A new study exploring the impact of repeated sleep loss during a simulated working week has found that consuming caffeinated coffee during the day helps to reduce impacts to people's vigilance, alertness, reaction-time, accuracy, working memory, attention and cognitive function, compared to decaffeinated coffee.

McMaster University researchers have established in lab settings that a novel combination of two forms of immunotherapy can be highly effective for treating lung cancer, which causes more deaths than any other form of cancer.

European leaders ponder tighter restrictions in fight against pandemic

Plus: The moon shot's launch, health care for the maskless, and a new era's inaugural meme.

A combination of two injectable drugs will provide an alternative to daily pills for people with H.I.V.

Carbon Capture SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk lobbed an environmental grenade into the discourse Thursday evening, promising to pony up a substantial $100 million toward a prize for new carbon capture technology. "Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology," he wrote , enigmatically. Last Gasp Technologically, Musk is referring to an umbrella of yet-unrealized concepts t

The results of a randomised clinical trial with the longest follow up to date show that metabolic surgery is more effective than medications and lifestyle interventions in the long-term control of severe type 2 diabetes.

Demand for cancer surgery is expected to increase from 9.1 million to 13.8 million procedures over the next twenty years, requiring a huge increase in the workforce including nearly 200,000 additional surgeons and 87,000 anaesthetists globally. With access to post-operative care strongly linked to lower mortality, improving care systems worldwide must be a priority in order to reduce disproportion

Adding the arthritis drug tocilizumab to standard care for patients in hospital with severe or critical covid-19 is no better than standard care alone in improving clinical outcomes at 15 days, according to results of a new trial.

YIKES.

The Transportation Department, which holds sway over planes, trains and automobiles, faces limits on how it spends money. Still, here are five possible steps.

A new study analysing the impact of PPE staff shows that the number and variety of issues they experience increases as their time in PPE without a break increases, ranging from tiredness and headaches in the first hour to nausea, vomiting and dizziness as they head towards four hours continuously in PPE.

A new study from one of the UK's leading children's hospitals -Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool – shows that children are not scared by PPE, and can in fact feel reassured by it.

Nature, Published online: 21 January 2021; doi:10.1038/d41586-021-00159-z Scientists praise US president's selection of the bioethics and social inequality specialist to help lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

It was no secret that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States government's top infectious disease specialist, had a strained relationship with former president Donald Trump. Remember when Fauci physically cringed at one of Trump's digressions during a coronavirus briefing? Or when Trump told a rally of supporters that he might fire Fauci after the election? But now Trump is out, replaced by Joe Bide

COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly over the past several months, and the U.S. death toll has now reached 400,000. As evident from the age distribution of those fatalities, COVID-19 is dangerous not only for the elderly but for middle-aged adults, according to a new study.

Researchers have found that patients with Barrett's esophagus may be vulnerable to coronavirus infection from what they swallow.

Patients with inactive cancer and not currently undergoing treatments also face a significantly higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, according to new research.

New research has shown that people are more likely to follow COVID-19 restrictions based on what their friends do, rather than their own principles.

A mylar emergency blanket can come in handy on a trip in the woods or a trek to the moon. (Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay/) This story originally featured on Field & Stream . Like many sports people, I packed a space blanket for years before ever having to use it. When I finally did unwrap the crinkly Mylar sheet, it wasn't to save my life but to make a clean job of ending an animal's. An elk I'd sh

Older adults are managing the stress of the coronavirus pandemic better than younger adults, reporting less depression and anxiety despite also experiencing greater general concern about COVID-19, according to a recent study.

Researchers have published the first structural biology analysis of a section of the COVID-19 viral RNA called the stem-loop II motif. This is a non-coding section of the RNA, which means that it is not translated into a protein, but it is likely key to the virus's replication.

Study participants continued to improve their antibodies months after initial infection, potentially due to exposure to remnants of the virus hidden in the gut.

Stream Full Episodes of Street Outlaws: https://discovery.com/tv-shows/street-outlaws/ Subscribe to Discovery: http://bit.ly/SubscribeDiscovery Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Discovery https://www.facebook.com/StreetOutlaws Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Discovery https://twitter.com/StreetOutlaws We're on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/stoutlaws/ https://instagram.co

New Leadership With former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine out, NASA now finds itself under the leadership of Steve Jurczyk, who had been the agency's associate administrator since May 2018. But Jurczyk's time as acting administrator — Biden has yet to name Bridenstine's permanent successor — will be a bit different than his predecessors', illustrating the unique challenges of running a massiv

A nightmare feedback loop.

Two out of five individuals delayed or missed medical care in the early phase of the pandemic — from March through mid-July 2020.

Schools are closing again in response to surging levels of COVID-19 infection, but staging randomized trials when students eventually return could help to clarify uncertainties around when we should send children back to the classroom, according to a new study.

With an epitope-based immunization, scientists have described a new vaccination strategy against Staphylococcus aureus.

Sterilizing everyday items is a great way to protect yourself and your family from COVID-19, not to mention all sorts of other germs that cause colds, the flu, and other illnesses. However, not all high-touch everyday items are easy to sterilize with disinfectant wipes or sprays. Things like phones, earbuds, keys, and wallets have tiny nooks and crannies that are hard to get into, or are made fro

Group of robots in warehouse (Credit: onurdongel/Getty Images) New work in robotics research at MIT suggests that long-term bottlenecks in robot responsiveness could be alleviated through the use of dedicated hardware accelerators. The research team also suggests it's possible to develop a general methodology for programming robot responsiveness to create specific templates, which would then be d

A long-standing mystery is why fast-growing cells, like cancer cells and immune cells, rely on a seemingly inefficient form of metabolizing glucose to power their activities. In a new study, scientists at the Sloan Kettering Institute offer a compelling solution.

Researchers from Michigan State University reveal cultural and health benefits of close human relationships in a new study.

Astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian have detected the first Jupiter-like planet without clouds or haze in its observable atmosphere. The findings were published this month in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Scientists modify CAR T-Cell therapy, making it more effective and less toxic, for possible use in solid tumors such as neuroblastoma.

How long does immunity to SARS-CoV-2 last following infection? Researchers have uncovered an interesting clue. Their new study suggests that people with severe COVID-19 cases may be left with more of the protective 'memory' T cells needed to fight reinfection.

Researchers have identified genetic factors that increase the risk for developing pneumonia and its severe, life-threatening consequences.

A new global, mathematical modeling study shows that in most cases prioritizing older adults for COVID-19 vaccines saves the most lives. It also found that, in some cases, more lives could be saved and infections prevented if those who've already tested positive step to the back of the line.

Under FDA emergency-use authorization, doctors successfully resolved COVID-19 in a seriously ill, immunodeficient woman using a very high-neutralizing antibody-titer convalescent plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient. However, further study suggested that use of convalescent plasma may not be warranted in many cases, for two reasons: 1) titer levels are too low in many convalescent plasmas, and

A search for axions from nearby star Betelgeuse has come up empty, significantly narrowing the search for hypothetical dark matter particle.

MIT researchers have proposed a method for growing plant-based materials, like wood and fiber, in a lab. The technology is still in early development but might one day help reduce the environmental footprint of some types of agriculture.

Scientists have found a way to prevent gold nanoparticles from clumping, which could help towards their use as an anti-cancer therapy.

Autophagy is a fundamental cellular process by which cells capture and degrade their own dysfunctional or superfluous components for degradation and recycling. Recent research has revealed that phase separated droplets have a range of important functions in cells. Researchers has unraveled the mechanisms underpinning both how these droplets are captured through autophagy, as well as how droplets c

Muscle structure and body size predict the athletic performance of Olympic athletes, such as sprinters. The same, it appears, is true of wild seabirds that can commute hundreds of kilometers a day to find food, according to a recent article.

Ammonia has sustained humanity since the early 20th century, but its production leaves a huge carbon footprint. Now researchers have found a way to make it 100 per cent renewable.

Antidepressant drugs are largely ineffective for back and osteoarthritis pain, despite being widely used for these conditions, suggests a review of the evidence.

It's cool to be small. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have miniaturized the optical components required to cool atoms down to a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, the first step in employing them on microchips to drive a new generation of super-accurate atomic clocks, enable navigation without GPS, and simulate quantum systems.

Bringing It Back U.S. President Joe Biden has appointed Jessica Rosenworcel as acting chair for the Federal Communications Commission, The Verge reports . Rosenworcel is a strong supporter of ne neutrality, the principle that ensures all internet communications must be treated equally and are classified as Title II "common carrier service," not Title I "information services." In other words, her

When drought caused devastating crop losses in Malawi in 2015-2016, farmers in the southeastern African nation did not initially fear for the worst: the government had purchased insurance for such a calamity. But millions of farmers remained unpaid for months because the insurer's model failed to detect the extent of the losses, and a subsequent model audit moved slowly. Quicker payments would hav

Delivering a minor electric shock into a stream to reveal any fish lurking nearby may be the gold standard for detecting fish populations, but it's not much fun for the trout.

It is no secret that over the last few decades, humans have changed nature at an ever-increasing rate. A growing collection of research covers the many ways this is impacting our quality of life, from air quality to nutrition and income. To better understand how which areas are most at risk, scientists have combed through volumes of literature to present global trends in the relationship between h

A new global treaty banning nuclear weapons will go into force on Friday. More than 80 countries have signed on to it — but none of them are countries that have nuclear weapons.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus may enter and replicate in human cells by exploiting newly-identified sequences within cell receptors, according to work from two teams of scientists.

Doctors may be able to predict their patients' risks of fatal coronary heart disease more accurately by taking into account the number of adverse social factors affecting them, according to a new study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

A new collaborative study from researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the University of Washington and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reveals unexpected insights into how skin exposure to ultraviolet light can worsen clinical symptoms in autoimmune diseases such as lupus.

Simon Fraser University researchers have found evidence that large ambush-predatory worms–some as long as two metres–roamed the ocean floor near Taiwan over 20 million years ago.

Women with hormone-dependent breast cancer typically have a favorable prognosis, but new research has found that even after adjusting for age at diagnosis, tumor stage and treatment, there is still a significant mortality gap between Black and non-Hispanic white women with axillary node-negative, hormone-dependent tumors that have a comparable Oncotype Recurrence Score.

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have miniaturized the optical components required to cool atoms down to a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, the first step in employing them on microchips to drive a new generation of super-accurate atomic clocks, enable navigation without GPS, and simulate quantum systems.

A review of index insurance for smallholder farmers shows the potential of high-resolution satellite imagery to help poor farmers be compensated for potentially devastating losses.

Food insecurity grew by nearly 80 percent in two African American neighborhoods during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, erasing nearly a decade of progress in closing disparities between the communities and the national at large.

Archaeologists found the objects, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, stashed in hoards.

Delivering a minor electric shock into a stream to reveal any fish lurking nearby may be the gold standard for detecting fish populations, but it's not much fun for the trout.

Among the materials known as perovskites, one of the most exciting is a material that can convert sunlight to electricity as efficiently as today's commercial silicon solar cells and has the potential for being much cheaper and easier to manufacture.

It is no secret that over the last few decades, humans have changed nature at an ever-increasing rate. A growing collection of research covers the many ways this is impacting our quality of life, from air quality to nutrition and income. To better understand how which areas are most at risk, scientists have combed through volumes of literature to present global trends in the relationship between h

It will not be an easy task — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Galaxy Size Step aside, supermassive black holes — scientists say that there could be black holes the size of an entire galaxy. "The supermassive black holes go up to nearly 100 billion solar masses," Queen Mary University of London astronomer Bernard Carr, who worked on the new research, told Futurism. "If we define a SLAB to be larger than this, then its radius must be at least the size of the

A promising lead halide perovskite is great at converting sunlight to electricity, but it breaks down at room temperature. Now scientists have discovered how to stabilize it with pressure from a diamond anvil cell. The required pressure is well within the reach of industrial manufacturing requirements.

Researchers have developed an automated way to design customized hardware that speeds up a robot's operation. The system, called robomorphic computing, accounts for the robot's physical layout in suggesting an optimized hardware architecture.

A study of spitting cobras reveals how a combination of venom components have evolved to create an instantly painful venom, not once, but on three separate occasions.

By examining fruit flies' brain activity and behavior, the researchers found that deep sleep has an ancient, restorative power to clear waste from the brain. This waste potentially includes toxic proteins that may lead to neurodegenerative disease.

Researchers have discovered a new genetic disorder characterized by developmental delays and malformations of the brain, heart, and facial features.

A promising lead halide perovskite is great at converting sunlight to electricity, but it breaks down at room temperature. Now scientists have discovered how to stabilize it with pressure from a diamond anvil cell. The required pressure is well within the reach of industrial manufacturing requirements.

