420 articles from THURSDAY 18.2.2021

UCI researchers eavesdrop on cellular conversations

An interdisciplinary team of biologists and mathematicians at the University of California, Irvine has developed a new tool to help decipher the language cells use to communicate with one another. In a paper published today in Nature Communications, the researchers introduce CellChat, a computational platform that enables the decoding of signaling molecules that transmit information and commands...

Ultrafast electron dynamics in space and time

Often depicted as colourful balloons or clouds, electron orbitals provide information on the whereabouts of electrons in molecules, a bit like fuzzy snapshots. In order to understand the exchange of electrons in chemical reactions, it is not only important to know their spatial distribution but also their motion in time. Scientists from Julich, Marburg, and Graz have now made huge progress in this...

UNEP synthesis of scientific assessments provides blueprint to secure humanity's future

The UN Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP launch "Making Peace with Nature," a year-long synthesis of major UN scientific assessments. This summary underscores the level of emergency documented and reveals an intersection of common conclusions that clearly identify core policy change priorities.The new report also prescribes priority actions required of every major...

Unique feeding behavior of Asian kukri snakes gutting frogs and toads

After describing a novel behaviour of the Small-banded Kukri Snake last September, two new studies, also led by Henrik Bringsøe, now report the same gruesome feeding strategy - where the snakes pierce the abdomen of frogs or toads to swallow their organs, as the prey remains alive for up to a few hours - in another two species: the Taiwanese Kukri Snake and the Ocellated Kukri Snake. The...

Wolves prefer to feed on the wild side

When there is a choice, wolves in Mongolia prefer to feed on wild animals rather than grazing livestock. This is the discovery by a research team from the University of Göttingen and the Senckenberg Museum Görlitz. Previous studies had shown that the diet of wolves in inland Central Asia consists mainly of grazing livestock, which could lead to increasing conflict between nomadic livestock...

Impact of COVID-19 in Africa 'vastly underestimated', warn researchers

The impact of COVID-19 in Africa has been vastly underestimated, warn researchers in a new study that showed that COVID-19 deaths accounted for 15 to 20 percent of all sampled deaths -- many more than official reports suggest and contradicting the widely held view that COVID-19 has largely skipped Africa and had little impact.

Covid infections in England fall by two-thirds but spreading fastest among young

Experts urge care over opening schools as children aged 5-12 now in one of most common groups for virusCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCovid infections have fallen by two-thirds in a month in England but the virus is now spreading most among primary-age children and young people, research suggests.The React 1 study from Imperial College London points to the third...