binding and cleavage across diverse guide sequences. We present scalable, sequencing-based platforms for high-throughput filt
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Science Advances current issue
Mapping solar magnetic fields from the photosphere to the base of the corona
 
Routine ultraviolet imaging of the Sun's upper atmosphere shows the spectacular manifestation of solar activity; yet, we remain blind to its main driver, the magnetic field. Here, we report unprecedented spectropolarimetric observations of an active region plage and its surrounding enhanced network, showing circular polarization in ultraviolet (Mg h & k and Mn ) and visible (Fe ) lines. We infer
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Science Advances current issue
Model-guided design of mammalian genetic programs
 
Genetically engineering cells to perform customizable functions is an emerging frontier with numerous technological and translational applications. However, it remains challenging to systematically engineer mammalian cells to execute complex functions. To address this need, we developed a method enabling accurate genetic program design using high-performing genetic parts and predictive computatio
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Science Advances current issue
The one-carbon pool controls mitochondrial energy metabolism via complex I and iron-sulfur clusters
 
Induction of the one-carbon cycle is an early hallmark of mitochondrial dysfunction and cancer metabolism. Vital intermediary steps are localized to mitochondria, but it remains unclear how one-carbon availability connects to mitochondrial function. Here, we show that the one-carbon metabolite and methyl group donor S -adenosylmethionine (SAM) is pivotal for energy metabolism. A gradual decline i
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Science Advances current issue
An all-epitaxial nitride heterostructure with concurrent quantum Hall effect and superconductivity
 
Creating seamless heterostructures that exhibit the quantum Hall effect and superconductivity is highly desirable for future electronics based on topological quantum computing. However, the two topologically robust electronic phases are typically incompatible owing to conflicting magnetic field requirements. Combined advances in the epitaxial growth of a nitride superconductor with a high critica
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Science Advances current issue
Offshore pelagic subsidies dominate carbon inputs to coral reef predators
 
Coral reefs were traditionally perceived as productive hot spots in oligotrophic waters. While modern evidence indicates that many coral reef food webs are heavily subsidized by planktonic production, the pathways through which this occurs remain unresolved. We used the analytical power of carbon isotope analysis of essential amino acids to distinguish between alternative carbon pathways supporti
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Science Advances current issue
Suppression of dendrite growth by cross-flow in microfluidics
 
Formation of rough, dendritic deposits is a critical problem in metal electrodeposition processes and could occur in next-generation, rechargeable batteries that use metallic electrodes. Electroconvection, which originates from the coupling of the imposed electric field and a charged fluid near an electrode surface, is believed to be responsible for dendrite growth. However, few studies are perfo
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Mayo Clinic researchers develop test to measure effect of breast cancer gene variants
 
Researchers at Mayo Clinic have combined results from a functional test measuring the effect of inherited variants in the BRCA2 breast and ovarian cancer gene with clinical information from women who received genetic testing to determine the clinical importance of many BRCA2 variants of uncertain significance (VUS). The findings were published today in a study in the American Journal of Human Gene
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NeuWrite West
Turning back the clock: reversing aging to restore sight
 
Tick, tock; tick …. tock. I'd like you to imagine a giant clock counting off seconds, tracking history's passing and marking the future's arrival. Our clocks and calendars monitor time, distinguishing new pieces of information, people, and things from older ones. But how do our cells record time? If there are little molecular clocks inside each cell, could we turn them back? Could we trick cells
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
'In the blink of an eye' statistics
 
HSE University researchers Yuri Markov and Natalia Tiurina discovered that when people visually estimate the size of objects, they are also able to consider their distance from the observer, even if there are many such objects. The observers rely not only on the objects' retinal representation, but also on the surrounding context. The paper was published in the journal Acta Psychologica .
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Data show lower daily temperatures lead to higher transmission of COVID-19
 
Understanding the impact of seasonal temperature changes on transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is an important factor in reducing the virus's spread in the years to come. Researchers compared daily low temperature data and logged cases of COVID-19 in 50 countries in the Northern Hemisphere between Jan. 22 and April 6, 2020. Their research, published this week in PLOS ONE, showed that as temperatures rose,
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Sex that is not for reproduction
 
Conjugation (or mating) of ciliates is a unique phenomenon among living beings. They have sex not for reproduction or pleasure – they seek to increase genetic variation. Scientists from St Petersburg University, together with colleagues from Poland and France, have studied the mating process in five sibling species of the Paramecium aurelia complex. Their findings enabled them to describe genetic
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Prion diseases: new clues in the structure of prion proteins
 
A new study carried out by SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di StudiAvanzati in collaboration with other institutions including Genos Glycoscience. Research Laboratory from Zagreb, Croatia and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste,provides important information on the differences in structures of the prions, proteins responsible for diseases that at the state of the art are incurable.
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
3D biopsies to better understand brain tumors
 
Researchers at the Institut de Neurociències of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) obtained a highly accurate recreation of human glioblastoma's features using a novel 3D microscopy analysis. The study, published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications, provides new information to help with the diagnose, by finding therapeutical targets and designing immunotherapeutical st
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Innovative parenting programs address inequality in young children's development
 
