422 articles from THURSDAY 25.3.2021
Mark Zuckerberg still won’t address the root cause of Facebook’s misinformation problem
In a congressional hearing about disinformation on Thursday, Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to respond to a claim he once made about his own company: that the more likely content posted to Facebook is to violate the company’s community standards, the more engagement it will receive.
Is this, she asked, still accurate? ...
The Supreme Court gives Conservatives a chance to move past the carbon tax
The Supreme Court of Canada's ruling on the federal carbon price has enormous significance both for climate policy and constitutional law. It also offers Canada's conservative politicians an exit from the corner into which they've painted...
About 4,300 cold-stunned turtles survived the Texas freeze
About a third of the cold-stunned sea turtles found along Texas' coast during last month's deadly winter freeze survived following a massive rescue effort by experts and volunteers who were themselves struggling without power at home.
Turning wood into plastic
Efforts to shift from petrochemical plastics to renewable and biodegradable plastics have proven tricky—the production process can require toxic chemicals and is expensive, and the mechanical strength and water stability is often insufficient. But researchers have made a breakthrough, using wood byproducts, that shows promise for producing more durable and sustainable bioplastics.
Ocean currents predicted on Enceladus
Buried beneath 20 kilometers of ice, the subsurface ocean of Enceladus—one of Saturn's moons—appears to be churning with currents akin to those on Earth.
New class of versatile, high-performance quantum dots primed for medical imaging, quantum computing
A new class of quantum dots deliver a stable stream of single, spectrally tunable infrared photons under ambient conditions and at room temperature, unlike other single photon emitters. This breakthrough opens a range of practical applications, including quantum communication, quantum metrology, medical imaging and diagnostics, and clandestine labeling.
More birders sighted in Central Park this spring migration
This spring, longtime Central Park birder and naturalist Gabriel Willow is feeling a little less nervous than he did a year ago.
COVID-19 impact: Work from home more appealing than return to 'business as usual,' Harvard survey shows
Despite potentially longer hours, most Americans enjoy working remotely and want the option to keep doing so post-pandemic, according to a new Harvard Business School Online survey.
The 'great leveler' revisited: Why the COVID pandemic might boost inequality in society
A study by prof. Bas van Bavel and prof. Marten Scheffer shows that throughout history, most disasters and pandemics have boosted inequality instead of leveling it. Whether such disastrous events function as levelers or not, depends on the distribution of economic wealth and political leverage within a society at the moment of crisis. Their findings on the historical effects of crises on equality...
Scientists uncover a process that stands in the way of making quantum dots brighter
Bright semiconductor nanocrystals known as quantum dots give QLED TV screens their vibrant colors. But attempts to increase the intensity of that light generate heat instead, reducing the dots' light-producing efficiency.
Fast-acting, color-changing molecular probe senses when a material is about to fail
Materials that contain special polymer molecules may someday be able to warn us when they are about to fail, researchers said. Engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have improved their previously developed force-sensitive molecules, called mechanophores, to produce reversible, rapid and vibrant color change when a force is applied.
Rural Alaskans struggle to access and afford water
Water scarcity in rural Alaska is not a new problem, but the situation is getting worse with climate change. Lasting solutions must encourage the use of alternative water supplies like rainwater catchment and gray water recycling. They must also address the affordability of water related to household income, say researchers from McGill University.
New technology enables ultrafast identification of COVID-19 biomarkers
Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Francis Crick Institute have developed a mass spectrometry-based technique capable of measuring samples containing thousands of proteins within just a few minutes. It is faster and cheaper than a conventional blood count. To demonstrate the technique's potential, the researchers used blood plasma collected from COVID-19 patients. Using the new technology, they...
New study maps wildlife microbiota
Wild Biotech, a preclinical stage drug discovery & development company emerging out of stealth mode, today announces the publication of its first major paper, which appears in the journal Science. The study mapped the gut microbiota of animals in the wild on an unprecedented scale, adding millions of potentially novel microbiome-based therapeutics for human diseases to the company's already...
Tired of video conferencing? Research suggests you're right to question its effectiveness
In the year since the coronavirus pandemic upended how just about every person on the planet interacts with one another, video conferencing has become the de facto tool for group collaboration within many organizations. The prevalent assumption is that technology that helps to mimic face-to-face interactions via a video camera will be most effective in achieving the same results, yet there's...
Florida manatee deaths spur federal investigation
Efforts to figure out what's killing scores of manatees in Florida's waters this year just got a big boost from the federal government.
Cholesterol may be key to new therapies for Alzheimer's disease, diabetes
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/25 20:02
A researcher examined the role of cholesterol in both Alzheimer's disease and Type 2 diabetes to identify a small molecule that may help regulate cholesterol levels in the brain, making it a potential new therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.
Narcissism driven by insecurity, not grandiose sense of self
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/25 20:02
Narcissism is driven by insecurity, and not an inflated sense of self, finds a new study, which may also explain what motivates the self-focused nature of social media activity.
Fast-acting, color-changing molecular probe senses when a material is about to fail
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/25 20:02
Materials that contain special polymer molecules may someday be able to warn us when they are about to fail, researchers said. Engineers have improved their previously developed force-sensitive molecules, called mechanophores, to produce reversible, rapid and vibrant color change when a force is applied.
Exposure to flame retardants early in pregnancy linked to premature birth
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/25 20:02
Expectant women are more likely to give birth early if they have high blood levels of a chemical used in flame retardants compared with those who have limited exposure, a new study finds.
Gene required for jumping identified in rabbits
- ScienceDaily
- 21/3/25 20:02
Rabbits and other hopping animals require a functional RORB gene to move around by jumping, according to a new study.