183 articles from FRIDAY 24.7.2020
US and Russia to hold talks on regulating militarisation of space
US claims Russia tested satellite-launched weapon this monthNegotiators to meet in Vienna on MondayUS and Russian officials will meet in Vienna on Monday to discuss whether and how to regulate the militarisation of space, in the wake of an alleged Russian satellite-launched missile test.The two governments agreed to hold a “space security exchange” in January, but the meeting was put off as a...
A stunning new photo of Saturn reveals the planet's summer and winter in remarkable clarity
Astronomers released a gorgeous photo of Saturn this week, the planet's third annual portrait by NASA's Hubble Space...
Alaska is getting wetter: That's bad news for permafrost and the climate
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 22:14
Alaska is getting wetter. A new study spells out what that means for the permafrost that underlies about 85% of the state, and the consequences for Earth's global climate.
Well-preserved mammoth skeleton found in Siberian lake
Russian scientists are working to retrieve the well-preserved skeleton of a woolly mammoth, which has some ligaments still attached to it, from a lake in northern Siberia.
NASA animation tracks Tropical Storm Hanna's progression
NASA's Aqua satellite obtained visible imagery as Tropical Storm Hanna formed in the Gulf of Mexico and continued to organize. A new animation from NASA shows how Hanna developed and intensified as it heads toward landfall in Texas this weekend.
Manipulating non-magnetic atoms in a chromium halide enables tuning of magnetic properties
The magnetic properties of a chromium halide can be tuned by manipulating the non-magnetic atoms in the material, a team, led by Boston College researchers, reports in the most recent edition of Science Advances.
Quantum loop: US unveils blueprint for 'virtually unhackable' internet
US officials and scientists have begun laying the groundwork for a more secure "virtually unhackable" internet based on quantum computing technology.
Virus, hurricane season delay removal of wrecked cargo ship
Efforts to cut apart and remove a capsized cargo ship off the Georgia coast are being delayed for more than two months because of hurricane season and challenges posed by the coronavirus, project leaders said Friday.
Study: Black entrepreneurship in the United States
A steady stream of media reports detailing the deaths of unarmed Black Americans at the hands of police. False 911 calls aimed at bringing harm to African Americans engaged in innocuous, everyday activities. Street protests calling for an end to discrimination and police brutality.
Portland State University releases nationwide guidance on bike share equity programs
Last year, Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) released a 130 page evaluation comparing equity-oriented programs from over 70 U.S. bike share systems across the U.S. Bike share being a relative newcomer to the transportation system, the research team was not surprised to find that approaches to equity programs ranged widely. In the latest installment,...
Machine learning reveals recipe for building artificial proteins
Proteins are essential to the life of cells, carrying out complex tasks and catalyzing chemical reactions. Scientists and engineers have long sought to harness this power by designing artificial proteins that can perform new tasks, like treat disease, capture carbon, or harvest energy, but many of the processes designed to create such proteins are slow and complex, with a high failure rate.
NASA's tracking Hawaii-bound Major Hurricane Douglas
Hurricane Douglas is a major hurricane tracking through the Central Pacific Ocean on a forecast track to Hawaii. NASA's Aqua satellite used infrared light to identify strongest storms and coldest cloud top temperatures and found them surrounding the eyewall of the powerful hurricane. In addition, images from NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite were used to generate an animated track of Douglas'...
Alaska is getting wetter. That's bad news for permafrost and the climate
Alaska is getting wetter. A new study spells out what that means for the permafrost that underlies about 85% of the state, and the consequences for Earth's global climate.
Two meteor showers coming to a sky near you next week
Comet Neowise may be fading away, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to look at it in the night...
Scientists reveal first-ever photo of a solar system like ours
The incredibly rare family portrait highlights two baby exoplanets orbiting a very young, sun-like...
Genetic mutations help super bug become highly resistant to antibiotics
Scientists from the University of Sheffield have found that genetic mutations in MRSA allow it to evolve and become more resistant to antibiotics such as penicillin.
Comments on the Citizen Science Seed Funding Program Are Due July 30th
Eyebrow: Citizen Science NewsBody: Comments on the draft text for ROSES-2020 Amendment 39 releases for community comment draft text for E.9 Citizen Science Seed Funding Program are due July 30, 2020.
Link: Learn...
