164 articles from WEDNESDAY 20.1.2021

Biden’s first steps as president: Action on covid and climate

A flurry of executive orders is expected to take place over the next few days from the new US president as he takes residence in the White House. Here are the highlights of those he has signed so far. The “100 day mask challenge” Biden’s first order is part recommendation, part requirement: it requires people to wear masks on all federal property, and recommend that governors and...

Biden puts U.S. back into fight to slow global warming

President Joe Biden planned Wednesday to return the United States to the worldwide fight to slow global warming in one of his first official acts, and to immediately launch a series of climate-friendly efforts that would transform how Americans drive and get their power.

Deep sleep takes out the trash

By examining fruit flies' brain activity and behavior, the researchers found that deep sleep has an ancient, restorative power to clear waste from the brain. This waste potentially includes toxic proteins that may lead to neurodegenerative disease.

Late rainy season reliably predicts drought in regions prone to food insecurity

The onset date of the yearly rainy season reliably predicts if seasonal drought will occur in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa that are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity, and could help to mitigate its effects. Shraddhanand Shukla and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Climate Hazards Center, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on January 20,...

Describing the worldviews of the new 'tech elite'

The new tech elite share distinct views setting them apart from other segments of the world's elite more generally, according to a study published January 20, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Hilke Brockmann from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, and colleagues.

Unravelling the when, where and how of volcanic eruptions

There are about 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide and about 50 eruptions occur each year. But it's still difficult to predict when and how these eruptions will happen or how they'll unfold. Now, new insight into the physical processes inside volcanoes are giving scientists a better understanding of their behaviour, which could help protect the 1 billion people who live close to...

Why Trump’s last-minute cyber order could have limited impact

The news: Hours before leaving the presidency, Donald Trump issued an executive order that requires American cloud computing companies to do more to verify the identities of their foreign customers. The stated aim is to help prevent hacking operations against the United States, although the timing and scope of the order mean it is surrounded by uncertainty. What it says: The order instructs the...

Genesis of blue lightning into the stratosphere detected from ISS

Dark clouds, the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk, the flashes of intense light followed by a loud crackling and then a low, rolling thunder—who doesn't love a good summer thunderstorm? We've all seen one, heard one, or been completely soaked by one. But how much do we really know about this weather phenomenon?

UK Covid live: 1,820 deaths reported in new record high alongside 38,905 new cases

Latest updates: a further 1,820 die in the UK within 28 days of a Covid test; Downing Street says police must wait for phase two of vaccine rolloutUK reports 1,820 Covid deaths in record daily highVaccines may need updating to protect against new variantPriti Patel says she wanted UK borders shut last MarchTalking can spread Covid as much as coughing, says researchCoronavirus – latest updates...

Covid vaccines may need updating to protect against new variant, study suggests

Neutralising ability of antibodies typically falls eight-fold with South African variantCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCoronavirus vaccines may need to be redesigned this year to boost protection against a new variant that emerged rapidly in South Africa, research suggests, while past Covid sufferers may not be protected against reinfection.Research by South African...

An anode-free zinc battery that could someday store renewable energy

Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, could help decrease the world's reliance on fossil fuels. But first, power companies need a safe, cost-effective way to store the energy for later use. Massive lithium-ion batteries can do the job, but they suffer from safety issues and limited lithium availability. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have made a prototype of an...

New metamaterial offers reprogrammable properties

Over the past 20 years, scientists have been developing metamaterials, or materials that don't occur naturally and whose mechanical properties result from their designed structure rather than their chemical composition. They allow researchers to create materials with specific properties and shapes. Metamaterials are still not widely used in everyday objects, but that could soon change. Tian Chen,...

New antifungal compound from ant farms

Attine ants are farmers, and they grow fungus as food. Pseudonocardia and Streptomyces bacteria are their farmhands, producing metabolites that protect the crop from pathogens. Surprisingly, these metabolites lack common structural features across bacteria from different geographic locations, even though the ants share a common ancestor. Now, researchers report in ACS Central Science they have...

Storing information with light

New photo-ferroelectric materials allow storage of information in a non-volatile way using light stimulus. The idea is to create energy efficient memory devices with high performance and versatility to face current challenges. The study has been published in Nature Communications by Josep Fontcuberta and co-workers and opens a path towards further investigations on this phenomenon and to...