268 articles from WEDNESDAY 21.10.2020

OSIRIS-REx TAGs Surface of Asteroid Bennu

Portal origin URL: OSIRIS-REx TAGs Surface of Asteroid BennuPortal origin nid: 465657Published: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - 17:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Captured on Oct. 20, 2020 during the OSIRIS-REx mission’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event, this series of images shows the SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA...

Obesity and disease tied to dramatic dietary changes

The 'mismatch hypothesis' argues that our bodies evolved to digest the foods that our ancestors ate, and that human bodies will struggle and largely fail to metabolize a radically new set of foods. This intuitive idea is hard to test directly, but the Turkana, a pastoralist population in remote Kenya, present a natural experiment: genetically homogenous populations whose diets stretch across a...

Genome sequencing shows climate barrier to spread of Africanized bees

Since the 1950s, 'Africanized' honeybees have spread north and south across the Americas until apparently coming to a halt in California and northern Argentina. Now genome sequencing of hundreds of bees from the northern and southern limits shows a gradual decline in African ancestry across hundreds of miles, rather than an abrupt shift.

NOAA report reveals condition of natural and cultural resources of Papahānaumokuākea

NOAA has published a peer-reviewed State of the Monument report that was jointly produced by the co-trustees of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The report includes information on the status and trends of living resources, habitats, ocean conditions, maritime and cultural archaeological resources, and the human activities and natural events that affect them.

Genome sequencing shows climate barrier to spread of Africanized bees

Since the 1950s, "Africanized" honeybees have spread north and south across the Americas until apparently coming to a halt in California and northern Argentina. Now genome sequencing of hundreds of bees from the northern and southern limits shows a gradual decline in African ancestry across hundreds of miles, rather than an abrupt shift.

Tracking the SARS-CoV-2 virus with genome sequencing

A study published in Cell Reports shows how next generation genetic sequencing can track mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which can in effect help with transmission tracing, diagnostic testing accuracy and vaccine effectiveness.

Protected areas help waterbirds adapt to climate change

Climate change pushes species distribution areas northward. However, the expansion of species ranges is not self-evident due to e.g. habitat degradation and unsustainable harvesting caused by human activities. A new study led from the University of Turku, Finland, suggests that protected areas can facilitate wintering waterbird adaptation to climate warming by advancing their range shifts towards...

Looking for hidden states of the COVID-19 spike protein

The virus wreaking havoc on our lives is an efficient infection machine. Comprised of only 29 proteins (compared to our 400,000), with a genome 1/200,000 the size of ours, SARS-CoV-2 is expertly evolved to trick our cells to contribute its machinery to assist in its propagation.

Young Americans favor reforms, says national poll

The time has come for reform on how the United States deals with the electoral process, the environment and social justice, according to a new national poll released today by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion that takes an in-depth look at the views of Americans age 18 to 39.

Novel method for measuring spatial dependencies turns less data into more data

The identification of human migration driven by climate change, the spread of COVID-19, agricultural trends, and socioeconomic problems in neighboring regions depends on data—the more complex the model, the more data is required to understand such spatially distributed phenomena. However, reliable data is often expensive and difficult to obtain, or too sparse to allow for accurate predictions.

Women aged 50-60 at greatest risk of ‘long Covid’, experts suggest

Study links age and number of symptoms to lasting health problems from coronavirusCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWomen aged 50-60 are at greatest risk of developing “long Covid”, analysis suggests. Older age and experiencing five or more symptoms within the first week of illness were also associated with a heightened risk of lasting health problems.The study, led...

Smile, wave: Some exoplanets may be able to see us, too

Three decades after astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that Voyager 1 snap Earth's picture from billions of miles away - resulting in the iconic Pale Blue Dot photograph - two astronomers now offer another unique cosmic perspective: Some exoplanets - planets from beyond our own solar system - have a direct line of sight to observe Earth's biological qualities from far, far away.

Turbulent era sparked leap in human behavior, adaptability 320,000 years ago

The first analysis of a sedimentary drill core representing 1 million years of environmental history in the East African Rift Valley shows that at the same time early humans were abandoning old tools in favor of more sophisticated technology and broadening their trade, their landscape was experiencing frequent fluctuations in vegetation and water supply that made resources less reliably available....