390 articles from THURSDAY 14.1.2021
A guide to being an ethical online investigator
As rioters stormed Capitol Hill on January 6, Theo—like many Americans—watched, dumbfounded and in horror. Then he had an idea. “What if we went on social and started pulling these screenshots together and tried to go around and crowdsource [the rioters’] identities?” he remembers thinking. So Theo bought a burner phone, set up a fake…
About the Pandemic Technology Project
As covid-19 began spreading around the world, an avalanche of new digital services and data-driven approaches has emerged to aid pandemic response. From smartphone exposure notifications to vaccine allocation algorithms, these systems have been developed under the watch of politicians, public health officials, scientists and businesses. They have also faced many challenges.
The Pandemic...
Rare lichen unique to Florida discovered in museum collections, may be extinct
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:40
Scientists have found a new species of fleshy verdigris lichen, thanks to DNA analysis of museum specimens. Misidentified by its original collectors, the lichen is only known from 32 specimens collected in North and Central Florida scrubland between 1885 and 1985. Now the hunt is on to find it in the wild -- if it still exists.
The role of T cells in fighting cancer
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:40
Why do some hosts' immune systems reject tumors easily, while others have a harder time doing so? It depends on the types of the immune cells known as CD8 T cells and how a host's specific T cells match up with the neoantigens present in the tumor.
Metformin use reduces risk of death for patients with COVID-19 and diabetes, study finds
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:40
Use of the diabetes drug metformin -- before a diagnosis of COVID-19 -- is associated with a threefold decrease in mortality in COVID-19 patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. Diabetes is a significant comorbidity for COVID-19. This beneficial effect remained, even after correcting for age, sex, race, obesity, and hypertension or chronic kidney disease and heart failure.
Research breaks new ground in understanding how a molecular motor generates force
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:40
A team of biophysicists set out to tackle the long-standing question about the nature of force generation by myosin, the molecular motor responsible for muscle contraction. The key question they addressed - one of the most controversial topics in the field - was: how does myosin convert chemical energy, in the form of ATP, into mechanical work? The answer revealed new details into how myosin, the...
COVID-19 reduced U.S. life expectancy, especially among Black and Latino populations
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:39
A new study finds that due to COVID-19 deaths last year, life expectancy at birth for Americans will shorten by 1.13 years to 77.48 years -- the largest single-year decline in life expectancy in at least 40 years.
Eating omega-3 fat helps hibernating Arctic ground squirrels warm up during deep cold
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:39
By feeding Arctic ground squirrels special diets, researchers have found that omega-3 fatty acids, common in flax seed and fish oil, help keep the animals warmer in deep hibernation.
Researchers discover new inhibitor drug combination for rare form of cancer
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:39
Researchers took the novel approach of targeting specific cell proteins that control DNA information using inhibitors, or drugs, that were effective in reducing the growth of the Waldenström macroglobulinemia cancer cells and when combined with a third drug were even more successful in killing the WM cancer cells which could lead to more treatment options.
How plants produce defensive toxins without harming themselves
- ScienceDaily
- 21/1/14 22:39
Scientists describe the biosynthesis and exact mode of action of diterpene glycosides in wild tobacco. These antiherbivory compounds attack the cell membrane. To protect themselves from their own toxins, tobacco plants store them in a non-toxic form. Autotoxicity and the protection against it seem to play a greater role in the evolution of plant defenses than previously thought.