Researchers have developed an automated way to design customized hardware that speeds up a robot's operation. The system, called robomorphic computing, accounts for the robot's physical layout in suggesting an optimized hardware architecture.

The reversibility of ubiquitination by the action of deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) serves as an important regulatory layer within the ubiquitin system. Approximately 100 DUBs are encoded by the human genome, and many have been implicated with pathologies, including neurodegeneration and cancer. Non-lysine ubiquitination is chemically distinct, and its physiological importance…

Reactive iodine plays a key role in determining the oxidation capacity, or cleansing capacity, of the atmosphere in addition to being implicated in the formation of new particles in the marine boundary layer. The postulation that heterogeneous cycling of reactive iodine on aerosols may significantly influence the lifetime of ozone…

Regulation of microtubule stability is crucial for the maintenance of cell structure and function. While the acetylation of α-tubulin lysine 40 by acetylase has been implicated in the regulation of microtubule stability, the in vivo functions of N-terminal acetyltransferases (NATs) involved in the acetylation of N-terminal amino acids are not…

We show that the Higgs mode of a superconductor, which is usually challenging to observe by far-field optics, can be made clearly visible using near-field optics by harnessing ultraconfined graphene plasmons. As near-field sources we investigate two examples: graphene plasmons and quantum emitters. In both cases the coupling to the…

An ability to safely harness the powerful regenerative potential of adult stem cells for clinical applications is critically dependent on a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms regulating their activity. Epithelial organoid cultures accurately recapitulate many features of in vivo stem cell-driven epithelial renewal, providing an excellent ex vivo platform…

The link between the biological clock and reproduction is evident in most metazoans. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a key model organism in the field of chronobiology because of its well-defined networks of molecular clock genes and pacemaker neurons in the brain, shows a pronounced diurnal rhythmicity in oogenesis. Still,…

An influential reinforcement learning framework proposes that behavior is jointly governed by model-free (MF) and model-based (MB) controllers. The former learns the values of actions directly from past encounters, and the latter exploits a cognitive map of the task to calculate these prospectively. Considerable attention has been paid to how…

An evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) is an evolutionary strategy that, if adapted by a population, cannot be invaded by any deviating (mutant) strategy. The concept of ESS has been extensively studied and widely applied in ecology and evolutionary biology [M. Smith, On Evolution (1972)] but typically on the assumption that…

In the open ocean, elevated carbon flux (ECF) events increase the delivery of particulate carbon from surface waters to the seafloor by severalfold compared to other times of year. Since microbes play central roles in primary production and sinking particle formation, they contribute greatly to carbon export to the deep…

As the climate changes, human livelihoods will increasingly be threatened by extreme weather events. To provide adequate disaster relief, states extensively rely on multilateral institutions, in particular the United Nations (UN). However, the determinants of this multilateral disaster aid channeled through the UN are poorly understood. To fill this gap,…

Photosystem II (PSII) is an intrinsic membrane protein complex that functions as a light-driven water:plastoquinone oxidoreductase in oxygenic photosynthesis. Electron transport in PSII is associated with formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsible for oxidative modifications of PSII proteins. In this study, oxidative modifications of the D1 and D2 proteins…

Runt domain-related (Runx) transcription factors are essential for early T cell development in mice from uncommitted to committed stages. Single and double Runx knockouts via Cas9 show that target genes responding to Runx activity are not solely controlled by the dominant factor, Runx1. Instead, Runx1 and Runx3 are coexpressed in…

The evolution of taste perception is usually associated with the ecology and dietary changes of organisms. However, the association between feeding ecology and taste receptor evolution is unclear in some lineages of vertebrate animals. One example is the sweet taste receptor gene Tas1r2. Previous analysis of partial sequences has revealed…

The long-term fate of uranium-contaminated sediments, especially downstream former mining areas, is a widespread environmental challenge. Essential for their management is the proper understanding of uranium (U) immobilization mechanisms in reducing environments. In particular, the long-term behavior of noncrystalline U(IV) species and their possible evolution to more stable phases in…

The relative role of genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity is of fundamental importance in evolutionary ecology [M. J. West-Eberhard, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102 (suppl. 1), 6543–6549 (2005)]. European eels have a complex life cycle, including transitions between life stages across ecological conditions in the Sargasso Sea, where spawning…

Robert Kemp Adair, the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Physics at Yale University, passed away on September 28, 2020, in Hamden, Connecticut, at age 96. He was a distinguished, world-renowned pioneer in particle physics, but possibly even more remarkable as a warm all-round human being, a beloved and highly respected teacher,…

Nick Sawhney's "Bernie Sits" puts Sanders anywhere on Google Street View.

Microscopy is the workhorse of contemporary life science research, enabling morphological and chemical inspection of living tissue with ever-increasing spatial and temporal resolution. Even though modern microscopes are genuine marvels of engineering, minute deviations from ideal imaging conditions will still lead to optical aberrations that rapidly degrade imaging quality. A mismatch between the

Researchers found that stone tools of the type known as 'chopping tools' were used to break open the bones of animals. Tools of this type were used for over two million years. They were found in large quantities at prehistoric sites all over the Old World, but no one understood their exact function.

Patients with motor dysfunctions are on the rise across Japan as its population continues to age. A researcher has developed a new method of rehabilitation using virtual reality to increase the sense of agency over our body and aid motor skills.

But with 200 million doses pledged for the first quarter of the year, some experts say President Biden's plan for 100 million shots in 100 days is far too modest.

A NASA mission slated for launch on Friday will place three tiny satellites into low-Earth orbit, where they will demonstrate how satellites might track and communicate with each other, setting the stage for swarms of thousands of small satellites that can work cooperatively and autonomously.

Flanked by vice president Kamala Harris and the nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, United States President Joe Biden signed several additional executive orders today "to change the course of this pandemic and get COVID-19 under control." Front and center among the new executive orders is a mandate for all Americans to wear masks for the next 100 days of Biden's presidency.

"The 63 papers of Academician Cao Xuetao were questioned on the Internet. After investigation, no fraud, plagiarism and plagiarism were found, but many papers were found to have misuse of pictures, reflecting the lack of a strict laboratory management."

Gun Stabilizer The US Army is developing a gun barrel stabilizer for its next-generation rifle that could greatly level out any unintended movement, Task & Purpose reports . The piece of tech is a leftover part of the military's Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) effort, which was originally part of the US Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) "Iron Man" suit project. The powered suit was abandon

Homo sapiens have always been on the move. But the traditional out-of-Africa story explains that H. sapiens evolved in Africa and then migrated in a wave to colonize the rest of the world. What sparked this exodus?

A new study of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Japanese populations has uncovered a previously uncharacterized genetic variant that puts male carriers at greater risk for the disease, as well as the mechanism by which it does so. The impact of the variant was most pronounced in sedentary men; those with the variant had a 65% greater rate of T2D than sedentary men without it.

A research team led by UdeM psychology and neuroscience professor Sylvie Belleville has just targeted an early biomarker of the disease.

Among his first acts, President Joe Biden is asking Americans to wear a mask to help curb coronavirus. Research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests positive messages of unity and togetherness are critical to the effort, and work better than messages of fear or instructiveness.

Nature, Published online: 20 January 2021; doi:10.1038/d41586-021-00137-5 Ambitious irrigation schemes are planned for sub-Saharan Africa — but those already built have a dismal track record.

President Biden's decision to return to the climate pact fulfills a campaign pledge, but the United States has some catching up to do.

Researchers at The Wistar Institute have discovered a new enzymatic function of the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein EBNA1, a critical factor in EBV's ability to transform human cells and cause cancer. Published in Cell, this study provides new indications for inhibiting EBNA1 function, opening up fresh avenues for development of therapies to treat EBV-associated cancers.

Researchers at The Wistar Institute have discovered a new enzymatic function of the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein EBNA1, a critical factor in EBV's ability to transform human cells and cause cancer. Published in Cell, this study provides new indications for inhibiting EBNA1 function, opening up fresh avenues for development of therapies to treat EBV-associated cancers.

Sex-specific chromosomes are a dangerous place to be, if you're a gene. Because these chromosomes—Y chromosomes, in humans—do not have a matching chromosome with which to exchange genetic information, they are prone to losing non-essential genes left and right in a process called genetic decay.

Sex-specific chromosomes are a dangerous place to be, if you're a gene. Because these chromosomes—Y chromosomes, in humans—do not have a matching chromosome with which to exchange genetic information, they are prone to losing non-essential genes left and right in a process called genetic decay.

Diamond, like graphite, is a special form of carbon. Its cubic crystal structure and its strong chemical bonds give it its unique hardness. For thousands of years, it has also been sought after as both a tool and as a thing of beauty. Only in the 1950s did it become possible to produce diamonds artificially for the first time.

With the recent explosive demand for data storage, ranging from data centers to various smart and connected devices, the need for higher-capacity and more compact memory devices is constantly increasing. As a result, semiconductor devices are now moving from 2-D to 3-D. The 3-D-NAND flash memory is the most commercially successful 3-D semiconductor device today, and its demand for supporting our d

Scientists from the CNRS, CNES, IRD, Sorbonne Université, l'Université Toulouse III—Paul Sabatier and their Australian colleagues, with the support of the IPEV, have provided a comprehensive analysis on the evolution of Southern Ocean temperatures over the last 25 years.

A new study from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC, Spain) and the National Oceanography Centre brings unprecedented insights into the environmental constraints and climatic events that controlled the formation of these reefs.

A research team from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) has joined forces with French researchers from the Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, Environment and Health (ICPEES), a CNRS-University of Strasbourg joint research lab, to pave the way towards the production of green hydrogen. This international team has developed new sunlight-photosensitive-nanostructur

Citrus greening disease, also known as Huanglongbing (HLB), is devastating to the citrus industry, causing unprecedented amounts of damage worldwide. There is no known cure. Since the disease's introduction to the United States in the early 2000s, research efforts have increased exponentially. However, there is still a lack of information about the molecular mechanism behind the disease.

Viral respiratory diseases are easily transmissible and can spread rapidly across the globe, causing significant damage. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to this. In the past too, other viruses have caused massive respiratory disease outbreaks: for example, a subtype of the influenza virus, the type A H1N1 virus, was responsible for the Spanish flu and the Swine flu outbreaks. Thus, to

Scientists have just shown that the influence of Saturn's satellites can explain the tilt of the rotation axis of the gas giant. Their work also predicts that the tilt will increase even further over the next few billion years.

The fluttery flight of butterflies has so far been somewhat of a mystery to researchers, given their unusually large and broad wings relative to their body size. Now researchers have studied the aerodynamics of butterflies in a wind tunnel. The results suggest that butterflies use a highly effective clap technique, therefore making use of their unique wings. This helps them rapidly take off when e

A smile that lifts the cheeks and crinkles the eyes is thought by many to be truly genuine. But new research casts doubt on whether this joyful facial expression necessarily tells others how a person really feels inside.

A meteorite that fell in northern Germany in 2019 contains carbonates which are among the oldest in the solar system; it also evidences the earliest presence of liquid water on a minute planet.

Harbor porpoises have rebounded in a big way off California. Their populations have recovered dramatically since the end of state set-gillnet fisheries that years ago entangled and killed them in the nearshore waters they frequent. These coastal set-gillnet fisheries are distinct from federally-managed offshore drift-gillnet fisheries. They have been prohibited in inshore state waters for more tha

A comparison of chemical and climate weathering of sedimentary rock in Mars' Gale Crater indicate the region's mean temperature billions of years ago was akin to current conditions on Iceland.

Far below the gaseous atmospheric shroud on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, lies Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane. Astronomers have estimated that sea to be at least 1,000-feet deep near its center – enough room for a potential robotic submarine to explore.

Sixteen years of remote sensing data reveals that in Earth's largest freshwater lakes, climate change influences carbon fixation trends.

A new study from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC, Spain) and the National Oceanography Centre brings unprecedented insights into the environmental constraints and climatic events that controlled the formation of these reefs.

Citrus greening disease, also known as Huanglongbing (HLB), is devastating to the citrus industry, causing unprecedented amounts of damage worldwide. There is no known cure. Since the disease's introduction to the United States in the early 2000s, research efforts have increased exponentially. However, there is still a lack of information about the molecular mechanism behind the disease.

Autophagy is a fundamental cellular process by which cells capture and degrade their own dysfunctional or superfluous components for degradation and recycling. Recent research has revealed that phase separated droplets have a range of important functions in cells. An international collaboration between German, Norwegian, and Japanese researchers has unraveled the mechanisms underpinning both how t

Water splitting research for solar hydrogen production has focused on physical processes inside the semiconductor, such as light absorption, charge separation, and chemical processes on the surface that are highly complex and rely on the development of new materials. However, processes inside the solution had yet to be thoroughly explored.

