351 articles from THURSDAY 25.6.2020

NASA's Disk Detective Project Relaunches with 150,000 Stars

Disk Detective is back! Disk Detective is the NASA citizen science project that previously discovered “Peter Pan” disks (the longest-lived disks that form planets), as well discovered the youngest nearby disk around a brown dwarf (a ball of gas too small to be considered a star). The project is relaunching with a new batch of 150,000 stars to analyze and looking to the public for help....

Unorthodox desalination method could transform global water management

Over the past year, researchers have been refining their unconventional desalination approach for hypersaline brines -- temperature swing solvent extraction (TSSE) -- that shows great promise for widespread use. The team now reports that their method has enabled them to attain energy-efficient zero-liquid discharge of ultrahigh salinity brines -- the first demonstration of TSSE for ZLD...

Spacewatch: China launches last BeiDou satellite to rival GPS

Third iteration hoisted into space offers alternative to US, EU and Russian navigation systemsChina launched the final satellite of its BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province at 9.43am local time (0243 BST) on 23 June 2020.Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, the satellite is the 30th in the constellation, and was...

Critical new allergy pathway

Researchers have identified the sequence of molecular events by which tiny, tick-like creatures called house dust mites trigger asthma and allergic rhinitis.

COVID-19 costs primary care billions

On average, a full-time primary care physician in the U.S. will lose more than $65,000 in revenue in 2020. Overall, the U.S. primary care sector will lose nearly $15 billion. Losses stem from drastic reductions in office visits and fees for services during COVID-19 shutdowns from March to May. Losses threaten practice viability, reducing further an already insufficient number of primary care...

Microbiome of anticancer compound-producing marine invertebrate

Could the cure for melanoma - the most dangerous type of skin cancer -- be a compound derived from a marine invertebrate that lives at the bottom of the ocean? A group of scientists think so, and are looking to the microbiome of an Antarctic ascidian called Synoicum adareanum to better understand the possibilities for development of a melanoma-specific drug.

X-rays size up protein structure at the 'heart' of COVID-19 virus

Researchers have performed the first room temperature X-ray measurements on the SARS-CoV-2 main protease -- the enzyme that enables the virus to reproduce. It marks an important first step in the ultimate goal of building a comprehensive 3D model of the enzymatic protein that will be used to advance supercomputing simulations aimed at finding drug inhibitors to block the virus's replication...

MicroCT reveals detailed head morphology of arthropod, Leanchoilia illecebrosa

An international collaboration between researchers at Harvard University and Yunnan University in China uses microCT to study and restudy arthropod fossils from the early Cambrian in the Chengjiang biota in the Yunnan Province of China. Their latest study shows with unprecedented clarity the head morphology of the species Leanchoilia illecebrosa and demonstrates the presence of a labrum thus...

Selling something? Tap into consumer arrogance

Deny it you might, but even modest consumers brag about their purchases every once in a while. But can marketers leverage our tendency to brag about our buys to market products or services more successfully?