244 articles from THURSDAY 2.4.2020

Spacewatch: Nasa SunRise mission to study solar storms

Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment aims to pinpoint places where giant particle storms are launched into spaceNasa has selected a new mission that will study how space weather forms on the sun and launches radiation storms into space.Called the Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), the mission consists of six small CubeSats that will provide three dimensional maps of solar...

Lockdown was supposed to be an introvert’s paradise. It’s not.

This was supposed to be the moment for introverts—the disaster preppers of our new, covid-ravaged social lives. Those who cherished their time alone at home were already experts at voluntary self-isolation. Once, backing out of happy hour at a bar to read a book made you a bad friend. Now it’s patriotic.  In a TikTok from early March with 1.8 million views, an introvert watches...

Gut communicates with the entire brain through cross-talking neurons

You know that feeling in your gut? We think of it as an innate intuition that sparks deep in the belly and helps guide our actions, if we let it. It's also a metaphor for what scientists call the 'gut-brain axis,' a biological reality in which the gut and its microbial inhabitants send signals to the brain, and vice versa.

Royal Mail staff 'lack sufficient protection' from coronavirus

Communication Workers Union estimates half of sorting offices have insufficient PPE and sanitiserMany Royal Mail sorting offices are not providing workers with sufficient protection from coronavirus infection, according to a trade union, which argues that some depots should close until staff are safe.The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents thousands of postal workers, told members...

NHS call on PM to ensure test centres are conveniently located

Concern that centres were too far from both work or home for those working in LondonCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNHS staff have called on Boris Johnson to ensure the new coronavirus testing centres are located conveniently for health workers and not in out of town sites such as Ikea car parks.Drive-in test centres for nurses and doctors were opened this week in...

A new way to fine-tune exotic materials: Thin, stretch and clamp

One way to change the properties of a material is to stretch it just a wee bit, so its atoms are farther apart but the bonds between them don't break. This extra distance affects the behavior of electrons, which determine whether the material is an insulator or a conductor of electricity, for instance.