The fabrication of shape-memory hydrogel scaffolds not only requires biocompatibility, micrometer resolution, high mechanical strength, but also requires a low polymerisation threshold in high-water content environment to incorporate microstructures with biological tissues. Towards this goal, scientists from China and Australia developed a new hydrogel formula that full fills this goal and demonst

Two novel techniques, atomic-resolution real-time video and conical carbon nanotube confinement, allow researchers to view never-before-seen details about crystal formation. The observations confirm theoretical predictions about how salt crystals form and could inform general theories about the way in which crystal formation produces different ordered structures from an otherwise disordered chemic

Autophagy is a fundamental cellular process by which cells capture and degrade their own dysfunctional or superfluous components for degradation and recycling. Recent research has revealed that phase separated droplets have a range of important functions in cells. An international collaboration between German, Norwegian, and Japanese researchers has unraveled the mechanisms underpinning both how t

Researchers from the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University unraveled the function of flint tools known as "chopping tools," found at the prehistoric site of Revadim, east of Ashdod. Applying advanced research methods, they examined use-wear traces on 53 chopping tools, as well as organic residues found on some of the tools. They also made and used replicas of the t

Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here . In last week's update , we wrote that the United States had reported the worst weekly case, hospitalization, and death numbers of the pandemic. At the time, it wasn't clear what proportion of the case and death increases were related to postholiday reporting backlogs. This

A new peer-reviewed study reveals that the vast majority of US infants may be suffering from a substantial deficiency in an important bacterium key to breast milk utilization and immune system development, as well as protection against gut pathogens linked to common newborn conditions such as colic and diaper rash. The study is the largest to date to benchmark the widespread deficiency in gut bact

Historian Janice P. Nimura tells the story of America's first and third certified women doctors and the role these sisters played in building medical institutions. (Image credit: W.W.Norton & Co. )

Senior scientific adviser says it would be unwise to reopen England's pubs and restaurants until May

MIT researchers reveal the kinds of infrastructure improvements that would make the biggest difference in increasing the number of electric cars on the road, a key step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and colleagues have identified genetic factors that increase the risk for developing pneumonia and its severe, life-threatening consequences.

Developing economies suffer from a paradox: they don't receive investment flows from developed economies because they lack stability and high-quality financial and lawmaking institutions, but they can't develop those institutions without foreign funds.A new study finds that bilateral investment treaties, known as BITs, can help developing economies overcome this paradox, but only as long as those

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a beta-CoV that recently emerged as a human pathogen and is the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. A molecular framework of how the virus manipulates host cellular machinery to facilitate infection remains unclear. Here, we focus on SARS-CoV-2 NSP1, which is…

Dendritic cells (DCs) and monocytes are crucial mediators of innate and adaptive immune responses during viral infection, but misdirected responses by these cells may contribute to immunopathology. Here, we performed high-dimensional flow cytometry-analysis focusing on mononuclear phagocyte (MNP) lineages in SARS-CoV-2–infected patients with moderate and severe COVID-19. We provide a…

In PNAS, Zhang et al. (1) report the discovery of the insulator function of a cluster of CTCF-binding elements (CBEs) that defines the 3′-boundary of the immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy (H) chain locus and regulates IgH class switch recombination (CSR) (Fig. 1). This study not only resolves uncertainties surrounding the functional…

Scientists show evidence that nitrogen acquired during Earth's formation came from both the inner and outer regions of the protoplanetary disk. The study has implications for signs of potential habitability of exoplanets.

A new study brings unprecedented insights into the environmental constraints and climatic events that controlled the formation of the potentially oldest coral reefs in the Mediterranean.

Changes in climate that occur over short periods of time influence biodiversity. For a realistic assessment of these effects, it is necessary to also consider previous temperature trends going far back into Earth's history.

A research team has identified a new species of praying mantis thanks to imprints of its fossilized wings. It lived in Labrador, in the Canadian Subarctic around 100 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs, in the Late Cretaceous period. The researchers believe that the fossils of the new genus and species, Labradormantis guilbaulti, helps to establish evolutionary relationships betwee

A recent study finds that annual methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas (AOG) wells in Canada and the US have been greatly underestimated – by as much as 150% in Canada, and by 20% in the US. Indeed, the research suggests that methane gas emissions from AOG wells are currently the 10th and 11th largest sources of anthropogenic methane emission in the US and Canada, respectively.

Warming ocean waters could reduce the ability of fish, especially large ones, to extract the oxygen they need from their environment. Animals require oxygen to generate energy for movement, growth and reproduction. Researchers describe their newly developed model to determine how water temperature, oxygen availability, body size and activity affect metabolic demand for oxygen in fish.

Smiles that lift the cheeks and crinkle the eyes aren't necessarily a window to a person's emotions, research finds. In fact, these "smiling eye" smiles, called Duchenne smiles, seem to be related to smile intensity, rather than acting as an indicator of whether a person is happy or not, says Jeffrey Girard, a former postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies In

While decades of research have resulted in substantial improvements in surviving cancer, a key challenge remains in identifying new drugs that improve outcomes for patients. In APL Bioengineering , researchers suggest a major hurdle is the paucity of models for cancer research that accurately represent patient tumors. They provide a perspective on strategies using models from individual patients a

Medicated drops may help close small macular holes over a two- to eight-week period, allowing some people to avoid surgery to fix the vision problem, a new study suggests.

Treatment options for many types of cancers remain limited, due partly to the in vitro tools used to model cancers and that results from animal studies do not always translate well to human disease. These shortcomings point to a clear need for a better, patient-specific model. Researchers suggest bioengineered microscale organotypic models can address this need. They discuss the advantages and cap

Scientists conducted a sweeping review of nature's contributions to humans in order to present a clear breakdown of global trends since 1970. Not surprisingly, the results are grim

A new global, mathematical modeling study pubilshed in the journal Science shows that in most cases prioritizing older adults for COVID-19 vaccines saves the most lives. It also found that, in some cases, more lives could be saved and infections prevented if those who've already tested positive step to the back of the line.

Vaccinating people over 60 is the most effective way to mitigate mortality from COVID-19, a new age-based modeling study suggests.

A big question on people's minds these days: how long does immunity to SARS-CoV-2 last following infection? Now a research team from La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), The University of Liverpool and the University of Southampton has uncovered an interesting clue. Their new study suggests that people with severe COVID-19 cases may be left with more of the protective 'memory' T cells needed t

A streamlined process for awarding green cards to international STEM doctoral students graduating from U.S. universities could benefit American innovation and competitiveness, including leveling the field for startups eager to attract such highly skilled workers, according to a new study by researchers from Cornell University and the University of California, San Diego.

Scientists have created a highly detailed map of skin, which reveals that cellular processes from development are re-activated in cells from patients with eczema and psoriasis inflammatory skin diseases. The study in Science offers potential new drug targets for treating these painful skin diseases and provides a new understanding of inflammatory disease. Part of the global Human Cell Atlas initia

Researchers from LSTM's Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions (CSRI) have led an international team investigating the evolutionary origins of a novel defensive trait by snakes – venom spitting – and demonstrated that defensive selection pressures can influence venom composition in snakes in a repeatable manner.

Cells may form dropletlike functional compartments through a process called phase separation, but not as often as some propose

Life After Death Las Vegas real estate mogul and CEO of space station module startup Bigelow Aerospace Robert Bigelow is offering up $1 million in prizes for evidence of "the survival of consciousness after permanent bodily death," The New York Times reports . Bigelow, a billionaire who has also raised eyebrows for investigating UFO sightings, recently founded the Bigelow Institute for Consciousn

Understanding microscopic processes in materials and devices that can be switched by light requires experimental access to dynamics on nanometer length and femtosecond time scales. Here, we introduce ultrafast dark-field electron microscopy to map the order parameter across a structural phase transition. We use ultrashort laser pulses to locally excite a 1 T- TaS 2 (1 T -polytype of tantalum disu

Understanding how the local environment of a "single-atom" catalyst affects stability and reactivity remains a challenge. We present an in-depth study of copper 1 , silver 1 , gold 1 , nickel 1 , palladium 1 , platinum 1 , rhodium 1 , and iridium 1 species on Fe 3 O 4 (001), a model support in which all metals occupy the same twofold-coordinated adsorption site upon deposition at room temperature

Z -Olefins are challenging synthetic targets owing to their relative thermodynamic instability. Transition metal–catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution reactions are well known for installing stereocenters adjacent to branched or E -linear olefins. However, analogous reactions for the synthesis of optically active Z -olefin products are rare. Here we report iridium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic

Convergent evolution provides insights into the selective drivers underlying evolutionary change. Snake venoms, with a direct genetic basis and clearly defined functional phenotype, provide a model system for exploring the repeated evolution of adaptations. While snakes use venom primarily for predation, and venom composition often reflects diet specificity, three lineages of cobras have independ

Polymer passivation layers can improve the open-circuit voltage of perovskite solar cells when inserted at the perovskite–charge transport layer interfaces. Unfortunately, many such layers are poor conductors, leading to a trade-off between passivation quality (voltage) and series resistance (fill factor, FF). Here, we introduce a nanopatterned electron transport layer that overcomes this trade-o

Sexual dimorphism in animals results from sex-biased gene expression patterns. These patterns are controlled by genetic sex determination hierarchies that establish the sex of an individual. Here we show that the male-biased wing expression pattern of the Drosophila biarmipes gene yellow , located on the X chromosome, is independent of the fly sex determination hierarchy. Instead, we find that a

Key to the success of intracellular pathogens is the ability to sense and respond to a changing host cell environment. Macrophages exposed to microbial products undergo metabolic changes that drive inflammatory responses. However, the role of macrophage metabolic reprogramming in bacterial adaptation to the intracellular environment has not been explored. Here, using metabolic profiling and dual

Infection triggers expansion and effector differentiation of T cells specific for microbial antigens in association with metabolic reprograming. We found that the glycolytic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is induced in CD8 + T effector cells through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling. In turn, ablation of LDHA inhibits PI3K-dependent phosphorylation of Akt and its transcription fac

Anopheles mating is initiated by the swarming of males at dusk followed by females flying into the swarm. Here, we show that mosquito swarming and mating are coordinately guided by clock genes, light, and temperature. Transcriptome analysis shows up-regulation of the clock genes period ( per ) and timeless ( tim ) in the head of field-caught swarming Anopheles coluzzii males. Knockdown of per and

Metabolic pathways differ across species but are expected to be similar within a species. We discovered two functional, incompatible versions of the galactose pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . We identified a three-locus genetic interaction for growth in galactose, and used precisely engineered alleles to show that it arises from variation in the galactose utilization genes GAL2 , GAL1/10/7 ,

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

Polycomb repressive complexes 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2) cooperate to determine cell identity by epigenetic gene expression regulation. However, the mechanism of PRC2 recruitment by means of recognition of PRC1-mediated H2AK119ub1 remains poorly understood. Our PRC2 cryo–electron microscopy structure with cofactors JARID2 and AEBP2 bound to a H2AK119ub1-containing nucleosome reveals a bridge helix i

The cerebral cortex is an intricate structure that controls human features such as language and cognition. Cortical functions rely on specialized neurons that emerge during development from complex molecular and cellular interactions. Neurodevelopmental disorders occur when one or several of these steps is incorrectly executed. Although a number of causal genes and disease phenotypes have been id

The skin confers biophysical and immunological protection through a complex cellular network established early in embryonic development. We profiled the transcriptomes of more than 500,000 single cells from developing human fetal skin, healthy adult skin, and adult skin with atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. We leveraged these datasets to compare cell states across development, homeostasis, and di

Dot1 (disruptor of telomeric silencing-1), the histone H3 lysine 79 (H3K79) methyltransferase, is conserved throughout evolution, and its deregulation is found in human leukemias. Here, we provide evidence that acetylation of histone H4 allosterically stimulates yeast Dot1 in a manner distinct from but coordinating with histone H2B ubiquitination (H2BUb). We further demonstrate that this stimulat

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

Geochemical and astronomical evidence demonstrates that planet formation occurred in two spatially and temporally separated reservoirs. The origin of this dichotomy is unknown. We use numerical models to investigate how the evolution of the solar protoplanetary disk influenced the timing of protoplanet formation and their internal evolution. Migration of the water snow line can generate two disti

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

Nature Communications, Published online: 21 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41467-021-20997-9

A monoclonal antibody protected residents and staff members in facilities where the virus had appeared.

Can President Biden really boost production? Why are governors trying to buy directly from Pfizer? And when will supply exceed demand?

