211 articles from FRIDAY 18.9.2020

NASA Invites Media to Launch of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite from West Coast

Portal origin URL: NASA Invites Media to Launch of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite from West CoastPortal origin nid: 464623Published: Friday, September 18, 2020 - 17:56Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Media accreditation is open for the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, an international collaboration between NASA and several...

How the seasons might influence brain size

Research suggests that changes in air pressure can cause changes in brain volume, in humans as well as in animalsA study by New England researchers looks at how weather and season influence brain size, comparing over three thousand MRI scans and finding small but distinct effects. “Basically, on a stormy day or in the winter, the cerebellum is larger than normal, while the rest of the brain is...

Massive damage of rare plants probed at Nevada mine site

State and federal authorities are investigating the mysterious loss of a significant swath of a rare desert wildflower that's being considered for federal protection at a contentious mine site in Nevada with some of the largest untapped lithium deposits in the world.

Aqua satellite helps confirm Subtropical Storm Alpha

Subtropical Storm Alpha has formed near the coast of Portugal, becoming the first named storm using the Greek Alphabet list, now that the annual list of names is exhausted. NASA's Aqua satellite obtained visible imagery of the new storm.

NASA touts lunar landing tech, and Blue Origin says there’ll be a flight test ‘soon’

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong famously had to dodge a boulder-strewn crater just seconds before the first moon landing in 1969 — but for future lunar touchdowns, NASA expects robotic eyes to see such missions to safe landings. And Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture is helping to make it so. Today NASA talked up a precision landing system known as SPLICE (which stands for...

Sometimes Food Fights Back

Peering through a microscope in 2016, Dania Albini gazed at an algae-eating water flea. Its gut appeared full and green with all the ingested teeny-tiny Chlorella vulgaris algae. But she also observed bright green blobs of this phytoplankton in an unexpected place: the herbivore's brood pouch."I was really surprised to see them there," said Albini, an aquatic ecologist then at...

T cell shortage linked to severe COVID-19 in elderly; antiseptic spray may limit virus spread

A lower supply of a certain type of immune cell in older people that is critical to fighting foreign invaders may help explain their vulnerability to severe COVID-19, scientists say. When germs enter the body, the initial "innate" immune response generates inflammation not specifically targeted at the bacteria or virus. Within days, the more precise "adaptive" immune response starts generating...

Like humans, chimpanzees can suffer for life if orphaned before adulthood

Researchers observed three chimpanzee communities of the Tai National Park. They kept full demographic records and collected fecal samples to conduct paternity tests on all new community members, for up to 30 years. Catherine Crockford, the lead author, says: "When we study our closest living relatives, like chimpanzees, we can learn about the ancient environmental factors that made us human. Our...

Indian monsoon can be predicted better after volcanic eruptions

Large volcanic eruptions can help to forecast monsoons over India. This seasonal rainfall is key for the country's agriculture and thus for feeding 1 billion people. As erratic as they are, volcanic eruptions improve the predictability, an Indian-German research team finds. What seems to be a paradox is, in fact, due to a stronger coupling between the monsoon over large parts of South and...

Connecting the dots on food access

A new study simultaneously examined the preferences of community members and compared those with the community-based programs and resources available to identify the most viable strategies for addressing disparities in healthy food consumption.

Lack of UK airport tests aiding Covid-19 spread, scientists warn

Sage experts say poor quarantine compliance is also bringing virus into countryCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageGovernment scientists have warned of a “developing situation” over people bringing coronavirus into the UK after travelling abroad and returning home without being tested.People who travel overseas are required to quarantine for two weeks on their return...

New design principles for spin-based quantum materials

As our lives become increasingly intertwined with technology—whether supporting communication while working remotely or streaming our favorite show—so too does our reliance on the data these devices create. Data centers supporting these technology ecosystems produce a significant carbon footprint—and consume 200 terawatt hours of energy each year, greater than the annual energy consumption...

Canada unveils 'swirl, gargle and spit' Covid test for school-aged children

Test, which is only offered to children in British Columbia, involves gargling saline solution and spitting it into a tubeAuthorities in Canada have unveiled a new non-invasive coronavirus test which avoids the need for intrusive nasal swabs, in a development which they hope will making testing easier and more accessible for students as they return to schools.The new testing method, unveiled...