Genetic mutations help MRSA to become highly resistant to antibiotics
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:30
Scientists have found that genetic mutations in MRSA allow it to evolve and become more resistant to antibiotics such as penicillin.
An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:13
Most meteorites that have landed on Earth are fragments of planetesimals, the very earliest protoplanetary bodies in the solar system. Scientists have thought that these primordial bodies either completely melted early in their history or remained as piles of unmelted rubble. But a family of meteorites has befuddled researchers since its discovery in the 1960s. The diverse fragments, found all...
Antiviral method against herpes paves the way for combating incurable viral infections
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:13
Researchers have discovered a new method to treat human herpes viruses. The new broad-spectrum method targets physical properties in the genome of the virus rather than viral proteins, which have previously been targeted. The treatment consists of new molecules that penetrate the protein shell of the virus and prevent genes from leaving the virus to infect the cell. It does not lead to resistance...
Big brains and dexterous hands
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:10
Primates with large brains can master more complex hand movements than those with smaller brains. However, fine motor skills such as using tools can take time to learn, and humans take the longest of all. Large-brained species such as humans and great apes do not actually learn more slowly than other primates but instead start later, researchers have shown.
More realistic computer graphics
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:10
New software techniques make lighting in computer-generated images look more realistic for use in video games, extended reality, and scientific visualization tools.
How COVID-19 causes smell loss
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:10
Loss of smell, or anosmia, is one of the earliest and most commonly reported symptoms of COVID-19. A new study identifies the olfactory cell types most vulnerable to infection by the novel coronavirus. Surprisingly, sensory neurons involved in smell are not among the vulnerable cell types.
Sputum testing provides higher rate of COVID-19 detection
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:10
In a meta-analysis, researchers found that sputum was more accurate than nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs. The study also shows early testing increased rates of COVID-19 diagnosis.
Neurons are genetically programmed to have long lives
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 20:10
Most neurons are created during embryonic development and have no ''backup'' after birth. Researchers have generally believed that their survival is determined nearly extrinsically, or by outside forces, such as the tissues and cells that neurons supply with nerve cells. Scientists have challenged this notion and reports the continuous survival of neurons is also intrinsically programmed during...
An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites
Most meteorites that have landed on Earth are fragments of planetesimals, the very earliest protoplanetary bodies in the solar system. Scientists have thought that these primordial bodies either completely melted early in their history or remained as piles of unmelted rubble.
An AI hiring firm promising to be bias-free wants to predict job-hopping
Since the onset of the pandemic, a growing number of companies have turned to AI to assist with their hiring. The most common involve using face-scanning algorithms, games, questions, or other evaluations to help companies determine which candidates to give an interview.
While activists and scholars warn that these screening tools can perpetuate discrimination, the makers themselves argue...
Sharing remote sensing technologies with Indigenous communities and their land
“I have always been interested in teaching people how to use remote sensing technology in different cultural contexts with different knowledge systems" - NASA Ames research scientist Dr. Cindy Schmidt
News Article Type: Homepage ArticlesPublished: Friday, July 24, 2020 -...
The Guardian view on singing and Covid-19: science needed for art to survive | Editorial
Facts and data are desperately required so that musicians can get back to entertaining the worldWhile the tentative resumption of the performing arts is officially allowed in England, singing, along with the playing of woodwind and brass instruments, is deemed a special case. Some serious early outbreaks of Covid-19 were associated with choirs and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and...
What Modern Sustainability Could Learn From a 200-Year-Old American Tradition
This article is excerpted from TIME: SUSTAINABILITY, available at retailers and on Amazon.
In his book Walden, the American essayist Henry David Thoreau famously documented his attempts to live simply and “deliberately” on the edge of a lake in the woods of Massachusetts. While many today think of Thoreau’s memoir as a paean to a solitary existence, those who study and teach...
Project creates more powerful, versatile ultrafast laser pulse
University of Rochester researchers are setting a new standard when it comes to producing ultrafast laser pulses over a broader range of wavelengths than traditional laser sources.
NASA Water vapor data reveals Tropical Storm Gonzalo's soaking capability
When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the North Atlantic Ocean, it gathered water vapor data on Tropical Storm Gonzalo as tropical storm warnings, a tropical storm watch, and hurricane watch were posted.