Just like us, many insects need a decent night's sleep to function properly, but this might not be possible if they have been exposed to neonicotinoid insecticides, the most common form of insecticide used worldwide, suggests research by academics.

The public health threat that prisons has never been clearer than during the COVID-19 pandemic. (ArturVerkhovetskiy, ViewApart, ArturVerkhovetskiy, Jerome-Cronenberger/Deposit Photos/) In early 2020, Alexis Triplett watched the news coming out of China, her gaze set on a TV inside her cell in La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, Colorado. People over there were getting sick with a mysterious

Government's strategy of delaying second doses may still backfire

A streamlined process for awarding green cards to international STEM doctoral students graduating from U.S. universities could benefit American innovation and competitiveness, including leveling the field for startups eager to attract such highly skilled workers, according to a new study by researchers from Cornell University and the University of California, San Diego.

An international team of researchers from the University of Oxford, LMU Munich, ETH Zurich, BGI Bayreuth, and the University of Zurich discovered that a two-step formation process of the early Solar System can explain the chronology and split in volatile and isotope content of the inner and outer Solar System.

A study of spitting cobras, published in Science reveals how a combination of venom components have evolved to create an instantly painful venom, not once, but on three separate occasions.

MIT researchers have developed an automated way to design customized hardware that speeds up a robot's operation. The system, called robomorphic computing, accounts for the robot's physical layout in suggesting an optimized hardware architecture.

Amsterdam, January 21, 2021 – A new study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease carried out by researchers at the Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL University Hospital, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Bonn Medical Center, proposes that major surgery is a promoter or accelerator of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The first author of the publication was Carmen Lage and the prin

As reported in Advanced Photonics , researchers from the University of Freiburg, Germany, have made a significant advance in AO microscopy through the demonstration of a new AO module comprising two deformable phase plates (DPPs).

Under FDA emergency-use authorization, doctors successfully resolved COVID-19 in a seriously ill, immunodeficient woman using a very high-neutralizing antibody-titer convalescent plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient. However, further study suggested that use of convalescent plasma may not be warranted in many cases, for two reasons: 1) titer levels are too low in many convalescent plasmas, and

If you believe you are capable of becoming the healthy, engaged person you want to be in old age, you are much more likely to experience that outcome, a recent Oregon State University study shows.

Delivering a minor electric shock into a stream to reveal any fish lurking nearby may be the gold standard for detecting fish populations, but it's not much fun for the trout. Scientists at Oregon State University have found that sampling stream water for evidence of the presence of various species using environmental DNA, known as eDNA, can be more accurate than electrofishing, without disrupting

A promising lead halide perovskite is great at converting sunlight to electricity, but it breaks down at room temperature. Now scientists have discovered how to stabilize it with pressure from a diamond anvil cell. The required pressure is well within the reach of industrial manufacturing requirements.

A study of spitting cobras, published in Science reveals how a combination of venom components have evolved to create an instantly painful venom, not once, but on three separate occasions.

Venom mix arose independently in three groups of the spitting snakes

Associate administrator Steve Jurczyk, who has worked at the space agency since 1988, will serve as its interim leader during the presidential transition — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

A question that comes up a lot about mRNA vaccines is what happens at the cellular level after you're injected with one. The mechanism of any such vaccine is to cause cells to produce a viral protein antigen, but which cells actually do this? It's also understood that mRNA vaccines tend to act as their own adjuvant and stimulate a further immune response that improves their efficacy – but how doe

We have good news and bad news. The bad news is that after President Joe Biden was sworn in, he and his administration quickly learned that the outgoing Trump team still hadn't developed a plan to distribute the vaccine, CNN reports . The good news is that at last, exactly one full year since the first coronavirus cases were detected in the United States, the White House is actively developing a

Scientists tested a vaccine for melanoma in a small trial.

New research indicates that, more than 3 billion years ago, seasons in Gale Crater on Mars were probably something like those in Iceland. The ancient Martian crater is the focus of a study comparing data from the Curiosity rover to places on Earth where similar geologic formations have experienced weathering in different climates. Iceland's basaltic terrain and cool weather, with temperatures typ

Warnings about misinformation are now regularly posted on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, but not all of these cautions are created equal. New research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that artificial intelligence can help form accurate news assessments — but only when a news story is first emerging.

Demand for changes in law to allow lockdowns comes as infection rates surge

Lava can take many forms, all based on what is in it. Three volcanoes are currently showcasing different varieties of lava in spectacular fashion.

When sheets of two-dimensional nanomaterials like graphene are stacked on top of each other, tiny gaps form between the sheets that have a wide variety of potential uses. In research published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of Brown University researchers has found a way to orient those gaps, called nanochannels, in a way that makes them more useful for filtering water and other liqu

Lockdown extended amid estimates B.1.1.7 variant will account for most new infections by March

London and Midlands sent 400 MoD staff and 110 being deployed to Northern Ireland to ease NHS pressure

In a recent study, my colleagues and I discovered micronutrients in the ground can control populations of invasive crazy ants (Nylanderia fulva).

Failure to note lack of peer review could risk overselling research

In a recent study, my colleagues and I discovered micronutrients in the ground can control populations of invasive crazy ants (Nylanderia fulva).

Brown University researchers have shown that tiny channels between graphene sheets can be aligned in a way that makes them ideal for water filtration.

As part of a clinical study involving patients from the University Hospitals in Zurich and Basel, researchers are conducting a thorough and highly precise investigation into the molecular and functional properties of tumours. Their goal is to help physicians to better determine which treatment will best match every patient's cancer and thus be most effective.

Two out of five individuals delayed or missed medical care in the early phase of the pandemic–from March through mid-July 2020.

Wistar Researchers have discovered a new enzymatic function of the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein EBNA1, a critical factor in EBV's ability to transform human cells and cause cancer. Study provides new indications for inhibiting EBNA1 function, opening up fresh avenues for development of therapies to treat EBV-associated cancers.

A new study looks to snakes to broaden our understanding of what makes a gene able to survive on a sex-specific chromosome. Comparing surviving genes on snake sex-specific chromosomes to those that are lost to the ravages of time can teach scientists about the evolutionary pressures that shaped sex chromosomes as we know them today.

People with anxiety and depression are more likely to report an increase in drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic than those without mental health issues, according to a new study. While drinking grew the most among younger people, older adults with anxiety and depression also saw a sharper increase in their risk for harmful alcohol use. "This increase in drinking, particularly among people with

Football fans tend to be highly loyal to their group, just as the kin groups of our ancestral past would have been. This intense state of belonging, when a person feels as one with their group, is called identity fusion.

Jim Clyburn sat by himself on the dais at Joe Biden's inauguration, thinking about his late wife, Emily, who wasn't there with him. Without Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, who endorsed the former vice president at a crucial moment last year, Biden might not have taken the oath of office yesterday. But without Emily's influence, Clyburn told me, that endorsement might never have happene

In a Wednesday letter obtained by Reuters , Amazon offered to help the new American president Joe Biden with the country's efforts to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine. The retailer, which is the country's second largest employer behind Walmart, offered to open the doors of its many facilities around the country to help healthcare providers administer vaccines. "We are prepared to leverage our operat

Warming ocean waters could reduce the ability of fish, especially large ones, to extract the oxygen they need from their environment. Animals require oxygen to generate energy for movement, growth and reproduction. In a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, an international team of researchers from McGill, Montana and Radboud universities describe their newly develope

Should you opt for ceramic, cast iron, nonstick, or something else? Here's a guide to choosing pots and pans that will get the job done — and clear up concerns you might have about what they're made of.

"Looks like the blue skies went to black!" We are overjoyed to share this new video of our Launch Demo 2 flight. The adrenaline is still flowing after we aced this flight and delivered satellites for nine different @NASA and university teams exactly to their target orbit. pic.twitter.com/nVX21hXywi — Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) January 18, 2021

Warming ocean waters could reduce the ability of fish, especially large ones, to extract the oxygen they need from their environment. Animals require oxygen to generate energy for movement, growth and reproduction. In a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, an international team of researchers from McGill, Montana and Radboud universities describe their newly develope

In nature, many things have evolved that differ in size, color and, above all, in shape. While the color or size of an object can be easily described, the description of a shape is more complicated. In a study now published in Nature Communications, Jacqueline Nowak of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology and her colleagues have outlined a new and improved way to describe shapes

With truth famously known as the "first casualty of war," a Norwegian parliamentarian announced Thursday that she is nominating "fact-checkers" for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Older people in Japan have an 'attitude of gratitude' which keeps them feeling hopeful despite the challenges of aging, a new study says.

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed the first comprehensive framework to classify small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) into four unique subtypes, based on gene expression, and have identified potential therapeutic targets for each type in a study published today in Cancer Cell.

A new multi-institution study led by Fergus Couch, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic pathologist, provides more accurate estimates of breast cancer risk for U.S. women who harbor inherited mutations in breast cancer predisposition genes. The findings of the CARRIERS Consortium study, published Jan. 20 in The New England Journal of Medicine, may allow health care providers to better assess the risk of breast ca

As older people relish being vaccinated, the UK government's messaging risks being confusing and contradictory Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Age brings few benefits, as far as I can see: not wisdom, not virtue, nor serenity. But what a bonus to find yourself among the ranks of septuagenarians lining up for the Covid-19 vaccine. This gift of life arrives via an auto

Work addiction is a growing public health risk in industrialized nations, with some research showing that 5–10% of the United States population meet the criteria. Workaholism comes with a variety of serious mental and physical health concerns such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, lowered immunity, substance abuse, or even chronic fatigue. Employees at the highest risk for stress-related disorder

Scientists have been pondering if the microbiome of plants is due to nature or nurture. Research at Stockholm University, published in Environmental Microbiology, showed that oak acorns contain a large diversity of microbes, and that oak seedlings inherit their microbiome from these acorns.

Scientists have developed a pioneering new technique that could revolutionize the accuracy, precision and clarity of super-resolution imaging systems.

Glass frogs that live near loud streams add to mating calls with the flap of a hand, a wave of a foot, or a bob of the head to attract a mate, a new study shows. Researchers have documented these frogs that "dance" near rushing streams—where noise can obscure those crucial love songs—in the rainforests of India, Borneo, Brazil, and, now, Ecuador. Conservation ecologist Rebecca Brunner, a PhD cand

Kerry Karaffa is the first MU Counseling Center psychologist to be embedded specifically within the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, where he provides tailored counseling services for professional students training to become veterinarians. He is also aware that veterinarians are at increased risk for mental health concerns and suicidality compared to the general public due to

Scientists have been pondering if the microbiome of plants is due to nature or nurture. Research at Stockholm University, published in Environmental Microbiology, showed that oak acorns contain a large diversity of microbes, and that oak seedlings inherit their microbiome from these acorns.

Scientists have developed a pioneering new technique that could revolutionize the accuracy, precision and clarity of super-resolution imaging systems.

Despite the anticounterfeiting devices attached to luxury handbags, marketable securities, and identification cards, counterfeit goods are on the rise. There is a demand for the next-generation anticounterfeiting technologies—that surpass the traditional ones—that are not easily forgeable and can hold various data.

Even a modest sea level rise, triggered by increasing global temperatures, would place 100 airports below mean sea level by 2100, a new study has found.

Chemists at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena have demonstrated the value of 'teamwork' by successfully harnessing the interaction between two gallium atoms in a novel compound to split the particularly strong bond between fluorine and carbon. The gallium compound is also cheaper and more environmentally friendly than conventional alternatives.

A phase 2 clinical trial providing personalized treatments based on the genetic profile of metastatic tumors in gastroesophageal cancers has found that using customized treatment approaches, and adapting them over time as tumors become resistant, led to higher rates of survival compared to historical controls.

A pain management regimen comprised mostly of over-the-counter medication reduced opioid exposure in trauma patients while achieving equal levels of pain control, according to a new study by physician-researchers at UTHealth.

Kerry Karaffa is the first MU Counseling Center psychologist to be embedded specifically within the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, where he provides tailored counseling services for professional students training to become veterinarians.

Researchers have developed a new integrated genetic/epigenetic DNA-sequencing protocol known as MultiMMR that can identify the presence and cause of mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency in a single test from a small sample of DNA in colon, endometrial, and other cancers. This alternative to complex, multi-step testing workflows can also determine causes of MMR deficiency often missed by current clinic

Massive amounts of COVID-19 research has been published since the pandemic began, but much more study is needed to understand how to prevent, identify, and treat the virus. The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America is publishing a COVID-19 research agenda outlining 10 areas where we need to learn more to fight COVID-19 and future pandemics.

University of Helsinki researchers report a comprehensive pilot study on the metabolic effects of full vegan diet on young children. The study found vegan children to have remarkably altered metabolism and lower vitamin A and D status compared to children with no special diet.

