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40 articles from ScienceDaily

COVID-19 may attack patients' central nervous system

A new study finds that depressed mood or anxiety exhibited in COVID-19 patients may be a sign the virus affects the central nervous system. These two psychological symptoms were most closely associated with a loss of smell and taste rather than the more severe indicators of the novel coronavirus such as shortness of breath, cough or fever.

Study finds hidden emotions in the sound of words

New research shows that some sound combinations, like those in the word 'virus,' elicit more emotionally intense responses than others. This may play a role in both children's language acquisition and how we might have evolved language in the first place.

Quantum body scanner? What happens when vector vortex beams meet scattering media

Propagate light through any kind of medium -- be it free space or biological tissue -- and light will scatter. Robustness to scattering is a common requirement for communications and for imaging systems. Structured light, with its use of projected patterns, is resistant to scattering, and has therefore emerged as a versatile tool. In particular, modes of structured light carrying orbital angular...

A Raspberry Pi-based virtual reality system for small animals

The Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality system (PiVR) is a versatile tool for presenting virtual reality environments to small, freely moving animals (such as flies and fish larvae). The use of PiVR, together with techniques like optogenetics, will facilitate the mapping and characterization of neural circuits involved in behavior.

What determines a warbler's colors?

A new study has narrowed down the region of the genome that drives the black color in throat and face of warblers by studying the hybrid offspring produced when two species mate. The hybrids of golden-winged and blue-winged warblers have a mix of coloration from the parent species, which allows researchers to identify which regions of the genome are associated with which color patterns. The study...

A new path for electron optics in solid-state systems

In combined theoretical and experimental work, physicists introduce and demonstrate a novel mechanism for electron optics in two-dimensional solid-state systems. The discovery opens up a route to engineering quantum-optical phenomena in a variety of materials and devices.

Keeping innocent people out of jail using the science of perception

People wrongfully accused of a crime often wait years -- if ever -- to be exonerated. Many of these wrongfully accused cases stem from unreliable eyewitness testimony. Now, scientists have identified a new way of presenting a lineup to an eyewitness that could improve the likelihood that the correct suspect is identified and reduce the number of innocent people sentenced to jail.

Experts' high-flying study reveals secrets of soaring birds

New research has revealed when it comes to flying the largest of birds don't rely on flapping to move around. Instead they make use of air currents to keep them airborne for hours at a time. A study has revealed the Andean condor - the world's heaviest soaring bird - actually flaps its wings for one per cent of its flight time.

Wireless aquatic robot could clean water and transport cells

Researchers have developed a tiny plastic robot, made of responsive polymers, which moves under the influence of light and magnetism. In the future this 'wireless aquatic polyp' should be able to attract and capture contaminant particles from the surrounding liquid or pick up and transport cells for analysis in diagnostic devices.

Fleeting flash is most-distant optical afterglow from gamma-ray burst ever detected

Rapid follow-up of the optical afterglow from one of the most distant confirmed short gamma-ray bursts (SGRB), thought to be the merger of two neutron stars, is casting new light on these enigmatic objects. The observations confirmed the object's distance and placed it squarely in the epoch of cosmic high noon, when the Universe was in its ''teenage years'' and rapidly forming stars.

Hammer-on technique for atomic vibrations in a crystal

Vibrations of atoms in a crystal of the semiconductor gallium arsenide (GaAs) are impulsively shifted to a higher frequency by an optically excited electric current. The related change in the spatial distribution of charge between gallium and arsenic atoms acts back on their motions via electric interactions.