Parent education programs and interventions that begin shortly after the birth of a child have shown to significantly impact parenting behaviors that support social and academic engagement for children growing up in poverty, according to a study led by pediatricians and psychologists across the country, including NYU Grossman School of Medicine, NYU Steinhardt, and the University of Pittsburgh.
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Futurity.org
Asthma may lead to dangerous flu mutations
 
A subtype of asthma in adults may cause higher susceptibility to influenza and could result in dangerous flu mutations, researchers report. Animal studies have found that paucigranulocytic asthma (PGA)—a non-allergic form of the condition—allows the flu virus to flourish in greater numbers. This was due to the asthma's suppression of the immune system, says Katina Hulme, a PhD candidate at the Un
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Vetenskap | SVT Nyheter
Stora utmaningar i vaccinplanen
 
Enligt regeringen ska alla över 18 år ha blivit erbjudna vaccin före 30 juni. Men den preliminära vaccinplan som finns har många utmaningar. – Jag tror att den här vaccinplanen är realistisk. Men alla vaccinbolagen måste vara med för att den ska fungera, säger Richard Bergström, Sveriges vaccinsamordnare.
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Basque ethnic identity and collective empowerment are associated with wellbeing
 
A member of the Culture, Cognition and Emotion research group at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque country has explored how social identification with Basque speakers and collective psychological empowerment relate to personal and social wellbeing and community participation. Individuals who experience a high degree of identification with Basque speakers and a high degree of empowerment have be
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
What impact will robots and autonomous systems have on urban ecosystems?
 
Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), autonomous cars, robots that can repair urban infrastructure and wireless sensor networks used for monitoring, etc. are just some of the devices that will spring up all over our cities in a few years. They have a wide range of potential applications, such as autonomous transport, waste collection, infrastructure maintenance and repair, surveillance and precision
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forskning.se
Fynd av urgamla fossila svampar i Siljans meteoritkrater
 
Nyupptagna djupa borrkärnor från Siljansringens berggrund visar att svamp koloniserade kratern för miljontals år sedan. Svampar som levde helt utan syre, och som bidrog till att växthusgasen metan bildades. – Mikroorganismer och deras förmåga att kolonisera och överleva i jordens mest ogästvänliga miljöer fortsätter att förbluffa oss, säger forskaren Henrik Drake som lett studien. Den mäktiga met
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Life of a pure Martian design
 
Experimental microbially assisted chemolithotrophy provides an opportunity to trace the putative bioalteration processes of the Martian crust. A study on the Noachian Martian breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 composed of ancient crustal materials from Mars, led by ERC grantee Tetyana Milojevic from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna, now delivered a unique prototype of microbia
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Sweet marine particles resist hungry bacteria
 
Rather sweet than salty: In the ocean microalgae produce a lot of sugar during algae blooms. These enormous quantities of algal biomass are normally recycled rapidly by marine bacteria, degradation process that is an important part of the global carbon cycle. Especially sugars have been considered as easily digestible and therefore poor candidates for natural carbon sequestration. Now scientists f
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
An eco-route for heavy-duty vehicles could reduce fuel consumption
 
Semi-trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles are responsible for nearly half of road transportation carbon dioxide emissions in Europe, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. A team of researchers in Italy has proposed a plan to reduce the emissions without compromising priorities such as delivery times. They published their approach in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica,
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Big Think
Rousseau explained: What his philosophy means for us
 
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Swiss Enlightenment philosopher with some radical ideas. He argued passionately for democracy, equality, liberty, and supporting the common good by any means necessary. While his ideas may be utopian (or dystopian), they are thought-provoking and can inform modern discourse. Modern political debates often ask how much democracy we should have and what should, and shoul
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Tuberculosis: New biomarker indicates individual treatment duration
 
The treatment of tuberculosis (TB) is long and demanding. In particular, in cases of resistant tuberculosis, the WHO generally recommends a standard treatment duration of at least 18 months, as there are no reliable biomarkers for an early termination. Under the leadership of the DZIF scientists at the Borstel Research Center have now succeeded in identifying a biomarker that points to an individu
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
COVID-19 may have caused the loss of more than 20.5 million years of life worldwide
 
A study by a group researchers from several international universities and research centres, including lecturers from the UPF Department of Economics and Business, has estimated the premature mortality impact of covid-19. It has done so by calculating years of life lost (YLL) due to covid-19 compared to YLL for other common illnesses, such as the flu or cardiovascular diseases.
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Deep brain stimulation prevents epileptic seizures in mouse model
 
Scientists led by neurobiologist Prof. Dr. Carola Haas, head of the research group at the Department of Neurosurgery at Medical Center – University of Freiburg and the BrainLinks-BrainTools research center, have investigated a new therapeutic approach to prevent epileptic seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy. They showed in mice that low-frequency stimulation of specific brain areas could completely
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EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Swimming upstream on sound waves
 
ETH researchers are among the first scientists to have succeeded in propelling microvehicles against a fluid flow using ultrasound. In future, these tiny vehicles are set to be introduced into the human bloodstream, thereby revolutionising the field of medicine.
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