163 articles from WEDNESDAY 28.7.2021

Berkeley Lab's CAMERA leads international effort on autonomous scientific discoveries

Experimental facilities around the globe are facing a challenge: their instruments are becoming increasingly powerful, leading to a steady increase in the volume and complexity of the scientific data they collect. At the same time, these tools demand new, advanced algorithms to take advantage of these capabilities and enable ever-more intricate scientific questions to be asked—and answered. For...

Automatically steering experiments toward scientific discovery

In the popular view of traditional science, scientists are in the lab hovering over their experiments, micromanaging every little detail. For example, they may iteratively test a wide variety of material compositions, synthesis and processing protocols, and environmental conditions to see how these parameters influence material properties. In each iteration, they analyze the collected data,...

Common floral bacteria can induce pollen germination

Certain species of floral bacteria can enhance pollen germination, according to a study published today from the University of California, Davis in the journal Current Biology."This is the first paper documenting stimulation of pollen germination by non-plants," said first author Shawn Christensen, a doctoral candidate in associate professor Rachel Vannette's laboratory in the Department of...

Non-linear effects in coupled optical microcavities

Scientists from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw have demonstrated exciton-polariton lasing and parametric scattering of exciton-polaritons in a system of coupled optical microcavities. The results have been published in the prestigious journal Nanophotonics.

Israel begins investigation into NSO Group spyware abuse

Israeli government officials visited the offices of the hacking company NSO Group on Wednesday to investigate allegations that the firm’s spyware has been used to target activists, politicians, business executives, and journalists, the country’s defense ministry said in a statement today. An investigation published last week by 17 global media organizations claims that phone numbers…

‘Less than 1% probability’ that Earth’s energy imbalance increase occurred naturally

Sunlight in, reflected and emitted energy out. That's the fundamental energy balance sheet for our planet -- and for decades, it has been out of balance. The extra energy manifests as higher temperatures, rising sea levels, floods, droughts, more powerful blizzards and hurricanes, and deadlier extreme events. Not only is the imbalance growing, but there's a 99% chance that the growth is due to...

Genetic engineering test with mosquitoes ‘may be game changer’ in eliminating malaria

UK scientist says gene-drive study rendering female insects infertile may lead to ‘self destruct mosquito’ field tests within 10 yearsScientists have successfully wiped out a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using a radical form of genetic engineering to render the females infertile – in the most advanced and largest ever test of use of the technology to fight the disease.As...

Astronomers detect light behind black hole for first time

Telescope picks up unexpected ‘luminous echoes’ – smaller, later and of different colour to bright flaresAstronomers have detected light behind a black hole deep in space for the first time.Bright flares of X-rays were spotted bursting from a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy 800m light years away, which is relatively normal. Continue...

Does testosterone influence success? Not much, research suggests

With the Olympics underway, higher testosterone has often been linked to sporting success, and other kinds of success too. But beyond sport, new research has found little evidence that testosterone meaningfully influences life chances for men or women. In fact, the study suggests that despite the social myths surrounding testosterone, it could be much less important than previously thought.

Neanderthal and Denisovan blood groups deciphered

The blood groups of three Neanderthals one Denisovan have been determined by a team including a palaeoanthropologist, population geneticists, and haematologists. Their research provides new data for understanding the origins, history, and health of these extinct hominin lineages.

Exploring blood types of Neanderthal and Denisovan individuals

An analysis of the blood types of one Denisovan and three Neanderthal individuals has uncovered new clues to the evolutionary history, health, and vulnerabilities of their populations. Silvana Condemi of the Centre National de la Research Scientifique (CNRS) and colleagues at Aix-Marseille University, France, present hese findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 28, 2021.

Richard Lewontin obituary

Pioneering biologist and geneticist whose research showed the emptiness of traditional biological concepts of raceThe American scientist Richard Lewontin, who has died aged 92, was intimately involved in some of the most important discoveries, and feuds, of evolutionary biology during the decades in which it passed from knowing that genes existed to specifying them in precise molecular terms.His...

Water as a metal

Under normal conditions, pure water is an almost perfect insulator. Water only develops metallic properties under extreme pressure, such as exists deep inside of large planets. Now, an international collaboration has used a completely different approach to produce metallic water and documented the phase transition at BESSY II.

Molecular atlas reveals how brain cells develop

As the fertilized egg divides, initially undifferentiated cells take on specific functions, becoming more distinct as different tissues and organs emerge. Understanding how hundreds of disparate cell types arise has proven difficult, largely because scientists have lacked the technologies to capture cellular decision making over time.

Water as a metal

Under normal conditions, pure water is an almost perfect insulator. Water only develops metallic properties under extreme pressure, such as exists deep inside of large planets. Now, an international collaboration has used a completely different approach to produce metallic water and documented the phase transition at BESSY II. The study is published now in Nature.

Double-strand RNA exhibits traits different from single-stranded RNA

Messenger RNA, or mRNA, has been in the news recently as a crucial component of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. The nucleic acid looks, for all intents and purposes, like a strand of DNA that has been sliced the long way. It's what's known as single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), and it can be found throughout the natural world.

New findings on the function of mitofusin 2 in the cellular energy metabolism

Mitofusin 2 is a key protein in the regulation of the physiology of mitochondria—cellular organelles that produce energy—involved in several neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, as well as in cancer. Now, a study published in the journal EMBO Reports reveals that the regulation of the bioenergetic activity in the mitochondria requires mitofusin 2 to be found in the endoplasmic...