270 articles from MONDAY 9.3.2020

Second person ever to be cleared of HIV reveals identity

Adam Castillejo, known as the London patient, goes public to give hope to others with illnessThe second person ever to be cleared of HIV has revealed his identity, saying he wants to be an “ambassador of hope” to others with the condition.Adam Castillejo, the so-called London patient, was declared free of HIV last year, 18 months after stopping antiretroviral therapy following a stem cell –...

Ultrathin organic solar cell is both efficient and durable

Scientists have succeeded in creating an ultrathin organic solar cell that is both highly efficient and durable. Using a simple post-annealing process, they created a flexible organic cell that degrades by less than 5% over 3,000 hours in atmospheric conditions and that simultaneously has an energy conversion ratio -- a key indicator of solar cell performance -- of 13%.

Robots that admit mistakes foster better conversation in humans

A new study showed that the humans on teams that included a robot expressing vulnerability communicated more with each other and later reported having a more positive group experience than people teamed with silent robots or with robots that made neutral statements, like reciting the game's score.

Protecting DNA origami for anti-cancer drug delivery

Scientists have designed and synthesized chains of molecules with a precise sequence and length to efficiently protect 3-D DNA nanostructures from structural degradation under a variety of biomedically relevant conditions. They demonstrated how these "peptoid-coated DNA origami" have the potential to be used for delivering anti-cancer drugs and proteins, imaging biological molecules, and targeting...

The Guardian view on the market meltdown: a wake-up call for Westminster | Editorial

Panic in the City and on Wall Street underlines the need for governments to do (and spend) whatever it takes in dealing with the coronavirus crisisAs coronavirus has spread globally since February, a tenuous balancing act has been attempted in Britain and much of the rest of the world. Governments have assured populations that necessary precautions and preparations are being undertaken to deal...

'Deceptively simple' process could boost plastics recycling

Plastics are a victim of their own success, so inexpensive, easy to use and versatile that the world is awash in plastic waste. Now researchers have reported a new method of producing polyolefins -- made from hydrocarbons and the most common building block of plastics -- structured to address one of the biggest stumbling blocks to plastics recycling.

Those with flu or cold could be asked to self-isolate, UK government says

Chief medical officer says new regime for minor illnesses likely to start in next fortnight Coronavirus latest - live updatesPeople with symptoms as minor as coughs and colds could be asked to self-isolate within the next two weeks, the government warned on Monday, as Boris Johnson defended the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.Speaking at a press conference with the prime...

Coronavirus: British couple on holiday ‘left infections everywhere’

Britons unknowingly passed on virus after contracting it on flight from London to VietnamCoronavirus latest - live updatesA British couple on holiday in Vietnam have been told they “left infections everywhere” over several days after unknowingly contracting coronavirus from a fellow passenger on their flight from Heathrow.Graham Craddock, 68, and his wife, Mary, 69, are in quarantine in Hanoi...

Ancient shell shows days were half-hour shorter 70 million years ago

Earth turned faster at the end of the time of the dinosaurs than it does today, rotating 372 times a year, compared to the current 365, according to a new study of fossil mollusk shells from the late Cretaceous. The new measurement informs models of how the Moon formed and how close to Earth it has been over the 4.5-billion-year history of the Earth-Moon gravitational dance.

Climate change at Mount Rainier to increase 'mismatch' between visitors, wildflowers

The wildflowers of Mount Rainier's subalpine meadows, which bloom once the winter snowpack melts, are a major draw for the more than 1 million visitors to this national park in Washington state each spring and summer. But by the end of this century, scientists expect that snow will melt months earlier due to climate change. New research shows that, under those conditions, many visitors would miss...

Machine learning augments detection of methane leaks

Though not as prevalent in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas. Occurring naturally as well as being manmade, methane is much shorter-lived than CO2, but it is fast acting and 20 to 80 times as effective at trapping heat. A little extra methane goes a long way.

Blast of Arctic air to bring return of snow, January-like cold to northern Rockies, northwestern US

Cold air has generally been on the retreat across much of the United States so far this March, but a fresh wave of Arctic air is poised to slash temperatures by 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit from their midweek highs, and it will have snowy consequences by this weekend.The interior Northwest and northern Rockies are notorious for dramatic temperature swings and although the upcoming setup will not break...

Citizen Scientists Supercharged Data from NASA’s TESS Mission and Helped A Planet Come to Light

You may have heard about the recent discovery of a new planet orbiting a pair of “eclipsing binary” stars led by summer intern Wolf Cukier and his mentor, Veselin Kostov, using data from NASA’s TESS mission.  Eclipsing binaries are pairs of stars whose orbits are lined up in a handy way so the stars pass in front of one another now and then with one star blocking the light from the...