6,249 articles mezi dny 1.7.2020 a 31.7.2020

New COVID-19 notification app rolls out in Ontario

Residents of Ontario can now download a new app that can tell them whether they have been around someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 over the previous two weeks. But while government officials say the goal is to make the contact notification app available across the country, they can't say yet when it will be available in other...

Way, shape and form: Synthesis conditions define the nanostructure of manganese dioxide

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology explore a novel and simplistic method to synthesize manganese dioxide with a specific crystalline structure called β-MnO2. Their study sheds light on how different synthesis conditions can produce manganese dioxide with distinct porous structures, hinting at a strategy for the development of highly tuned MnO2 nanomaterials that could serve as catalysts...

Short wind turns with strong cooling effect

Sea surface temperatures in the tropics have a major influence on the climate in the tropics and the adjacent continents. For example, they determine the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the beginning and strength of the West African monsoon. Therefore, it is important to understand the variability of sea surface temperatures for climate predictions. Until now, the seasonal cycle...

Sharing a secret... the quantum way

Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have demonstrated a record setting quantum protocol for sharing a secret amongst many parties. The team created an 11-dimensional quantum state and used it to share a secret amongst 10 parties. By using quantum tricks, the secret can only be unlocked if the parties trust one another. The work sets a new record for...

A new synthesis method for three-dimensional nanocarbons

A team of scientists led by Kenichiro Itami, Professor and Director of the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM), has developed a new method for the synthesis of three-dimensional nanocarbons with the potential to advance materials science.

The field of natural language processing is chasing the wrong goal

At a typical annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), the program is a parade of titles like “A Structured Variational Autoencoder for Contextual Morphological Inflection.” The same technical flavor permeates the papers, the research talks, and many hallway chats. At this year’s conference in July, though, something felt different—and it wasn’t just the...

Memory loss reversed or abated in those with cognitive decline

Researchers sought to determine whether a comprehensive and personalized program, designed to mitigate risk factors of Alzheimer's disease could improve cognitive and metabolic function in individuals experiencing cognitive decline. Findings provided evidence that this approach can improve risk factor scores and stabilize cognitive function.

A new synthesis method for three-dimensional nanocarbons

A team has developed a new method of synthesis for three-dimensional nanocarbons, utilizing a catalytic reaction to connect benzene rings and create an eight-membered ring structure. This represents a breakthrough in the synthesis of these nanocarbons, which are expected to be valuable next-generation functional materials.

Tinkering with roundworm proteins offers hope for anti-aging drugs

Researchers have been able to dial up and down creatures' lifespans by altering the activity of proteins found in roundworm cells that tell them to convert sugar into energy when their cellular energy is running low. Humans also have these proteins, offering up the intriguing possibilities for developing longevity-promoting drugs.

Short wind turns with strong cooling effect

Why is the sea surface temperature of the northern tropics in the summer months often lower than expected? New research shows that a short-term, wind-driven wave phenomenon provides very efficient vertical mixing and cooling of the upper water layer.

Nanoparticle meta-grid for enhanced light extraction from light-emitting devices

A tailored layer of plasmonic nanoparticles can be introduced into the epoxy casing of a light-emitting diode (LED) to improve the device's light output, to benefit energy savings and boost the LED lifetime. In a new report on Nature Light: Science & Applications, Debrata Sikdar and a team of scientists in chemistry, electronics and physics at the Imperial College London and the Indian Institute...

Wales to ease Covid-19 lockdown restrictions despite England 'pause'

First minister allows families to be reunited and says there are no plans to close borderCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFurther lockdown restrictions are being lifted in Wales to allow families and friends to be reunited, though the government admitted the new regime in northern England had given it pause for thought.The Labour-led government said it had no plans to...

Monitoring whales from space

Scientists have found that studying high-resolution images of whales from space is a feasible way to estimate their populations. A team, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), compared satellite images to data collected from traditional ship-based surveys. Reported this week in the journal Scientific Reports, this study is a big step towards developing a cost-effective method to study whales in...

Ultra-fast laser-based writing of data to storage devices

Modern life revolves around data, which means that we need new, fast, and energy-efficient methods to read and write data on our storage devices. Optical-based approaches, which use laser pulses to write data instead of magnets, have received considerable attention over the past decade following the development of all-optical switching (AOS) for magnetic materials. While fast and energy efficient,...

Detective work in the cell: Scientists uncover a new RNA-modifying enzyme

Scientists led by Javier Martinez from the Max Perutz Labs, a joint venture of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Vienna, have identified a unique chemical reaction at the end of RNA molecules for the first time in human cells. This reaction was previously only observed in bacteria and viruses. Tracing its source among thousands of proteins, they discovered that an unexpected...

Canadian ice caps disappear, confirming 2017 scientific prediction

The St. Patrick Bay ice caps on the Hazen Plateau of northeastern Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada, have disappeared, according to NASA satellite imagery. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) scientists and colleagues predicted via a 2017 paper in The Cryosphere that the ice caps would melt out completely within the next five years, and recent images from NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal...