322 articles from TUESDAY 13.10.2020

Trees and lawns beat the heat

As climate change pushes many cities towards dangerous temperatures, planners are scrambling to mitigate excessive heat. One strategy is to replace artificial surfaces with vegetation cover. In water-limited regions, municipalities have to balance the benefit of cooler temperatures with using precious water for irrigation. A new study will make those decisions easier for the semi-arid Salt Lake...

Facebook greatest source of Covid-19 disinformation, journalists say

International survey nominates social media giant as worst offender, ahead of elected officialsThe majority of journalists covering the pandemic say Facebook is the biggest spreader of disinformation, outstripping elected officials who are also a top source, according to an international survey of journalism and Covid-19.The social media platform, which announced this week it was updating its hate...

Possible safety issue spurs pause of COVID-19 antibody study

Independent monitors have paused enrollment in a study testing the COVID-19 antiviral drug remdesivir plus an experimental antibody therapy being developed by Eli Lilly that’s similar to a treatment President Donald Trump recently received. Lilly confirmed Tuesday that the study had been paused “out of an abundance of caution” and said safety is its top concern. The experimental drugs are...

Foreign election interference: A global response

The increasing threat of foreign interference in elections has driven six nations to take similar approaches to combat this pervasive threat. A review of the details to their responses brings out valuable differences and insights. These are presented in a forthcoming special issue of the peer-reviewed Election Law Journal.

American Pikas show resiliency in the face of global warming

The American pika is a charismatic, diminutive relative of rabbits that some researchers say is at high risk of extinction due to climate change. Pikas typically live in cool habitats, often in mountains, under rocks and boulders. Because pikas are sensitive to high temperatures, some researchers predict that, as the Earth's temperature rises, pikas will have to move ever higher elevations until...

Enzyme conformation influences the performance of lipase‐powered nanomotors

A study by scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), the Universidad Complutense (UCM), Universidad de Girona (UdG), and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), working together with other international centers, has overcome one of the key hurdles to the use of nanorobots powered by lipases, enzymes that play essential roles in digestion by...

New global temperature data will inform study of climate impacts on health, agriculture

A seemingly small one-to-two degree change in the global climate can dramatically alter weather-related hazards. Given that such a small change can result in such big impacts, it is important to have the most accurate information possible when studying the impact of climate change. This can be especially challenging in data sparse areas like Africa, where some of the most dangerous hazards are...

New method uses noise to make spectrometers more accurate

Optical spectrometers are instruments with a wide variety of uses. By measuring the intensity of light across different wavelengths, they can be used to image tissues or measure the chemical composition of everything from a distant galaxy to a leaf. Now researchers at the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering have come up a with a new, rapid method for characterizing and calibrating...