The colons of African-Americans and people of European descent age differently, new research reveals, helping explain racial disparities in colorectal cancer – the cancer that killed beloved 'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman at only 43.

As scientists increasingly rely on eyewitness accounts of earthquake shaking reported through online systems, they should consider whether those accounts are societally and spatially representative for an event, according to a new paper published in Seismological Research Letters.

Early Medieval Europe is frequently viewed as a time of cultural stagnation, often given the misnomer of the 'Dark Ages'. However, analysis has revealed new ideas could spread rapidly as communities were interconnected, creating a surprisingly unified culture in Europe.

University of Arizona researchers read between the lines of tree rings to reconstruct exactly what happened in Alaska the year that the Laki Volcano erupted half a world away in Iceland. What they learned can help fine-tune future climate predictions.

Where did Earth's nitrogen come from? Rice University scientists show one primordial source of the indispensable building block for life was close to home.

The elusive axion particle is many times lighter than an electron, with properties that barely make an impression on ordinary matter. As such, the ghost-like particle is a leading contender as a component of dark matter—a hypothetical, invisible type of matter that is thought to make up 85 percent of the mass in the universe.

The bipolar membrane, a type of ion exchange membrane, is considered the pivotal material for zero emission technology. It is composed of an anode and cathode membrane layer, and an intermediate hydrolysis layer. Under reverse bias, the water molecules in the intermediate layer produce OH- and H+ by polarization.

Once regarded as merely cast-off waste products of cellular life, bacterial membrane vesicles (MVs) have since become an exciting new avenue of research, due to the wealth of biological information they carry to other bacteria as well as other cell types.

Indigenous peoples' lands may harbor a significant proportion of threatened and endangered species globally, according to University of Queensland-led research.

Looking Down Sensitive storm-chasing equipment on the International Space Station caught a dazzling light show on video as it watched the electrical activity of a thunderstorm from above. The recordings, which were captured by the European Space Agency's Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), help reveal how lightning originates and even how storms can distribute greenhouse gases through t

When university campuses sent students, staff and faculty members home in March, Padmini Rangamani, a professor at the University of California San Diego, suddenly found herself running her research lab remotely, teaching her classes online, and supervising her two children, ages 10 and 13, who are also learning online.

Far below the gaseous atmospheric shroud on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, lies Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane. Cornell University astronomers have estimated that sea to be at least 1,000-feet deep near its center—enough room for a potential robotic submarine to explore.

Once regarded as merely cast-off waste products of cellular life, bacterial membrane vesicles (MVs) have since become an exciting new avenue of research, due to the wealth of biological information they carry to other bacteria as well as other cell types.

Indigenous peoples' lands may harbor a significant proportion of threatened and endangered species globally, according to University of Queensland-led research.

Can President Biden really boost production? Why are governors trying to buy directly from Pfizer? And when will supply exceed demand?

As expected, the president signed executive orders to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and review Trump-era rollbacks — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

An ambitious reversal of Donald Trump's anti-science approach is marked by several firsts

Scientific Reports, Published online: 21 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-80630-5

Researchers at the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute have published their experience making SMART Recovery groups available via computer and telephone to the community in Douglas County.

While aging is an unavoidable biological process with many influencing factors that results in visible changes to the hair, there is limited literature examining the characteristics of hair aging across the races. Now a new study describes the unique characteristics of hair aging among different ethnicities that the authors hope will aid in a culturally sensitive approach when making recommendatio

To help build aircraft that can better handle violent turbulence, Purdue University researchers developed a new model that allows engineers to incorporate the physics of an entire vortex collision into their design codes.

Scientists have been pondering if the microbiome of plants is due to nature or nurture. Research at Stockholm University, published in Environmental Microbiology , showed that oak acorns contain a large diversity of microbes, and that oak seedlings inherit their microbiome from these acorns. The microorganisms found on the seed are often valuable for the plant, promoting its growth and protecting

Scientists have developed a pioneering new technique that could revolutionise the accuracy, precision and clarity of super-resolution imaging systems.

The cause of the inflammatory lung disease sarcoidosis is unknown. In a new study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have investigated whether a type of immune cell called a monocyte could be a key player in sarcoidosis pathogenesis and explain why some patients develop more severe and chronic disease than others. The study, which is published in The European Respiratory Journal , ope

The bacterial gut microbiome is strongly associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), but no studies had previously investigated he role of fungi in the gut. In this novel study published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, a team of investigators at the University of British Columbia examined whether the fungal constituents of the gut microbiome are associated with PD.

New findings show that cholesterol crystals in the uterine wall are the villain that researchers have been looking for. These crystals cause intensified inflammation in people who become ill.

Schools are closing again in response to surging levels of COVID-19 infection, but staging randomized trials when students eventually return could help to clarify uncertainties around when we should send children back to the classroom, according to a new study.

Research led by the universities of Kent and Oxford has found that fans of the least successful Premier League football teams have a stronger bond with fellow fans and are more 'fused' with their club than supporters of the most successful teams.

Is there an area and cognitive mechanism in our brain specifically devoted to reading? Probably not. According to new research, underlying reading there is evolutionarily ancient function more generally used to process many other visual stimuli. We process letters and words similarly to how we do with any visual stimulus: we identify basic features as shape, size, structure. On the basis of the st

In a Nature Reviews Endocrinology article authors from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) highlight the interconnection of #obesity and impaired metabolic health with the severity of #COVID19. #diabetes

POSTECH research team led by Professor Junsuk Rho develops nanostructures capable of polarized optical encryption.

A brain pressure disorder that especially affects women, causing severe headaches and sometimes permanent sight loss, has risen six-fold in 15 years, and is linked to obesity and deprivation, a new study by Swansea University researchers has shown.Rates of emergency hospital admissions in Wales for people with the disorder were also five times higher than for those without.

Newcastle University scientists have found that 269 airports are at risk of coastal flooding now. A temperature rise of 2C – consistent with the Paris Agreement – would lead to 100 airports being below mean sea level and 364 airports at risk of flooding. If global mean temperature rise exceeds this then as many as 572 airports will be at risk by 2100, leading to major disruptions without appropria

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, blocks the processes of innate immune activation that normally direct the production and/or signaling of type I interferon (IFN-I) by the infected cell and tissues. IFN-I is a key component of host innate immunity that is responsible for eliminating the virus at the early stage of infection

The way to boost electron transfer in grid-scale batteries is different than researchers had believed, a new study from the University of Michigan has shown.

Diamonds are fascinating – as jewellery but also because of the extreme hardness of the material. How exactly this variant of carbon is formed deep underground and under extremely high pressures and temperatures remains a mystery. Now, researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences Novosibirsk, collaborating with the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, have documented a new influencing f

Nature, Published online: 21 January 2021; doi:10.1038/d41586-021-00181-1 Biomedical scientist Vladimira Foteva didn't imagine she would be working with physicists at an Australian particle accelerator when she began her PhD, but the experience taught her the value of collaboration across disciplines.

Nature, Published online: 21 January 2021; doi:10.1038/d41586-021-00121-z Evidence that a variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa might compromise immunity sparks concerns about vaccine effectiveness.

Ketamine and psychedelics are making headlines as new alternative antidepressant therapeutics. For years scientists have been studying the benefits of these drugs on the brain and exciting new research has led to the idea that our understanding of what underlies depression could be wrong and these next-wave antidepressants could be another remedy of one of […]

As the U.S. president announces his advisers and agency heads, Nature's guide tracks the appointees who matter most to science — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Facebook has to decide whether to give the ex-president his bullhorn back. It won't make that call itself.

En række besynderlige kvantefænomener forudsagt teoretisk for mange år siden er nu endelig påvist. Måske kan de give bedre forståelse af superledning og ultralydssystemer.

In July 2019, Kevin Hall, of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and colleagues published a study in Cell Metabolism that found, according to its title, that "Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain." Not surprisingly, the paper — which nutrition researchers urged caution in interpreting in an accompanying editorial — earned media … Continue reading

A neurosurgeon from RUDN University studied the mental activity of developers at work. In his novel method, he combined mobile EEG devices and software that analyzes neurophysiological data.

While autonomous drones can greatly assist with difficult rescue missions, they require a safe landing procedure. In a new study, scientists from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), Japan, have demonstrated automated drone landing with a simple 2D camera guiding the drone to a symbolized landing pad. The guiding camera can be further improved to include depth-related information, paving the wa

A team of Duke and Mt. Sinai researchers has found a mechanism that protects a fetus from harm when the mother's innate immune system responds to a viral infection. Inflammation that would harm the fetus is dampened by a cell-surface estrogen receptor called GPER1 that is especially abundant in the placenta and fetal tissues.

More biofuels are needed to counteract climate change. But producing them shouldn't diminish food production or wilderness areas. The solution may be to grow more grass on recently abandoned cropland.

Moffitt Cancer Center is leading a national, multicenter clinical trial investigating a new therapy option for this group of patients. It builds upon the standard of care therapy, combining eprenetapopt (APR-246) with the chemotherapy azacitidine. Results of the phase 1b/2 trial to determine the safety, recommended dose and efficacy of the combination therapy were published in the Journal of Clini

Nerve cells communicate with one another via synapses. Neuroscientists at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich have now found that these connections seem to be much more powerful than previously thought. The larger the synapse, the stronger the signal it transmits. These findings will enable a better understanding of how the brain functions and how neurological disorders arise.

As scientists increasingly rely on eyewitness accounts of earthquake shaking reported through online systems, they should consider whether those accounts are societally and spatially representative for an event, according to a new paper published in Seismological Research Letters.

Changes in Western European burial practices spread rapidly during the 6th – 8th centuries AD, providing strong evidence that early Medieval Europe was a well-connected place with a shared culture.

An adverse upbringing often impairs people's circumstances and health in their adult years, especially for couples who have both had similar experiences. This is shown by a new study, carried out by Uppsala University researchers, in which 818 mothers and their partners filled in a questionnaire one year after having a child together. The study is now published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE .

A new study has found that there is no protection against colorectal cancer if people begin taking aspirin regularly after age 70. However, there appears to be such protection if aspirin is started before age 70 and continued.

The 3D-NAND is the most commercially successful 3D memory device today, and its demand is growing exponentially. As each layer thickness corresponds to the effective channel length, accurate characterization and control of layer-by-layer thickness is critical. Engineers in South Korea invented a nondestructive thickness characterization method of each layer in semiconductor multilayer stacks with

Despite a long list of supremely qualified people who could inspire a whole new generation of scientists, the glass ceiling in American science remains intact — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

But there is uncertainty over their efficacy

The result is Godzilla the rotifer

If it works, this vital gas should become cheaper

Country bumpkins and city slickers

Light It Up To make sure that future spacecraft don't run the risk of catching fire on the way to the Moon, NASA is conducting a series of Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiments ( SAFFIRE ) experiments on board a used cargo spacecraft. And yes, the experiments involve igniting actual, controlled fires on the interior of the uncrewed spacecraft, as seen in a video uploaded by the space agency. The lat

The results of a study led by Northern Arizona University and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest the immune systems of people infected with COVID-19 may rely on antibodies created during infections from earlier coronaviruses to help fight the disease.

Tsukuba University scientists create movies of the ultrafast motion of electrons traveling through an organic semiconductor with atomic-level resolution. This work may lead to more powerful and miniaturized smart devices.

An MIT-led search for axions from nearby star Betelgeuse has come up empty, significantly narrowing the search for hypothetical dark matter particle.

A collaboration between the University of Tsukuba and the NEI in the US has discovered that fast-spiking neurons in the basal ganglia allow monkeys to associate different values with the same objects based on the surrounding environment. Blocking input from these cells inhibited learning of new scene-based values, but did not erase already learned associations. This could help understand clinical

A team led by Prof. XU Tongwen and Prof WU Liang from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) adopted an in-situ growth idea to construct a stable and efficient membrane

COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly over the past several months, and the U.S. death toll has now reached 400,000. As evident from the age distribution of those fatalities, COVID-19 is dangerous not only for the elderly but for middle-aged adults, according to a Dartmouth-led study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.

Scientists from an international collaboration have found evidence of alpha particles at the surface of neutron-rich heavy nuclei, providing new insights into the structure of neutron stars, as well as the process of alpha decay.

Nanostructure-templated electrochemical polymerization enhances speed and selectivity in organic membrane-based processes.

