273 articles from MONDAY 24.8.2020

No safe level of coffee drinking for pregnant women, study says

Cut out caffeine to help avoid miscarriage, low birth weight and stillbirth, paper advisesPregnant women should cut out coffee completely to help avoid miscarriage, low birth weight and stillbirth, according to a study of international evidence about caffeine and pregnancy.In contradiction to official guidance in the UK, US and Europe, there is no safe level for caffeine consumption during...

Optical illusions explained in a fly's eyes

Why people perceive motion in some static images has mystified not only those who view these optical illusions but neuroscientists who have tried to explain the phenomenon. Now neuroscientists have found some answers in the eyes of flies.

Machines rival expert analysis of stored red blood cell quality

Once outside the body, stored blood begins degrading until, by day 42, they're no longer usable. Until now, assessing its quality has required laborious microscopic examination by human experts. A new study reveals two methodologies that combine machine learning and state-of-the-art imaging to automate the process and eliminate human bias. If standardized, it could ensure more consistent, accurate...

Scientists get atomistic picture of platinum catalyst degradation

Degradation of platinum, used as a key electrode material in the hydrogen economy, severely shortens the lifetime of electrochemical energy conversion devices, such as fuel cells. For the first time, scientists elucidated the movements of the platinum atoms that lead to catalyst surface degradation.

Hong Kong researchers say they’ve found the world’s first case of covid-19 reinfection

The 33-year-old-man arrived by plane in Hong Kong on August 15. After disembarking, he headed to one of the airport’s covid-19 testing stations. Someone swabbed his throat, and then he waited for the results. The man had come down with the coronavirus in March, suffered fever and headaches, and spent two weeks in a hospital. So he probably didn’t expect to test positive again just 142 days...

New approach to soft material flow may yield way to new materials, disaster prediction

How does toothpaste stay in its tube and not ooze out when we remove the cap? What causes seemingly solid ground to suddenly break free into a landslide? Defining exactly how soft materials flow and seize has eluded researchers for years, but a new study explains this complex motion using relatively simple experiments. The ability to define—and eventually predict—soft material flow will...

NASA tracking Tropical Storm Laura near Cuba

As Tropical Storm Laura continues to move through the Caribbean Sea NASA satellites are providing forecasters with visible, infrared and microwave data. Laura continued to move through the Caribbean Sea on a march toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Velcro method for more precise binding of drug particles

In order to deliver drug particles to the right place in the body—a field known as nanomedicine—selectivity plays an important role. After all, the drug only has to attach itself to the cells that need it. A theory from 2011 predicts that selectivity is not only based on the type of receptor, but also on the number and strength of the receptors on the cell. Researchers at Eindhoven University...

Advanced biofuels show real promise for replacing some fossil fuels

Biofuel and bioenergy systems are integral to scenarios for displacing fossil fuel use and producing negative emissions through carbon capture and storage. But the net greenhouse gas mitigation benefit of these systems has been controversial, due to concerns around carbon losses from changes in land use and foregone sequestration benefits from alternative land uses.

Climate change and land use are accelerating soil erosion by water

Soil loss due to water runoff could increase greatly around the world over the next 50 years due to climate change and intensive land cultivation. This was the conclusion of an international team of researchers led by the University of Basel, which published the results from its model calculation in the scientific journal PNAS.

Each human gut has a viral 'fingerprint'

Each person's gut virus composition is as unique as a fingerprint, according to the first study to assemble a comprehensive database of viral populations in the human digestive system.