273 articles from MONDAY 28.9.2020

The technology that powers the 2020 campaigns, explained

Campaigns and elections have always been about data—underneath the empathetic promises to fix your problems and fight for your family, it’s a business of metrics. If a campaign is lucky, it will find its way through a wilderness of polling, voter attributes, demographics, turnout, impressions, gerrymandering, and ad buys to connect with voters in a way that moves or even inspires them. Obama,...

Ex-lord chief justice: UK parliament must scrutinise Covid rules

Exclusive: Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd joins senior legal figures in calling for MPs to examine emergency legislationCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageLord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the former lord chief justice of England and Wales, has called for greater parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s emergency coronavirus legislation because vital freedoms are being...

How the brain balances emotion and reason

Navigating through life requires balancing emotion and reason, a feat accomplished by the brain region 'area 32' of the anterior cingulate cortex. The area maintains emotional equilibrium by relaying information between cognitive and emotional brain regions, according to new research.

Evolutionary and heritable axes shape our brain

Every region has its place in the brain. However, it has been unclear why brain regions are located where they are. Now, scientists have defined two main axes along which brain regions are genetically organized, stretching from posterior to anterior and inferior to superior in the brain. These axes are mainly shaped by genes and evolution.

Another new orca baby born to J pod

Another baby orca has been born to J pod, the Center for Whale Research confirmed Friday morning. It's the second calf born this month for the endangered southern resident orcas that frequent Puget Sound.

Researchers discover a new method to regulate cell plasticity

Cell plasticity is a property by which a cell can take on different and reversible identities. Cell plasticity is also essential for embryo development and for the correct function of the immune system. This property is also crucial in cancer as many cancer cells use it to gain resistance to chemotherapy and invade and colonize distant parts of the body.

Looking at evolution's genealogy from home

Evolution leaves its traces in particular in genomes. Pinpointing its influence is a laborious process—but one in which Dr. Jürgen Schmitz and his team at the University of Münster are at home. Five years ago, the team made public a web app which can compare the genomes of humans and animals and thus help to provide an understanding of evolutionary developments. The Münster researchers are...

Research reveals how wounds heal in 'waves'

Many cells in our bodies are on the move and somehow seem to 'know' where to go. But how do they learn the location of their destination? This question is key to understanding phenomena such as the renewal of cells in our body, the migration of cancer cells, and especially how wounds heal. Edouard Hannezo and his group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) in...

Oligomeric materials to enhance water splitting

Researchers from the Llobet group have developed a new molecular material made out of oligomers and used it as a catalyst in water oxidation, achieving unprecedented current densities for molecular catalysts. The paper "Water oxidation electrocatalysis using ruthenium coordination oligomers adsorbed on multiwalled carbon nanotubes," has been published in Nature Chemistry.

The cost of drought in Italy

Droughts are, after floods and storms, the costliest natural hazard. The expected increase in the frequency and intensity of drought events due to climate change reinforces the necessity to improve the quality and reliability of information about the economic impacts of droughts and the need for more accurate cost analyses to embed these estimates into the assessment of the costs of climate...

Fungal compound inhibits important group of proteins

Researchers in the group of Jeroen den Hertog, in collaboration with researchers in Leiden, have found that a compound inhibits a group of proteins called BMP receptors. This compound, called cercosporamide, was previously only known to inhibit a different group of proteins. When overactive, BMP receptors can induce several diseases. Studying compounds that may counteract this overactivity may...

Helium, a little atom for big physics

Helium atom precision measurements and calculations have a history of nearly a century. In the 1960s, theorists discovered that the fine-structure split (23P0-23P2) of the 23P energy level of helium is the best atomic system for measuring the fine structure constant α (approximately 1/137), which is the key parameter in the Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) theory. QED is the basic theory describing...

Stable supramolecular structure system to identify activity origin of carbon dioxide electroreduction

N-doped or N-heterocyclic nanostructured electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction have made important progress in product selectivity. For further development, it is important to identify the exact activity origin of these electrocatalysts. Crystal electrocatalysts with accurate structures can provide a visual research platform for identifying catalytic active sites and...

Nations commit to reverse nature loss by 2030

Dozens of countries representing more than a quarter of global GDP on Monday released a fresh set of pledges for "urgent and immediate" action to halt nature loss and protect Earth's crucial biodiversity.