316 articles from THURSDAY 9.4.2020

Money can't buy love -- or friendship

While researchers have suggested that individuals who base their self-worth on their financial success often feel lonely in everyday life, a new study has taken initial steps to better understand why this link exists.

Canada lynx disappearing from Washington state

Canada lynx are losing ground in Washington state, even as federal officials are taking steps to remove the species' threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. A massive monitoring study has found the big cat on only about 20% of its potential habitat in the state.

Tolkien was right: giant trees have towering role in protecting forests

Study highlights importance of biodiversity as part of strategy to stop planet overheating Scientists have shown to be true what JRR Tolkien only imagined in the Lord of the Rings: giant, slow-reproducing trees play an outsized role in the growth and health of old forests.In the 1930s, the writer gave his towering trees the name Ents. Today, a paper in the journal Science says these “long-lived...

Blood tests show 14% of people are now immune to covid-19 in one town in Germany

How many people have really been infected by the coronavirus? In one German town a preliminary answer is in: about 14%. The municipality of Gangelt, near the border with the Netherlands, was hard hit by covid-19 after a February carnival celebration drew thousands to the town, turning it into an accidental petri dish. You can read our most essential coverage of the coronavirus/covid-19...

UK government urged to abandon 'poor' finger-prick antibody tests

None of 3.5m home tests ordered have so far been accurate enough to detect coronavirus immunityCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMinisters could face a fight to recoup their losses on orders for antibody tests amid calls to abandon pin-prick kits that can be used at home in favour of more reliable lab-based testing.The health secretary, Matt Hancock, announced in March...

False-negative COVID-19 test results may lead to false sense of security

A new article calls attention to the risk posed by overreliance on COVID-19 testing to make clinical and public health decisions. The sensitivity of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing and overall test performance characteristics have not been reported clearly or consistently in medical literature, the article says.

Guidance on treating COVID-19 patients with signs of acute heart attack

Much remains unknown about COVID-19, but many studies already have indicated that people with cardiovascular disease are at greater risk of COVID-19. There also have been reports of ST-segment elevation (STE), a signal of obstructive coronary artery disease, in patients with COVID-19 who after invasive coronary angiography show no sign of the disease.

NASA Science Live: Episode 3 - Our Weird Home

The third episode of NASA Science Live highlights our weird home: Earth. Liquid water, a protective atmosphere and an active core that gives our planet a defensive shield. These features, plus more, make our home one of the most unique places in the solar system. Watch as we explore these features that make our planet special in celebration of Earth Day. Video...

Genetic mechanism behind inflammatory bowel disease

Researchers have pinpointed a genetic variation responsible for driving the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The genetic pathway associated with this variation is involved in other immune disorders, suggesting the mechanism they identified could serve as an important therapeutic target.

New study shows how oxygen transfer is altered in diseased lung tissue

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed tiny sensors that measure oxygen transport in bovine lung tissue. The study -- which establishes a new framework for observing the elusive connection between lung membranes, oxygen flow and related disease -- is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Radio Corona, Apr 10: Shion Lim on prospects for covid-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines

In this episode of Radio Corona, on April 10 at 4 pm ET, Karen Hao, senior AI reporter of MIT Technology Review, speaks with Shion Lim, a postdoc research fellow at the Wells Lab of UCSF. They will be discussing prospects for diagnostics, treatment and prevention of covid-19. Lim studies antibody-based diagnostics and therapeutics, specifically how proteins on the surface of our cells are...

Transmission of the amphibian pathogen, Bsal

Using existing data from controlled experiments and computer simulations, researchers have found that host contact rates and habitat structure affect transmission rates of Bsal among eastern newts, a common salamander species found throughout eastern North America.