"Ten simple rules for women principal investigators during a pandemic" was published recently in PLOS Computational Biology . It's perhaps important to note that despite its title, the article is careful to say that the cardinal rule is that there are no rules. So all 10 points outlined are in fact suggestions. Also despite its title, Rangamani says most of the 10 points outlined in the publicatio

* The study will help to improve prevention programmes since it "defines the most useful genes" for breast cancer risk prediction tests, the authors write* The study will be published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine' (NEJM) and is authored by 250 researchers from dozens of institutions in more than 25 countries* Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers today. One in eight women will

Breast cancer investigators in the Lambe Institute at NUI Galway have collaborated on a pivotal international study into breast cancer risk which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine today. The results of the study have identified that there are nine specific genes associated with breast cancer risk.

Curtin University researchers have uncovered a method of making silicon, found commonly in electronics such as phones, cameras and computers, at room temperature.

In the dark waters of Lake Superior, a fish species adapted to regain a genetic trait that may have helped its ancient ancestors see in the ocean, a study finds. "Evolution is often thought of as a one-way process, at least over deep time, but in this example, over 175 million years, we have this reversal back to a much earlier ancestral state," one of the researchers says.

Researchers discover 300 novel microbes living near the blazing hot jets of an underwater volcano near New Zealand

A bird flu outbreak that has required culls of hundreds of thousands of ducks in southwest France "seems under control for now," the government's top official in the region said Thursday.

The heavy eating and drinking that go along with tailgating doesn't affect all men the same way, new research suggests. Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine simulated a tailgating situation with a small group of overweight but healthy men and examined the impact of the eating and drinking on their livers using blood tests and a liver scan. They discovered remarkably diff

A bird flu outbreak that has required culls of hundreds of thousands of ducks in southwest France "seems under control for now," the government's top official in the region said Thursday.

A new study from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC, Spain) and the National Oceanography Centre brings unprecedented insights into the environmental constraints and climatic events that controlled the formation of the potentially oldest coral reefs in the Mediterranean.

This JAMA Insights review provides clinical details of anaphylactic reactions reported to and verified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the first week of use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

A multimodal pain regimen (MMPR) designed to minimize opioid exposure and relieve acute pain associated with traumatic injury kept patient self-reported pain scores low while also reducing the daily and total amount of opioid drugs given to trauma patients.

A research team from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has joined forces with French researchers from the The Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, Environment and Health (ICPEES), a CNRS-University of Strasbourg joint research lab, to pave the way towards the production of green hydrogen.

This randomized clinical trial compares the effects of three doses of bamlanivimab monotherapy (700 vs 2,800 vs 7,000 mg) vs combination bamlanivimab and etesevimab vs placebo on change in day 11 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 viral load in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

Scientists show evidence that nitrogen acquired during Earth's formation came from both the inner and outer regions of the protoplanetary disk. The study has implications for signs of potential habitability of exoplanets.

A large health insurance database in Taiwan was used to investigate whether obstructive sleep apnea is a risk factor in male infertility and if treatment for sleep apnea is associated with risk.

Researchers demonstrate a technique of tracheostomy that minimizes aerosolization risks while creating a tight seal around the tracheostomy tube.

The cases of two children with eye injuries after unintentional contact between alcohol-based hand rubs and the eye are described in this observation.

An increase in pediatric cases of alcohol-based hand sanitizer eye exposure was assessed in this study, which also described the severity of ocular lesions and their management.

Associations of the COVID-19 pandemic with overdoses among racial/ethnic groups in Philadelphia are described in this observational study.

This study estimated the frequency of reported forgone medical care because of the COVID-19 pandemic from March to mid-July 2020, including missed doses of prescription medications, forgone preventive and other general medical care, mental health care and elective surgeries, as well as reasons for forgoing care.

Researchers assembled suicide death data for people 10 and older from January 2015 through May 2020 in this observational study and they report stable rates of suicide deaths during the COVID-19 stay-at-home advisory in Massachusetts, a finding that paralleles others following ecological disasters.

Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in human corneas was examined in this study.

This study monitored suicide-related internet search rates during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and researchers report searches for suicide decreased during that time. Although this study cannot independently confirm that changes in search rates were caused by changes in population-level suicide rates, it showed that COVID-19 may have been inversely associated with

A first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial found that patients with pancreatic cancer didn't live any longer than expected after receiving pre-operative chemotherapy from either of the two standard regimens, according to trial results published in JAMA Oncology.

New research into opioid overdoses that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted new disparities along racial lines that are likely fueled by existing inequality

Patients treated with a vaccine tailored to mutated proteins on patients' own tumor cells, continue to have a strong immune response to the cancer four years after being vaccinated. Results demonstrate the ability of personalized cancer vaccines to provide long-term immunity against some cancers.

Giant ambush-predator worms, possible ancestors of the 'bobbit worm', may have colonized the seafloor of the Eurasian continent around 20 million years ago. The findings, based on the reconstruction of large, L-shaped burrows from layers of seafloor dating back to the Miocene (23 million to 5.3 million years ago) of northeast Taiwan, are reported in Scientific Reports this week.

Sixteen years of remote sensing data reveals that in Earth's largest freshwater lakes, climate change influences carbon fixation trends.

Polymer and radionuclide chemists report major advance in microcapsule drug delivery systems. Their microcapsules — labeled with radioactive zirconium-89 — are the first example of hollow polymer capsules capable of long-term, multiday positron emission tomography imaging in vivo. In previous work, the researchers showed that the hollow capsules could be filled with a potent dose of the cancer d

The study participants continued to improve their antibodies months after initial infection, potentially due to exposure to remnants of the virus hidden in the gut.

For the study 40 infants of women diagnosed with postpartum depression were matched with 40 infants of non-depressed mothers on infant age, gender and socioeconomic status. The mothers with postpartum depression received nine weeks of group CBT. The infants were all tested before the treatment and nine weeks later, including a questionnaire on the infant behaviour completed by the mother and her p

The first cases treated with gene-editing technology were recently published in an article co-authored by Dr. Damiano Rondelli, the Michael Reese Professor of Hematology at the UIC College of Medicine. The article reports two patients have been cured of beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease after their own genes were edited with CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The two researchers who invented this tech

Far below the gaseous atmospheric shroud on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, lies Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane. Cornell University astronomers have estimated that sea to be at least 1,000-feet deep near its center – enough room for a potential robotic submarine to explore.

Indigenous peoples' lands may harbour a significant proportion of threatened and endangered species globally, according to University of Queensland-led research.

Researchers at Duke University have developed a predictive theory for tumor growth that approaches the subject from a new point of view. Rather than focusing on the biological mechanisms of cellular growth, the researchers instead use thermodynamics and the physical space the tumor is expanding into to predict its evolution from a single cell to a complex cancerous mass.

In a new study, Luis H. Cisneros and his colleagues describe the effects of antibiotics on membrane vesicles, demonstrating that such drugs actively modify the properties of vesicle transport. Under the influence of antibiotics, MVs were produced and released by bacteria in greater abundance and traveled faster and further from their origin. The work sheds new light on these important information-

All that sanitizer people have been using since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic has led to more than just dry hands and eye-watering smells: It's nearly blinding some children.

Harbor porpoises have rebounded in a big way off California. Their populations have recovered dramatically since the end of state set-gillnet fisheries that years ago entangled and killed them in the nearshore waters they frequent. These coastal set-gillnet fisheries are distinct from federally-managed offshore drift-gillnet fisheries. They have been prohibited in inshore state waters for more tha

Former California Governor — and over-the-top 80s and 90s action movie star — Arnold Schwarzenegger got the first of two injections that make up the coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday. Like several other public figures , the actor-turned-politician decided to get vaccinated on camera, NBC reports , so that he could use the opportunity to encourage anyone who might be hesitant about getting the COVI

Harbor porpoises have rebounded in a big way off California. Their populations have recovered dramatically since the end of state set-gillnet fisheries that years ago entangled and killed them in the nearshore waters they frequent. These coastal set-gillnet fisheries are distinct from federally-managed offshore drift-gillnet fisheries. They have been prohibited in inshore state waters for more tha

Scientists at the University of Bonn have built hair-thin optical fiber filters in a very simple way. They are not only extremely compact and stable, but also color-tunable. This means they can be used in quantum technology and as sensors for temperature or for detecting atmospheric gases. The results have been published in the journal Optics Express.

Robots are widely used to build cars, paint airplanes and sew clothing in factories, but the assembly of microscopic components, such as those for biomedical applications, has not yet been automated. Lasers could be the solution. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have used lasers to create miniature robots from bubbles that lift, drop and manipulate small pieces into

Better grades thanks to your fellow students? A study conducted by the University of Zurich's Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics has revealed that not only the grade point average, gender and nationality peers can influence your own academic achievement, but so can their personalities. Intensive contact and interaction with persistent fellow students improve your own performance, and t

An extra 290,000 pounds a year for lighting and cleaning because smog darkens and pollutes everything: with this cost estimate for the industrial city of Manchester, the English economist Arthur Cecil Pigou once founded the theory of environmental taxation. In the classic "The Economics of Welfare," the first edition of which was published as early as 1920, he proved that by allowing such 'externa

When humans first domesticated maize some 9,000 years ago, those early breeding efforts led to an increase in harmful mutations to the crop's genome compared to their wild relatives, which more recent modern breeding has helped to correct.

Extremophiles grown under a starlight simulator suggest that exoplanets orbiting red dwarf stars may have conditions ripe for photosynthesis, say researchers.

When humans first domesticated maize some 9,000 years ago, those early breeding efforts led to an increase in harmful mutations to the crop's genome compared to their wild relatives, which more recent modern breeding has helped to correct.

Scientists believe 2-metre-long burrow once housed predator that ambushed passing sea creatures The undersea lair of a giant worm that ambushed passing marine creatures 20m years ago has been uncovered by fossil hunters in Taiwan. Researchers believe the 2-metre-long burrow found in ancient marine sediment once housed a prehistoric predator that burst out of the seabed and dragged unsuspecting an

PLUS. Forskere gav sig fuldhjertet i kast med løsninger på pandemien. Det satte systemet under pres, men viste også ny en tilgang, som fremover kan få betydning for forskning og innovation.

Scientists say they've got 20-million-year-old evidence of giant worms that hunted in pretty much the most nightmarish way possible.

The price tag might still make you blink, but Samsung's new flagship has one of the best cameras in a smartphone.

The litter stabilization system, in this configuration, consists of two units, one at each end of the rescue basket. (Scott C Childress / U.S. Army/) When Caleb Carr was 15, he was taking part in a search-and-rescue training expedition in Oregon, and an adult on the trip suffered a heart attack. A helicopter from the state's National Guard arrived to try to airlift the man out, but the operation

As the founder of a startup, Tracy Young often worried that employees and investors valued male CEOs more — and that being a woman compromised her position as a leader. In this brave, personal talk, she gives an honest look at the constraints women face when trying to adapt to a male-dominated business culture — and shares how she developed the courage and vulnerability to lead as her complete,

Researchers from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili's (Tarragona/Spain) research group TecnATox have optimized the website FishChoice, which helps to consume fish and seafood in a sustainable fashion and not just maximize benefits and minimize risks. The tool has been developed in the framework of a project funded by the European Commission's program H2020.

Giant ambush-predator worms, possible ancestors of the 'bobbit worm', may have colonized the seafloor of the Eurasian continent around 20 million years ago. The findings, based on the reconstruction of large, L-shaped burrows from layers of seafloor dating back to the Miocene (23 million to 5.3 million years ago) of northeast Taiwan, are reported in Scientific Reports this week.

Scientists from the CNRS, CNES, IRD, Sorbonne Université, l'Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier and their Australian colleagues, with the support of the IPEV, have concluded that the slight cooling observed at the surface of the Southern Ocean hides a rapid and marked warming of the waters, to a depth of up to 800 metres. These results were obtained thanks to unique data acquired over the past

Researchers conducted a nationally representative study with more than 3,500 participants to test how six common terms describing someone treated for opioid-related impairment influenced perceptions. The researchers found that there was not one single term that can reduce all potential stigma biases.

A new study shows that humans express a powerful hormone during exercise and that treating mice with the hormone improves physical performance, capacity and fitness. Researchers say the findings present new possibilities for addressing age-related physical decline.

Harbor porpoises have rebounded in a big way off California. Their populations have recovered dramatically since the end of state set-gillnet fisheries that years ago entangled and killed them in the nearshore waters they frequent. These coastal set-gillnet fisheries are distinct from federally-managed offshore drift-gillnet fisheries. They have been prohibited in inshore state waters for more tha

A new Cornell University study found that harmful mutations in sorghum landraces – early domesticated crops – decreased compared to their wild relatives through the course of domestication and breeding.

Various software packages can be used to evaluate products and predict failure; however, these packages are extremely computationally intensive and take a significant amount of time to produce a solution. Quicker solutions mean less accurate results.

