304 articles from TUESDAY 13.4.2021
There is no 'one size fits all' approach to treat severe asthma
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 23:07
Despite a similar clinical presentation, people with severe asthma have strikingly distinct immune profiles, research shows. These findings can be used to develop new therapeutics and enhance precision medicine approaches to treating these patients.
World's protected areas need more than a 'do not disturb' sign
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 23:07
More than 4 million square kilometers have been designated as protected areas globally in the past decade, without documentation of how effective such areas across the globe are at protecting.
Stellar feedback and an airborne observatory; scientists determine a nebula younger than believed
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 23:07
Researchers studied RCW 120 to analyze the effects of stellar feedback, and found that RCW 120 must be less than 150,000 years old, which is very young for such a nebula.
Unlocking richer intracellular recordings
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 23:06
A forward-thinking group of researchers has identified a flexible, low-cost, and biocompatible platform for enabling richer intracellular recordings.
Stellar feedback and an airborne observatory: Team determines a nebula to be much younger than previously believed
In the southern sky, situated about 4,300 light years from Earth, lies RCW 120, an enormous glowing cloud of gas and dust. This cloud, known as an emission nebula, is formed of ionized gases and emits light at various wavelengths. An international team led by West Virginia University researchers studied RCW 120 to analyze the effects of stellar feedback, the process by which stars inject energy...
U.K. conservationists striving to restore local oyster population
Wild Oysters Project is creating underwater nurseries around the U.K. coast hoping to bring back the native European oysters from the brink of...
Volunteer cats from COVID households wanted for new study
Can you give your feline companion COVID-19? And conversely, can Fluffy give it to you?
Reducing ocean acidification by removing carbon dioxide: Two targets for cutting-edge research
It is now widely recognized that in order to reach the target of limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels (as the objective of the Paris agreement), cutting the carbon emissions even at an unprecedented pace will not be sufficient, but there is the need for development and implementation of active Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) strategies. Among the CDR strategies that...
Finding resiliency in local, community news gathering
When the Webster-Kirkwood Times, a community newspaper in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, had to endure layoffs and stop publishing its print edition—due to a loss in revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic—its readers felt the loss and began supporting the newspaper in earnest.
Giant electronic conductivity change driven by artificial switch of crystal dimensionality
The electronic properties of solid materials are highly dependent on crystal structures and their dimensionalities (i.e., whether the crystals have predominantly 2D or 3D structures). As Professor Takayoshi Katase of Tokyo Institute of Technology notes, this fact has an important corollary: "If the crystal structure dimensionality can be switched reversibly in the same material, a drastic property...
Airborne laser scanning of gaps in Amazon rainforest helps explain tree mortality
A group of researchers led by Brazilians has used an innovative model to map gaps in the Amazon rainforest and identify factors that contribute to tree mortality. Water stress, soil fertility, and anthropic forest degradation have the most influence on gap dynamics in the world's largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest, according to an article on the study published in Scientific Reports.
Engineer cautions pregnant women about speed bumps
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 21:40
Slow down. Baby on board. Future baby on board. New research determines that accelerating over speed bumps poses a danger for pregnant women and their fetuses.
Fireball lights up Florida sky as it passes uncomfortably close – video
A bright meteor shot across and lit up the night sky of south Florida and the Bahamas on Monday. The moment was captured by security cameras and dashcams across the regionHundreds capture spectacular fireball passing uncomfortably close to Earth Continue...
Northern Star Coral study could help protect tropical corals
As the Rhode Island legislature considers designating the Northern Star Coral an official state emblem, researchers are finding that studying this local creature's recovery from a laboratory-induced stressor could help better understand how to protect endangered tropical corals.
Liberals propose enshrining the right to a healthy environment in legislation
The Liberal government is proposing long-awaited changes to an environmental protection law that includes a recognition that everyone living in Canada has a right to a healthy environment.
Joyful screams perceived more strongly than screams of fear or anger
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 20:49
The human scream signals more than fear of imminent danger or entanglement in social conflicts. Screaming can also express joy or excitement. For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that non-alarming screams are even perceived and processed by the brain more efficiently than their alarming counterparts.
Life expectancy lower near superfund sites
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 20:49
Living near a hazardous waste or Superfund site could cut your life short by about a year, according to a new study. The study is the first nationwide review of all hazardous waste sites and not just the 1,300 sites on the national priority list managed by the federal government.
The US says not to give Johnson & Johnson vaccines after a woman died from a rare blood clot
The US took the dramatic step of recommending that health-care providers stop giving people the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against covid-19 after six women who received it developed serious blood clots and one died.
The US Food and Drug Administration described its action as a temporary halt to give regulators time to understand the apparent side effect. “We are recommending a pause in the...
NASA satellites detect signs of volcanic unrest years before eruptions
Although there are telltale signs that a volcano is likely to erupt in the near future—an uptick in seismic activity, changes in gas emissions, and sudden ground deformation, for example—accurately predicting such eruptions is notoriously hard.
Norfolk's 'unique' purple sea sponge named by schoolgirl
The sponge species was unnamed for a decade before nine-year-old Sylvie suggested Parpal Dumplin.
