353 articles from THURSDAY 20.5.2021

Self-organizing human heart organoids

Biologist Sasha Mendjan at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and his team have used human pluripotent stem cells to grow sesame-seed-sized heart models, called cardioids, that spontaneously self-organize to develop a hollow chamber without the need of experimental scaffolds. This advance, which allows for the creation of some of the most realistic heart organoids to date, appears on May...

Sheltering people with COVID-19 experiencing homelessness curbs spread

A new study provides public health planning authorities with a method of calculating the number of COVID-19 isolation beds they would need for people experiencing homelessness based on level of infection in the city. The research holds promise for controlling spread of the virus - or future infectious diseases - in a population that is highly vulnerable and less likely than many others to access...

Social isolation and loneliness linked to increased risk of CVD in post-menopausal women

Social isolation and loneliness were each associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease in post-menopausal women.The risk of cardiovascular disease events in the women increased 29% when the effect of social isolation and loneliness were combined.Researchers suggest assessing social isolation and loneliness, even with a brief questionnaire, should be incorporated into standard care...

Solar geoengineering may be effective in alleviating impacts of global warming on crops

Solar geoengineering is not a fix-all for climate change but it could be one of several tools to manage climate risks. A growing body of research has explored the ability of solar geoengineering to reduce physical climate changes. But much less is known about how solar geoengineering could affect the ecosystem and, particularly, agriculture. Now, research finds that solar geoengineering may be...

Solid-state batteries line up for better performance

Solid-state batteries pack a lot of energy into a small space, but their electrodes are not good at keeping in touch with their electrolytes. Liquid electrolytes reach every nook and cranny of an electrode to spark energy, but liquids take up space without storing energy and fail over time. Researchers are now putting solid electrolytes in touch with electrodes made of strategically arranged...

Solving a natural riddle of water filtration

An international, interdisciplinary team of researchers that includes engineers from The University of Austin has found a way to replicate a natural process that moves water between cells, with a goal of improving how we filter out salt and other elements and molecules to create clean water while consuming less energy.

Special issue on the COVID-19 pandemic

The international journal Risk Analysis has published a timely special issue for May 2021, "Global Systemic Risk and Resilience for Novel Coronavirus and COVID-19." Featuring 11 papers written for this issue over the past year, the collection represents a sampling of insights and viewpoints from scholars across risk sciences and resilience analytics to guide decision-making and operations related...

Study: Culture influences mask wearing

Countries and US states more predisposed to collectivist behavior have more people following mask guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study co-authored by MIT Sloan Assistant Professor Jackson Lu.

Surveillance turns up new coronavirus threat to humans

Researchers have discovered a new coronavirus, found in a child with pneumonia in Malaysia in 2018, that appears to have jumped from dog to human. If confirmed as a pathogen, the novel canine-like coronavirus could represent the eighth unique coronavirus known to cause disease in humans. The discovery also suggests coronaviruses are being transmitted from animals to humans more commonly than was...

Survey measures health care delays during pandemic's beginning

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, a University of Illinois Chicago researcher conducted a survey asking respondents if they experienced health care delays because of the pandemic. In addition to learning about the types of delays, the study also presented a unique opportunity to capture a historic moment at the pandemic's beginning.

Survival of migrating juvenile salmon depends on stream flow thresholds

Juvenile salmon migrating to the sea in the Sacramento River face a gauntlet of hazards in an environment drastically modified by humans, especially with respect to historical patterns of stream flow. Now fisheries scientists have identified key thresholds in the relationship between stream flow and salmon survival that can serve as actionable targets for managing water resources in the Sacramento...

Swifts set new record for swiftness

Swifts aren't called "swifts" for nothing. They're known for being among the fastest migrating small birds around. When they aren't breeding, common swifts stay in the air most of the time--up to 10 months of the year. Scientists had thought they travel about 500 kilometers per day on average. Now, new evidence reported in the journal iScience on May 20 shows that's a conservative estimate.

Taking more steps daily may lead to a longer life

Taking more steps per day, either all at once or in shorter spurts, may help you live longer.The benefits of more daily steps occurred with both uninterrupted bouts of steps (10 minutes or longer) and short spurts such as climbing stairs.

The doctor will see you (on the computer) now: telehealth's time has come

New research from Syracuse University's Falk College and published in JMIR Human Factors indicates telehealth is here to stay, with a large number (more than 40%) of physicians surveyed indicating they plan to continue telehealth practices post-pandemic. However, concerns linger over the impact of technology market concentration on achieving the iron triangle of health care.

The driving force behind tropical mudslides

Ph.D. candidate Nicolás Pérez-Consuegra notes that geological knowledge is essential for predicting what areas in a tropical mountain range are more prone to have landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and the catastrophic consequences that these events might have in the surrounding populations.

The entire genome from Peştera Muierii 1 sequenced

Researchers at Uppsala University have successfully sequenced the entire genome from the skull of Peştera Muierii 1, a woman who lived in today's Romania 35,000 years ago. Her high genetic diversity shows that the out of Africa migration was not the great bottleneck in human development but rather this occurred during and after the most recent Ice Age. The study is now published in Current...