167 articles from WEDNESDAY 18.8.2021

WHO condemns rush by wealthy nations to give Covid vaccine booster

Move likened to handing out lifejackets to those who already have them while letting others drownCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe World Health Organization has condemned the rush by wealthy countries to provide Covid-19 vaccine booster shots while millions of people around the world have yet to receive a single dose.Speaking before US authorities announced all...

'Shadow waveguide' casts complex acoustic patterns to control particles

Engineers at Duke University have devised a new approach to using sound waves to manipulate tiny particles suspended in liquid in complex ways. Dubbed a "shadow waveguide," the technique uses only two sound sources to create a tightly confined, spatially complex acoustic field inside a chamber without requiring any interior structure. The technology offers a new suite of features to the...

Mystery of the seadragon solved

Seadragons (Phyllopetryx taeniolatus) live off the coast in western and southern Australia. An international team involving evolutionary biologist Axel Meyer from the University of Konstanz has now found the genetic basis for some external characteristics of the seadragon, like its lack of teeth and its distinct leaf-like appendages. The team also localized the sex-determination gene in the...

The fewer forests, the more space giant anteaters need

Giant anteaters living in less forested habitats make use of larger home ranges, according to a study by Aline Giroux at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul and colleagues, publishing August 18 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. This behavior may allow them to incorporate forest patches into their territory, the authors say.

What if our history was written in our grammar?

Humans have been always on the move, creating a complex history of languages and cultural traditions dispersed over the globe. An international team under UZH's lead has now traced families of related languages over more than 10,000 years by combining data from genetics, linguistics and musicology using novel digital methods. Their findings: grammar reflects best the common prehistory of a...

Experimental confirmation of wave-particle duality

The 21st century has undoubtedly been the era of quantum science. Quantum mechanics was born in the early 20th century and has been used to develop unprecedented technologies which include quantum information, quantum communication, quantum metrology, quantum imaging, and quantum sensing. However, in quantum science, there are still unresolved and even inapprehensible issues like wave-particle...

Transformation in the particle zoo

An international study has found evidence of a long-sought effect in accelerator data. The so-called 'triangle singularity' describes how particles can change their identities by exchanging quarks, thereby mimicking a new particle. The mechanism also provides new insights into a mystery that has long puzzled particle physicists: Protons, neutrons and many other particles are much heavier than one...

How fructose in the diet contributes to obesity

Eating fructose appears to alter cells in the digestive tract in a way that enables it to take in more nutrients, according to a preclinical study. These changes could help to explain the well-known link between rising fructose consumption around the world and increased rates of obesity and certain cancers.

Tailoring wearable technology and telehealth in treating Parkinson's disease

Wearable health technologies are vastly popular with people wanting to improve their physical and mental health. Everything from exercise, sleep patterns, calories consumed and heart rhythms can be tracked by a wearable device. But timely and accurate data is also especially valuable for doctors treating patients with complicated health conditions using virtual care.

Videos capture lethal progress of COVID-19 virus

Video images capture for the first time in live animals the inexorable spread of the COVID-19 virus, tracking the infection as it moved from the noses of mice to the lungs and other organs over the course of six days, in a new study.

Heat-controllable CAR T cells destroy tumors and prevent relapse in new study

New research builds on a body of work exploring remotely controlled cell therapies, in which the researchers can precisely target tumors, wherever they are in the body, with a local deposition of heat. The latest study shows the system cured cancer in mice, and the team's approach not only shrunk tumors but prevented relapse -- critical for long-term survival. Further studies will delve into...

Does Alzheimer’s disease start inside nerve cells?

An experimental study has revealed that the Alzheimer's protein amyloid-beta accumulates inside nerve cells, and that the misfolded protein may then spread from cell to cell via nerve fibers. This happens at an earlier stage than the formation of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain, something that is associated with the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Progress continues in ensuring safety for nation’s high school athletes

Researchers began publishing annual reports and bi-annual updates examining the health and safety policies for secondary schools for each individual state and Washington, D.C. The evaluations are based on safety measures states can implement, including emergency action plans, having automatic external defibrillators on site, training coaches to look for signs of concussion, treatment of exertional...