361 articles from THURSDAY 17.6.2021

Algorithm uses mass spectrometry data to predict identity of molecules

An algorithm designed by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Computational Biology Department and St. Petersburg State University in Russia could help scientists identify unknown molecules. The algorithm, called MolDiscovery, uses mass spectrometry data from molecules to predict the identity of unknown substances, telling scientists early in their research whether they have stumbled on...

Drought saps California reservoirs as hot, dry summer looms

Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation's crops, sustain endangered salmon beneath its massive earthen dam and anchor the tourism economy of a Northern California county that must rebuild seemingly every year after unrelenting wildfires.

After 9 years and $10M, Georgia spaceport nears FAA approval

After nine years of planning and $10 million invested by local taxpayers, county officials in Georgia's coastal southeast corner came a big step closer Thursday to winning federal approval of a project engineered to literally inject the local economy with rocket fuel.

Wales delays easing Covid restrictions by four weeks

Pause will allow 500,000 more vaccine doses to be given to curtail spread of Delta variantCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThere is to be a four-week pause in the relaxing of Covid restrictions in Wales, the first minister, Mark Drakeford, will confirm on Friday.More than half a million doses of vaccine are to be deployed over the coming month in an attempt to head off...

Mountain fires burning higher at unprecedented rates

Forest fires have crept higher up mountains over the past few decades, scorching areas previously too wet to burn, according to researchers from McGill University. As wildfires advance uphill, a staggering 11% of all Western U.S. forests are now at risk.

Changing a 2D material's symmetry can unlock its promise

Optoelectronic materials that are capable of converting the energy of light into electricity, and electricity into light, have promising applications as light-emitting, energy-harvesting, and sensing technologies. However, devices made of these materials are often plagued by inefficiency, losing significant useful energy as heat. To break the current limits of efficiency, new principles of...

'Nanodecoy' therapy binds and neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 virus

Nanodecoys made from human lung spheroid cells (LSCs) can bind to and neutralize SARS-CoV-2, promoting viral clearance and reducing lung injury in a macaque model of COVID-19. By mimicking the receptor that the virus binds to rather than targeting the virus itself, nanodecoy therapy could remain effective against emerging variants of the virus.