Americans won’t be able to download TikTok or WeChat from Sunday

What’s happening? The US Commerce Department has issued an order banning Americans from downloading Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat; it’s due to come into effect on Sunday, September 20. Existing users in the US will still be able to use the apps, but they won’t receive updates or patches from Sunday onwards, and the apps will both disappear from Google’s and Apple’s US app...

Is Covid’s end closer than we think? | Letters

Up to half the world’s population may have natural immunity to coronavirus, writes Prof Moin Saleem. Plus Dr David Grimes on the evidence that vitamin D provides some protectionYour article (‘Confounding’: Covid may have already peaked in many African countries, 16 September) hints that there may be natural immunity in African countries where Covid-19 has settled down. This is likely to be...

Biologists create new genetic systems to neutralize gene drives

Addressing concerns about gene drive releases in the wild, scientists have developed two new genetic systems that halt or eliminate gene drives after release. Created in fruit flies, the e-CHACRs and ERACRs are powerful gene drive control mechanisms that were meticulously developed and tested at the genetic and molecular levels.

Everyday Effects of the Solar Cycle

Portal origin URL: Everyday Effects of the Solar CyclePortal origin nid: 464564Published: Friday, September 18, 2020 - 11:30Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Scientists announced that the Sun has entered a new cycle, marked by solar minimum in December 2019. Meet a few people whose everyday lives are affected by the regular ebb and flow of solar...

Mapping the 1.6 billion people who live near forests

Global maps of places where people and forests coexist show that an estimated 1.6 billion people live within 5 kilometers of a forest. The assessment, based on data from 2000 and 2012, showed that of these 1.6 billion 'forest-proximate people,' 64.5 percent were located in tropical countries, and 71.3 percent lived in countries classified as low or middle income by the World Bank.

Flooding affects more than 1 million across East Africa

Flooding has affected well over a million people across East Africa, another calamity threatening food security on top of a historic locust outbreak and the coronavirus pandemic. The Nile River has hit its highest levels in a half-century under heavy seasonal rainfall, and large parts of Sudan, Ethiopia and South Sudan have been swamped amid worries about climate change. As warnings of a new...

VLBA makes first direct distance measurement to magnetar

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) have made the first direct geometric measurement of the distance to a magnetar within our Milky Way Galaxy—a measurement that could help determine if magnetars are the sources of the long-mysterious Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs).

Biologists create new genetic systems to neutralize gene drives

In the past decade, researchers have engineered an array of new tools that control the balance of genetic inheritance. Based on CRISPR technology, such gene drives are poised to move from the laboratory into the wild where they are being engineered to suppress devastating diseases such as mosquito-borne malaria, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever and West Nile. Gene drives carry the power to...

Mapping the 1.6 billion people who live near forests

Global maps of places where people and forests coexist show that an estimated 1.6 billion people live within 5 kilometers of a forest. The assessment, based on data from 2000 and 2012 and published September 18 in the journal One Earth, showed that of these 1.6 billion "forest-proximate people," 64.5 percent were located in tropical countries, and 71.3 percent lived in countries classified as low...

A patient has died after ransomware hackers hit a German hospital

For the first time ever, a patient’s death has been linked directly to a cyberattack. Police have launched a murder investigation after ransomware disrupted emergency care at Düsseldorf University Hospital in Germany. The victim: Prosecutors in Cologne say a female patient from Düsseldorf was scheduled to undergo critical care at the hospital when the September 9 attack disabled systems....

Raids and bloody rituals among ancient steppe nomads

Traces of violence on 1700 year old skeletons allow researchers to reconstruct warfare and sacrifices of nomads in Siberia. An international and interdisciplinary team of anthropologists, archaeologists and specialists in forensic sciences performed a detailed and revealing analysis of the traumas found on the skeletal remains.

Nose's response to odors more than just a simple sum of parts

Based on highly sensitive recordings of neuron activity in the noses of mice, researchers have found that olfactory sensory neurons can exhibit suppression or enhancement of response when odors are mixed, overturning a long-standing view that the response is a simple sum with more complex processing only happening at later stages.