UK strategy of backing several Covid vaccines seems to be paying off
Analysis: buying new and existing technologies ensured alternatives if a vaccine failed or had supply issuesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government has said the decision by Johnson & Johnson to delay the supply of its Covid vaccine to Europe, while the US investigates reports of six cases of unusual blood clots in young women who have had the jab, will not...
Northern star coral study could help protect tropical corals
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 19:47
As the Rhode Island legislature considers designating the Northern Star Coral an official state emblem, researchers are finding that studying this local creature's recovery from a laboratory-induced stressor could help better understand how to protect endangered tropical corals.
Silk moth's diapause reverts back to ancestors' through gene editing
Diapause is a phenomenon in which animals and insects foresee changes in the environment and actively reduce metabolism, or halt regular differentiation and development. It is an adaptation strategy for adverse environments such as surviving winters, but also to encourage uniform growth of the generational group.
Almond production remains stable in the long term, despite deficit irrigation
Spain boasts the largest cultivated area of almond trees in the world, with more than 700,000 ha (MAPA, 2018), but ranks third in terms of production. How can this be? Actually it's easy to explain: most of the country's cultivated area of almond trees is comprised of traditional rainfed orchards and located in marginal areas featuring a low density of trees per hectare.
DNA structure itself is involved in genome regulation
The (when stretched) two-meter-long DNA molecule in each human cell is continuously being unpacked and packed again to enable the expression of genetic information. When genes must be accessed for transcription, the DNA double helix unwinds and the strands separate from each other so that all the elements needed for gene expression can access the relevant DNA region. This process results in the...
Giant electronic conductivity change driven by artificial switch of crystal dimensionality
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 19:29
Scientists demonstrate the artificial control of crystal structure dimensionality to switch electronic conductivity in three orders of magnitude. The scientist succeeded to induce the direct phase transition between three dimensional and two dimensional crystal structures in a lead-tin-selenide alloy semiconductor, which shows the abrupt band structure switch from a gap-less metallic state to a...
Surge testing may not be enough to curb Covid variants in UK, say scientists
Local restrictions may be needed, specialists warn, as South Africa strain is identified in LondonCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageLocal restrictions should be imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus variants when clusters emerge to avoid local or national lockdowns, scientists have said after the UK’s biggest surge testing operation got under way.In south London,...
Hope, resilience and mental health support | Letters
Mark Winstanley describes the quiet revolution that is transforming care for those with mental illness, while Dr Patrick Roycroft and Dr Sarajane Aris call for more compassion-based psychological helpIn the 1970s, cancer was stigmatised and support was underfunded. We have come a long way since then – albeit with road still left to travel. A key factor in this turn of fortune was hope that...
New way to monitor and prevent nerve cell deterioration after TBI
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 18:43
Researchers have discovered a new way to prevent brain nerve cells from deteriorating after injury, which also revealed a potential mechanistic link between TBI and AD. Their discovery also yielded a new blood biomarker of nerve cell degeneration after injury, which is significant because there is an urgent need for mechanism-based blood biomarkers that can diagnose TBI and stage its severity.
Study warns of 'oxygen false positives' in search for signs of life on other planets
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 18:43
In the search for life on other planets, the presence of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere is one potential sign of biological activity that might be detected by future telescopes. A new study, however, describes several scenarios in which a lifeless rocky planet around a sun-like star could evolve to have oxygen in its atmosphere.
Inside the protein channel that keeps bacteria alive
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 18:43
A novel method for studying how one crucial membrane protein functions may pave the way for a new kind of broad-spectrum antibiotic.
COVID-19 in our dust may help predict outbreaks, study finds
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 18:43
A study done in rooms where COVID-19 patients were isolated shows that the virus's RNA can persist up to a month in dust. The study did not evaluate whether dust can transmit the virus to humans. It could, however, offer another option for monitoring COVID-19 outbreaks in specific buildings, including nursing homes, offices or schools.
Aging signatures across diverse tissue cells in mice
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 18:43
Researchers have identified molecular signatures of the aging process in mice.
Gene therapy shows promise in treating rare eye disease in mice
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/13 18:43
A gene therapy protects eye cells in mice with a rare disorder that causes vision loss, especially when used in combination with other gene therapies, shows a new study.
Study warns of 'oxygen false positives' in search for signs of life on other planets
In the search for life on other planets, the presence of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere is one potential sign of biological activity that might be detected by future telescopes. A new study, however, describes several scenarios in which a lifeless rocky planet around a sun-like star could evolve to have oxygen in its atmosphere.
Inside the protein channel that keeps bacteria alive
Almost all bacteria rely on the same emergency valves—protein channels that pop open under pressure, releasing a deluge of cell contents. It is a last-ditch effort, a failsafe that prevents bacteria from exploding and dying when stretched to the limit. If we understood how those protein channels worked, antibiotic drugs could be designed to open them on demand, draining a bacterium of its...
Novel guidelines help select optimal deconvolution method
Biomedical scientists are increasingly using deconvolution methods, those used to computationally analyze the composition of complex mixtures of cells. One of their challenges is to select one method that is appropriate for their experimental conditions among nearly 50 available.
Study of US tuna fisheries explores nexus of climate change, sustainable seafood
A new study published in Elementa by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and NOAA examines traditional aspects of seafood sustainability alongside greenhouse gas emissions to better understand the 'carbon footprint' of U.S. tuna fisheries.