181 articles from THURSDAY 12.8.2021

People in the Philippines have the most Denisovan DNA

Researchers have known from several lines of evidence that the ancient hominins known as the Denisovans interbred with modern humans in the distant past. Now researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on August 12 have discovered that the Philippine Negrito ethnic group known as the Ayta Magbukon have the highest level of Denisovan ancestry in the world. In fact, they carry considerably...

Days of hot weather grip Southern Europe, North Africa

Stifling heat kept its grip on much of Southern Europe on Thursday, driving people indoors at midday, spoiling crops, triggering drinking water restrictions, turning public libraries into cooling "climate shelters" and complicating the already difficult challenge firefighters faced battling wildfires.

Slow and regular earthquakes interact near Istanbul

Earthquakes typically last only a few seconds, although sometimes the shifts in the subsurface occur in slow motion. Understanding these 'slow quakes', known as 'slow slip events', and their interplay with the short—sometimes violent—tremors is critically important to define the seismic hazard and subsequent risk. An international group led by Patricia Martínez-Garzón, Junior Group Leader at...

Expert strategies to mitigate the educational impacts of the pandemic

Parents, students and decision-makers are dealing with more challenges as we move closer to another pandemic school year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development characterized COVID-19 school closures as the "greatest disruption in educational opportunity worldwide in a generation," affecting 90 percent of the world's student population. Sociology professor Janice Aurini, an...

Is your home at risk of experiencing a natural disaster?

Reports from the scenes of natural disasters—raging wildfires, unrelenting floods, violent ground shaking, and devastating tornadoes and hurricanes—fill our news feeds every day. These hazards cause deep disruptions to the health of humans and ecosystems and threaten the safety and integrity of buildings and infrastructure.

A fast, accurate system for quickly solving stubborn RNA structures

The single-stranded genetic material RNA is best known for guiding the assembly of proteins in our cells and carrying the genetic code for viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and HIV. But 40 years ago, scientists discovered another hidden talent: It can catalyze chemical reactions in the cell, including snipping and joining RNA strands. This gave new momentum to the idea that RNA was the driving force behind...

Slow and regular earthquakes interact near Istanbul

Earthquakes typically last only a few seconds, although sometimes the shifts in the subsurface occur in slow motion. Understanding these 'slow quakes', known as 'slow slip events', and their interplay with the short - sometimes violent - tremors is critically important to define the seismic hazard and subsequent risk.

One-dimensional red phosphorus glows in unexpected ways

Researchers have now found that fibrous red phosphorus, when electrons are confined in its one-dimensional sub-units, can show large optical responses -- that is, the material shows strong photoluminescence under light irradiation. The study shows that strong optical properties exist in a 1D van der Waal material.

Treating the 'root' cause of baldness with a dissolvable microneedle patch

Although some people say that baldness is the "new sexy," for those losing their hair, it can be distressing. An array of over-the-counter remedies are available, but most of them don't focus on the primary causes: oxidative stress and insufficient circulation. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have designed a preliminary microneedle patch containing cerium nanoparticles to combat both...

Unexpected functions of the spinal locomotor network

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Columbia University Irving Medical Center have found an unexpected link between spinal locomotor network activity and adult neurogenesis in the adult zebrafish spinal cord. The study has recently been published in Nature Communications.

Phase changing in graphite by interface charge injection

Graphite, as an important material for Li battery anode and graphene preparation, can exist in two phases: the Bernal (2H) phase and the rhombohedral (3R) phase. The 2H phase has relatively low energy and high proportion in graphite powder, while the 3R phase shows the opposite properties. However, the decrease of the flake graphite size gives rise to the proportion of 3R phase up to 50%.

Low-cost 3D method rapidly measures disease impacts on Florida's coral reefs

Stony coral tissue loss disease manifests as lesions of necrotic tissue that spread across coral colonies, leaving behind dead coral skeletons. Since 2014, this highly virulent disease has contributed to substantial declines of reef-building coral in Florida, impacting more than 20 coral species. The need for widespread reef monitoring and novel surveys are imperative for disease mitigation...