289 articles from WEDNESDAY 25.11.2020
New insights into how the CRISPR immune system evolved
With new insights into how the genetic tool CRISPR—which allows direct editing of our genes—evolved and adapted, we are now one step closer to understanding the basis of the constant struggle for survival that takes place in nature. The results can be used in future biotechnologies.
Forming beliefs in a world of filter bubbles
Why do so many Republicans still believe that the recent US presidential election was fraudulent? Is it possible to reach coronavirus deniers with factual arguments? A study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the University of Amsterdam provides insights into what it is that stops people from changing their minds.
Minimal waste production is a fundamental law for animal locomotion
Is there a unifying principle underpinning animal locomotion in its rich diversity? A thermodynamic analysis performed by a Skoltech professor and his French collaborators at Université Paris Diderot, Université Paris Saclay, and the Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle, shows why and how waste minimization prevails on efficiency or power maximization when it comes to free locomotion...
A growth mindset of interest can spark innovative thinking
From climate change to the ongoing pandemic and beyond, the issues facing today's world are increasingly complex and dynamic. Yet solving problems like these—which interweave social, environmental, physical, and political factors—requires new approaches that extend beyond traditional ways of thinking. It requires people to draw upon and integrate seemingly disparate areas of knowledge, such as...
Digital atlas makes Micronesia more easily researched than Hawaii, Fiji, and Guam
With the culmination of a five-year effort to gather a breadth of geospatial data and display it on an interactive digital atlas, the four main islands of the Federated States of Micronesia are now more easily researched than any other island in the Pacific, including Hawaii, Guam, and Fiji.
Transcultural literacies and meaning-making through fanfiction
Digital technology has made intercultural contacts a daily activity for many people in the world. As a result, the globalization of cultural flows and the various ways that people appropriate these cultural flows have become hot topics for investigation, and the prefix 'trans' can now be seen in terms like translocalities, transnational, translanguaging and transculturing, underlying the fluidity...
Bank-affiliated funds contribute to funding their parent banks in times of crisis
A study published recently in the journal Review of Financial Studies by the researchers Javier Gil-Bazo, Sergio Mayordomo and Peter Hoffmann, shows clear evidence that in Spain, bank-affiliated funds provided funding support to their parent company via purchases of bonds in the primary market during the last crisis (2008-2012).
Sheep show the contamination by microplastics in the agricultural soils of Murcia
In recent times, the increase in plastic residues has been reasserted as being a major environmental problem. This material, which is present in packaging and day-to-day objects, plays a decisive role in intensive agriculture zones.
X-ray diffraction reveals details inside mummies without having to open them up
A trio of researchers from Northwestern University, Metropolitan State University of Denver and Argonne National Laboratory has found that using X-ray diffraction on mummies makes it possible to see inside the wrappings without opening them. In their paper published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, S. Stock, M. Stock and J. Almer describe scanning an Egyptian mummy in two ways and what...
Understanding the power of our Sun
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 18:23
For the first time, the international team was able to directly observe neutrinos from this cycle (CNO neutrinos).
New study explains important cause of fatal influenza
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 18:23
It is largely unknown why influenza infections lead to an increased risk of bacterial pneumonia. Researchers have now described important findings leading to so-called superinfections, which claim many lives around the world every year.
A microscope for everyone: Researchers develop open-source optical toolbox
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 18:23
Researchers have developed an optical toolbox to build microscopes for a few hundred euros that deliver high-resolution images comparable to commercial microscopes that cost up to a thousand times more. The 3D printed open-source modular system can be combined in the way the research question requires -- from the observation of living organisms in the incubator to a toolbox for education.
Novel haplotype-led approach to increase the precision of wheat breeding
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 18:23
Wheat researchers are pioneering a new technique that promises to improve gene discovery for the globally important crop.
Researchers uncover the unique way stem cells protect their chromosome ends
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 18:23
Telomeres are specialized structures at the end of chromosomes which protect our DNA and ensure healthy division of cells. According to a new study, the mechanisms of telomere protection are surprisingly unique in stem cells.
Ice sheets on the move: How north and south poles connect
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:44
Over the past 40,000 years, ice sheets thousands of kilometers apart have influenced one another through sea level changes, according to new research. New modelling of ice sheet changes during the most recent glacial cycle demonstrates, for the first time, that during this period, changes in the Antarctic ice sheet were driven by the melting ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere.
New insights on health effects of long-duration space flight
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:44
Among the new findings, the research team found that chronic oxidative stress during spaceflight contributed to the telomere elongation they observed. They also found that astronauts had shorter telomeres after spaceflight than they did before.
Space travel can adversely impact energy production in a cell
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:44
Studies of both mice and humans who have traveled into space reveal that critical parts of a cell's energy production machinery, the mitochondria, can be made dysfunctional due to changes in gravity, radiation exposure and other factors. These findings are part of an extensive research effort across many scientific disciplines to look at the health effects of travel into space.
Landmark study generates first genomic atlas for global wheat improvement
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:44
In a landmark discovery for global wheat production, a team has sequenced the genomes for 15 wheat varieties representing breeding programs around the world, enabling scientists and breeders to much more quickly identify influential genes for improved yield, pest resistance and other important crop traits.
New wheat and barley genomes will help feed the world
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:43
Scientists have unlocked a new genetic variation in wheat and barley - a major boost for the global effort in breeding higher-yielding wheat and barley varieties.
Genetic study shows that the risk of pre-eclampsia is related to blood pressure and BMI
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:43
An international study has revealed that the genetic risk of pre-eclampsia - a potentially dangerous condition in pregnancy - is related to blood pressure and body mass index.
Scientists determine the structure of glass-shaping protein in sponges
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:43
Researchers have determined the three dimensional (3D) structure of a protein responsible for glass formation in sponges. They explain how the earliest and, in fact, the only known natural protein-mineral crystal is formed.
New modified wheat could help tackle global food shortage
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:43
Researchers at the University of York have created a new modified wheat variety that increases grain production by up to 12%.
New insights into how the CRISPR immune system evolved
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:43
Although CRISPR-Cas has found many uses in biotechnology and medicine, it originates in nature, where it functions as a microbial immune system. Scientists shed new light on how CRISPR-Cas emerged early during the development of life on Earth, as well as how this immune system is constantly adapting to new challenges.
Phytoplankton disturbed by nanoparticles
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:43
Products derived from nanotechnology are efficient and highly sought-after, yet their effects on the environment are still poorly understood. A research team has investigated the effects of nanosilver, currently used in almost 450 products for its antibacterial properties, on the algae known as Poterioochromonas malhamensis. The results show that nanosilver disturb the alga's entire metabolism....
Basketball on the brain: Neuroscientists use sports to study surprise
- ScienceDaily
- 20/11/25 17:43
Neuroscientists tracked the brains and pupils of self-described basketball fans as they watched March Madness games, to study how people process surprise -- an unexpected change of circumstances that shifts an anticipated outcome. They found that that shifts in the pattern of activity in high-level brain areas only happened at moments that contradicted the watchers' current beliefs about which...