High-protein distillers dried grains with solubles provide high quality pig nutrition
With more ethanol in production and a greater ability to upcycle co-products into animal feed ingredients, companies are creating custom products and partnering with University of Illinois researchers to test for quality and digestibility.
Another monstrous Saharan dust cloud is coming. A NOAA model shows where it’s heading
Southern Florida will start seeing the dust...
Proposed framework for integrating chatbots into health care
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 18:01
While chatbots are becoming more widespread in health care, it's important to implement them thoughtfully and constantly evaluate them in a variety of ways, authors argue.
Heart transplants declined sharply during pandemic
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 18:01
Heart transplants, donor hearts, and transplant waitlists all fell sharply at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, researchers have found.
Project creates more powerful, versatile ultrafast laser pulse
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 18:01
Researchers describe a new device, the ''stretched-pulse soliton Kerr resonator,'' that creates an ultrafast laser pulse that is freed from the physical limits endemic to sources of laser light and the limits of the sources' wavelengths. Applications include spectroscopy, frequency synthesis, distance ranging, and pulse generation.
'Major' breakthrough in Covid-19 drug makes UK professors millionaires
Synairgen’s share price rises 540% on morning of news of successful drugs trialCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThree professors at the University of Southampton school of medicine have this week made a “major breakthrough” in the treatment of coronavirus patients and become paper millionaires at the same time.Almost two decades ago professors Ratko Djukanovic,...
More than half the restaurants closed due to the pandemic are shut down for good, Yelp says
As states have moved to reopen nonessential businesses in recent months, many restaurants still haven't turned the lights back on, and more than half of them never will.
Heat waves, wildfire & permafrost thaw: The North's climate change trifecta
The Arctic Circle became unbelievably hot on June 20. In the Russian community of Verkhoyansk, temperatures topped 38C, marking what may be the highest air temperature ever recorded within the Arctic.
To photograph comet Neowise, it takes patience and placement
The newly discovered comet Neowise is only visible from Earth once every 6,800 years, and photographers who want to document it seek places with high elevation and little smog or light pollution. A place like North Carolina's famed Grandfather Mountain.
High-deductible health plans and major cardiovascular outcomes
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 17:23
New research finds that individuals with cardiovascular disease risk factors who switched to high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) did not experience increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
Researchers use cell imaging and mathematical modeling to understand cancer progression
- ScienceDaily
- 20/7/24 17:22
Using a combination of experiments and mathematical modeling, a team of researchers from the Virginia Tech Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute are beginning to unravel the mechanisms that lie behind tetraploidy - a chromosomal abnormality that is often found in malignant tumors.
Coronavirus lockdown reduced seismic activity around the world – new study
Seismic activity doesn't just come from earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. Everyday human activity also gives rise to vibrations that travel through the ground as seismic waves, something we call "anthropogenic noise".
Phage therapy shows potential for treating prosthetic joint infections
Bacteriophages, or phages, may play a significant role in treating complex bacterial infections in prosthetic joints, according to new Mayo Clinic research. The findings suggest phage therapy could provide a potential treatment for managing such infections, including those involving antibiotic-resistant microbes.
Teachers have been let down by a decade of inaction on digital technologie
The coronavirus pandemic has led to significant disruption to school education in England. Teachers have made a concerted effort to use digital technology and remote teaching and learning to lessen the impact of this disruption on their students.
Sci-fi foretold social media, Uber and Augmented Reality, offers insights into the future
Science fiction authors foresaw augmented reality video games, the rise of social media and trends of hyper-consumption, and can help predict future consumer patterns.
Researchers use cell imaging and mathematical modeling to understand cancer progression
Cell division is a fundamental process that organisms need to reproduce, grow, and make repairs. But when an error disrupts this complex biological process, cellular abnormalities can lead to diseases, such as cancer, where cells are enabled to grow and divide out of control.
Wildfires Rage in Arctic Circle and Sea Ice Melts Amid Siberian Heatwave
(GENEVA) — The U.N. weather agency warned Friday that average temperatures in Siberia were 10 degrees Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) above average last month, a spate of exceptional heat that has fanned devastating fires in the Arctic Circle and contributed to a rapid depletion in ice sea off Russia’s Arctic coast.
“The Arctic is heating more than twice as fast as the global average,...