24 articles from SUNDAY 4.10.2020
Mars is closer to Earth this week than it will be for 15 years
With no bright stars in the same part of the sky, the red planet will be unmistakeableMars will be closer to Earth this week than at any other time for the next 15 years. The fourth planet from the sun, it is currently sitting just north of the celestial equator. That means it is almost perfectly placed to be seen from both hemispheres, and it is shining with brilliant intensity in the evening...
Week of Nobel Prize announcement begins with medicine award
A panel at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm will announce the recipient some time after 11:30 a.m. (0930 GMT). The medicine prize carries particular significance this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the importance that medical research has for societies and economies around the world. Often the Nobel Assembly recognizes basic science that has laid the foundations...
Trump's steroid Covid treatment adds to confusion over health
Dexamethasone ‘normally reserved for people going into respiratory failure’, says expertTrump coronavirus treatment – live updatesThe latest intervention from Donald Trump’s medical team has been to put the president on dexamethasone, a steroid that is proven, thanks to the UK’s Recovery trial, to benefit Covid-19 patients who are having breathing difficulties.But the decision to...
Record-breaking California wildfires surpass 4 million acres
Deadly wildfires in California have burned more than 4 million acres (6,250 square miles) this year—more than double the previous record for the most land burned in a single year in the state.
Australia's 'no jab, no pay' rule has little effect on anti-vaxxer parents – study
Experts say the policy prompts people happy to vaccinate their children but doesn’t work on those who oppose vaccination scienceAustralia’s “no jab, no pay” policy has been associated with a drop in the number of children catching up on their first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, suggesting the policy has had little impact on those who reject vaccination science.However,...
Indigenous knowledge should inform COVID-19 recovery strategy, say Yukoners in top science journal
A team of Yukoners have published a letter in the prestigious academic journal Science, arguing that Indigenous principles and knowledge should inform a global strategy for recovering from the...
Scientists engineered plastic-eating 'super-enzymes' that can break down bottles in days
Researchers stitched together proteins from plastic-eating bacteria to create "super-enzymes" that recycle plastic waste in days, rather than...
Cupboard love: my biggest romances always begin in the kitchen
Can how much you love someone be judged by how comfortable you are in their kitchen?I am always falling in love in kitchens.Or rather, I suppose it’s not so much that I’m falling in love in kitchens but that I’m always realising I’m in love in kitchens; that the kind of love I love to fall into is the kind of love that’s most at home in the kitchen; a domestic kind of love; an intimate,...
Coronavirus live news: Russia's daily caseload passes 10,000 for first time since May
Russia’s coronavirus crisis centre reports 10,499 new infections, biggest daily tally since 15 May; cases continue to surge across EuropeUS coronavirus – latest news on Donald Trump after positive testAfter avoiding the worst in spring, Italy’s south sounds alarmPanic and confusion following Donald Trump’s Covid diagnosisScientists study whether immune response worsens CovidUK coronavirus...
'Rarest fern in Europe' discovered in Ireland
Variety has only ever been found in Caribbean more than 4,000 miles across AtlanticEurope’s rarest fern has been discovered in Killarney, Ireland, leaving botanists baffled over how it remained undetected for so long.The neotropical fern, Stenogrammitis myosuroides, has only ever previously been found in the mountainous cloud forests of Jamaica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic – more than...
Long Covid: the evidence of lingering heart damage
Cardiologists are finding that problems aren’t related to age or severity of infectionCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageOn 29 February, Melissa Vanier, a 52-year-old postal worker from Vancouver, had just returned from holiday in Cuba when she fell seriously ill with Covid-19. “For the entire month of March I felt like I had broken glass in my throat,” she says,...
Why cleaning the forest could help fight fires — but it won't be easy
A forest near Penticton, B.C., shows how thinning out the woodlands can make a difference when it comes to slowing the spread of...
Scientists study whether immune response wards off or worsens Covid
Research into antibodies could explain children’s protection against disease, or why virus causes life-threatening effectsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBritish scientists have launched a major study aimed at uncovering the critical role that human antibodies and other immune defences play in the severity of Covid-19 cases.Results could support some scientists’...
80-year-old antibiotic redesigned for new medical uses
Chemists at the University of Tokyo have transformed one of the world's oldest antibiotics into new versions that - in preliminary lab tests - appear to be safer, stronger drugs to combat antibiotic resistance. Moreover, these altered versions of the antibiotic exhibit species-specific ion channel activity.
A tale of two cesspits: DNA reveals intestinal health in Medieval Europe and Middle East
Analysis of 14th-15th century latrines in Jerusalem and Riga, Latvia identifies some of the microbes resident in the guts of these pre-industrial populations, illuminating how gut contents have changed since medieval times.
A tale of two cesspits: DNA reveals intestinal health in Medieval Europe and Middle East
Analysis of 14th-15th century latrines in Jerusalem and Riga, Latvia identifies some of the microbes resident in the guts of these pre-industrial populations, illuminating how gut contents have changed since medieval times.
AI predicts patients at highest risk for severe pain, increased opioid use post-surgery
Artificial intelligence (AI) used in machine learning models can predict which patients are at highest risk for severe pain after surgery, and help determine who would most benefit from personalized pain management plans that use non-opioid alternatives, suggests new research being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2020 annual meeting.
Air stable intrinsically stretchable color-conversion layers for stretchable displays
The development of a stretchable display that can be bent, stretched, and attached to the skin as a free-standing film appeared in science fiction films is expected to be one step closer. The research team led by Prof. Tae-Woo Lee from Seoul National University announced on the 29th that they have successfully achieved a stretchable color conversion layer (SCCL) using perovskite nanocrystals...
All-2D light-emitting field-effect transistors
All-2D light-emitting field-effect transistors.
Anglo-Saxon warlord found by detectorists could redraw map of post-Roman Britain
A discovery by a metal detectorist on club outing proved to be a significant burial with the remains of an imposing warlord, along with well-preserved weapons and items.
How the brain helps us navigate social differences
Researchers found that, among pairs of people who had very different socioeconomic backgrounds - calculated according to education level and family income - there was a higher level of activity in an area of the frontal lobe called the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The area is associated with speech production and rule-based language as well as cognitive and attentional control.
Microscope lens inspired by lighthouse
Custom-fabricated lenses make it easy to attach high-tech microscopes directly to cell incubators.
Novel laser-thermal mechanism realizes ultra-fast construction of PDMS devices
Novel laser-thermal mechanism realizes ultra-fast construction of PDMS devices.
Mars will shine the brightest it has for the next 10 days, first time since 2003
There will be a special appearance in the sky Saturday night — Mars will be shining the brightest that it has in well over a decade and people will be able to make out certain details on the...