233 articles from MONDAY 14.9.2020

'Surrogate sires' could create specially bred livestock, say scientists

Trials on mice show how sterile animals can produce sperm deriving from elite breedersScientists have used gene-editing to create pigs, goats and cattle that can serve as so-called “surrogate sires” – male animals providing sperm that carry the genetic traits of elite donor animals – in a bid to tackle global food insecurity.For thousands of years, farmers have selectively bred livestock...

Hurricane Sally threatens Gulf Coast with a slow drenching

Hurricane Sally, one of five storms lined up as if on a conveyor belt across the Atlantic, churned toward the Louisiana-Mississippi coast Monday with rapidly strengthening winds of at least 90 mph (145 kph) and the potential for as much as 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain that could bring severe flooding.

Virtual reality trains public to reverse opioid overdoses

The United States has seen a 200% increase in the rate of deaths by opioid overdose in the last 20 years. But many of these deaths were preventable. Naloxone, also called Narcan, is a prescription drug that reverses opioid overdoses, and in more than 40 states there is a standing order policy, which makes it available to anyone, without an individual prescription from a healthcare provider.

Gene-edited livestock 'surrogate sires' successfully made fertile

For the first time, scientists have created pigs, goats and cattle that can serve as viable 'surrogate sires,' male animals that produce sperm carrying only the genetic traits of donor animals. The advance could speed the spread of desirable characteristics in livestock and improve food production for a growing global population.

How formative assessments drive instructional decision making in the classroom

An Analysis of High School Mission Statements in Massachusetts from 2001 to 2019, research conducted by team from Boston College and Wesleyan University, found that 95 percent of Mass. high schools altered or changed their mission statement during the timeframe. Examined in the context of local, state, and federal educational reform efforts, these results indicate that schools can fluidly add and...

How do giraffes and elephants alter the African Savanna landscape?

As they roam around the African savanna in search for food, giraffes and elephants alter the diversity and richness of its vegetation. By studying the foraging patterns of these megaherbivores across different terrains in a savanna in Kenya, scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and collaborating institutions discovered that these large mammals prefer to eat their...

Toxic metals can affect student health performance, say scientists

A group of medical and environmental researchers from RUDN University evaluated the level of heavy metals in the organism of first-year university students from different countries of the world. The results of the screening helped the scientists to reveal a relationship between a region of residence and the level of toxic metal in organism. According to their opinion, increased heavy metal levels...

Flu outbreaks may be linked to COVID-19; arthritis drug benefit seen

Influenza outbreaks may be linked with the spread of COVID-19 infections, according to a European study. The researchers created a mathematical model of transmission of the novel coronavirus in Belgium, Italy, Norway and Spain. It calculates that higher rates of influenza infections would be associated with increased coronavirus transmission in each of the countries, Matthieu Domenech de Cellès...

Antarctica: Cracks in the ice

West Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier have been undergoing rapid changes, with potentially major consequences for rising sea levels. However, the processes that underlie these changes and their impact on these ice sheets have not been fully charted. One of these processes has now been described in detail: the emergence and development of damage/cracks in part of the glaciers...

New Asian mosquito could bring malaria to African cities, warn scientists

Unlike endemic species, An. stephensi is adapted to urban areas, putting another 126 million people in dangerAlready grappling with the highest incidence of malaria with more than 90% of global cases, Africa should be wary of an Asian mosquito species that has the potential to spread the disease into the continent’s urban areas – subjecting an additional 126 million people to risk – a new...

Ancient volcanoes once boosted ocean carbon, but humans are now far outpacing them

A new study of an ancient period that is considered the closest natural analog to the era of modern human carbon emissions has found that massive volcanism sent great waves of carbon into the oceans over thousands of years—but that nature did not come close to matching what humans are doing today. The study estimates that humans are now introducing the element three to eight times faster, or...

Antarctica: Cracks in the ice

In recent years, the Pine Island Glacier and the Thwaites Glacier in west Antarctica has been undergoing rapid changes, with potentially major consequences for rising sea levels. However, the processes that underlie these changes and their precise impact on the weakening of these ice sheets have not yet been fully charted. A team of researchers including some from TU Delft have now investigated...

Northern hemisphere breaks record for hottest ever summer

Past three months were 1.17C above 20th-century average2020 on track to be one of five warmest years, Noaa findsThis summer was the hottest ever recorded in the northern hemisphere, according to US government scientists. Related: Bigger than London, bigger than New York City: visualizing the size of fires in the US Continue...

Full-face readings can optimize fever screening with infrared thermographs

Thermography has been a hot topic this year, due to the need for quicker diagnostics to detect and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Noncontact infrared thermometers (NCITs) are currently a primary tool for fever screening, but their widespread use has been prone to inaccuracy. A related medical technology, thermography using infrared thermographs (IRTs), enables increased options for temperature...

Astronomers Find Potential Sign of Life in Venus’ Atmosphere

Astronomers have found a potential sign of life high in the atmosphere of neighboring Venus: hints there may be bizarre microbes living in the sulfuric acid-laden clouds of the hothouse planet. Two telescopes in Hawaii and Chile spotted in the thick Venutian clouds the chemical signature of phosphine, a noxious gas that on Earth is only associated with life, according to a study in...

Fifteen scientists launch critique of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine data

A group of scientists sent a formal letter to the Lancet on Monday outlining doubts about the accuracy of early data on Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, one of the authors said, adding further fuel to a dispute surrounding the "Sputnik-V" shot. Fifteen scientists from five countries signed the letter presenting their concerns to the international medical journal, Enrico Bucci, biologist adjunct...

Blue Origin and partners pass key milestone for lunar lander design

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture says the aerospace team that it's leading has completed its first "gated milestone" in a NASA-funded effort to develop a lunar lander for crewed missions. The milestone — known as the system requirement review, or SRR — involves specifying the baseline requirements for the missions, the space vehicles and the landing...

People in England's 10 worst-hit Covid hotspots unable to get tests

Mobile testing unit fails to show up in Bolton, despite highest infection rate in UKCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePeople in England’s 10 worst-hit coronavirus hotspots were unable to get tests on Monday, leading to claims of a “shambles”.Those trying to arrange a test in the areas with the highest infection rates were told that none were available at walk-in...

A magnetic field with an edge

A team of Indian and Japanese physicists have overturned the six-decade old notion that the giant magnetic field in a high intensity laser produced plasma evolves from the small, nanometre scale in the bulk plasma. They show that instead the field actually originates at macroscopic scales defined by the boundaries of the electron beam that is propagating in the plasma. The new mechanism seeks to...

Eli Lilly's drug cuts COVID-19 recovery time in remdesivir-combo study

The drug baricitinib, branded as Olumiant, cut the median recovery time by about a day when added to remdesivir, compared to patients treated with the antiviral alone, Lilly said. Remdesivir was granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) in May after trial data showed it helped shorten hospital recovery time by 31%. Lilly said it plans to discuss the potential for an EAU for baricitinib with...

DNA damage caused by migrating light energy

Ultraviolet light endangers the integrity of human genetic information and may cause skin cancer. For the first time, researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have demonstrated that DNA damage may also occur far away from the point of incidence of the radiation. They produced an artificially modeled DNA sequence in new architecture and succeeded in detecting DNA damage at a distance...

The world's first digital snow guide

The bilingual Snow Competence website gathers together all available knowledge on how to ensure good snow conditions in the future, in the most efficient and sustainable way possible. The research-based website is available in Norwegian and English.