131 articles from TUESDAY 10.8.2021

Australia Covid live update: NSW on edge as cases spread in regions; Melbourne waits for news on lockdown

Melbourne faces the possibility of a lockdown extension as shopping centre workers ordered into quarantine; new cases emerge across regional NSW. Follow all the day’s newsRestrictions: NSW; Vic; Qld; bordersHotspots: NSW; Vic; QldVaccine rollout tracker; get our free news app; get our morning email briefing 10.44pm BST Queensland LNP MP George Christensen has spoken to Sydney radio 2GB about...

‘Frameshifting’ therapy for mast cell cancers reduces size, spread

A potential new treatment for mast cell cancers reduces the number of mast cells by 'mutating' the messenger RNA (mRNA) before it can deliver instructions for manufacturing the gene responsible for cell proliferation. The method, known as frameshifting, changes the pre-mRNA so that the mature mRNA is degraded and any protein produced from its instructions is altered and inert. In a mouse model,...

Through the looking glass: Unravelling how ions move in phosphate glass

Phosphate glass is a versatile compound that has generated interest for its use in fuel cells and as biomaterials for supplying therapeutic ions. P2O5—the compound that forms the structural network of phosphate glass—is made up of phosphorus, an element that can adopt many different bonding configurations in combination with oxygen.

Greeks battle to protect town from ferocious blaze

Volunteers and firefighters were working relentlessly Tuesday, often without masks or helmets, in a desperate bid to stop a violent blaze from reaching a key town on Greece's Evia island, one of hundreds of fires that have raged through the country.

'Frameshifting' therapy for mast cell cancers reduces size, spread

A potential new treatment for mast cell cancers reduces the number of mast cells by "mutating" the messenger RNA (mRNA) before it can deliver instructions for manufacturing the gene responsible for cell proliferation. The method, known as frameshifting, changes the pre-mRNA so that the mature mRNA is degraded and any protein produced from its instructions is altered and inert. In a mouse model,...

Deviant actions of others can spur individuals to opt out of offending, study finds

Researchers who study crime are increasingly recognizing that context matters—that is, that actions, including crime, are shaped by the people and settings in which individuals offend. A new study examined whether others' deviant actions prompted individuals to opt out of offending or reverse their intentions to offend based on the size of the offending group. The study identified opt-out...

How does a flood become a disaster?

What are the causes, patterns and effects of disastrous river flood? An international group of researchers led by GFZ hydrologist Bruno Merz has investigated this question in a review article published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. The short answer: It's complicated. What is certain, however, is that there is an opposing trend of property damage and personal injury. Since...

Insidious coral killer invading Palmyra Atoll reef

The reefs at Palmyra Atoll, a small outlying atoll in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, have been undergoing a shift from stony corals to systems dominated by corallimorphs, marine invertebrates that share traits with both anemones and hard corals. A published study in Coral Reefs led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa marine biology researchers has discovered that although the invading corallimorph...

The surprising red light vision of rodents

It is commonly thought that rodents are functionally blind when their surroundings are illuminated with light of longer wavelengths, which humans perceive as red. A new study, published in eLife by Nader Nikbakht of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Mathew Diamond of SISSA—Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati—challenges this assumption and shows that rats can...

Neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 sugar coat

Researchers have identified two sugar-binding proteins that impede the viral entry of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. The team, spearheaded by researchers at IMBA—Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences—may have found the "Achilles' heel" of the virus, with potential for pan-variant therapeutic interventions. The findings are now published in the EMBO Journal.

Neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 sugar coat

Researchers have identified two sugar-binding proteins that impede the viral entry of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. The team may have found the 'Achilles' heel' of the virus, with potential for pan-variant therapeutic interventions.

Insidious coral killer invading Palmyra Atoll reef

The reefs at Palmyra Atoll, a small outlying atoll in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, have been undergoing a shift from stony corals to systems dominated by corallimorphs, marine invertebrates that share traits with both anemones and hard corals. Marine biology researchers discovered that although the invading corallimorph is the same species that has been there for decades, its appearance recently...

Atomic nuclei and leptons: Milestone in the calculation of cross sections

A team has succeeded in computing how atomic nuclei of the Calcium element behave in collisions with electrons. Results agree very well with available experimental data. For the first time, a calculation based on a fundamental theory is capable of correctly describing experiments for a nucleus as heavy as Calcium. Of particular relevance is the potential that such calculations could have in the...