Giant ambush-predator worms, possible ancestors of the 'bobbit worm', may have colonized the seafloor of the Eurasian continent around 20 million years ago. The findings, based on the reconstruction of large, L-shaped burrows from layers of seafloor dating back to the Miocene (23 million to 5.3 million years ago) of northeast Taiwan, are reported in Scientific Reports this week.

If you walk without rhythm…

[no content]

[no content]

[no content]

Suspected outbreaks recorded in 635 facilities, but vaccinations delayed despite NHS deadline to protect vulnerable people Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Covid outbreaks are slowing delivery of the vaccine to some care homes in England as GPs postpone jabs in infected facilities. Managers say they have been left as sitting ducks. Suspected Covid outbreaks were recor

Host vouchering, the practice of preserving species known to harbor infectious diseases, can be used to help determine a pathogen's source, scientists say.

In 1987, a giant star exploded right next to our own Milky Way galaxy. It was the brightest and closest supernova since the invention of the telescope some four centuries earlier, and just about every observatory turned to take a look. Perhaps most excitingly, specialized observatories buried deep underground captured shy subatomic particles called neutrinos streaming out of the blast. These part

Understanding the genetic and environmental factors that enable some feral honey bee colonies to tolerate pathogens and survive the winter in the absence of beekeeping management may help lead to breeding stocks that would enhance survival of managed colonies, according to a study led by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Ma and her colleagues at the University of California and the University of Florida used molecular plant pathology approaches to dissect the mechanisms of the ongoing tug-of-war between the citrus host and the bacterial pathogen that causes citrus greening disease.

In 2020, the political implementation of Arthur Cecil Pigou's insight has gained strength, important objections are being invalidated, and carbon pricing appears more efficient than regulations and bans according to a study by PIK and MCC.

Distraction can make you momentarily forget things. But how? Davis lab at Scripps Research, Florida uncovers a mechanism in fruit flies.

A new study from researchers at the Allen Institute collected and analyzed the largest single dataset of neurons' electrical activity to glean principles of how we perceive the visual world around us. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, captures the hundreds of split-second electrical signals that fire when an animal is interpreting what it sees.

Researchers Yulia Chilipenok, Olga Gaponova, Nadezhda Gaponova and Lyubov Danilova of HSE – Nizhny Novgorod looked at how the lockdown has impacted Russian women during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper was published in the Woman in Russian Society Journal.

Skoltech researchers and their collaborators from France, the US, Switzerland, and Australia were able to create and describe a mixed oxide Na(Li1/3Mn2/3)O2 that holds promise as a cathode material for sodium-ion batteries, which can take one day complement or even replace lithium-ion batteries.

In an article published in Nature Communications , Brazilian researchers show for the first time that in severe cases of scorpion envenomation it is the neuroimmune reaction triggered by the venom that leads to death.

Scientists at the University of Bonn have built hair-thin optical fibre filters in a very simple way. They are not only extremely compact and stable, but also colour-tunable. This means they can be used in quantum technology and as sensors for temperature or for detecting atmospheric gases. The results have been published in the journal "Optics Express".

Since SARS-CoV-2 was identified in December 2019, researchers have worked feverishly to study the novel coronavirus. Although much knowledge has been gained, scientists still have a lot to learn about how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with the human body, and how the immune system fights it. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science have developed a mathematical model of SARS-C

A comparison of chemical and climate weathering of sedimentary rock in Mars' Gale Crater indicate the region's mean temperature billions of years ago was akin to current conditions on Iceland.

Robots are widely used to build cars, paint airplanes and sew clothing in factories, but the assembly of microscopic components, such as those for biomedical applications, has not yet been automated. Lasers could be the solution. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have used lasers to create miniature robots from bubbles that lift, drop and manipulate small pieces into

Better grades thanks to your fellow students? A study conducted by the University of Zurich's Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics has revealed that not only the grade point average, gender and nationality peers can influence your own academic achievement, but so can their personalities. Intensive contact and interaction with persistent fellow students improve your own performance, and t

Newly published research shows that a new anti-cancer drug developed at the University of Alberta, set to begin human trials this year, may work against breast cancer as well as blood cancer.

To achieve success, experts estimate that at least 70 to 90 percent of the population must be inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine to achieve herd immunity, but how can we ensure folks will voluntarily receive a vaccine? An examination of scientific evidence on incentivizing vaccine adherence found that modest financial incentives resulted in as much as a 7-fold increase in adherence compared to no

Researchers say giant landmasses form at regular intervals in predictable locations

De föds och dör i Sargassohavet, men är annars spridda över stora geografiska områden. Till skillnad från andra djur med stort utbredningsområde, har alla ålar samma genetiska uppsättning. Forskare som jämfört hela arvsmassan hos ålar från olika delar av Europa och Nordafrika är förvånade. – När vi jämför ålar från olika områden hittar vi inga som helst skillnader i frekvensen av genvarianter. Tr

US Special Envoy on climate John Kerry says President Trump's Paris pull-out endangered lives.

An ancient fossil has been identified as the ancestor of all starfish-like animals living on the planet today, according to a new study.

Artificial intelligence that's smarter than us could potentially solve problems beyond our grasp. AI that are self-learning can absorb whatever information they need from the internet, a Pandora's Box if ever there was one. The nature of computing itself prevents us from limiting the actions of a super-intelligent AI if it gets out of control. There have been a fair number of voices— Stephen Hawk

Nature, Published online: 21 January 2021; doi:10.1038/d41586-021-00138-4 Plastic bags and wrappers host a thriving community of ocean creatures.

Vaccination on its own is not a way out of this pandemic. We need to use other tools and involve ordinary people Helen Ward is professor of public health at Imperial College London Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Back in April 2020, I wrote of my despair that so many people were desperately ill and dying because politicians had "refused to listen and act on advice".

Countries where massive natural hazard events occur frequently are not more likely than others to make changes to reduce risks from future disasters. This is shown in an interdisciplinary Uppsala University study now published in Nature Communications.

Snap-through unbending movement of the body is the main reason for the clicking beetle's fast acceleration.

This was agreed by 74% of the more than 4,200 respondents in 46 countries. In fact, more than half of them (55.8%) stated that they would have preferred to have more plants in their house during that difficult period.

Respiratory diseases like influenza can spread rapidly and escalate to global health crises. Thus, to control them, simple yet sensitive detection techniques are needed. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a potential candidate but currently lacks reproducibility. To overcome this, researchers in Korea have now developed a novel SERS-based sensor that can effectively detect influenza A vir

Chemists at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena have demonstrated the value of 'teamwork' by successfully harnessing the interaction between two gallium atoms in a novel compound to split the particularly strong bond between fluorine and carbon. The gallium compound is also cheaper and more environmentally friendly than conventional alternatives.

Researchers from King's College London have shown that whole body magnetic resonance imaging (WBMRI) not only detects more myeloma-defining disease than positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) but that it also allows critical treatment to be initiated earlier.

Two novel techniques, atomic-resolution real-time video and conical carbon nanotube confinement, allow researchers to view never-before-seen details about crystal formation. The observations confirm theoretical predictions about how salt crystals form and could inform general theories about the way in which crystal formation produces different ordered structures from an otherwise disordered chemic

Researchers from the Laboratory of Behavioural Neurodynamics at St Petersburg University have studied how different types of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the brain affect the acquisition of new words. Their experiments have shown that cathodal tDCS over Wernicke's area enables subjects to better remember new abstract words – those that refer to non-physical entities and ideas.

A meteorite that fell in northern Germany in 2019 contains carbonates which are among the oldest in the solar system; it also evidences the earliest presence of liquid water on a minute planet. The high-resolution Ion Probe – a research instrument at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University – provided the measurements.

When Iceland's Laki volcano erupted in 1783, its effects rippled around the world. UArizona researchers have analyzed Alaskan tree rings to understand how climate responded in northwestern North America. The work will aid in fine-tuning future climate models.

Football watch parties are synonymous with eating fatty foods and drinking alcohol. Have you ever wondered what all of that eating and drinking does to your body? Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine simulated a tailgating situation with a small group of overweight but healthy men and examined the impact of the eating and drinking on their livers using blood tests and a l

A corpse is a home to the burying beetle, and UConn researchers are learning how this specialist critter keeps its home free of unwanted visitors.

Older adults are managing the stress of the coronavirus pandemic better than younger adults, reporting less depression and anxiety despite also experiencing greater general concern about COVID-19, according to a study recently published by researchers at the UConn School of Nursing.

The team's work shows that early pathological processes in the brains of individuals who are genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer's disease are modulated by a pancreatic hormone called amylin. This study is the first to show that the brains of patients with familial AD accumulate amyloid-forming amylin secreted by the pancreas.

This is a non-coding section of the RNA, which means that it is not translated into a protein, but it is likely key to the virus's replication.

An international research team has developed a fast and affordable quantum random number generator. The device created by scientists from NUST MISIS, Russian Quantum Center, University of Oxford, Goldsmiths, University of London and Freie Universität Berlin produces randomness at a rate of 8.05 gigabits per second, which makes it the fastest random number generator of its kind. The study has been

A smile that lifts the cheeks and crinkles the eyes is thought by many to be truly genuine. But new research at Carnegie Mellon University casts doubt on whether this joyful facial expression necessarily tells others how a person really feels inside.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) ranks among the globally most important causes of infections in humans and is considered a dreaded hospital pathogen. Active and passive immunisation against multi-resistant strains is seen as a potentially valuable alternative to antibiotic therapy. However, all vaccine candidates so far have been clinically unsuccessful. With an epitope-based immunisation, scien

Kyoto University researchers analyze the effects of the hormone oxytocin in our closest primate cousins, bonobos and chimpanzees by tracking their eye movement — a important indicator of social interaction. Similar to other mammals, oxytocin increases eye contact in bonobos. However, the opposite effect is observed in chimpanzees. Therefore, oxytocin could play a modulating role in the social evo

European eels spawn in the subtropical Sargasso Sea but spend most of their adult life in a range of fresh- and brackish waters, across Europe and Northern Africa. Using whole-genome analysis, a team of scientists led from Uppsala University provides conclusive evidence that all European eels belong to a single panmictic population irrespective of where they spend their adult life, an extraordinar

Scientists generally believe that cancers lack a powerful and important diversification mechanism available to pathogenic microbes – the ability to exchange and recombine genetic material between different cells. However, in a new article published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers demonstrate that this belief is wrong and that cancer cells are capable of exchanging

Researchers say they have been able to greatly improve the readout of data from digital memories – thanks to a phenomenon known as 'quantum entanglement'.

In normal times, end-of-life care discussions are most commonly led by senior doctors. However, new research from a busy London hospital shows that the high numbers of deaths taking place in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, frequently out-of-hours, is leading to junior (foundation level) doctors having to lead on these difficult discussions with families, often with no formal experience or

Quarantine time after contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case could potentially be reduced to 7 days without raising the risk of onward transmission of the virus by testing people on the seventh day of quarantine with either a PCR or lateral flow antigen (LFA) test, findings from an English modelling study published today in The Lancet Public Health journal suggest.

The giant predators weren't closely related to today's canines, even if they look quite a lot alike. (MAURICIO ANTÓN/) When you picture a dire wolf, the image that comes to mind is probably one of those unbelievably fluffy yet terrifying creatures that inhabited Winterfell in Game of Thrones. And you'd hardly be the only one, fans of the show that fell in love with its otherworldly pups started b

Reckless Driving Ever since Tesla decided to advertise its self driving feature as " Autopilot ," drivers have gotten into varying degrees of trouble for letting their vehicles take the reins on the highway — while they take a nap at the wheel. The obvious danger didn't discourage TikTok star Johnathon Cook, whose over one million followers were able to watch him tuck himself in to a cozy bed in

Scientists have developed a flexible underwater robot that can propel itself through water in the same style as nature's most efficient swimmer – the Aurelia aurita jellyfish.

Scientists have developed a metamaterial whose mechanical properties can be reprogrammed on demand and whose internal structure can be modified by applying a magnetic field.

Stanford scientists have identified a key factor in mental aging and shown that it might be prevented or reversed by fixing a glitch in the immune system's frontline soldiers.

PLUS. Danske forskere søger i nyt EU-projekt forklaringer på de kulturelle, genetiske og befolkningsmæssige forandringer, der opstod, da bronze blev verdens mest eftertragtede materiale.

It took evolution three or four billion years to produce Homo sapiens. If the climate had completely failed just once in that time, then evolution would have come to a crashing halt and we would not be here now. So to understand how we came to exist on planet Earth, we'll need to know how Earth managed to stay fit for life for billions of years. This is not a trivial problem. Current global warmi

submitted by /u/ava_flava123 [link] [comments]

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

Imagine the texture of a plant. Many may come to mind—the smooth rubberiness of many tropical houseplants, the impossibly soft lamb's ear, the sharp spines of cacti, or the roughness of tree bark. But stickiness, in the flypaper-stick-to-your-fingers sense, probably isn't at the top of your list.

