193 articles from FRIDAY 26.6.2020
Maryland offshore wind farm could become stop-over region for migrating striped bass and Atlantic sturgeon
For the endangered Atlantic sturgeon and the commercially and recreationally important striped bass, the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia coastal shelf serves as an important spring and fall "flyway." Typically thought of as an established aerial route used by migratory birds to travel between feeding and breeding grounds, a recent study by scientists at the University of Maryland Center for...
Common food additive causes adverse health effects in mice
A common food additive, recently banned in France but allowed in the U.S. and many other countries, was found to significantly alter gut microbiota in mice, causing inflammation in the colon and changes in protein expression in the liver, according to research led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientist.
Chemicals released into the air could become less hazardous, thanks to a missing math formula for droplets
Drones and other aircraft effectively spray pesticides over miles of crops, but the method also can pollute the environment if wind carries the mist off-target.
Unorthodox desalination method could transform global water management
Water security is becoming an urgent global challenge. Hundreds of millions of people already live in water-scarce regions, and the UN projects that by 2030 about half the world's population will be living in highly water-stressed areas. This will be a crisis even for developed countries like the U.S., where water managers in 40 states expect freshwater shortages within the next 10 years. As the...
What kind of bee is that bee? Exotic Bee ID website expanded
Exotic Bee ID, a website created through a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Utah State University (USU) to help identify non-native bees in the United States, has been expanded to include more information and species.
NRL telescope onboard SOHO discovers 4000th comet
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument identified the 4000th comet discovered by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint mission between the European Space Agency and NASA on June 15.
Thousands of excluded pupils in England have no place to go in September
Teachers say Covid-19 closures have put vulnerable pupils at greater risk of exploitationCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageHeadteachers have warned that thousands of excluded pupils who are at risk of criminal and sexual exploitation have no school, college or training place to go to in September as a result of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis.Ten thousand...
The kids' playground has reopened – my gratitude lasted for two visits | Emma Brockes
Meeting up with friends, going to restaurants and shops – it’s the thrill of a lifetime. For a bitThe first day we went to the playground it was empty. It was a sweltering Sunday afternoon in the city, and although it was the day before playgrounds in New York officially reopened, someone kind had unbolted the gate. After almost four months of being locked out, my children stood still, staring...
Coronavirus live news: CDC says US infections may be ten times official toll as Australian outbreak grows
Mike Pence to hold first coronavirus task force briefing in weeks on Friday; Texas pauses next phase of reopeningGlobal report: rationing returns to Australia as panic buying spreadsMore than 20m Americans could have contracted Covid-19, experts sayEngland: major incident declared as people flock to south coastUK coronavirus updates – liveSee all our coronavirus coverage 7.37am BST Japan’s...
The Next Great Migration by Sonia Shah review – movement is central to human history
This nuanced study argues that far from being an unwelcome threat to global stability, migration and mixing are essential to human survival“A wild exodus has begun,” writes Sonia Shah early on in The Next Great Migration. “It is happening on every continent and in every ocean.” In response to the climate crisis, plants and animals that until recently scientists thought were fixed to a...
Coronavirus Australia: Scott Morrison to meet bank chiefs as economic cliff looms
National cabinet decides to ease distancing requirements for small venues and continue 14-day hotel quarantine for returned travellers Coronavirus Australia live blog – latest updatesSign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus emailDownload the free Guardian app to get the most important news notificationsScott Morrison has said Australia’s economic response to Covid-19 will enter a...
1/3 of parents in 3 states may not send children to school because of COVID-19
And as lawmakers and educators reimagine the K-12 model for fall, a new survey assessed parents' plans for in-person school and support for 15 potential measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in schools in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio.
A focused approach to imaging neural activity in the brain
MIT engineers have developed calcium indicators, or sensors, that accumulate only in the body of a neuron. This makes the resulting measurement of an individual neuron's activity much more accurate.
A new mechanism of toxicity in Alzheimer's disease revealed by the 3D structure of Aβ protein
Researchers led by Natà lia Carulla find that specific amyloid-beta (Aβ) protein ensembles have the capacity to disrupt the membrane of neurons, causing their death. The results have been published in the journal Nature communications.
Agricultural fires in central Africa light up in Suomi NPP satellite image
Fires have spread across the majority of the landscape in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in this NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite image using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument from June 25, 2020.
Air pollution could help London transport planners fight COVID-19
Measuring air quality across London could help fight COVID-19 by providing a rapid means of deciding whether to reduce public transport movement -- given strong links between exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 transmission, a new study reveals.
Al2Pt for oxygen evolution reaction in water splitting
Looking for rational design of new types of OER electrocatalysts and addressing fundamental questions about the key reactions in energy conversion, the inter-institutional MPG-consortium MAXNET Energy integrated the scientists from different institutions in Germany and abroad.
Analysis of volcanic tuff gives new data about Permian-Triassic extinction event
It's not often that scientists are able to find tuff in continental sedimentation, but this was accomplished in the PreUrals region by Kazan Federal University, Borisyak Institute of Paleontology, and Institute of Geology (the latter two are parts of the Russian Academy of Sciences). This was a first such finding on the territory of European Russia. Radioisotopic analysis was conducted by Boise...
Ancient Maya reservoirs contained toxic pollution
Reservoirs in the heart of an ancient Maya city were so polluted with mercury and algae that the water likely was undrinkable. ?Researchers from the University of Cincinnati found toxic levels of pollution in two central reservoirs in Tikal, an ancient Maya city that dates back to the third century B.C. in what is now northern Guatemala. UC's findings suggest droughts in the ninth century likely...
Automated stage discrimination of Parkinson's Disease -- BIO Integration
Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this research article the authors Vered Aharonson, Nabeel Seedat, Simon Israeli-Korn, Sharon Hassin-Baer, Michiel Postema and Gilad Yahalom from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering, Tel Aviv, Israel, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel and Tel Aviv...
Case for axion origin of dark matter gains traction
In a new study of axion motion, researchers propose a scenario known as "kinetic misalignment" that greatly strengthens the case for axion/dark matter equivalence. The novel concept answers key questions related to the origins of dark matter and provides new avenues for ongoing detection efforts.
Cellulose for manufacturing advanced materials
The last decade has seen an increase in scientific publications and patents on cellulose, the most abundant natural polymer. By reviewing these papers, a researcher in the UPV/EHU's Department of Graphic Design and Engineering Projects has explored the level of development of nanohybrid materials made from cellulose nanocrystals combined with organic and inorganic particles. The review focusses on...
Chemistry paves the way for improved electronic materials
Indium nitride is a promising material for use in electronics, but difficult to manufacture. Scientists at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a new molecule that can be used to create high-quality indium nitride, making it possible to use it in, for example, high-frequency electronics. The results have been published in Chemistry of Materials.
Children more resilient against coronavirus, study reveals
Most children with COVID-19 fared better than adults during the first four months of the pandemic, according to a systematic review of 131 studies worldwide. Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio conducted the analysis.
Clinical characteristics, outcomes in patients with COVID-19, multiple sclerosis
The clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with multiple sclerosis who contract COVID-19 are described in this observational study, which identifies factors associated with COVID-19 severity.