170 articles from FRIDAY 11.6.2021

Queen’s birthday list honours key figures in UK Covid vaccine drive

Taskforce chief Kate Bingham gets damehood and Oxford research leaders also rewardedKey figures in the battle against Covid-19 and Britain’s vaccine success have been rewarded in the Queen’s birthday honours list, with vaccines taskforce chair Kate Bingham getting a damehood.Honours are also bestowed on two leaders of the research teams at the Oxford Vaccine Centre who developed and...

New discovery shows human cells can write RNA sequences into DNA

Cells contain machinery that duplicates DNA into a new set that goes into a newly formed cell. That same class of machines, called polymerases, also build RNA messages, which are like notes copied from the central DNA repository of recipes, so they can be read more efficiently into proteins. But polymerases were thought to only work in one direction DNA into DNA or RNA. This prevents RNA messages...

Big data: IPK researchers double accuracy in predicting wheat yields

The enormous potential of Big Data has already been demonstrated in areas such as financial services and telecommunications. An international team of researchers led by the IPK Leibniz Institute has now tapped the potential of big data for the first time on a large scale for plant research. To this end, data from three projects were used to increase the predictive accuracy for yield in hybrid...

Covid cases in England rising at fastest rate since winter wave

Further doubts over 21 June as data shows national surge fuelled by cases in the north-westCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCoronavirus cases in England are rising at their fastest rate since the winter wave, according to government figures that will raise further doubts about the timetable for lifting remaining restrictions on 21 June.Daily infections are now rising...

An omega-3 that's poison for tumors

3D tumors that disintegrate within a few days thanks to the action of a well-known omega-3 (DHA, found mainly in fish) -- this is a promising discovery. Hungry for fatty acids, tumor cells in acidosis gorge themselves on DHA but are unable to store it correctly and literally poison themselves. The result? They die.

Plant functional traits may better explain liana species distributions

Plant functional traits are morphological, physiological or phenological properties that affect plant growth, survival, and reproduction. They hold the promise to explain plant species distribution patterns. However, few studies have linked multiple traits to multiple niche dimensions (i.e., light, water, and nutrients).

Why do people support fish species conservation in European rivers?

An important element for the protection of biodiversity is the willingness of the public to support restoration efforts. Using a longitudinal survey design with 1,000 respondents each in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, scientists led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) investigated which values, beliefs and norms promote conservation-oriented behavior...

Particles at the ocean surface and seafloor aren't so different

Although scientists often assume that random variations in scientific data fit symmetrical, bell-shaped normal distributions, nature isn't always so tidy. In some cases, a skewed distribution, like the log-normal probability distribution, provides a better fit. Researchers previously found that primary production by ocean phytoplankton and carbon export via particles sinking from the surface are...

South African worker honeybees reproduce by making near-perfect clones of themselves

A team of researchers from the University of Sydney, the ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute and York University, has found that workers in a species of honeybee found in South Africa reproduce by making near-perfect clones of themselves. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes their study of the bees and what they learned about them.

ALMA discovers earliest gigantic black hole storm

Researchers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) discovered a titanic galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole 13.1 billion years ago. This is the earliest example yet observed of such a wind to date and is a telltale sign that huge black holes have a profound effect on the growth of galaxies from the very early history of the universe.

Bionic reconstruction: New foot for 'Mia' the bearded vulture

With Oskar Aszmann and his team at the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, MedUni Vienna has long been regarded as a world leader in bionic limb reconstruction. It was only last year that the world's first fully integrated bionic arm prosthesis was developed at MedUni Vienna. This is ready-to-use and is described as "Plug and Play." Although all bionic aids have so far...

In space, nobody can hear Jeff Bezos. So can Richard Branson go too? | Marina Hyde

News that the Amazon overlord is about to jet off has got the Virgin boss clamouring to get there first. You can do it, Richard!It’s famously impossible to take a bathroom break during a rocket launch, meaning Jeff Bezos will soon experience what it’s like to be one of his warehouse workers. Or, as the Amazon boss put it last week: “To see the Earth from space … changes your relationship...

Researchers build first modular quantum brain sensor, record signal

A team of scientists at the University of Sussex have for the first time built a modular quantum brain scanner, and used it to record a brain signal. This is the first time a brain signal has been detected using a modular quantum brain sensor anywhere in the world. It's a major milestone for all researchers working on quantum brain imaging technology because modular sensors can be scaled up, like...

Classical nova explosions involve jets of oppositely directed hot gas, plasma

Scientists at the University of Oxford have discovered that classical nova explosions are accompanied by the ejection of jets of oppositely directed hot gas and plasma, and that this persists for years following the nova eruption. Previously, such jets had only been encountered emanating from very different systems such as black holes or newly collapsing stars.

Variable emission from the Milky Way's supermassive black hole

At the center of our Milky Way lies a supermassive black hole (SMBH) called Sagittarius A* (SgrA*). Supermassive black holes reside at the centers of most galaxies, and when they actively accrete gas and dust onto their surrounding hot disks and environments, they radiate across the electromagnetic spectrum. The mass of SgrA* is about 4 million solar masses, much smaller than the billions of...

Discovery of shackled skeleton in a ditch: Slavery in Roman Britain

A body found buried in a ditch by construction workers in the village of Great Casterton, in the east Midlands of England, has shed new light on Roman slavery in Britain. A new analysis of the skeleton and the burial has revealed that the male body was probably that of slave from third century.

Funding front-line action for the world's forgotten frogs

Frogs have been around for about 140 million years, since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and are found in most moist corners of the world. IUCN has assessed 6,340 species of these tailless and smooth-bodied amphibians, and almost one in ten of them are classified as Critically Endangered.