A study by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers shows that putatively immature dendritic cells found in young children are able to induce robust immune responses. The results could lead to improved vaccination protocols.

Successful weight loss is considered to be an integral part of the therapy for type 2 diabetes. New data from a large-scale observational study carried out at German Institute of Human Nutrition in cooperation with the German Center for Diabetes Research support the current recommendations of physicians. The findings, published in the journal Diabetologia, suggest that obesity and weight gain can

The imaging time window of 64Cu-DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms can be expanded from one hour to three hours post-injection, according to new research published in the January issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. In a head-to-head comparison of scans performed at the two time intervals, there were no significant dif

Eliminating a single gene can turn exhausted cancer-fighting immune cells known as CD8+ T cells back into refreshed soldiers that can continue to battle malignant tumors, a new study led by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The findings, published online this week in the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, could offer a new way to harness the body's immune system to attack cancers.

A protein found commonly in human blood might help with the detection of hard-to-diagnose pancreatic tumours. Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Alfried Krupp Hospital in Essen and the University of Witten/Herdecke have developed approach using the protein's structure and its function as a proxy for this. In a first study in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science

One of Brazil's worst environmental disasters – a dam collapse that also killed more than 200 people – could have been foreseen with latest satellite radar imaging technique, according to a new study by the University of Nottingham and Durham University.

A working group at MedUni Vienna develops strategies for regeneration of articular cartilage and has found that natural cartilage matrix is suitable as a biomaterial for improved cartilage regeneration.

Water splitting research for solar hydrogen production has focused on physical processes inside the semiconductor, such as light absorption, charge separation, and chemical processes on the surface that are highly complex and rely on the development of new materials. The concept proposed in this study is design of the electrolyte-photocatalyst interface. The approach of immobilizing functional gro

Patients with motor dysfunctions are on the rise across Japan as its population continues to age. A Tohoku University researcher has developed a new method of rehabilitation using virtual reality to increase the sense of agency over our body and aid motor skills.

UV-radiation can affect hormone levels of postmenopausal women negatively and this may contribute to several health issues, according to new research from Kai Triebner, University of Bergen, and colleagues.

Paleontologists in Argentina have partially uncovered the remains of what is believed to be the largest animal to ever walk the Earth.

A new study on the rotation of the universe's first light could suggest physicists need new rule-breaking subatomic particles

Surprisingly, the fate of a star is easy to predict. All you need to know is how big it is.

Three years ago, two neutron stars collided in a cataclysmic crash, the first such merger ever observed directly. Naturally, scientists kept their eye on it — and now, something strange is happening.

Male springbok mantises that attack females can sometimes escape cannibalism.

SpaceX plans to test-fire its enormous Starship prototype's engines in Boca Chica, Texas at some point today (Jan. 20).

Regular energy flares that emerge from galaxy ESO 253-3 are produced by a black hole about 20 times larger than the one at the center of the Milky Way.

The eruption lit up the night sky and dropped ash miles away.

The study also found that the virus can spread more than 6 feet (2 meters) in just seconds.

The U.S. has now tallied more than 24.2 million cases and more than 400,000 deaths.

A stolen copy of a da Vinci painting has turned up in an Italian apartment, even though no one knew it was missing. The museum where it was kept had been shuttered due to COVID-19.

Zircon crystals found in stream sediments in Greenland have revealed how the Earth's crust rapidly grew during peak mantle activity.

Scientists describe a new species of assassin bug from a fossil that dates to around 50 million years ago and includes the insect's intact genitals.

The incoming CDC director has a lot of work to do, and she knows it.

Here's what a dinosaur butthole looks like (you're welcome).

Particles called axions may be the reason the 'Magnificent 7' cluster of neutron stars emits extreme X-rays.

Scientists used chicken eggs as a model for the human skull and brain.

Donald Trump's chaotic final days in the White House could present President Joe Biden with a historic opportunity to broaden his base of public support and splinter Republican opposition to his agenda. Recent polls have repeatedly found that about three-fourths or more of GOP voters accept Trump's disproven charges that Biden stole the 2020 election, a number that has understandably alarmed dome

After patenting the telephone, the famous inventor turned his attention to giant tetrahedral kites capable of lifting people into the air — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Imagine the texture of a plant. Many may come to mind—the smooth rubberiness of many tropical houseplants, the impossibly soft lamb's ear, the sharp spines of cacti, or the roughness of tree bark. But stickiness, in the flypaper-stick-to-your-fingers sense, probably isn't at the top of your list.

Until COVID-19 vaccine supply increases, "we are better off vaccinating twice as many people" with a first dose only, says Christopher Gill, an infectious disease specialist with vaccine development expertise. To curb the spread of coronavirus, some experts, including Gill , advocate for a vaccination strategy that prioritizes giving as many people as possible their first dose of the COVID-19 vac

On January 5, 2021, the day before the world watched in horror as the U.S. Capitol was assaulted, the Trump administration laid siege to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The revision is a major blow to conservation efforts, lifting penalties for industries that accidentally cause harm to birds protected under the act.

Scientists have developed a flexible underwater robot that can propel itself through water in the same style as nature's most efficient swimmer – the Aurelia aurita jellyfish.

On January 5, 2021, the day before the world watched in horror as the U.S. Capitol was assaulted, the Trump administration laid siege to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The revision is a major blow to conservation efforts, lifting penalties for industries that accidentally cause harm to birds protected under the act.

A robot inspired by the shape and delicate underwater movements of a jellyfish, allowing it to safely explore endangered coral reefs, was unveiled by British scientists on Wednesday.

Research from Australia has found that some species of fish will have higher reproductive capacity because of larger sex organs, under the more acidic oceans of the future.

Thirty-five people have died in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since April 2018, with a seven-fold increase in deaths even as the average daily population decreased by nearly a third between 2019 and 2020, a new USC study shows.

– Using advanced scientific methods, researchers from Tel Aviv University found that stone tools of the type known as 'chopping tools' were used to break open the bones of animals. – The researchers: "The bones must be broken neatly in two, which requires great skill and precision". – Tools of this type were used for over two million years. They were found in large quantities at prehistoric sites

Electrical trigger sites in neurons surprisingly change with experience; they are either becoming smaller with increasing number of experiences and, vice versa, they grow larger when less input arrives in the brain.

Two scientists from CNRS and Sorbonne University working at the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation (Paris Observatory – PSL/CNRS) have just shown that the influence of Saturn's satellites can explain the tilt of the rotation axis of the gas giant. Their work, published on 18 January 2021 in the journal Nature Astronomy, also predicts that the tilt will increase even further

The fabrication of shape-memory hydrogel scaffolds not only requires biocompatibility, micrometre resolution, high mechanical strength, but also requires a low polymerisation threshold in high-water content environment to incorporate microstructures with biological tissues. Towards this goal, scientists from China and australite developed a new hydrogel formula that full fills this goal and demons

The fluttery flight of butterflies has so far been somewhat of a mystery to researchers, given their unusually large and broad wings relative to their body size. Now researchers at Lund University in Sweden have studied the aerodynamics of butterflies in a wind tunnel. The results suggest that butterflies use a highly effective clap technique, therefore making use of their unique wings. This helps

A mathematical framework enables accurate characterization of shapes

Changes in climate that occur over short periods of time influence biodiversity. For a realistic assessment of these effects, it is necessary to also consider previous temperature trends going far back into Earth's history. Researchers from the University of Bayreuth and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg show this in a paper for "Nature Ecology and Evolution".

In a paper published in NANO , researchers from Hubei, China discuss the top-down and bottom-up strategies for the synthesis of Graphene quantum dots (GQDs). The respective advantages and disadvantages of these methods are summarized. With regard to some important or novel ones, the mechanisms are proposed for reference. In addition, the application of GQDs in biosensors is highlighted in detail.

Numerous natural products are awaiting discovery in all kinds of natural habitats. Especially microorganisms such as bacteria or fungi are able to produce diverse natural products with high biomedical application potential in particular as antibiotics and anticancer agents. Researchers from GEOMAR and Kiel University isolated red yeast of the species Rhodotorula mucilaginosa from a deep-sea sedime

A recent McGill study published in Environmental Science and Technology finds that annual methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas (AOG) wells in Canada and the US have been greatly underestimated – by as much as 150% in Canada, and by 20% in the US. Indeed, the research suggests that methane gas emissions from AOG wells are currently the 10th and 11th largest sources of anthropogenic methane

A robot inspired by the shape and delicate underwater movements of a jellyfish, allowing it to safely explore endangered coral reefs, was unveiled by British scientists on Wednesday.

There are significant disparities in South Africa's education system. Schools are divided into quintiles, from one to five; the poorest, in quintile one, struggle enormously with a lack of resources and support. They also tend to have poorer educational outcomes. That has a direct effect on university admission and outcomes.

In non-pandemic times, a person goes missing every 90 seconds in the UK, either intentionally, accidentally or because they are forced to. While many missing people are found quickly or return voluntarily, some do come to emotional, physical and sexual harm, including self-harm.

New research raises a question straight out of science fiction: Is it possible to activate the biological impulse that prompts dormancy in some living creatures in others, such as humans? A new study models what regulates metabolism in an insect called the flesh fly during its dormant, or diapause, phase. The flies enter into a state of massive "metabolic depression" that is regularly punctuated

Developing economies suffer from a paradox: they don't receive investment flows from developed economies because they lack stability and high-quality financial and lawmaking institutions, but they can't develop those institutions without foreign funds.

European eels spawn in the subtropical Sargasso Sea but spend most of their adult life in a range of fresh- and brackish waters, across Europe and Northern Africa. How eels adapt to such diverse environments has long puzzled biologists. Using whole-genome analysis, a team of scientists led from Uppsala University provides conclusive evidence that all European eels belong to a single panmictic popu

Australia's Threatened Species Strategy—a five-year plan for protecting our imperiled species and ecosystems—fizzled to an end last year. A new 10-year plan is being developed to take its place, likely from March.

Major anti-vaccination voices and organizations have coalesced around three key messages to keep people from accepting the COVID-19 vaccine. Their playbook has now been exposed. The post first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .

European eels spawn in the subtropical Sargasso Sea but spend most of their adult life in a range of fresh- and brackish waters, across Europe and Northern Africa. How eels adapt to such diverse environments has long puzzled biologists. Using whole-genome analysis, a team of scientists led from Uppsala University provides conclusive evidence that all European eels belong to a single panmictic popu

Australia's Threatened Species Strategy—a five-year plan for protecting our imperiled species and ecosystems—fizzled to an end last year. A new 10-year plan is being developed to take its place, likely from March.

A team of researchers with Naturales y Museo, Universidad de Zaragoza and Universidad Nacional del Comahue has found evidence that suggests the remains of a dinosaur discovered in Argentina in 2012 may represent a creature that was the largest ever to walk the Earth. In their paper published in the journal Cretaceous Research, the group describes the fossilized remains that have been found so far

A recent study suggests the possible existence of 'stupendously large black holes' or SLABS, even larger than the supermassive black holes already observed in the centers of galaxies.

A research team from the Skoltech Center for Design, Manufacturing and Materials (CDMM) comprising 2nd year Ph.D. student Maxim Isachenkov, Senior Research Scientist Svyatoslav Chugunov, Professor Iskander Akhatov, and Professor Igor Shishkovsky has prepared an extensive review on the use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies (also known as 3-D-printing) in crewed lunar exploration. Their pa

A team of researchers with Naturales y Museo, Universidad de Zaragoza and Universidad Nacional del Comahue has found evidence that suggests the remains of a dinosaur discovered in Argentina in 2012 may represent a creature that was the largest ever to walk the Earth. In their paper published in the journal Cretaceous Research, the group describes the fossilized remains that have been found so far

In the face of ongoing conflict and environmental degradation, how might a nation, such as Nigeria, build a democracy that might be sustained? That is the question addressed by work published in the International Journal of Sustainable Society.

In 2018, passengers onboard a flight to Australia experienced a terrifying 10-second nosedive when a vortex trailing their plane crossed into the wake of another flight. The collision of these vortices, the airline suspected, created violent turbulence that led to a free fall.

In the dark waters of Lake Superior, a fish species adapted to regain a genetic trait that may have helped its ancient ancestors see in the ocean, a study finds.

A recent McGill study published in Environmental Science and Technology finds that annual methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas (AOG) wells in Canada and the US have been greatly underestimated—by as much as 150% in Canada, and by 20% in the US. Indeed, the research suggests that methane gas emissions from AOG wells are currently the 10th and 11th largest sources of anthropogenic methane em